The Bird Man of Alcatraz

Yeah, I'll see if I can scale it down a bit next time. Actually, the model has a very intricate wireframe; 9291 patches total. Look closely enough and you'll notice the ties at the end of the rigging lines. Furthermore, I've used a complicated displacement map to create waves, and simulated the flags with a wind force. I'd render out a tour of the ship, but I really don't have the rendering power. By the way, I've actually been working with A:M for well over a year now, and other animation programs for about three years.

I've been working on this model for a number of months, and I've finally rendered something presentable. It still needs some work, but I'm very happy with it as it is. This is the CSS Virginia, the first ironclad ship of the Civil War. I'm working on the USS Monitor, and I'll likely have it done in a few weeks. -The Bird Man

I've rendered out a few tests with the decal set onto a large grid. Here is one of them; its very simple, but I'll add the extra effects later-- Large Grid Test 1 The Babbage Patch tutorial briefly explains how to add white caps to the tips of the waves using material effectors, which I can't say I'm familiar with. If anyone could explain them a bit, I'd appreciate the help. After Effects and Rendering Water Material Effectors Tutorial by Jeff Paries Thanks a ton! --The Bird Man

It looks very good, but I've got one suggestion. The new video standards are all gradually changing to the 16:9 aspect ratio, and eventually the 4:3 ratio will no longer be used. If you want that logo to last a few years, I'd render it in 16:9. The 1080 and 720 options are both 16:9, if you want to use those. -The Bird Man

OK, so to actually create the displacement map, I have to render out this video-- http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y83/budgi...=WaterTest1.flv Then I import that video into the project as a video decal, and apply it to the grid? Where do I set it as a displacement decal? -The Bird Man

I'm actually using V11.1, so I'll use the dense map. Are there huge differences between V11.1 and the latest version? I'll look into upgrading, but I'd likely have to get a new computer first. My current one is rather outdated.

Thanks rickh, I'll look into that. Another problem I've run into; despite everything I've changed, the water is still flat. It has a nice texture, but I can't get it to work like you did MattWBradbury. Do I have to turn on some sort of displacement map? -The Bird Man

Thanks for the detailed instructions! I've followed your directions very carefully, and rendered out these two 5 sec. videos-- Water Displacement Test 1 Water Displacement Test 2 I'll try speeding up the water a little. -The Bird Man

I'm looking forward to trying out that 3D tracking software; thanks for finding it! I've found a rather interesting Wikipedia entry that explains 3D tracking-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_tracking By the way, Icarus is freeware, right? -The Bird Man

Where did you hear that? I don't believe there are any problems with NVidia cards. I've used NVidia cards with A:M, and they work fine. Radeons work well too, but don't feel as if Radeon is your only choice.

If I could ask something more of you folks, I'm having trouble creating the motions. According to the tutorial, you are supposed to edit the channels of the material, all within an Action. Likely due to a difference in versions, I can't find the channel editor. The A:M help says to look in the timeline, but the timeline didn't say anything about channels. Or are the channels shown on the timeline? Second of all, I'm a little mixed up on turning on the material displacement. I've found under the material properties a displacement percentage. Do I need to set that to 100% or something? Once again, I'm using V11.1. If anyone could direct me to the channel editor, or an alternative, and help me set up the displacement I'd appreciate it. Thanks! -The Bird Man

I don't know specifically how to do this, but the best way to do this is with chroma keying. This is better known as blue (or green) screen technology. I.E. If you want to put an animated character into a real picture, you'd animate with a lime green background. You feed the rendering into an editor, and remove the lime green background. Put the animated scene over the real scene, and bingo. The toughest part is syncing the two cameras; if your real camera moves, you'll have to precisely imitate the movement with your animated camera. Take a look at this short video. I think this is what you're looking for. Notice that the real camera shook at times, and the animated character stood still, making for a somewhat choppy and fake effect. If you are able to overcome that, however, you should end up with a realistic scene-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPwAK_Vl7P8 There is software that can sync up real cameras and animated cameras. I can't think of the name, but there is a plug-in specifically made for A:M that does just that. Its a few hundred $ I think. -The Bird Man

Wow, I was wondering why A:M was running so slowly... I've created a ship that has 9291 patches. I never thought that it had that many, nor would it matter. Maybe I should shrink it down a bit. -The Bird Man

I'll look into a new computer. DarkLimit, I don't actually have a dual-core Athlon; its the old type of Athlon, so your system is actually quite newer.

