Welcome New Users

[Rodney]

Tim,

 

Well said. You never did say whether you like dopesheets though.

I'm guessing that your programming skills could be quite valuable as related to all things A:M.

I certainly wish I had that skill. (working on developing that skill little by little... very little by very little)

 

Thanks for finally and officially introducing yourself!

 

Rodney

[Cypax]

Greetings all I wanted to introduce myself here.

 

First off let me say no matter how many times I watch the demo video, the more and more I become influence to buy the software and get animating. Thing is I have a little dilemma before I get the courage to save the money and buy the software.

 

I am currently a student at ITT Tech, enrolled in the Digital Entertainment and Game Design Program. We will be using 3D Studio Max to learn to model and animate. But since I have been watching the tutorials online, I am just amazed how fast and efficient A:M is with making a model and animating it, especiall when setting up the bone heirachy feature, drag and drop :: jaw drop ::.

 

Now what is going to help me buy this software outright, is that is there a file export from 3D Studio that A:M can take so I can animate and maybe texture a bit in A:M? I want to be able to use this perfectly well with one another so I can work on some projects here and there and show off to some of my instructors and friends.

 

Thanks all, and happy holidays to you all.

[heyvern]

Cypax,

 

I hate to say this but...

 

There is not an... easy way to exchange models or animation between these two applications.

 

It can be done but it takes some effort... and is primarily one way... you wouldn't be likely to bring it "back and forth".

 

A:M is based on Hash Splines, not polygons. This is one of its strengths... and to some... one of its weaknesses (I don't think so... but I hate polygons anyway... never use 'em)

 

For a lot of us this is not a problem. Animation:Master is so good these "sacrifices" are worth it.

 

Your impressions of AM are correct. It is an amazing application, but if you must have a polygon pipeline, it may not be the best thing for you.

 

AM can import/export 3ds, I am pretty sure there is a plugin for this... It can import/export DXF... I think that OBJ is also available as well as several other polygon formats used in the game genre... I don't know them all offhand.

 

Unfortunately... that's about it. Bones and animation, rigging and constraints... are not transferable "directly".

 

Even compositing poses problems. Some have found that exporting camera motion as BVH can aid in merging animations from different applications... but this is done in post... or can be done in AM using motion tracking.

 

If you check out the gaming section of the AM forum there are resources there with more detailed information getting AM models and animation into different formats.

 

As I said though... this is not a walk in the park. Those that do this worked hard to come up with pipelines to streamline the process.

 

If you must have a tool for your "home" use to coincide with your school work... AM might be more of a hurdle than a benefit...

 

----------------

 

... on the other hand (there is always another hand) AM is an absolutely brilliant tool for learning animation techniques.

 

Despite everything else I have said... i would strongly recommend it as long as you don't expect it to work "seamlessly" with polygon applications.

 

Many people have used it to launch their careers. Many use it for commercial work. Even if you can't use it specifically in school, you can still produce amazing work with it. But if you need a tool to aid in your education, your may want to think about something that works best in this regard.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Vernon "!" Zehr

[Rodney]

What Vern said.

 

Animation:Master is not right for every case and yours appears to be one of those.

Trying to learn both polygon and splines simultaneously might not be the best choice if you know you will be using a polygon application.

 

Having said that I hope we'll see you again after you get done with your classes.

A:M may not be polygon users but it sure is for animators.

 

Best,

Rodney

[Cypax]

Ok I see, well I am still a newbie to the terms, wanting to figure out where to start. Being that 3D Studio Max is Polygon based, but it does have a N.U.R.B.S. modeling feature. is that the same thing as spline based modeling? For being a bit specific here, I mainly wanted to try to model a character in Studo Max and put it A:M to bone, rig , and animate, since that will be what I will learn to do with polygons. Since more than likely I will be in an animator position for a company , since that's what got me motivated to enroll in the program.

 

But I have a hunch that I am going to need ALOT of spline based modeling experience as well. My art hand is not very good, but I feel that it is different when it comes to 3D. Even though I am still in my first quarter I have a feeling that I will have my Modeling I class here next quarter. Thank you for breaking the truth to me and not leaving me out on a limb

[Dhar]

Being that 3D Studio Max is Polygon based, but it does have a N.U.R.B.S. modeling feature. is that the same thing as spline based modeling?

 

Not at all. Polygon modeling is very much like modeling with clay, you have a cube or a sphere that you shape the way you want. Spline based modeling is like constructing with wires, you connect wires (splines) into the shape you want and anywhere between those wires will become a surface that you can color or texture.

 

I hope this makes sense.

