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Windows versions can be found here: 2004 CDROM (Orangutan) dongle (HASP) Version Multi-User Dongle Version FTP area V11.0 Features V11.0 Online Technical Reference V11.0 requires dongles to be programmed for year 2004. If you receive a hasp or "No Authorization" error you will need to have your dongle upgraded for the 2004 subscription. Contact upgrades@hash.com for more info. Run the RUS Utility to get your HASP ID#. After receiving an update code from support@hash.com you can use this utility to flash the HASP. ----- Fixes since last version. Fixed problems right clicking in tools options rendering advanced with no project open Fixed problems with multiple hair systems and object collisions {Jack West} Fixed problems with shader plugins {Jeff Lee} Fixed problems with loading embedded objects before a linked object saved with an older version {Weg} Fixed rotated model bones making bounds incorrect fixes clipping problems {Silvio Terra} Fixed problems with reflections and environment map materials {Zak Taich} Fixed specular color not set on model, but set on group. {Hiromoto Akinori, Maruyama Akinori} Fixed problems turning off maniputlator properties while editing one of its properties {Silvio Terra} Highly curved 5 point patches no longer obscure the hair. {Jeffrey Bolle} Surface constraint targets will include the chosen bone and all child bones. {David Rogers} Muscle motion on patches with hair does not affect how many or where hairs are emitted. {John Keates} Grouping masses in dynamics mode, and no model chosen no longer crashes. {Kalle-Samuli Riihikoski, Dick Johnson} When the dynamic options of hair are set, channels are no longer created. {Silvio Terra} Copy/Paste Bone rotation not working properly. Compensate mode not working properly when adding constraint. Can't see NULL Objects when in shaded view in Skeletal mode. Can't see TVSafe in shaded mode. Timeline expanded state remembered Changed snap to frame to be default in timeline (No longer need Snap Grid on), to snap to sub frames hold down CTRL key. Turn will turn around last selected object in chor if nothing is selected. Added Hide in Timeline list for sounds Sounds can be dragged into folders under a chor Timeline remembers composite or channel state Selecting children of choractions makes choraction the current action Fixed crash when you render to file of a file that is open in another program like an AVI or Quicktime Deleting a chor will delete folders within it. Fixed switching between actions not keep last frame in the frame edit ctrl for that action. All objects from the objects folder drag properly into a chor in the pws.

Tell us some more about how the new versions are a better experience / more fun. Also if it requires more computer power / resources. Regards, -SB I started with v13 (I think) which wasn't great for stability but now v17 is very stable. Forum help with trouble shooting will be easier with a more current version. Much faster render times now. Netrender. If you have more than one CPU core or indeed more than one computer you can connect to, V17 and up comes with Netrender for free which can dramatically cut down render times! Snap To Surface Tool in v17 for modeling. Basically it allows you to load a poly model as a 3D rotascope to model over. And there's more but this is what sprang to mind first As for computer specs; Having masses of RAM is not greatly important. I'v typically used only 1GB maybe 2GB at most. A:M just isn't that hungry for it. A fast CPU though is always, always a good thing to have!

If you want to use it for the snap to surface tool, have you tried importing it as a prop? Otherwise, for now... if it works in v16, import it there, save the MDL and reload that in v17

Hi there, i continue with my questions: If i understand it right, in V17 i can load .OBJ, and remodell them with the snap to surface function, right? How complex can the .OBJs be? Next question: Even in polygonland, a quad is now the best thing to have. I learned to model with quads only, and where you use a 5 pointer in AM, you have five quads coming together. My question: Is there another way to make such a region appear smooth other than using the porcelain material? Best regards, Heiner

Hi Heiner, I don't know if you have already seen this but Fuchur has a good little video on using the Snap to Surface tool on his website here: http://www.patchwork3d.de/html/page.php?page_id=69

Here is a quick test of Sweeper used in conjunction with v17's new Snap to Surface modeling feature. The vine's path was quickly drawn onto the column and then Sweeper followed that path up the column. (Minor movement of a few splines was done to adjust for passthroughs)

Pretty amazing stuff. As amazing as this is we can come pretty close to that stuff where they draw on top of the guys hand and it inbetweens the rest automatically with A:M's new 'Snap to Surface' feature. Of course there is a lot more going on than just the matching of animation lines to surfaces in 'Paperman'...

