Tralfaz

Thanks Largento. I will check them out. Installed my old A:M 14c on my PC tonight. I am running WIndows 7 and had a bit of a hard time finding the Visual Studio 2003 redistributable DLLs, but got it sorted out. Taking me a little while getting accustomed to things again. Will probably go through the exercises in The Art Of Animation:Master again. Still waiting to find out if I can get the trial version of the newest A:M. Until then, will keep up with my old software.

Thanks once again folks. I've put in a request for a trial version and will check things out once I get the new version. I was checking my model folder and I still have all my old A:M projects I worked on. Very cool. Thanks David. I found the two manuals and will go over them again. Also found the old exercise videos to help refresh my brain on how things work.

Thanks for the quick response folks. If I do come back to A:M, then I would most likely be giving up the polygon modeling. It's just that I have so many models that I have made and rigged right now, it would be kind of hard to say good bye to them. But, this might just be the way to go in order to do the animations that I want to. I suppose I could still use FaceGen and/or Poser to create human characters, then bring them into A:M, and use the Snap To Surface to recreate the model in A:M. I still suck at organic modeling. I would imagine the renderer has improved from when I used it. Does it support things like sub surface scattering, ambient occlusion and global illumination? Actually, is there a manual I can download which would probably answer a lot of my questions instead of bothering you folks?

Hi, Not sure if this is the right place to ask this stuff. If not, feel free to move it to the proper location. I used to use A:M a number of years ago and moved on to polygon modeling (yes, I know polygon isn't a nice word around here). I want to get into doing some animations and am looking back at A:M again. I remember how easy it was to rig and weight a character was and especially to animate it. So, my questions are: 1) In the software that I am currently using, I have the ability to move a point along an edge without having to guess where to place it. Does A:M have anything that would allow you to move a control point along the surface of a spline? 2) Also, in the software that I am using, it has a knife tool (which I use quite a bit, especially looping when cutting). Is there anything like that in A:M now where you can cut through a patch without messing up the geometry? 3) Does the dictionary still exist for lip syncing a character to dialogue in an audio track? 4) Man, it's been so long I just can't remember. It is possible to render in HD format and quality? 5) I think I remember reading about being able to import an OBJ model, then create patches directly over the polygons. What you are left with is an animateable patch model and you can delete the OBJ model. Am I correct on this? 6) I have an Intel I5 computer with 12GB RAM and a mid-range NVidia graphics card. Do you foresee any issues with performance in modeling complex scenes or rendering? 7) Are there any gotcha's that I am not thinking of or should be aware of if I come back to A:M? Thanks in advance... Al

I loaded my old version of A:M (actually 14.c, not 13) and was looking at the materials. I see where you can set diffuse color, etc., but can you use diffuse maps, specular maps, bump maps, etc? My memory isn't what it used to be. Al

Thanks everyone. I've been using a poly modeling program for the past couple of years and have gotten used to all of the tools and shortcuts. It will be a bit of a learning curve again to get used to patch modeling. Animating in A:M is so easy from what I remember and nothing else comes close! Al

Thanks for all the info folks. Lots to digest and see where my path will take me. Al

I am looking at coming back into the fold but was hoping some of you could answer a few questions for me. Back on v13, A:M used to really slow down if I had 10K patches or more. With the newest version (especially the 64bit), has this been taken care of or does it still slow down at 10K? If I purchase the v16, does that still qualify me for the v17 beta? What type of improvements have been made since v13? Ummm... I guess those are really the main questions I had to ask. BTW, last I heard, Martin had gone on a safari, returned but was rarely heard from. Hope things are going okay for him and he is still involved with A:M. Oh yeah, I had to laugh when I found myself in IMDB for doing some foley work on TWO! Pretty cool. Thanks in advance... Al

Shades of "Zombies Of The Stratosphere"! Excellent work again Robert.

Hmmmm..... sounds like a very profitable lawsuit here....

"Sweet Enola Gay!" Not another Half-Century Club" member!? Hope you have a great birthday David. Sit back in the lazy chair and have all your family members wait on you hand and foot, cause this is your special day. Al

Argggg...... a half-century. Been there and it isn't as bad as everyone says... Seriously, Happy Birthday Robert. From one who has seen 50 and is now approaching the double nickel! Al

That looks great Eric. Well worth the wait. Al

OOOOOHHHH... It's the next day now, and I can hardly wait to see the animation! Looking forward to seeing it Eric. Al

Yup! That sounds like an Irwin Allen production! The big mossy monsters, space creatures and time travel don't come in until later though.... Al