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Wow. I like your new poster. Really professional and classy looking. Set it as my new desktop background This sounds like a really ambitious project. Hope it works out for you! -Andrew

Hi Frank! Nice work, and I hope you,that I will see your project in one of animations! Sharky

Hi all, i´ve started a project to descripe a future town as they thought of it in the beginning of the 20th Century. Here´s the first complete Picture.

thanks guys I would like to do a flower tute, but it will probably take a while to get completed. The flower I originally built back in version 8.5 so I'm a little slow in getting things done. :-) I am finding that through exercises like the flower I am modelling more for how the material will be applied to the geometry and then using poses to pull the model back into its correct shape. Which is good for a flower since the petals go through a bit of change. I have a character for the project I am working on which is basically a cylinder and a set of flat grids. The poses do all the work. Its a plant character and hopefully we will have some samples up in the next couple of months. I think I will need a bigger render farm before doing some shorts with the frog. I wanted to get some sound onto them before posting them to A:M Films. But I probably won't get a chance. I would like to post a version with less compression as well.

Obnomauk - great job u guys have done here, very funny characters.. Good luck on the project.

You only sent the displacement tiff file....no bmps. I converted the tiff into a bmp in Photoshop. Then when AM asks for the bmp(it thinks it's a texture not displacement map) I chose this. In AM I changed the image type to displacement. But you can do that with the texture. Then to apply the displacement map, do this: Import the bmp drag it onto the model as a decal right click and change it's type to displacement Apply the image The displacement type will automatically apply the correct UVs. I should add this is the way to do it in v11. I hope you downloaded it. Also, at the moment there is a problem with preserving the uvs in objs after you save the project. It will be fixed next release.

Rich, I'm not smart enough when it comes to rigging so I didn't initially comment. I did have one of those "eureka" moments when I saw and downloaded your project though. Unlike most true "eureka" moments where one then trots off to apply the new knowledge to a project, I remain in a useless state of not being able to anything with the information you've presented. I'm sure others can do that though. So all I can say is "Wow, that is cool!" And I'll leave it at that. Thanks!

Rich; That's a great rig! As an aside: Noel once spent some time trying to get the "motion capture" plug-in to convert Actions created for one rig to work on another. There have been a couple of new rigs lately that make me want to resurrect that project. Keep up the good work. Sincerely, Martin Hash

Hi, I've been rigging a character for about six weeks now and finally got the hard part done. I used NO smartskin or expressions with these bones, only the constraints. I started with a simple idea... create a control rig for the mesh, what I'm saying is create a rig that reacts to the primary rig (i.e. the bicep/forearm control the bones that deform the elbow.). The first problem was to build a rig that could be placed around the primary bones- just like it was a mesh, contouring the mesh. I had to do a test using a tube to figure out the position and constraints that would make the bones move in reaction to the main bones. Then turning on the bone falloff and tweaking it til I can get a nice overlap to the bone next to that one. *It's sortof like the distortion mode tool--> it's a cage around your character that moves the cps that this segment is closest to, and while doing that the cps farther away(outside that region) are affected less and less the farther out of that region they are.* Understand? well heres the animation link (480kb- .mpg): AnimationRigTest I also have the project file with the model and action in it. Sorry, no chor setup. I'm not a person experienced in tut making--it would be a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG tut. So I offer the actual digs to you to play with so you can see the result.... there are only constraints and bones driving the mesh, most of it is reputicious.*Note: if you want to try for yourself you have to turn off "HideRigBones" relationship. If you want to see the entire secondary rig (it's really heavy in bones and hard to see individual bones) turn off "HideCages" relationship. Also you'll notice that there are on/off poses for each section of the limbs and torso... beware: I haven't fully riggied the forarms or the neck and head, yet. It is HERE (1.78 Mb- .prj): ProjectFile:KaractorKage Disclaimer: 1.) Use the rig anywhere you want-- but if you use the mesh, at least change the head or the face... after all, it's the main character of my story. 2.) Don't tell anyone you got it from me. 3.) If you encounter any problems- it's just a test! The rigging technic is the reason for me giving you the prj... it's easier than making a tut. 4.) It was created with A:M, version 11 beta10.

Three animations I have been playing with over the last couple of years in the gallery at http://members.optusnet.com.au/~s_bruce/index.html Its the first time I have thrown a web page up so hopefully it all works. They are all exercises I have used to learn AM for another project. Although I am tempted to do some shorts with the frog. The Aloevera flower spike is 2 models. The stem and a bud which is attached to it 80 times. Took a while to render but not as bad as the frog which averaged 2.5 hrs per frame. I did have the frog down to 30 minutes per frame using a multipass light rig but had some problems with artifacts on displacement maps so dropped back to one of Yves Poissant's excellent multi light rigs. I used the core AM procedural materials (should work on mac and pc) for the frogs eye and thought the eye model might be useful to the AM community. The eye rig allowed for the pupil to be manipulated into a frog or cats eye, square or circular shape. It does increase the render times a bit. Look in downloads on the above web site. And thanks to the AM community for the tutes, plugins, and discussion. I would have been stuck otherwise.

actually, Thats a mistake. We didn't do this animation. This was done by one of the other animators on the paw island project if I recall correctly. We did do 3 in house test animations of KeeKat, but this isn't one of them. I'm looking to see if we can find the tests some place so that thy could be added to A:M films.