Hi both, I attached a sample-project of mine. Please see the project and the model and let me know if it is working for you. In there are 3 screenshots of my realtime-views of the chor. Lets see if that looks totally different for you. See you *Fuchur* PS: @Nancy: You need to be careful and know what you are doing. Otherwise it won't work properly, but for me it is no big trouble working with SnapToSurface. It works 99% of the time as I expect it to work... sometimes I need to move the CP I created a gain because it did not snap to the surface for the first time, but it is really very rare that that happens and after moving it a little bit it always works. retopology.zip

Snap To Surface... this is one of the greatest new features... dont forget it! See you *Fuchur*

Here is a video-tutorial about it: Video-Tut: Snap-To-Surface in A:M See you *Fuchur*

Installers: http://www.hash.com/ftp/pub/updates/window...ta/AM_32BIT.exe (Windows 32bit) http://www.hash.com/ftp/pub/updates/window...ta/AM_64BIT.exe (Windows 64bit) http://www.hash.com/ftp/pub/updates/osx/v17_beta/AM.zip (Mac) Change Log: Changed All new Default Chor.cho Fixed All [bug]6152[/bug] Objects don't render when res exceeds certain size and rotoscope is present. Fixed All [bug]6154[/bug] Rotoscope not properly placed in render when Alpha buffer ON Fixed All [bug]6155[/bug] Selecting Aim At target in PWS causes crash Fixed All [bug]6157[/bug] Rotation keys are not transferred by Copy Paste Fixed All [bug]6158[/bug] Force Keyframe doesn't force keyframes Fixed All [bug]6162[/bug] Community Chat > Serial number is still asked Fixed All [bug]6163[/bug] Deleteing Constraint and its folder causes crash Fixed All [bug]6167[/bug] Props disappear from Chor after save and reload Fixed All [bug]6166[/bug] Props do not get AO shading Fixed All [bug]6170[/bug] Snap-to-surface and stitching crashes A:M (about 50% of the time) with this project Fixed All [bug]6165[/bug] Group loses CPs after Lathe operation start the lathe operation with the keyboard shortcut Alt+L to prevent deleting the original spline Fixed All [bug]6098[/bug] Renderoutput empty for using rendering to TGA, Buffers, Lightbuffers and Save Buffers... Fixed All [bug]6130[/bug] "Length" property of an Action can not be altered Fixed All [bug]6161[/bug] Force Keyframe sets bone rotations to rotation at frame zero Fixed All [bug]6171[/bug] Copy & Paste from one model to another crashes A:M... Fixed All [bug]6173[/bug] Export MDL from Chor crashes Fixed All [bug]6172[/bug] Keybard shortcut for "Group connected" is no longer / Fixed All [bug]6174[/bug] SSS parameter set to zero causes crash on render (nice sideeffect , found a performance bottleneck in the SSS computation-> SSS calculation now around 30% faster)

Hi guys, just a short info on the new features of A:M v17: Snap to Surface (see more informations here) This is a new feature, which gives you the abillity to model around other models. This can be used with polygon-models / props and with patch-models. It is very useful in several ways (these are only the once I can think of right now): "Import" even complex polygon-models into A:M: You can import props with many many polygones and remodel them very easily with patches. For other 3d programs this is called "Retopology", so in other programs remodelling is done with polygones too. So we can call it "Retopology+" Create cloth for your characters: You can model for example a t-shirt very easily on top of your character. If you are done, use the PushCP-Plugin to enlarge the t-shirt a little and you are ready to go. Use it as a modeling-tool Use primitive objects (spheres, cubes, etc.) to define a basic shape. After that use Resurface to model "around" those primitive objects. It is a little bit like metaballs done by hand > "Manual MetaBalls". Animation:Master Answers A:M Answers is a feature, which will help you to access informations about certain features in a very easy way. To activate it, right-click on any property in the PWS and choose "Display help informations". A new window will be opened with informations about this property. Now you can just click on other properties to get the corresponding informations in the help-window. These informations can easily be altered, a link to for example a tutorial or a video can be given and it can be shared with others by using the built-in A:M-Answers Editor. SSE4 For newer processors, which are compatible with SSE4, A:Ms rendering will be up to 15% faster. Create your own "Support"-page Now A:M lets you create a html-file which will be shown in the community-window. It is editable by the user and you can place any content there you want. One example for that can be found as an attachment to this post. Copy this file into your A:M installation-folder, (re)start A:M and open your community-window. What you can do with it? For example: Have a place to store all the most needed tutorials in A:M to be accessable from A:M with only one click or to use it for inspiration or whatever you want. Share your creations with us here on the forums! Of course there are many bug-fixes and smaller advantages. (for example: There is now an indication-border if you have the Animate-Mode deactivated, etc.) Have fun testing these new features! Hopefully you find them as helpful as I do! See you and happy splining! *Fuchur* Support.html ama_userguide.mp4

Yes, the models have bodies, also decaled and textured. Though, I won't show them til I have some time to model some clothing for them (don't think it's appropriate to show on the forum). I was hoping v17 will be out soon, so I can use the new feature "Snap to Surface" tool. And I have to start experimenting with simcloth.

Nice modeling. That certainly would have been a LOT more difficult to do without the Snap-to-surface feature. Really great use of it in a production environment!

I'm envisioning a new color, similar to the new red for non-animate mode. Maybe green for Snap to Surface mode?

I'm glad I read this because I was surely going to keep confusing everyone by calling it the Retopology tool. Snap to Surface works for me.

Yeah, to reiterate Fuchur, the tool is simply called Snap-to-Surface- probably a wise move by our Yoda. WE are the ones who have monickered it as Retopology... we should probably thus start referring to it in it's proper context. OR, how about this... wait....... wait for it........... S2S !!!

