Welcome A:M Users!

[BrainLock]

Just as I was really starting to get into it, I had to bow out early last year to handle a crisis in the "real world" (and I'm still dealing with some fallout from it). And my main computer broke down.

 

But I hope to pick up the bat again soon. Nice to see that TWO is finished and another movie is on the way.

 

I'd like to change my screen name. Can anyone advise me on that?

[Rodney]

Welcome back. I hope the opportunities are there for you to dig deeper into A:M and pursue your goals.

 

I'd like to change my screen name. Can anyone advise me on that?

 

What would you like to change it to?

[Crystalwizard]

Just saying hi. I bought AM last summer at Wizard World in Dallas, but I'm just now getting a chance to learn how to use it.

 

I bought it from a vendor and didn't get a manual. Hopefully there are some tutorials and other things online somewhere.

[Rodney]

Hi right back atchya!

Welcome to the A:M forum.

 

When it comes to the manual you are in luck.

Download TaoA:M (the Manual with 20 exercises designed to set you up for success) and the Technical Reference in pdf format here: ftp://ftp.hash.com/pub/docs/

 

12/06/2007 12:00AM 22,592,160 TAOAM.pdf

12/06/2007 12:00AM 15,301,936 TECHREF.pdf

(Note: When using these two links its best to Right Click and 'Save As' to your computer)

 

For any and all questions related to A:M please feel free to ask them here in the forum.

This forum is 'the manual' that simply cannot be beat.

 

Working through the manual online here in the TaoA:M forum will get you up to speed quickly:

[Rodney]

It should be noted that older variants on the manual are available in some other languages as well:

 

AMFrenchManual.pdf 1MB

AMJapaneseManual.pdf 6MB

AMSpanishManual.pdf 21MB

[Rodney]

Video tutorials of the Exercises from the manual (TaoA:M) can be accessed here:

 

http://www.hash.com/2007web/vm.htm

[Rob_T]

Ben, if it's helpful, you can check out some simple tutorials I made awhile back (in comic book format) here.

 

Holy cow. I didn't expect to find you here. I don't think I've spoken to you since the Half-Pixel forums went bye bye. I still check out "WP" from time to time but I've been on the road the last two months (spent a month in Mexico too) so I'm a little behind.

 

I was planning to pick your brain about animation on the HP forum and now how lucky I've found you here. I hope you don't mind me asking a bunch of questions. I've settled in where I'm at and plan to sink deep into this program for the next couple months.

 

I'm off to read your comic book tutorial you just linked to that other dude. If youhave any more suggestions for a complete and total beginner please fire away.

[Gikefod]

Greetings A:M Community !

 

My name is Mike Gulley and I'm brand new to the A:M scene ! I'm the Motion Graphics Coordinator and Lead Animator for the Cleveland Cavaliers and we just scored A:M last week .

 

Concerning first impressions outside of the software itself I must say that I'm VERY impressed by the User Community here on the Forum . There is so much creative potential it's amazing ! And the community projects are the exact kind of collaboration that I cannot wait to get involved with !

 

Incidentally 95% of my 3D modeling and animation experience has been via (hmmm how do I describe the program without actually naming it - right ? cuz we're not allowed to discuss other software packages here I think I read somewhere) ... well , let's just say that it's a very simplified 3D animation program that excels in the conversion of 3D Illustrator art into 3D models ... in my case I use(d) it to make 3D logos for all the NBA and AHL teams . I also have made a few projects where I modeled various things by combining basic primitives ... Anyways , with the last animation that I made for the CAVS "Tonight's Matchups" I pretty much cached it out ; I don't think that there was any feature that went unused . Needless-to-say , upon completion of the project I immediately started researching into other 3D graphics and animations packages and for a host of reasons I chose A:M and lo-and-behold here I am ! And I must say I am thoroughly content with my decision .

 

As I said before this forum is absolutely amazing ! The amount of information that can be gleaned is mind-boggling ... Any time I'm rendering any animations from AE , i find myself perusing the bevy of topics on here . And as soon as I'm finished with the TAOA:M and the Ultra Bootcamp I would love to jump on the Scarecrow of Oz project ... assuming that there's still work to be done . I figure there's no better way to beef-up my skills than by jumping head-first into a big project . Also , I must say that I am thoroughly impressed by the TWO movie . I showed the intro sequence to my girlfriend recently and told her my plans to jump on the SO project ... LOL ! Her reaction was basically something to the effect of "Great ! Now I'll never see you..." She was joking of course , but , as I'm sure you all can relate to this , all of us computer-oriented artists spend copious amounts of time on our projects , for work no less , and now I'm gonna have a whole other project outside work to sink my teeth into . I doubt I'll ever leave my workstation/dungeon-lab here at the Quicken Loans Arena .

