Roger

I do most of my browsing on a linux system with Opera. But perhaps it is time for an upgrade.

I can't remember if I've seen this or not, I might have run across it on Martin's site. It is entertaining, it is interesting to see what was possible on limited equipment. Motivational in that we have literally hundreds or thousands of times the CPU resources of 1989, even on a low-end machine.

I've noticed ever since we switched to the new forum, it seems laggy as all get-out. I'm on a Core Duo system with 2gb RAM and while I realize that that level system is getting a bit long in the tooth, it isn't hopelessly obsolete. Just wondering what accounts for the slowness. Does the new forum software use a bunch of Flash?

Sorry to hear about your misfortune, it sounds like you're lucky to be alive. To answer your question, with the subscription you do not need a disk in the drive. Unfortunately, after the year is up you can no longer use that copy of AM and you have to renew for $79. You don't lose your data, though. I don't think you still need the serial, at least I have never had to enter it since switching to the subscription model. They still have the non-expiring CD for $299, if you don't want to have to worry about your subscription running out in the middle of a project.

My subscription ran out, I'm low on cash and can't afford to update right now. Are there any problems with AM 2006 on Windows 7 with the latest update?

One of my hobbies is retrocomputing, I wondered if I had in my collection of old AM disks a version that would run under OS/2 via the Win 3.1/3.11 compatibility layer, but the oldest version I have is version 3 which I am pretty sure is Win95 only. I would probably have to go back to the days of Playmation to find something that would run under 3.1 or via the win 3.1 compatibility feature of OS/2. Keep in mind, this really isn't for any practical reason, just for fun I guess.

The oldest versions of AM I have are the hold MH:3D version 3 and AM version 5. Version 5 is probably the oldest version I would consider the modern version we all know and love. I'm trying to remember if v3 was a win 3.1 release or if it was the first to require 95. I know v5 was 95/98/NT. Anyone out there know?

Well I think I'm going to have to settle for "honorable mention" as I've got about 7 or so hours to work on this, seeing as I got a late start and have to use v12 as my current copy of AM is expired. Wish me luck.

Hello all, I'm looking at getting a new keyboard, and I've narrowed it down to 2 similar models, one with numerical keypad and one without. I don't do a lot of number-crunching/spreadsheet stuff, but I've noticed when I do it is nice to have the numerical keypad. I don't recall using it much with AM, but before I lock in my decision I want to make sure I'm not missing anything with regard to some super-productive modeling method (or other feature) that relies on the numerical keypad. What is your opinion? Do you use the numerical keypad much with AM? Thanks in advance, Roger

Sure, an insect is good too. Lots of potential there, since there are so many types. That would be fun.

I would do a flower. I'm not sure my splining is up to snuff for a recognizable Thor.

Speaking as an average AM user, Renderman is probably over my head (at least for now). And I'd have to agree that Robcat is most likely correct for the reason people get frustrated with a given renderer. Lots of people go with whatever the default setup is for lighting or a very basic setup and then wonder why they have poor results ( lighting is something I struggle with and lighting a scene properly is a discipline in and of itself).

I can confirm that AM will run on a system with an Atom, as I have an Atom-based netbook that I put AM on. It's just a bit painful. The newer quad-core Baytrail Atoms or the upcoming Cherrytrail (darn Intel code names) might be more tolerable, but I think a standard i3 or i5 desktop or even mobile cpu would blow the doors off even a quad-core Atom. Still, amazing what a few hundred $ buys these days.

As much as I'd like to be able to get my AM fix on the train, I don't see it happening. There's just too many things that would be too fiddly to do. I've also never heard of lazy select. How exactly does that work?

I don't know how well AM would work on a tablet unless it had a 14" or 15" screen, and even then it would be difficult. I can't imagine being able to use it tolerably on anything less than a 10" device, even if it had larger buttons.

