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I'M A NOOBIE AND I NEED HELP!!!


FlyingMonkieBoy

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No, i mean the problem is that when i add more frames, the slower crabby walks. Like i was at 00:07:00 and added more frames untill it was 00:07:10. Before i added the frames, crabby got to the direction i wanted him to get to at 00:07:00, but when i added more frames, he got to the spot where i wanted to but it took him 00:07:10. and where do you find the ease thing?

 

 

http://h1.ripway.com/FlyingMonkieBoy/dude.bmp

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Hi.

New here, eh? Welcome.

 

Regarding your screen grab, it would be helpful if you could set up the choreography window so that it displays the object you are having a problem with, (your crab), and expand it to display the action aswell. When all the relevant information is visible on screen do a screen capture and post here. Your current screen grab doesn't display any helpful info unfortunately.

 

So, important info for us to see is: action in PWS, (Project WorkSpace), and also in the Timeline.

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How do i do that?

 

Get rid of all the stuff you don't need on screen. ALT 5 gets rid of the library. ALT 1 gets the PWS up which is what we need to see. Make sure the shortcut to crab is expanded so we can see what animation you have in him.

Also, a Jpeg would be faster to upload/download.

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Does anyone else feel this is like... talking someone through brain surgery using morse code?

 

;)

 

It would really help you a lot if you read some of the book that came with AM. Especially how to use the tools. The tools can be complex but if you have a basic working knowledge of them some of the advice you receive will make more sense.

 

The tutorials in the book also walk you through step by step with screen captures and explanations of what you are doing.

 

You may find if you put aside your current project and do some of those animation tutorials you will learn much faster. And when you return to your project you will find it makes more sense.

 

I understand everyone's desire to help a new user... but sometimes... it is a good idea to recommend they do just a tiny bit of homework first.

 

;)

 

Just some friendly advice.

 

Keep trying... if you do all the animation exercises in the book I promise it will start to make sense. Read all the sections on what the tools and menus are for.

 

Also you can use the online help that comes with AM. That can be a big help. It lists all the properties your are asking about. Type in "Ease" in the search... it will have many links explaining where it is and what it is to be used for.

 

Look for "Action Properties". It explains what all the properties are in the action property window when you click on it.

 

Vernon "!" Zehr

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  • Hash Fellow

Before i added the frames, crabby got to the direction i wanted him to get to at 00:07:00, but when i added more frames, he got to the spot where i wanted to but it took him 00:07:10. and where do you find the ease thing?

 

 

the path constraint has a property called ease in it's property box.
Select the path constraint in the PWS. You'll have to expand the crab's listing to see it. the scroll around the property window ease will be near the bottom. The property window only shows for what is selected in the PWS. If you don't have the path constraint selected, you won't see it's properties.
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  • Hash Fellow

I can't tell much from that pic. you didn't scroll down far enough to show me the path constraint. You don't have the path constraint selected, just the path. There may not even be one for all I can see. you need to expamd teh tree more.

 

But you do see th red bar, right? you can click it and drag the ends of it. It's tricky.

 

Try making WAAAAYYYYY shorter just to see what happens.

Try making it WAAAAAYYYYY longer just to see what happens.

Try moving the whole thing to the right, just to see what happens.

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  • Hash Fellow

where is the path constraint?

 

You gotta be at least inquisitive enough to open up those plus signs that you haven't opened up yet. Those plus signs are screaming at you to look inside. not just one. all of them. And click on everything that shows up to see what comes up in the property window for it. How will you ever know if you don't?

 

A path constraint (and remember, I don't know that you've actually made one yet...) will show up something like this:

whereispathconstraint.png

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  • Hash Fellow

Oh yeah.....didn't see if you got the answer.....if you don't want the ground cutting through the background image then just delete the ground in the chor.

 

but if he's trying to have the crab cast a shadow (may not be necessary) he's going to need some sort of projection target for that pic.

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When you have a set goal, such as your crab animation, it really helps you learn because, as you've found, it raises lots of questions.

