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Hash, Inc. - Animation:Master

Caroline

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Posts posted by Caroline

  1. One way I have seen this done is on Sir Nigel, if you have that model - it's in the extra data that comes with A:M.

     

    Instead of having a body under the jumpsuit, you could make the jumpsuit the body. That might be a lot easier than cloth, depending on how realistic you want.

  2. I used the terrain plug-in

     

    Oh, I haven't tried that yet.

     

    If you want it that simple, the pagoda looks fairly easy - just extrude a circle and scale each spline as you go up.

     

    The water could be a DarkTree material applied to a modelled waterfall.

  3. Welcome to a new fun world!

     

    Definitely what Robert says - do the tutorials in The Art of Animation Master first.

     

    I am surprised that you say that the David Rogers book does not have much modelling - it shows how to model and rig a complete person, who can be modified to look anime. Then the Toon Render will finish off the look.

     

    I think the book is very good.

     

    When I think of anime, which I know nothing about, except I like some of Miyazaki's movies, I think of this tutorial:

    http://dement3d.com/tutorials/

  4. What stage are you at, Dhar? It's looking great. A hard clip to get much out of. But you are so improving every time.

     

    I guess you haven't got to the eyebrows / eyes / blinks yet?

     

    My main observation is that I find the cheekbones distracting - they go up and down with the lip sync - is that intentional?

  5. To summarise - decals will stretch, materials will stay put.

     

    I asked myself that very same question yesterday - in that tread movie the material stayed put.

     

    But decals will stretch with the patches, as the decal is stamped to a patch.

  6. I always regard this as a challenge, as I don't have Photoshop, but the way cheaper Photoshop Elements, and I don't like buying plugins, as I would not know where to stop.

     

    I thought I would share, as in a year's time I will be searching for the answer and find this :D

     

    I'm not sure if I got it exactly, but I think I got the same effect on the alpha:

     

    1. Draw a black circle (vector) - this creates a new layer.

    3. Filter Menu > Gaussian Blur - (simplify layer when asked) - slide to haziness wanted. Click OK.

    4. Control Click on the layer picture to select the layer

    5. Select Menu > Save Selection

    6. Name selection and click OK.

    7. Delete the circle layer.

    8. Save as Tga 32 bit.

     

    I reckon it would work in Photoshop too, although there is the Quick Mask too, which would probably be quicker.

  7. No - I didn't change anything, just did exactly as listed.

     

    What A:M version are you on? I was using 15.

     

    Could it be the QT compression? What does the format show in Quicktime, Windows > Movie Inspector?

     

    Have you tried rendering to a .tga sequence, and using that as the animation. (When you import it, you select Images > Import > Animation or Sequence, and just choose the first .tga in the sequence, not all of them.)

     

    Ohhhh - The movie does not show for me until render time. You could try Shift Q, Render Lock Mode, and right click drag a box around the area. At that time it will show the corresponding QT frame for the time.

  8. Welcome to the A:M forum!

     

    You could look at A:M Films - many of these have been created by one person. Especially look at The Adventures of Briar Rose Trailer (under This Year).

     

    Remember Alien Song? I Will Survive? That movie was the first (or one of) sent around the internet in emails a gazillion times. Created in Animation:Master.

     

    You will also need a supporting texture program, such as Photoshop or The Gimp, or even Photoshop Elements, which is what I use. I haven't made a solo movie yet, and I've been learning about 18 months, but I believe that one day I will. (However, I also believe that I enjoy travelling more than reaching the destination)

     

    If you do it on your own, there's a lot to learn - modelling, rigging, textures, lighting, animation, camera direction, storyboarding, and others that I have forgotten. Animation is not easy - everybody would be doing it if it were.

     

    But if you enjoy it, or have a burning desire for fame, then go for it. Personally I think it is the most satisfying hobby I have ever had. Animation:Master makes it easy and affordable. I would never have been able to learn as much about animation as I have without A:M, and this forum.

     

    When you get stuck ask here for help and / or inspiration.

  9. The manual could help you here:

     

    http://www.hash.com/Technical_Reference/Te...l_Reference.htm

     

    Try a search on "apply decal"

     

    Applying a decal:

    http://www.hash.com/Technical_Reference/Cu...ing_a_Decal.htm

    Although where it says "double click a decal icon", I just normally import the image, then drag it onto the model.

     

    Restamping:

    http://www.hash.com/Technical_Reference/Cu...ED_DECALING.htm

     

    There's a section on the different types of maps too:

    http://www.hash.com/Technical_Reference/Ge.../DecalClipP.htm

  10. Johnl3d has described how to do it with materials, but, sorry for the heresy, John, you can also use decals for textures. It depends - some people find materials intimidating, and find decals easier. Materials are resolution independent, whereas if you zoom in on a decal it can look pixellated, or stretched. Materials take longer to render.

     

    A:M does texturing in much the same way as other 3d programs, using colour, bump, displacement, specular, etc maps. With a lot of practise, textures can make models look magnificent.

     

    Leigh van der Byl has some tutorials on texturing here:

    http://www.leighvanderbyl.com/tutorials.html

     

    The Texturing for Dummies will be of use to you, as it is explains bump mapping, and all the others, and does not reference any software in particular. UV mapping is another word for texturing.

     

    Rusty Williamson has written a very comprehensive A:M tutorial on mapping a face:

    http://www.virtualmediastudios.com/tuts/mapping/

    It's a brilliant tutorial with lots of pics, and shows flattening in preparation to adding decals. He describes how to make groups and then flatten them in an action, so as not to change the base model.

  11. Tricky - animated gradient material.

     

    I suggest you go through johnl3d's tutorial a number of times, because gradient combiners can be difficult to wrap your head around. Trial and Error.

     

    treadgradient.mov

     

    Key things to learn - when creating the gradient material, experiment with where the start and end of the gradient should be, so that you know how to animate it in the choreography.

     

    The model is a long flat square laid right across the camera, and does not move. The transparency of the material comes from half of the gradient combiner.

     

    In the choreography, you will need to click the Show More than Drivers icon to show the attributes of the material. Change the start and end of the gradient in the choreography only on frame zero, and the final frame. That way it will move at a constant speed across.

     

    Project:

    treadgradient.prj

  12. I don't think so, but you can show the time as frames rather than time - go to Tools Menu > Options > Units, and click the circle next to Frames Elapsed. That may be less confusing, as long as you remember how many frames per second.

     

    And they're not really cut in half - American standard, I believe is 24 fps.

  13. What about having a model which is just a square, which is the dark colour. Change the size of it in muscle mode in the choreography as the tank goes over it.

  14. I don't know anything about avi - is it necessary to use that format? .movs are very easy to work with, and you can use the arrow keys to go through one frame at a time, which you can't with avi. Also, with QT Pro, it is very easy to trim and loop.

     

    Do you have mpeg-4? On my short test I cut down from 288k (Animation) to 30k (mpeg-4)

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