The final (and I mean final) versions of both Coffee? and No-One... can now be seen on A:M FILMS. The project files are now closed and have gone to their last resting place - the archive on my other drive.... Now.... what's next?...........

Now that A:M Films is online, everyone can see exactly what I was referring to concerning the talent put into the Paw Island project. Beautiful stuff! I was truly saddened when I learned the project was terminated. This awesome look at what can be done in Animation:Master still remains though... for that I'm grateful. Paw Island trailer on A:M Films A behind the scenes "making of" may still be available via one of the first SIGGRAPH Pro Series video tapes.

I watched the film, and it does ROCK! That's awesome! I can see why it took two years. You put a LOT into that film, and, really, if you can take out the non-Star Wars sound (e.g. Terminator, Star Trek) it really should be submitted to the Fan Film Awards. The deadline is June 15. I would submit my own entry but I, too, used some non-SW music and I can't really extract it and replace it with something appropriate that is SW. Jane's Addiction and John Williams are just too disparate. Anyway, I REALLY like the opening scroll! That's such a tough thing to duplicate. I have a friend who has been doing fan films for a while now and he still hasn't figured it out in After Effects. I'll have to show him how to do it in Premiere. I noticed that you 'blended' the sound to shorten the opening scroll. Very innovative. That 1 minute and 25 seconds is really an eternity! (Yes, I know the length is actually 1 m 24.5 seconds, but I'm rounding, okay? ) You might want to let the words fade out a little deeper in the background. Also, the opening STAR WARS logo fades out completely before the scroll starts. Nitpicky, I know, but the extra 5 or 6 seconds it takes will really give it that Star Wars flavor and make it feel like it isn't quite so rushed. On sound: the music and the action sounds were A-W-E-S-O-M-E! They were really clear, well placed (like the panning of the sound of the starship going by) and LOUD just like action sounds should be! There was no crackle, the crackle that for some reason creeps in during editing, especially on modified sound files. Alack and alas, though, the Enemy of the Sound Mixer is always actors who can't project their voice or are encumbered by masks. You have a choice there: putting a microphone on a boom (and risking boom shadow), having actors speak their lines loudly (and risk ruining the drama of the scene), or doing dialog replacement and risk having the sound be out of joint. The first option can be mitigated with either a wireless microphone or lighting, both of which can get expensive, FAST! The second choice is a matter of director's choice and timing. The third option has a really nifty gimmick that a friend taught me: ambient noise. When doing dialog replacement you're often in a sound-controlled room, even if it's just your den with the door closed and the mini-fridge turned off. Your actors, though, are often right in front of the microphone and so the dialog will come out nice and clean and clear, with little or no ambient noise. Thus, what you do when you're filming a scene where you're sure you'll be doing ADR is you take a few moments to record some ambient noise, nobody talking, nothing in the background, etc. and just loop it in your sound track while piecing it together. This way, your dialog always sounds like an original recording. Getting actors to sync their dialog perfectly, though, can be a trick unto itself. BE PATIENT! It always takes more than one take to get it right, and can sometimes take 20, 30, or more! The results, though, are worth it when your dialog is loud and clear, so the exposition and plot points can be easily understood. I'll have to watch it again to catch the plot. I got a call in the middle of watching it and it confused me for a bit, especially where the Assassin was being held up by the guy he shot, the Merchant? Anyway, the action is awesome, and I can't believe the lengths you went to to get Boba Fett in your picture! I guess I'm spoiled, with three different legions of the 501st and so many costuming groups in my area. Kudos on the film!

Ok so, I'm working on a school project and I'm having some trouble. I haven't had too much experience in the choreography window. I have an action where my character is walking (and its constrained to a path). Then I want him to stop and do another action. What I've been doing is importing the other action after the first one is complete. But instead of stopping, both actions end up occuring on the same path. And instead of the first action finishing at the end of the path, it finishes in the middle. And the part where he is supposed to stop ends up taking place over the rest of the path. I tried to explain it clearly. If anyone can help I would greatly appreciate it a lot. Thanks Robert Lazzarini (P.S> would anyone know how to make a website or if there is any place where I can post short actions I've made?)

zacktaich - Thanks I will see if I can use the old Lev Vy ....... littleandy - Thanks for your feedback, yeah it's bigger than I thought it would be... but my new designs makes it faster and easier to move the project along.. I am really loving this.... here is a concept girl fish am working on...... more to come....

