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[Boxster]

2 questions:

 

I'm on a Mac, just got A:M today. Do I have to have the CD-ROM in the drive for A:M to work? That's what it's telling me and I find it hard to believe.

 

2nd question: I'm running on a dual monitor system, but I can't get animation master on my bigger monitor. What gives?

 

Thanks in advance guys.

 

Kelly

[The Bird Man of Alcatraz]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum, but I've been working with A:M for about 10 months now, and general CG animation for about two years, so I may be able to answer your questions.

 

First of all, you generally have to have the A:M CD in your drive for it to start up. I say generally because there is one exception that I know of; if you use a particular A:M program called NetRender, which lets you spread out a rendering load to many computers, you can bypass the need for the CD. NetRender is not free to use, however; you must buy a dongle (Wikipedia definiton) to make it work. These dongles range from anywhere to $150 to $500. If you're new to A:M, it will likely be a while before you need this. When you do though, look for NetRender in the A:M forums.

 

About the dual-monitor problem, if you maximize A:M, it will only fill one monitor. However, if you keep A:M small, you can drag it to both monitors, and then fill up both monitors by dragging A:M to a good size. One more thing, if you are using two seperate video cards, it is a good idea to keep the preview window on the monitor with the more powerful video card. Even a really old card can most likely handle things like the community window, the project workspace, and so on, so keep those on the monitor with the weaker video card.

 

-The Bird Man of Alcatraz

[Boxster]

Thanks Bird Man,

 

I understand why Hash requires the CD in the drive, but it's anoying to have these tutorial DVDs and not be able to watch them on my computer while I do them.

 

Waiting for the CD-ROM to spin slows stuff down as well. Anyways... Diving in.

 

Hope tomorrow is more of an eye opening experience for me.

 

Thanks.

[Rodney]

Don't forget that once started you can remove the A:M CD.

[The Bird Man of Alcatraz]

I know what you mean Boxster, but I recently learned that you can copy the library on the CD to the hard drive, so you won't have to access all the pre-made A:M models through the relatively slow CD-ROM drive. I can't tell you how off the top of my head, but I believe someone left instructions somewhere in the forum.

 

As long as you are still accessing the pre-made A:M library on the CD, you'll still need to have the CD in your drive, but I'm not totally sure about that.

 

-The Bird Man

 

PS: Have you tried the online Hash tutorials? Hash Video Tutorials

[Kurrykid]

Don't forget that once started you can remove the A:M CD.

 

I don't know Rodney...if I do things like stretch the screen so I can see more of the timeline next to the Project Workspace, it won't adjust the screen until the CD boots up. I tried the option of installing to the hard drive but I ended up with 3 versions of everything in my library...that didn't work out too well.

 

Maybe a fresh post on how to do it effectively would be appropriate at this time...it sure would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[Shelton]

You can also undock some of the components such as the pws or time line. Move them to the new screen and save. Next time you load AM the setup / chor will load on both screens. I have three screens and I love the extra room!!

 

Steve

[Rodney]

it won't adjust the screen until the CD boots up.

 

Perhaps there is still some confusion. Put another way:

After A:M is started (booted from the CD) the CD can then be removed.

Resources on the CD won't be accessible while not in the drive.

 

Boxster mentioned tutorial DVDs so the assumption here is that the DVD drive is preferred to be free to accept DVDs. Most DVD tutorials can be copied to harddrive as well however. Most are .MOV format.

With the size of most harddrives these days being more than enough to accommodate a collection of movies the tutorials should make the transition to harddrive nicely.

 

Multiple Libraries is an entirely different issue that also can be addressed.

To operate A:M after the CD is removed but still access data resources (Libraries) the files will either have to be installed (using an update installer check box option) or manually copied and referred to in A:M.

 

Boxer didn't mention Libraries but its related info as once the A:M CD is removed the files on it will no longer be accessible.

 

Libraries can be managed via TOOLS/OPTIONS Folder tab where A:M stores pointers to Library files. Multiple installations often lead to multiple instances of pointers to Libraries. These can safely be removed in TOOLS/OPTIONS via the Folders tab.

 

In the end I think it easier just to leave the CD in drive.

A lot less frustrating than the alternatives.