Search the Community

Hello! Two questions in a single hour! Crazy! Anyway, I'm trying to create a beach ball sort of coloring pattern, and am running into a problem. I've tried selecting alternating columns, using the patch select tool, and by selecting CPs, but when I assign a color, it's affecting the entire ball. So, I tried applying the color to just one group, and then adding more patches to that group, and I can't seem to make that happen, either. When I select a patch on the next column, it does a kind of "select everything in between original group and new selection", kinda like shift-selecting an entire line or paragraph of text in a word document. Does the same thing if I try to Ctrl-Select. I then tried to set the entire ball to one color, then go back and use "Remove from Group" on the stripes I don't want in that color , and that seems to be affecting patches I'm not selecting as well. I don't see any option to select patches and then "add them to group". So, I'm kinda at a loss here, but I'm sure there's a way to do it. Here's a pic where I have at least one column colored, so you can see the way I'm looking to color it. I'd like it to have alternating blue and orange stripes. Thanks!

avi mp4 file in old post cartoonscatter1.prj decided to post new stuff here see next entry

Had an idea for a game for tablets/phones and was wondering if anyone here uses the Unity engine and can help produce it. Will need animators, texture artist, sounds. Idea is this: Zombie Taxi Driver. The idea is the player is the passenger, the driver is a zombie. You have a set amount of $$ that diminishes as time goes on (meter). You need to get from one end of a town to another before you run out of time/money. View would be inside in the back seat of the taxi and as you give directions the zombie would look in the rear view mirror and make a zombie groan. Controls would be slightly delayed since your directing which way to turn when to stop and when to go. Repeated tapping will distract the driver causing the reaction to be slower so there isn't any button mashing but takes more timing. Traffic can be random and the city would be very simplistic looking.

Rob, I imported your head model into my project just to see. I had to se-set settings, color etc. but it won't let me increase density above 100%. leaving for gig. I'll check when I get back

I watched the tech talk video. Also found an old Matt Campbell PDF tute in my files. Could you possibly zip the above project for me to download for study? That's the hair I'm after. (Or show screen shots of the Material and emitter settings)

robots.mov robots.zip this is probably posted somewhere else now I have another idea to use this project ...going to try attaching camera to one of the robots ....

finished. https://vimeo.com/77494185

This is a random question for you guys/ gals. Anyone interested in modelling/ rigging the Jonny Quest(1964 original series) Characters?? :)