In the last few months, I've modeled a very detailed ship. I'll release the details to all of you when I'm done. Anyhow, it likely has at least 200 decals covering the outside. A:M doesn't have any problem with this, but my old computer has a hard time. I'm running an HP 2 GHz Athlon with 512 MBs of RAM, plus a Radeon 9200 SE video card with 128 MBs of memory. I'm running A:M 11.1. Anyone think I should get a new computer?

Good news! I've done another rendering and this time the texture showed up. I have yet to add the actions, but those will come soon, after some material tweaking. The main problem may have been lighting. I'd like to thank all of you for all your help, and I'd really like to post my work for all of you when I'm done. I have yet to implement the wave wakes, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. Thanks a ton!

Hmmm...I just came across something kinda odd. I downloaded the project file, and the texture didn't even show up with that. I'm starting to think its there, but I just can't see it.

Wow, you've gotten it working perfectly. Are you using a different version of A:M than I am?

I'm using V11.1. The material I've created is a turbulence combiner using the "Perlin" plug-in. Perlin has two attributes, one of which is jet black, and the other is pure white with 100% Ambiance Intensity. Perlin has 4 octaves, and the X,Y and Z scales are all set to 6500%, following the instructions. the_black_mage, I see your point, but I doubt its lighting as I've viewed the object from numerous angles, and I don't see a clue of a texture.

Hello, I'm trying to create water using the very useful tutorial at The Babbage Patch. I encounter a problem, however, when I try to apply the displacement material onto a simple square. The material is set up correctly, but when I apply it to the object, it comes out as a blank white sheet. Here's a screenshot-- I've followed all the instructions very carefully. The only problem I have in mind is a difference in software; the author created his tutorial with A:M 2001, and I'm using A:M 2005. On the other hand, does anyone have a different way of creating an ocean? I'd ultimately like to create a wake from a ship as well, but I have to get by this first. I'd appreciate any help or advice. Thanks! -The Bird Man

I've been modeling a face using the Cooper face tutorial (which has been very helpful, by the way) over the last few days, however, for some reason my project file won't open today. A:M starts up as always, but right in the middle of loading the project, an error box reading "Error in model file, spline attachement. anchor= 1439 cp= 1318 Atempting to continue." (I didn't misspell those works, A:M actually did ) appears. I click OK but suddenly the program crashes. Anyone know of any means to save a model file embedded in the project file so I can save my work, or at least part of it? Thanks a ton!

I know what you mean Boxster, but I recently learned that you can copy the library on the CD to the hard drive, so you won't have to access all the pre-made A:M models through the relatively slow CD-ROM drive. I can't tell you how off the top of my head, but I believe someone left instructions somewhere in the forum. As long as you are still accessing the pre-made A:M library on the CD, you'll still need to have the CD in your drive, but I'm not totally sure about that. -The Bird Man PS: Have you tried the online Hash tutorials? Hash Video Tutorials

Hi, I'm new to this forum, but I've been working with A:M for about 10 months now, and general CG animation for about two years, so I may be able to answer your questions. First of all, you generally have to have the A:M CD in your drive for it to start up. I say generally because there is one exception that I know of; if you use a particular A:M program called NetRender, which lets you spread out a rendering load to many computers, you can bypass the need for the CD. NetRender is not free to use, however; you must buy a dongle (Wikipedia definiton) to make it work. These dongles range from anywhere to $150 to $500. If you're new to A:M, it will likely be a while before you need this. When you do though, look for NetRender in the A:M forums. About the dual-monitor problem, if you maximize A:M, it will only fill one monitor. However, if you keep A:M small, you can drag it to both monitors, and then fill up both monitors by dragging A:M to a good size. One more thing, if you are using two seperate video cards, it is a good idea to keep the preview window on the monitor with the more powerful video card. Even a really old card can most likely handle things like the community window, the project workspace, and so on, so keep those on the monitor with the weaker video card. -The Bird Man of Alcatraz