I've seen this on other websites, it looks cool as heck. I'm surprised this came out of Microsoft. I could see using this with AM so you end up with stop motion on steroids. Especially if you could combine it with haptics. I'm curious what sort of power it has, if it is a self-contained PC and not a peripheral. I can't imagine it being more powerful than a Baytrail Atom without burning up a ton of juice or needing a ridiculous battery. So, more of a toy and not really a workstation device, unless they plan on pricing it around $1500-$2000 then it might have a Broadwell i5/i7. That's not going to fly for anyone but pro users, though, and seeing as how one of the killer apps looks to be Minecraft, I don't see how they can sell it for more than $300-$500 and hope to have adoption with your average middle class family, seeing as how you'd need several devices per family. So perhaps there will be subscription/service which subsidizes a $200-$300 device? That's the only way I see this selling.

I will freely admit that the few issues I have with AM are a result of not getting enough consistent practice in with it. I need to step up my game. I am in the difficult position of trying to "serve two masters", among other things. I'm not sure I'm crazy about the idea of selling content packages, that sounds too much like Daz 3D but if the choice is that or AM going away completely, then I'd rather see it stick around. I don't know that I could do a 7 day production cycle, but I do think any follow up film to my current film will progress much more quickly. I guess we will need to see where things go.

Marketing on Steam could be a dual-edged proposition. There would be a massive influx of users, but if the support is not there they would drop out and spread negative word of mouth. I don't know exactly what the current state of Hash is but I gather it's essentially a skeleton crew at this point? I do think the interface in AM is easier than most 3D apps, once you get used to it. I know that when I come back from a gap of working with it I pick things up fairly quickly. The only real problem with AM as the "kitchen table animator" program is that no matter how good the software is, you're limited by the amount that one person can do. A feature film at Pixar quality would take a single person a lifetime or more. The main stumbling blocks (as I see them) is even once you get a handle on modelling, there is a lot more that goes into a short film to get it made: rigging, lighting, texturing, actual animation. Each area is something that takes a significant time to master. When I saw Mixamo I thought that was the answer to my prayers but it just will not work with AM. The only thing that is going to work there is slogging through the pain of rigging. I just don't see a hybrid modeller with polygons being an option. I don't think it would be possible to integrate it with spline-based models. Import of static props is probably as good as it is going to get with respect to that. I've seen so much change since I started mucking around with 3D software, I never thought you'd be able to walk around with the equivalent of a workstation in your pocket (although you can't really use a smartphone for doing 3D, in terms or raw horsepower it is equivalent to a mid to late 90s PC). I would very much like to see AM around for another 20-30 years, but I'm not sure exactly what form that's going to be. While I don't think Martin would abandon it (and by extension, us) he may reach a point where he's interested in doing other things (which you could argue he's at now, with medical school and all). I guess things can continue on as they are, but there will come a point in the future where that may not be the case, since nothing lasts forever. And I'm not being critical here, I can definitely identify with getting a bit of wanderlust after doing one thing for a long time.

It sounds like an interesting idea. I actually think it is more difficult to go back and fix something you screwed up, so a mode that didn't allow non-optimal splines might not be a bad idea. I'm better than I was but I still make mistakes when modeling, and it can be hard to find where I've made the error or sort out how to fix it.

I will take live-action film/video over 3d any day as far as speed of output. There's a reason they can shoot a low-budget feature in 3 to 6 months where it can take that many years to do an animated feature.

Why would they do this? I don't get it.

So I finally got around to installing my AM v18 update, thought I would check out some of the tutorials however they just pop up a "404 not found" error when launching the tutorial. Are you supposed to just download them from the website instead? As rusty as I am I thought I might benefit from a refresher.

Yeah...I don't see the enterprise migrating to Windows 9 anytime soon. We just got standardized on Win 7 at my firm. I hope to be retired by the time I have to learn another Freaking version of Windows.

I may need to look into this. It's either this or start using amphetamines.

Just looking through here and noticed the gibberish in the middle of the posts. Something up with the forum? URLs that didn't transfer, maybe?