Here is what we might expect to see in the console window if our project file is set to render 24 frames: This is a batch file running with the following variables: "F:\runme.bat" "Pool1.rpl" "TheJob" "06/24/2024 12:56 AM" 25 " 0:01:26" "F:\am\renderfolder" program F:\runme.bat (batch file) pool Pool1.rpl job TheJob time 06/24/2024 12:56 AM frames 25 elapsedtime 0:01:26 outputfolder F:\am\renderfolder ffmpeg version N-112991-g081d69b78d-20231215 Copyright (c) 2000-2023 the FFmpeg developers built with gcc 13.2.0 (crosstool-NG 1.25.0.232_c175b21) configuration: --prefix=/ffbuild/prefix --pkg-config-flags=--static --pkg-config=pkg-config --cross-prefix=x86_64-w64-mingw32- --arch=x86_64 --target-os=mingw32 --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --disable-debug --enable-shared --disable-static --disable-w32threads --enable-pthreads --enable-iconv --enable-libxml2 --enable-zlib --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-gmp --enable-lzma --enable-fontconfig --enable-libharfbuzz --enable-libvorbis --enable-opencl --disable-libpulse --enable-libvmaf --disable-libxcb --disable-xlib --enable-amf --enable-libaom --enable-libaribb24 --enable-avisynth --enable-chromaprint --enable-libdav1d --enable-libdavs2 --disable-libfdk-aac --enable-ffnvcodec --enable-cuda-llvm --enable-frei0r --enable-libgme --enable-libkvazaar --enable-libaribcaption --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libjxl --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopus --enable-librist --enable-libssh --enable-libtheora --enable-libvpx --enable-libwebp --enable-lv2 --enable-libvpl --enable-openal --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenh264 --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopenmpt --enable-librav1e --enable-librubberband --enable-schannel --enable-sdl2 --enable-libsoxr --enable-libsrt --enable-libsvtav1 --enable-libtwolame --enable-libuavs3d --disable-libdrm --enable-vaapi --enable-libvidstab --enable-vulkan --enable-libshaderc --enable-libplacebo --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxavs2 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzimg --enable-libzvbi --extra-cflags=-DLIBTWOLAME_STATIC --extra-cxxflags= --extra-ldflags=-pthread --extra-ldexeflags= --extra-libs=-lgomp --extra-version=20231215 libavutil 58. 33.100 / 58. 33.100 libavcodec 60. 35.100 / 60. 35.100 libavformat 60. 18.100 / 60. 18.100 libavdevice 60. 4.100 / 60. 4.100 libavfilter 9. 14.100 / 9. 14.100 libswscale 7. 6.100 / 7. 6.100 libswresample 4. 13.100 / 4. 13.100 libpostproc 57. 4.100 / 57. 4.100 Input #0, image2, from 'F:\am\renderfolder\image.%04d.png': Duration: 00:00:00.83, start: 0.000000, bitrate: N/A Stream #0:0: Video: png, rgb48be(pc, gbr/unknown/unknown), 200x200, 30 fps, 30 tbr, 30 tbn File 'F:\am\renderfolder\output.mp4' already exists. Overwrite? [y/N] y Stream mapping: Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (png (native) -> h264 (libx264)) Press [q] to stop, [?] for help [libx264 @ 0000023141102c80] using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast SSSE3 SSE4.2 AVX FMA3 BMI2 AVX2 [libx264 @ 0000023141102c80] profile High, level 1.2, 4:2:0, 8-bit [libx264 @ 0000023141102c80] 264 - core 164 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2023 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=3 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x3:0x113 me=hex subme=7 psy=1 psy_rd=1.00:0.00 mixed_ref=1 me_range=16 chroma_me=1 trellis=1 8x8dct=1 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 fast_pskip=1 chroma_qp_offset=-2 threads=6 lookahead_threads=1 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1 interlaced=0 bluray_compat=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=2 b_adapt=1 b_bias=0 direct=1 weightb=1 open_gop=0 weightp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=40 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=40 rc=crf mbtree=1 crf=23.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=0 qpmax=69 qpstep=4 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00 Output #0, mp4, to 'F:\am\renderfolder\output.mp4': Metadata: encoder : Lavf60.18.100 Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p(tv, progressive), 200x200, q=2-31, 30 fps, 15360 tbn Metadata: encoder : Lavc60.35.100 libx264 Side data: cpb: bitrate max/min/avg: 0/0/0 buffer size: 0 vbv_delay: N/A [out#0/mp4 @ 000002313eec1500] video:28kB audio:0kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 3.984505% frame= 25 fps=0.0 q=-1.0 Lsize= 29kB time=00:00:00.76 bitrate= 313.7kbits/s speed=16.6x [libx264 @ 0000023141102c80] frame I:1 Avg QP:23.13 size: 2367 [libx264 @ 0000023141102c80] frame P:13 Avg QP:27.04 size: 1478 [libx264 @ 0000023141102c80] frame B:11 Avg QP:27.13 size: 606 [libx264 @ 0000023141102c80] consecutive B-frames: 28.0% 40.0% 0.0% 32.0% [libx264 @ 0000023141102c80] mb I I16..4: 34.3% 42.0% 23.7% [libx264 @ 0000023141102c80] mb P I16..4: 0.6% 7.0% 1.4% P16..4: 22.9% 26.1% 15.0% 0.0% 0.0% skip:26.9% [libx264 @ 0000023141102c80] mb B I16..4: 0.2% 1.8% 0.2% B16..8: 37.1% 17.4% 5.5% direct: 1.9% skip:35.8% L0:40.8% L1:43.2% BI:16.0% [libx264 @ 0000023141102c80] 8x8 transform intra:63.2% inter:61.5% [libx264 @ 0000023141102c80] coded y,uvDC,uvAC intra: 62.8% 63.9% 34.4% inter: 24.8% 18.5% 3.2% [libx264 @ 0000023141102c80] i16 v,h,dc,p: 72% 1% 18% 8% [libx264 @ 0000023141102c80] i8 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu: 31% 9% 21% 10% 4% 7% 3% 6% 9% [libx264 @ 0000023141102c80] i4 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu: 24% 16% 23% 6% 7% 10% 5% 3% 7% [libx264 @ 0000023141102c80] i8c dc,h,v,p: 59% 13% 20% 7% [libx264 @ 0000023141102c80] Weighted P-Frames: Y:0.0% UV:0.0% [libx264 @ 0000023141102c80] ref P L0: 80.0% 15.9% 2.9% 1.1% [libx264 @ 0000023141102c80] ref B L0: 95.0% 5.0% [libx264 @ 0000023141102c80] ref B L1: 99.5% 0.5% [libx264 @ 0000023141102c80] kb/s:271.08 MP4 file created successfully. Creating zip archive of PNG images a image.0000.png a image.0001.png a image.0002.png a image.0003.png a image.0004.png a image.0005.png a image.0006.png a image.0007.png a image.0008.png a image.0009.png a image.0010.png a image.0011.png a image.0012.png a image.0013.png a image.0014.png a image.0015.png a image.0016.png a image.0017.png a image.0018.png a image.0019.png a image.0020.png a image.0021.png a image.0022.png a image.0023.png a image.0024.png Zip archive created successfully: F:\am\renderfolder\imagesTheJob.zip Deleting original PNG files PNG images archived and original files deleted

