Roger

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?

While I'm not doing this now, I have done it in the past and I would suggest you be very careful with "suggestion creep" by clients. Meaning, you quote say $1000 for a job and know it can be completed in 20 hours, giving you a profit of $500 (assuming half for overhead/taxes). They start asking you to change a something here, something there and before you know it you're working for minimum wage. I would suggest if you're going to bill in the low end range, make it very clear that since it is such a deal, they get what they signed off on with no changes or they can request changes but it will cost them. For your part, make sure you underpromise and over-deliver. If you think something will take a month, tell them 2 or 3 so that way when you deliver in 6 weeks you look like a hero. You don't want it to be the other way around, that's bad for your personal and business reputation. I call this my "Scotty" theory of deliverables (as in Scotty from Star Trek...he'd always pad his estimates of how long it would take to fix the warp core...the downside of this is if they figure out that's what you're doing). Be wary about working for very little pay or no pay on the promise of future work later. They will expect to pay you less later, too. Get a portion (1/3 to 1/2) up front and the rest on completion. If they aren't willing to agree to that, they're not serious. I would suggest billing such that you're making at least $20-$25 an hour after all your costs. Otherwise, why bother?

I have to say, it would eliminate a lot of the bother with product activation, or using AM on multiple systems, since you could only use it on one machine at a time, but have it available on several systems. Tablet/laptop and desktop, for instance. But I imagine Martin would have to give a pretty decent size cut to Valve, so I don't see that happening if only for that reason.

I'm glad he's recognizable, at least. I let myself get to caught up with it being "perfect", between that and waiting too long to pick it back up, that was what did me in as far as making the deadline. I think if I can knock out the details tonight, add a "skirt" or bumper to the base, he should start looking pretty close. I'd like to redo the head, and if I wanted a photoreal version then I'd probably have to spend maybe another week getting the textures and lighting right. But even with a half-finished model, if you knew what it was right away then that's a success in my book. Just need to finish now.

Well here is what I was trying to bang out last night. I think you might be able to guess what it is. I didn't feel comfortable sending it in, though. I'm going to finish it today and post in the WIP thread. Even if I missed the deadline, I think it's worth doing still. I wish I had started over from scratch a few weeks ago, I might have gotten him done in time. I was really wedded to doing a strict recreation but then decided "screw it, I'll just do an interpretation of the character" but by the time I'd settled on that I had let too much time go by. I think it would have been tough to finish the eyes, ears, tail, gun/snout and properly texture him with only an hour to go.

I thought I was going to be able to knock something out at the last minute. As usual, what I think and what is the reality of things are completely different. Rather than turn something half-ass in, I think I will keep working on this and just post it later, and wait for the next contest.

Is there any way to bevel after the fact? I'm racing to finish my contest entry, and one of the parts is looking really awful with knife-like edges, but I'm not sure how best exactly to bevel it. I could try adding more CPs and then smoothing the points, and seeing if that helps. It looks really rough right now, though.

Well that is good, gives me until about 1:55 AM Central then.

So are these due midnight Pacific time?

I disabled the integrated graphics but haven't had time to properly test it yet to confirm it fixed the problem.

I too found a regular Wacom tablet awkward to use. i was doing and re-doing strokes until I got it in the right place. Generally not usable for me. Drawing on the screen is way better. I'll note that I got my 18" Cintiq used, for about $600 on ebay several years ago and the same model goes for much much less now. The stand is handy in that it tilts down to a regular drawing angle but I also need my adjustable chair that boosts me up to a high enough level to feel right with the drawing surface. That's more in my range but a ways down the road. Maybe next tax refund.

I am perfectly capable of drawing on paper, it is the problem with looking at a monitor and then drawing on a smaller tablet with no display that is difficult for me. Drawing directly on a tablet with a display would be a similar enough experience to paper. But it looks like what will be the case is that I can't afford what I want, anything I get that I can afford will likely have serious compromises, so I'm better off spending $100 on sketchpads and pencils than pissing my money away on an inferior product. Maybe I will revisit the whole drawing tablet thing a few years from now. Or when I can afford $2000 for a proper Cintiq or $1200 for the "lite" version.

I am perfectly capable of drawing on paper, it is the problem with looking at a monitor and then drawing on a smaller tablet with no display that is difficult for me. Drawing directly on a tablet with a display would be a similar enough experience to paper. But it looks like what will be the case is that I can't afford what I want, anything I get that I can afford will likely have serious compromises, so I'm better off spending $100 on sketchpads and pencils than pissing my money away on an inferior product. Maybe I will revisit the whole drawing tablet thing a few years from now. Or when I can afford $2000 for a proper Cintiq or $1200 for the "lite" version.

The "globes" were amusing. I think I remember seeing a clip from "girl can't help it" with an erupting milk bottle when Jayne Mansfield walks by the milkman. You can't tell me THAT wasn't "code" for something