Haha, I like this guy! Seems more normal and less creepy than the others. And the expression on his face right now seems perfect for a nice little fish surrounded by odd looking things... Nice work! P.S. This is really turning into an insanely long project, huh? -Andrew

Hi guys, After working on my project for a while I realized that the characters I created would NOT give me the freedom I need to express the story I wanted to tell.... I needed a simpler more different approach... the more you learn the more you realize what works and what does not... So I re-designed the look and feel of my entire short, I decided to go after a simple design and a more cartoon appearence. This will allow me alot more freedom which I need to tell my story... I will keep my old fishes for maybe later use in some other project... The characters will be as followed: Lev Vy, Bliv Vy-(Lev Vy's Godmother), Swazi- (LEv Vy's friend), and the doctor.... right now I only have Swazi modeled.. I will have more soon.

Hi Hashers Here I am again whit little updates Slowly I am continuing my project... I had a lot of difficulty in finding sounds for my cars, then I solved make them The only instrument that I used was my mouth and some software effects.. The result of this test can be found here : ( AVI divx 1.5Mb 12 sec ) Sound test IMPORTANT:To link works copy and paste it in your browser .. Just to rememebr all lost pictures to this project are here: Lost pictures All comments are wellcome, as usual... Cheers Xtaz

Okay I downloaded the project called autosquash and modified it from here http://users.hol.gr/~sogou/animaster/expressions.htm I had the ball bounces with a rigid body simulation then had the x scaled to the y position in the simulation very simple but this was very easy 1express.mov

I think I better go back to bed already. What's the point? The day has already peaked! :) Thank you all so much! The walk took a while to get right, and I wish the texture of background made the camera move look clearer. Maybe something to fix if I can face opening the project again. And as for A:M films.... as soon as the submission form is up, I'm there.

LOL - Well... now that you mention it... I am considering a section towards the end. It'll need a bit of pruning and maybe even some advanced editing but....er... I'll keep ya posted. Would that be the one song that has the refrain "The chances of anything coming from mars is a 1000 to one?" (or something like that, it's been years since I listened to it --way back in the daze of vinyl). The possibilities for this song is kinda good, imho. BTW, is this album on CD? Alla sudden I want to listen to it and the first 2 albums by the Allan Parsons Project (the Raven and I Robot, iirc) -- Orginally I bought all three at the same time and they are linked in my mind. Suddenly the thought of doing a video for "Mr. Tarr and Professor Tether" (I think that's the title ) sounds really fun... mike r.

The primary reason I didn't use a standard chromakey color on the can is because with my initial tests, yellow and greenish colors especially the neon ones bled onto the hands. On purpose, I selected the same color as the primary color of the can. At the time, I thought I was going to use cookie cutter method, but that Alpha blur technique rocks! I don't think project would look the way it now does without that suggestion. I think the 'cut out the hand' part, though done with mag lasso and wand is about as perfect as it can get. I think if it was green, the green would bleed through part of the blur. Though I understand for keying out a color for a mask it is a pain. I took the time to do it though on Saturday, before I saw the lastest post on actions. I do thank you for the time. I want to spend time when I am wide awake (as opposed to right now) to really study what you did, because I am sure it has good application. Now that I am on to getting the can to match the hand movements I am finding a new pain in the arse. I really DO wish I had marked a bullseye on the middle uppermost part of the can or something so I can track it for placement easier. I have seem to spend as much or more getting placement right than selecting the hands. Would be cool if there were a mini version of Icarus for AM, just so you can monitor the live action pixels and constrain the X and Y (I can handle Z) of a CG model with it. Kinda a constrain to live action feature. Here the attached is the latest with ALL 38 frames! Compressed into DIVX format. Work to be done: can placement (?! - I have seen this 1 second footage for sooo long, I'm really not sure how much more I can do to change), definately shadow work under the hands - perspective isn't right though I haven't spent much time on it yet, getting focus/lighting right -- I think it's about there - maybe just minor adjustments. Enjoy! My daughter has 14.59 minutes of fame left! Rob Milliken finaldivx.zip

Doug, Thanks for retaining some interest! I do think about My Robot Movie from time to time but don't want to waste anyone time's any more than necessary... I keep hoping to get a day or two to concentrate on both this WIP and the Cybergirl WIP with Javier. I am closing in on a scheduling solution... have to as I haven't been creating much at all. I've never been one to work on parts of a problem... then go back and finish it at a later date. Usually I go for the whole thing in one sitting approach. My Robot Movie is one of my first attempts to break a project down and add to it on a regular basis. I haven't been doing so great at that lately though, have I? Finding that early pic..... and posts like yours are bringing me back! Thanks for that!!!

Greasy more like! I do eat them sober too... always feel I've eaten a tub of lard afterwards... Have you slipped a slightly newer version in since I last looked? This one has the changes in I was gonna suggest It's a lovely peice of work, thing is you could do variations to it like a space picture in the background, a martian watching etc... and it could go on. Funny that you have that spaceship in woking, we have a painting of one in Bromley High Street where Jules Vern was born - I'll photograph it next time I'm there I must admit watching your piece several times has inspired me to get me finger out on me own project. I just realised that you didn't sneak a newer version in 'J' was the latest - I must have eaten too many kebabs - 'BURP' - or was it something I drank…