.

Welcome.prj

That is some great history information. Thank you. I’m surprised by the fact that the variety of the .prj scene files wasn’t as big as I expected, but still some of these look interesting. Could you please show me some Shaded/Wireframe screenshots and final renders of “Jumper”, “Moonscape” and “roof top mayhem”? I guess this is what I was mainly thinking about. Well, I know the fact that the majority of the character models from that timeframe were characters from the “Why does the wind blow?” short film, but I guess that the rest of the content in that category was varying during that time (a lot of the models and especially the “realistic”, “anime” and “vehicles” categories), right? That’s strange. I even thought the scene with the two dragons (which was seen on the cover of the second edition of the Animation Master handbook by Jeff Paries) would also be included. This probably means that at the time they were released as separate models without a .prj file? I know I saw the tree model from that scene being used as a bush for an animated project from 1998 before (which might have been created using version 6). Also, what was the list of the motion capture files that were included? And in case you don't feel I'm asking for too much, what did the models which were coming from the tutorials folder look like, as well as the more refined of the “realistic”, “anime” and “vehicles” models (that weren’t included in the Extras CD) in AM2000? I would like to see screen captures of some in Shaded/Wireframe mode.

Sprite starlet.tga it acts strange showing only edges getting color flowera.prj project file flowera.mov 32 bit version qt flowera.avi 64 bit version avi

Thank you, Robert. Thank you, Fuchur. Banding -- a soft slit, that's an excellent idea. I will play with that. Not sure what a render "preset" is, other than the settings contained in the Cho file I posted. (I don't use Projects in my projects, that's why I posted individual files...). Re: EXR and exposure: A few years ago, I was working on a project with Rob Blalack and we discussed using EXR for something we were trying to do, but that's as far as it went; and that is the limit of my understanding of EXR -- very limited. I have found that a broad range of Keylight intensities works, with varying degrees of success; same is true for Pass and Blur values; to a large degree it is a matter of taste. I am very, very curious to know if there is another way to do the slit-scan technique in A:M without using MUFOOF...

Did you know... There are more than 12 different ways to add a spherical shape or model into a project in A:M? (and there are a few more when we consider the variations on those). Here are some basic approaches: - Double Click on a Sphere in the Library - Drag and Drop a Sphere from the Library to the Choreography window - Drag and Drop from anywhere in your computers file system or desktop into A:M - Use the Primitive Wizard - Import a Sphere Model (via one of the many different ways possible) - Import a Sphere Prop (STL, 3DS, OBJ, etc.) - Borrow the Sphere from another project (copy/paste from Model to Model) - Use the Duplicator Wizard (also very useful for creating partial sphere meshes) - Create the sphere out of Light - Fake the sphere via a 5 point circular patch - Fake the sphere via standard patches - Composite the sphere into your scene via image/bitmap - Fake or create the sphere via Font or Adobe Illustrator wizard (bezier curves/vector graphics) - Ask someone in the A;M forum if you can borrow their sphere for your project And last but not least is number er...15... Model the sphere via the classic lathe technique. I'm sure I've forgotten a couple and I haven't included any method I haven't used yet (such as creating the sphere via data in Excel). Where/if there is interest we can explore each one of these methods in detail. This isn't just about adding spheres into a project. Knowing more about these basic processes can open new avenues of approach to solving problems and improve workflow over all.