[Rodney]

Thank you for breaking the truth to me and not leaving me out on a limb

 

Thats the least we could do though it pains me to do it. Animation:Master is just that good. It should be a tool in every artist's arsenal.

 

Best of luck in your classes and beyond!

 

Rodney

[heyvern]

The "nurbs" kind of "doodads" in polygon applications are... well they aren't the same as Hash splines.

 

They "seem" the same, but as I have heard and learned from the programmers themselves, the two are NOT the same and can't really be "converted" back and forth.

 

Nurbs... or whatever they are called in polygon applications... are a way to "form" the polygons.

 

Hash splines ARE the way A:M models are formed. They define the surface specifically. That is why you can get very natural organic smooth motion of shapes with very "low density" models.

 

In polygons, that... "splinish" technology still ends up with high density polygon meshes "underneath".

 

Hash splines are... "real" spline shapes... there is no... underlying "building blocks" to the mesh. The splines are the actual shape.

 

The fact that the polygon applications have developed this recently "new" modeling technology that sort of looks like Hash splines... is... well... a coincidence? They aren't the same.

 

Vernon "!" Zehr

[Cypax]

That makes a lot of sense. From what I have seen if you get a team together on Animation : Master, I believe for any type of development, including Game Design, I think you could do wonders with it. Even tho Hash has the true spline based modeling, I think I am going to go ahead and buy the software. All of these programs have the same base principles, but Hash has so far made it the best for the single end-user. I still watch the demo to this day and just glamoured by it. Now I just have to convince myself to save all the money I can

 

[Rodney]

I think I am going to go ahead and buy the software

 

Congrats! I think you will be very pleased with your decision.

 

Here is an official pre-welcome to the A:M Community.

Glad to have you joining us. Get ready for the fun!

 

Rodney

[TeresaNord]

Hey, I guess I've been on the forum for a little while and I just realized that I haven't introduced myself. I'm Teresa and I'm teaching myself to animate as my high school senior project. I've wanted to work for Pixar ever since I saw the first Toy Story movie (everybody who knows me knows that). Anyways, my video production teacher bought A:M over the summer, (because he knew I wanted to learn how to animate), and he loaned it to me for the school year. How cool is that? Third trimester I'm taking an independent study with him and I'll be able to spend 80 mins. a day learning the program, and then I'll teach the program to other students during 4th period (that'll be a total of 160 mins. a day on the program, I can't wait)! After the school year is over I'll sadly have to leave the program with him. I already know though that I'll be purchasing a copy of the program to keep for myself. I love it!

[Rodney]

You have one cool teacher.

 

I suspect there are a great many artists (both traditional and CG) that have had at least one teacher who really made the difference for them by providing the tools, inspiration and support needed to pursue their dreams. It sounds like yours is just such a case.

 

Of course this doesn't just apply to art.

Bravo to teachers everywhere for making learning so fun and educational for their students.

 

Rodney

[TeresaNord]

I second that

[cuboos]

hi i'm new to the forum i have been using Animation:master for 5 months so far and i hope this forum will help me get better then i am

 

i have mostly done pics from the famous novel War of the worlds i will be post up what i have done soon after I figure out the forum

[Rodney]

i have mostly done pics from the famous novel War of the worlds i will be post up what i have done soon after I figure out the forum

 

Sounds interesting! We'll look forward to seeing your imagery.

 

You should consider starting a Work In Progress (WIP) thread in that section to show everyone what you are working on. Let people know what a little about you, your work, what kind (if any) feedback you want and... have fun!

 

The WIP Forum area is #7 on your A:M dial.

 

Glad to have you with us!

Rodney

[Rodney]

who won the free AM VERSION contest?

 

There was a free AM Version contest?

 

(The contest is still ongoing)

Rodney

[Gd4Life]

Hey Everyone.

 

My Names Evan, I Recently Started Learning A:M And I love it. I'm Going through the Tutorials And learning new stuff Every Minute. Seeing as this is my first animation program I came in thinking the learning curve would be steep, But I was wrong! Going through the tutorials is really helping me. Just thought I'd say hello to everyone and look forward to finishing these Tutorials to start making my own stuff.

 

 

Cheers,

Evan

[ROKDAWG]

Hi Folks ! Just registered and wanted to say Hello. I just recieved, opened and installed my AM 12.0

The wonderful people at Renderosity saw fit to award me 3rd place in this year's Holiday Contest - Animation Category - you can see it in the animation section now under PRUFROCK81. The title is "Christmas Box"

 

For that I won Animation Master 12.0 and a Book "Animation - The Mechanics of Motion"

 

 

Anyway I am VERY pleasantly surprised to see what this package entails. Very impressive for the retail price I must say. I am SUCH the noob when it comes to any kind of animation. I just started 3d modeling and such 5 years ago as an extension to my fine art endeavors. It's been a weird exciting journey and I feel as if It's all just begining.