As a for instance... one thing I've noted is that we can model with changing surfaces over time. Are you saying we can load morph targets too? Just simply swap out the target mesh with another and move the time slider over, re-snap the cp's to the new surface? Something like that? That would be pretty cool.

I think Steffen is creative enough and smart enough to figure that out eventually. I know its very easy to say coming from my point of view. The guy who does not know how to do it. But in my imagination I would think there has got to be a way to detect the mesh of the polys in 3d space and then constrain the cylinder around that prop. I tired putting a deflector on a prop and then laying some cloth over it but although the prop accepted the deflector it had no effect against the cloth. I tried this on the mac version of AM. I will try again on pc. If this were possible it might be an example of how some sort of detection could be applied and allow a cylinder to snap to the surface of the prop like cloth with heavy friction.

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=40992&hl= Hey Russ- I made a quick 'illustrated' guide that will show you a little more about the new 'SNAP TO SURFACE' tool.

Now it's time to start modeling! I make sure that the new 'SNAP TO SURFACE' button is ON, and click ADD CP and start laying splines.

They are available in A:M Reports. The most important once till now are: - Snap to Surface for CPs (Retopology-Tool) useable with poly- and patch-models. > Polys can be imported as Props and dragged in a Chor to use them as reference, patch-models can be used in modelling and chor-mode. - Now uses Intel-compiler and some other improvements > increases speed up to 15% for Intel and AMD-CPUs. - UV-Editor-Improvements (multiselection now possible and advanced splitting of UV-patches) - Many little improvements like "Animate"-Mode-indication, etc. - Many bug-fixes. More detailed informations can be found in A:M Reports, if you have access to v17. See you *Fuchur*

hi Rodger, Great find! I guess this is, where some retopologytool like "snap cps to underlying surface" would come in handy? Isn`t the adjustment of all the biashandles very tedious?

This post is more of a query than a showing of new work, but I'm going to be presumptuous and post this in the WIP rather than the New Users forum. This is a model of an inline speed skate. This is my second model, the first with curved surfaces, so I have a number of questions. I'm sure all of these questions have been asked and answered before, but I'm still looking for those answers. If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'd certainly appreciate it. 1. What is the best way to remove the creases in the model's surface? 2. Ideally, I'd like to radius the edges of the frame (the metal structure below the boot), but the short splines connecting the two profile surfaces don't have bias handles and changes to the manipulator properties value don't seem to have any effect, the changed values snap back to the original values. I created the frames by drawing the profile of the frame and then extruding the second side. Would it be better to copy the profile and then add the connecting splines? Or is there some other way to get control of these short connecting splines? Actually, none of the "interior" splines seem to have bias handles, they have bias "arms," but no handles that I can grab. Is that normal? 3. Some of these internal splines warp when I make changes to the external spines to which they are connected. Since there's no bias handles, I have to disconnect the splines and reconnect them. Often these spines straighten when I select them and re-warp when they are deselected. I've tried to re-do some of these several times--that can't be right(?). I add tails to these splines and to the connecting CPs before connecting them so they will remain independent splines, but it doesn't prevent the problem. 4. There seem to be interior four point patches created by the lateral connecting splines that are not visible and serve no purpose in the finished model. Can these be removed or avoided? 5. Would there be problems that I don't foresee at present if I add circles just touching the surface of the frame so I can apply a different material representing the flush ends of the axles? (Rather than connecting the circles to the surfaces with more splines.) 6. Five point patches are a mystery. I must be using them improperly because they seem inconsistent. Sometimes they fill in properly on the first try. Sometimes a patch will fill in after repeated failed attempts. And sometimes they don't fill in at all. Thanks, Curtis Stanton

Windows versions can be found here: 2004 CDROM (Orangutan) dongle (HASP) Version Multi-User Dongle Version FTP area V11.0 Features V11.0 Online Technical Reference V11.0 requires dongles to be programmed for year 2004. If you receive a hasp or "No Authorization" error you will need to have your dongle upgraded for the 2004 subscription. Contact upgrades@hash.com for more info. Run the RUS Utility to get your HASP ID#. After receiving an update code from support@hash.com you can use this utility to flash the HASP. ----- Fixes since last version. Added density maps to hair Fixed copy flip attach on a single cp {Mark Molyneaux} Fixed snap mouse to grid and add cps Fixed problems with expressions not applying, exiting relation etc Fixed action bake when constraints relationships are still enforced when the pose is off, by setting the relationship enforcement to 0% instead of setting the controling property to off Fixed hang with hair decals {William J Gaylord} Fixed problem with new action from ctrl+n catalog and two models Cookie cut maps on hair cut correctly even when Surface variation is greater than 0. {John Henderson} Can Z-Buffer render hair when collisions are enabled on hair or Dynamic Constraints. {William Sutton} Realtime hair shows at least a simple version of complex material colors. Transparent hair renders correctly. {David Walker} Line width displays units on groups set for render as lines.