From the folks behind Animation Mentor (Bobby Beck, Shawn Kelly and Carlos Beana) comes a new online collaboration platform; Artella. There's not a lot of info at present but the Artella FAQs suggest the goal is to make it something of a GITHUB for creative projects. One of the primary motivations appears to be that many folks want to get involved in creative projects but not everyone can do that for a living (i.e. there are only so many paying jobs to go around). What do you do with all that knowledge and experience? How do you keep from losing motivation? What exactly do you do with your talent? Additional info: - Creators maintain all rights to their projects. - Project content is stored on Artella servers. The big question is how much will belonging to Artella cost? No word on that yet. Artella plans to go live in late 2015. http://www.artella.com/ (I might need to start a separate forum area just for all the various online collaboration services that are popping up these days)

quetzalcoatl

Hi freaks! After a pretty long abscence from Animation Master, we finally did a project again with a whole lot of A:M usage involved. It's a (web-) commercial for a company called "Lieferheld" (which some of you might know as "Delivery Hero"). All characters have been modelled, rigged, shaded, animated and rendered with A:M, backgrounds have been created with softimage and Modo. We kindly invite you to have a look at it: Lots of greetings, Elm.

The first time i opened the it froze. then i just imorted the part individually and it all seemed to load. I closed all thje projects then selected to open ythe project and it all worked Using 19.5a selecting the project from the file caused the opened to file the vase mole and froze using 19.5a and 19.0

Hello Hashers- In the beginning of the sequence the volumetric beam reaches all the way to the ground plane but as the project continues (frames 30-60) the beam breaks up and doesn't reach the ground. Can anyone figure the problem? VolumetricTest.prj

track.mov track.zip Stay on track.....

Hello, Will helped/pointed me in the right direction to get shadows on a rotoscope image. Grabbed an image from the net, slapped my giraffe on it ... I did a search on the forum, and found a great pic of the settings that robcat2075 added to the forum.... How do I get strong shadows in my images. I played with various settings, and the shadows actually got worse. Is it a ground thing, or is a light thing? confused.

I have often wondered if particle emission rates are per patch or per group. Your test project is a good chance to examine this. First, however, I'll note that the two squares in the Chor are not quite equal. DenseMesh is about 100 cm across while SimpleMesh is about 150cm across then scaled down to 62%. Scaling an object will scale the particles it emits so that may explain why Simple has sharper corners than Dense... If I edit the squares so that both are 100 cm across and both 100% scaled in the chor, they are starting to look much more similar... The emission rate in the Sprite Emitter is set to "1000"... It's possible that is so high that an overload of sprites is masking any difference between the two results. I'm going to scale that value down by adjusting the Emission rate in the Sprite System. This value is always a percentage, not a count. Why are there two controls for... the same thing? It is possible to have more than one "Sprite Emitter" as children of the "Sprite System". For example a fire material might have a flame sprite, a smoke sprite and a spark sprite, each with its peculiar settings for many of the parameters we see in "Sprite Emitter". Having these percentage settings in the "Sprite System" lets us uniformly scale the whole effect without needing to edit each emitter. With the emission rates scaled down to 1% we can observe the sprites being born... Frame 0: Frame 5 Frame 10: Frame 15: Frame 20: Frame 25: Even though DenseMesh has 25 times more patches than SimpleMesh, both seem to be putting out an equal number of particles. This is the opposite of what I expected. I thought the number of particles would increase with the number of patches. I thought the lumpy result your original PRJ had for SimpleMesh was because it had fewer sprites to blend together, but it was really because they were scaled smaller and perhaps had less overlap among the sprites. Thanks for inquiring, Tom!

http://premiereclip.adobe.com/videos/GwoAtou7EY5 I have no other information on this but realtime facial motion capture is always going to be a useful thing. I suppose the real trick would be to export the captured data for usage elsewhere (such as in A:M). For those of you that use Adobe CC, they are accepting signup for beta testing. DIsclaimer: The video was taken by an audience member so the audio is pretty rough. Here's a bit more from their site: This relates to something I was trying to set up in A:M a few years ago. Not facial capture from a webcam... that is way beyond me... but driving bones/motion via Group Names, which is something A:M almost does already as Named Groups can correspond to CP assignment with bones. As I'm no programmer I left off when I ran up against the need to automate the process of programatically assigning those Grouped Names to Bones. In short, I wasn't up to doing the actual work.

Running a test with the Sprites material and the question is, does the patch count effect the "look" of the material emissions? Here is a picture of two meshes (project attached) and the denser mesh seems to have a smoother looking cloud... It would seem that the more patches, the "busier" the picture would be but this is not the case.. Can anyone explain this phenomenon? (BTW- the picture is from 30 rendered.) CloudSpriteNewTests.prj CloudletDisc.tga CloudletDiscDarker2.tga