 

I'm very excited to be here and can't wait to get involved. For now I should get to those tutorials Evan spoke of - can't wait to get down to BID-NESS YO!

 

OK I'll stop that....I'm way too old.

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Welcome ROKDAWG... you're never too old to have fun and enjoy life... remember you only get one quarter and you can't save.

 

If you won a holiday contest (more than I ever won), then I'll be looking for more stuff from you!

 

If you have any questions or just wanna show what you're up too and get opinions, just post in the Hash forums...

 

Take care...

[Rodney]

The wonderful people at Renderosity saw fit to award me 3rd place in this year's Holiday Contest - Animation Category - you can see it in the animation section now under PRUFROCK81. The title is "Christmas Box"

 

For that I won Animation Master 12.0 and a Book "Animation - The Mechanics of Motion"

 

That is indeed a wonderful thing for Renderosity to do.

Kudos to them and a big welcome to you!

 

Rodney

[Ron Watson]

Hi, I just bought the AM software at the CES today! It looks great.! I'm going to try out the tutorials and the examples tomorrow. I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Ron in San Diego.

[RingerT]

Hi,

 

my name is Gerhard Schellert and I live in Cologne / Germany.

I played quite some time with different 3d-softwares like Poser, Vue d´esprit, bryce , a little bit of 3ds max etc. but I always wanted to do character animation. So because softwares like 3ds max are a little above my budget, I finally came to Animation:Master. I read a lot of good things about this software and when I finally read the review of A:M in one of the last issues of the 3dWorld magazine, I decided to buy it.

 

I hope, with this software I can get the things done, that I had in mind :-)

 

Until now I had a lot of fun with A:M and I hope to become a A:M Pro soon :-)

 

RingerT

[Rodney]

when I finally read the review of A:M in one of the last issues of the 3dWorld magazine, I decided to buy it.

 

RingerT,

I think I read that same review... great writeup.

I should tell you though (and you are probably already experiencing it) Animation:Master is all that review said and more.

 

Now harnessing that power... that is what we can hope to do in 2006!

 

Ron,

Thanks for the intro. Having gotten that out of the way you can get to work while making yourself at home here in the forum. Please do!

 

 

Glad to have you both here.

 

Rodney

[John D. Clark]

Hi,

New to the A:M world (if you don't count Playmation a lot of years ago - on a 386 no less!), and already have a problem. Installed on a PC (see specs below), and am ready to start the first tutorial. The problem is that the choreography screen stays gray. No grid lines, or camera view appear. I tried hitting the space bar, and nothing. If something like a drop down menu appears in the choreography window, its image remains even after the menu is closed. Again, the spacebar doesn't refresh the screen. I dropped KeeKat into the window as an experiment, but it never appeared. Tried using the render button to see if it would appear, and it didn't.

 

System: Micron PC 2.27GHz Pentium 4, 1GB of RAM, Windows XP Pro SP2, Sony CDP-G520 Monitor, NVIDIA GeForce 4 MX420 video card w/64Mb of RAM.

 

Umm... help!

 

Thanks,

[Rodney]

John,

First... Welcome Back! Its a special treat when old A:M Users return. Playmation... that was one of the things that caught my eye way back in the day but I still didn't take the plunge until '98 (Meltdown CD).

 

Concerning your display problems you might post in a separate thread as people usually just check in to introduce themselves here.

 

It sounds like something where you could probably change from Direct3D to OpenGL or vice versa.

It may depend on your graphics card...

 

Welcome home John!

Rodney

[John D. Clark]

Rodney,

Many thanks for the suggestion. I will try the change to the graphics card settings. If that doesn't do it, I will start a thread.

 

John

[Greybeard]

Hi Everybody!

My name is Ed and I'm anxiously waiting for my copy of AM to come in the mail. I,ve been lurking around the board for a few months now, and have decided to take the plunge once and for all.

 

My backround is in illustration, political cartoons and caricature. I'm currently employed as a graphic artist for a newspaper here in Tampa. As for 3d experience, I have very little. I've played around with Maya, and Lightwave, but Animation Master looks like the clear winner for me though.

 

For the things I want to do, namely character animation and short animated films, this software seems to have it all. I really look forward to jumping in to this community, (another great plus about AM) with a good running start.

 

Ed Gonzalez

[Phoenix]

And so begins the waiting game.....

