Roger

Another thing in AMDs favor is the tend to stick with a given socket for a while, where Intel will switch sockets for no good reason. I think there are 2 or 3 different core iWhatever sockets.

If you don't want to go AMD, though, a core i7 will probably render significantly faster. You may not be able to get the total system price as low w/ an Intel chip, though.

Ok, a little more than $500. shopping_list.pdf

I will 2nd that a graphics card is almost irrelevant as far as AM is concerned. A budget $100 card from AMD/ATI or Nvidia will work. Either a Radeon 6570 or Nvidia Geforce 640/650 would be good. I would go with 8GB of RAM, more than that is probably a waste unless you are running virtual machines or scads of programs or plan on doing really high-res photoshop work or HD editing. If you are on a super budget, you may want to consider an AMD A10 APU-based system, you get a quad-core cpu (although not as fast as Intel's lastest offerings) and discrete-level graphics performance (on the CPU die). You can get a 128GB SSD for around $75 now. Kingston brand. You may want to consider that for your OS/programs, and get a cheap standard drive for media files. You could probably put an AMD-based system together for around $500, OS and all. I would definitely recommend Win 7 64 bit, professional copy. Don't screw around with win 8.

So, let me see if I can wrap my head round this: you can make a silhouette of a shape in Illustrator like that and import it into AM and have it auto-extrude and cap it? If so, that is a pretty neat trick. Which makes me wonder why you can't just do that with an outline in AM. Guess I need to look for an Illustrator clone now.

What is a matcap map? Is that something new in v17?

If at all possible, try to create only 4 point patches. 3 point patches, while valid, will do nothing but cause creases in your model. 5 point patches are useful but can be tricky.

This is more or less what I am looking to duplicate:

Robcat, are you having issues with your email? I've tried sending you an email and gotten a bounceback twice.

Well, I was modifying an existing material to see if I could get the look of ceramic, just in black. So I didn't mess with the combiners. I guess I will have to experiment some more.

What about slate shingles? That might give you better durability than asphalt but still give you the traditional look. Although I think a slate roof might be even worse than metal, cost-wise, and probably as hard or harder to install.

I guess what I am going for is a shiny black porcelain or ceramic material, kind of like a billiard ball. And now that I think about, white specular highlight might have produced the look I was going for.

Here is a screen-grab of the materials editor:

I'll grab a screencap. I don't think I do. There are two fractal combiners, I'm not all that hot with the materials editor but I don't think these affect the color.

Here is the 2nd version. I think I need to decrease the thickness of the lid. I'm having a hard time getting it to have that nice domed look I had with the other lid, though.

Does that cover have an inside and an outside or is just an outside? I thought I made it with both, but I think it just has one spline that I revolved to make it.

I am trying to modify an existing material, "ceramic cup" to have a black color instead of white or off-white. I set both the diffuse and specular colors to black, but it is not black, just has more of a gray tint. Did I forget something, or is there another attribute I have to set the color for?

Well, here are the results so far of my drink cup. I'm trying to make a simple character with eyes and a mouth (still need to add those).

That looks to be about right, thanks for a hint in the right direction. I'll give that a try.

Does anyone have a good clear plastic material, or ideas for the settings for one? I've tried all the ones that come with AM, I thought Perspex would work but it is a bit smoky. The only thing that comes close is "fake glass". I'm trying to make one of those domed lids like you see on a slurpee. I've got the shape down, now it is a matter of getting the material setting.

Are smartskins stored in the relationships section of the PWS, or are the put someplace else? I had some set up to deal with the flippers but it doesn't look like they are there anymore.

I must have missed that, I'll have a look for it.

Does anyone have a tutorial on installing TSM2 in a model? It can be any generic model, doesn't really matter I'd just like to see an example before I try rigging with it.

I may need to experiment with both Lite Rig and TSM2, my char has such a long neck I'm probably going to have to add some bones. The default TSM2 rig has quite a few spine bones, some of which could be converted to neck bones. The only thing that confuses me about TSM2 is the 4 arm bones instead of two, unless one in the upper and then the lower arm is meant to be hidden. I wish I had a better grasp on rigging, it is all very trial-and-error for me. I hope once I finally get round to animating I have an easier time of things. I almost would have been better off farming it out to someone, at least then I could have gotten started animating sooner.

So I'm installing Lite Rig right now and I think I have the placement just about right for the arm and the leg. The hip and torso bones I think are going to need some work. I will also need to put in additional bones for the neck, I think. Anyone out there have experience w/ Lite rig want to take a look at what I have so far?