 

At some point though, now that you have seen some of the cool things AM can do, you need to back up and go through the fundamentals. Now that you've had fun modeling Crabby its time to make sure you have:

 

-done all the tutorials in your manual.

-opened up your library, looked under models, opened the Primitives folder, study how each primitive was made, and then build it yourself, from scratch.

-redo a tutorial in the manual (you'll do so much better the second time round) and then post it in the students forum for feedback.

-take a simple object from around your home and model it to the best of your ability.

 

Finally, you may want to invest (uhh Mom/Dad? $$?) in some instructional material that will help you greatly. Worth its weight in gold is the Anzovin "QuickStart 2" CD. I just can't tell you how great that CD is, it will help you so much.

 

http://www.rafhashvideotapes.com/amquickstart.html

 

David Rodger is also coming out with a new book for AM, and he has one out already which is quite good.

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-...=283155&s=books

 

I would suggest the QuickStart CD for you though. Its very easy to follow and really covers all the basics well. My modeling and general understanding of AM really improved after getting the CD.

 

Its really worth it to cover the basics. You'll have more fun, and won't get frustrated. The stuff you're doing now will pale in comparisson to what you'll be doing a year from now, IF you take the time to learn the fundamentals.

 

Good luck! :)

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but the tutorials don't show me all the buttons and what they do...or maybe since i'm a 13 year old 7th grader, my attenion isn't that great...oh and if this helps i have version 10.5 cause my mom got it for me 2 years ago on X-mas and then i lost the cd and now i found it and i started screaming and all happy and all and yeah...

 

can some1 answer my question...i'll buy that stuff lata but i needa know how to do this first...

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I can't speak for version 10.5, but I'm using version 11.1 and if it were me, I'd have the crab as one model, then in another, separate model window I would right click and select Wizard/Grid and create a grid, maybe 100 by 100 or whatever works, and just group various CP's, pull them into "mounds", color the whole grid sand color, give it some roughness and then put that and Crabby into a Choreography with the default ground turned off. You could still use a sky image for your background, but that's how I would make a quick and easy sandy beach, just to get the project done.

 

Just a suggestion. It's not necessarily the best way, just a way.

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but the tutorials don't show me all the buttons and what they do...or maybe since i'm a 13 year old 7th grader, my attenion isn't that great...oh and if this helps i have version 10.5 cause my mom got it for me 2 years ago on X-mas and then i lost the cd and now i found it and i started screaming and all happy and all and yeah...

 

can some1 answer my question...i'll buy that stuff lata but i needa know how to do this first...

 

 

http://www.hash.com/htmlHelp/v10.5/Technical_Reference.htm

 

Click on User Interface and Environment

 

You will find descriptions of all the buttons and tools.

 

The art of animation master book that came with the program also has descriptions of the tools.

 

If you lost that too you can download it. Do a search on the forum. I can't remember exactly where it is but I am pretty sure it is somewhere here in the Learning Animation Master forum.

 

Vernon "!" Zehr

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  • Hash Fellow

I'M DONE WITH MY SCIENCE FAIR BUT NOW I DONNO WHAT TO DO!!!

 

for some reason .prj files can't be attached here, but if you change the extension to .txt you can.

 

Or if you know how to zip files you can post a .zip

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Ok...now i bet u guys are "aw, forget this kid, he's helpless <_<" but i need help! Like is said, i'm a noobie at this and did all the lessons in the book up to the girrafe lesson. I don't know what most of the buttons on animation master do and how to use them. I'm 13 years, in 7th grade, wanna become an animator, and have a really short attention span. Other than learning animation, i have to learn social studies, math, science, english, art, and also sports. PLEASE be patient with me and understand that it could take a long time before i completly understand all of this.... :) ...Can we please start over cuz i forgot almost everything...sorry...ok i need to know how to work "force keyframe" and also when the path ends at 00:07:00 and i add frames up to 00:07:25, the path starts when i want it too and then doesn't end at 00:07:00 but at 00:07:25.

 

Please also include WHY this happens because like i already said, my dream is to become an animator! THX!