Ordered today be here Tuesday... I would like to say Tuesday won't get here fast enough LOL.

really looking forward to it too. Have viewed all the online tutorials. That is a great part of why I decided to get this. Not only that though. From what I have seen in the animations and stills. Im gonna enjoy it.

Yeap Im a Animation Master noob. Well soon to be.... And to those great people at Hash. Thanks for making a package everyone can afford.

[Rodney]

Ed,

There should be at least one other A:M User in the Tampa area that is active here in the forum. I remember this as I wished I would have known that when I spent 3 months there awhile back. You can look up forum members via the Members link near the top of the forum.

 

Phoenix,

It sounds like you've finally found your way to the right place.

If you've already viewed the online tutorials you are off on the right foot.

 

 

Glad to have BOTH of you with us.

Welcome to the A:M Community!

 

Rodney

[Phoenix]

Thanks appreciate the welcome.

 

The online tutuorials showed the ease of the programs use. So that was a swaying factor. Ive worked a little bit in 3DS Max and the menus drove me nuts. Plus it seems there is a lot of documentation here as well. Inside the forums that will be a invaluable. So I'm really stoked. Thanks again off to go looking through the tutorials now.

[Jeff L.]

Hello. I am an old v 8 user and am finally upgrading. I hope to glean many tips and tricks here.

[Rodney]

Hello. I am an old v 8 user and am finally upgrading. I hope to glean many tips and tricks here.

 

Jeff,

There are lots of A:M Users returning to active duty with v13.

This is the year to join in. Lots of fun to be had in the A:M Community.

 

Hope to see you often here in the forum!

Rodney

[MSFlynn]

I'm not exactly a new user, but I've barely touched the software for a few years. The last version I upgraded to was v11 but I got a new job in 2004 that had me working up to 80hrs/wk for several months. Since then, while the hours haven't been as intense, I've been too busy trying to rebuild my personal/professional life. (I was kind of forced into a career change I didn't want).

 

It's probably been about 4 years since I used AM on any kind of regular basis. I can't say with any certainty that I'll be able to work with it as much as I would like, but I'm ready to get back into it. My focus will be, as it always since I first started using Hash's Playmation v1.47 in '92, on mechanical modeling.

[Rodney]

It's probably been about 4 years since I used AM on any kind of regular basis. I can't say with any certainty that I'll be able to work with it as much as I would like, but I'm ready to get back into it. My focus will be, as it always since I first started using Hash's Playmation v1.47 in '92, on mechanical modeling.

 

Cool! Another Playmation alumni!

Your first name wouldn't happen to be Mike would it?

 

Edit: Just checked your profile and see that it is. Whooa. It really is great to have you back!

You are more than just alumni you are part of A:M history.

 

Hope you find all the time you need to work in A:M and more.

 

Rodney

Edited January 20, 2006 by Rodney

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Yes, welcome back Mike!

 

I too remember you... (I started with Playmation too, still have the floppies AND they work on one of my old boxes!)

 

Go through the Art of Animation Master lessons and you will be on your way VERY quickly. But most of all, have fun with A:M!

 

Enjoy!

[snmlove]

Hey everyone!!

I'm Shelly. I just ordered my software yesterday and I can't wait to get started! My partners and I have been working on a project that was going to be stop-motion animation but we're having a space issue so... we decided to try another route. After exhaustive research, we have landed here at A:M! We're very excited about this! I'm sure I'll be "seeing" you guys a lot! It's nice to know that there is some place I can ask questions when I have them and not look and feel like a complete idiot!!

[Rodney]

Hey Shelly! Welcome aboard.

Maybe you can even combine some stopmo with your A:M work.

 

Great to have you with us.

Rodney

[Phoenix]

Hey Rodney,

 

Finally got the software Friday time to let the noobiness begin! Doh! did I say that? I know this might sound like a silly question. I know I ordered 2006. But when it runs it says 2005 at the top of Animation Master. Did I goof somehow? Or is this something normal? thanks Rodney for answering this nooby question. Just so you know though the disc. Has a large fuzzy gorilla or abominalbe snowman on it.

 

[KenH]

No, you're set for the next year. AM goes by what cd you have and you have the latest. When v13 starts appearing officially, you can download and use it (probably be able to use the start of v14 too). If you look for it, v13 is on the forum, but it's only in alpha so it's not ready for primetime yet.

[Phoenix]

Thanks Ken,

 

I didn't know. So figured better to ask than to sit and wonder. I appreciate it.

[eptigo]

hi, im new, i just wanted to introduce myself.

uh

i havent really figured out how to navigate these forums yet

[Robert-Jank]

Hey eptigo!! Well.....im a little confused with the forums as well...Anywas i hope you join in on TAoA:M i love seeing peoples projects they do and see the originality to it