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...?

 

Where do you Save your project? In Hash's default folder or do you save it elsewhere on your hard drive?

 

In order to post the project file here, after you hit the AddReply button, you Browse (at the bottom next to File Attachments) for your project file - click it - then hit 'Add This Attachment'. Then hit Add Reply.

 

Capiche?

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I need help too...I have a scene where I have 2 klieg lights on top for fill lighting, and 5 on the bottom of the scene I'm using as volumetric lights. When I changed the bottom kliegs to volumetrics, the scene got really dark. Anybody else have this problem?

 

Thank you

KLF

 

 

"Peace......up to a point"

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i tried adding the file but it said

"Upload failed. You are not permitted to upload a file with that file extension."

 

Try right clicking (if you're running windows XP) the file and send it to a zip folder. You should then be able to upload the zipped folder..

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Hi FMB;

 

I have attached a screen capture that should look similar to somthing you may see. If you right click on the file and select "Send to" and then "Compressed (zipped) folder", Windows will create a zip file for you. Of course, there may be a few little steps to take care of before it will finish. There are other ways to do the same thing like using a program called WinZip or WinRAR but they cost $. If windows asks you questions as you are trying the way I described, relax, read the question twice, and then make a good choice in your answer. If you chicken out (just kidding) on a question it asks, write down the question and repost it here. We'll try and help you out. Make sure that you write down the question so that we know exactly what was asked.

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Bill

zipper.jpg

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You need to embed the model for the project and also include the image.

 

Put the project, crabby model and beach image in a folder. Zip the folder. Not just the project.

 

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

 

Also, try to be patient and do some more of those tutorials while you wait for a response. You should actually understand what those tutorials are teaching you... don't just follow the steps. Try to see what is actually happening.

 

Do them more than once. I understand your impatience to learn... but just like in school... you have to study and do the homework... all the answers are here, in the book or in the online help files... or from the helpful people on the forum... but the answers won't always be specific to your project.

 

You need to experiment, and also try to become familiar with the tools and concepts in AM so we can help you better... I learned through tons of trial and error...

 

If you read the TOAM book that came with AM... do all of those tutorials and become more familiar with how things work... your questions will be more focused and our answers will make more sense.

 

Vernon "!" Zehr

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OK sure...wait...TOAM?

 

 

Should have been TAO A:M The Art Of Animation:Master... the booklet that came with the software.

 

FMB... You didn't learn how to tie your shoes until you grabbed hold of the laces yourself. Watching others do it will not give you the skill to do it. If you have trouble remembering how you did something and can't repeat it.. it is because you have not studied what you are doing... take notes if you have to.

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FlyingMonkeyBoy,

 

I hope for your sake others can be more patient than myself.

 

Good luck to you.

 

Read the book that came with AM... The book... it has a cover with pages inside... the paper back book of tutorials that came with your copy of the application.

 

Inside this book are simple instructions on opening and loading models from your hard drive, CD or models you created and saved separately...

 

... hold on.. you loaded your crabby model into a project so you should already know how to do this.

 

Winzip has its own help system that came with it.

 

Vernon "!" Zehr

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  • Hash Fellow

the "free models" link on the hash homepage, when you download it and it opens up in WinZip, how do you save it on hash and use it?

 

It's a zip file with stuff in it... use "extract" in winzip to save the stuff to somewhere on your hard drive. Wizip has "help" if you're not sure how to do it.

 

Make sure you remember where you extracted to... because that's where you're going to go in A:M to load these things.

 

You want to load a model? rightclick on "objects" in the Project Workspace >Import>Model

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yeah ok i did that but then when i drag and drop a model from the folder (Where i put all the stuff) to the library, and then drag it into the chor. pop ups about loading a jpg. image, then an mat. then a jpg. and i have to find it and open it and when all the pop ups are done and everything in the model is good. But then i exit A:M and when i open A:M again, the model is still in the library but all the pop ups keep on poping!!! how do i make it just load normally without the pop ups!?!?!?!

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