 

I've got a few smaller projects to finish up this evening for the Cavs and for the Monsters (our AHL minor-league hockey team) ... as soon as that's done it's time to sink my teeth into the TAO A:M .

 

Looking forward to becoming an active member of this community ! Lata lata !

[jason1025]

Greetings A:M Community !

 

My name is Mike Gulley and I'm brand new to the A:M scene ! I'm the Motion Graphics Coordinator and Lead Animator for the Cleveland Cavaliers and we just scored A:M last week .

 

Concerning first impressions outside of the software itself I must say that I'm VERY impressed by the User Community here on the Forum . There is so much creative potential it's amazing ! And the community projects are the exact kind of collaboration that I cannot wait to get involved with !

 

Incidentally 95% of my 3D modeling and animation experience has been via (hmmm how do I describe the program without actually naming it - right ? cuz we're not allowed to discuss other software packages here I think I read somewhere) ... well , let's just say that it's a very simplified 3D animation program that excels in the conversion of 3D Illustrator art into 3D models ... in my case I use(d) it to make 3D logos for all the NBA and AHL teams . I also have made a few projects where I modeled various things by combining basic primitives ... Anyways , with the last animation that I made for the CAVS "Tonight's Matchups" I pretty much cached it out ; I don't think that there was any feature that went unused . Needless-to-say , upon completion of the project I immediately started researching into other 3D graphics and animations packages and for a host of reasons I chose A:M and lo-and-behold here I am ! And I must say I am thoroughly content with my decision .

 

As I said before this forum is absolutely amazing ! The amount of information that can be gleaned is mind-boggling ... Any time I'm rendering any animations from AE , i find myself perusing the bevy of topics on here . And as soon as I'm finished with the TAOA:M and the Ultra Bootcamp I would love to jump on the Scarecrow of Oz project ... assuming that there's still work to be done . I figure there's no better way to beef-up my skills than by jumping head-first into a big project . Also , I must say that I am thoroughly impressed by the TWO movie . I showed the intro sequence to my girlfriend recently and told her my plans to jump on the SO project ... LOL ! Her reaction was basically something to the effect of "Great ! Now I'll never see you..." She was joking of course , but , as I'm sure you all can relate to this , all of us computer-oriented artists spend copious amounts of time on our projects , for work no less , and now I'm gonna have a whole other project outside work to sink my teeth into . I doubt I'll ever leave my workstation/dungeon-lab here at the Quicken Loans Arena .

 

I've got a few smaller projects to finish up this evening for the Cavs and for the Monsters (our AHL minor-league hockey team) ... as soon as that's done it's time to sink my teeth into the TAO A:M .

 

Looking forward to becoming an active member of this community ! Lata lata !

 

Welcome

[Gikefod]

Many thanks Jason !

[robcat2075]

Greetings A:M Community !

 

My name is Mike Gulley and I'm brand new to the A:M scene ! I'm the Motion Graphics Coordinator and Lead Animator for the Cleveland Cavaliers and we just scored A:M last week

 

Welcome to A:M! We look forward to seeing your future productions.

[Rodney]

Mike,

I guess I've already said hello in a way via commentary on your TaoA:M exercises but this'll make it official.

 

With your experience with After Effects I hope you'll take advantage early of A:M's ability to render to image formats with Alpha Channels (TGA, PNG etc.). There is a whole lot of power to be found there.

 

In short, leveraging A:M with After Effects will serve you well!

 

Welcome to the A:M Forum.

[Gikefod]

Much appreciated Rob ! I'll be posting as often as time permits , just gotta bust through that ol' TAO A:M first !

[Gikefod]

Mike,

I guess I've already said hello in a way via commentary on your TaoA:M exercises but this'll make it official.

 

With your experience with After Effects I hope you'll take advantage early of A:M's ability to render to image formats with Alpha Channels (TGA, PNG etc.). There is a whole lot of power to be found there.

 

In short, leveraging A:M with After Effects will serve you well!

 

Welcome to the A:M Forum.

 

Thx for the official welcome there Rodney !

 

And most assuredly , I cannot wait to start integrating A:M with AE ! I've been using that prog for ... oh my ... almost a decade now ?! Yikes ! Anyways , one thing that I really can't wait to experiment with is rendering out normal passes of objects and scenes from A:M that I can then light using AE's lighting system along with a free plug-in called Normality ... apparently if one lights their 3D object and/or scene via this method in AE , one can save colossal amounts of render time . See the link below for more info :

 

Normality - FREE plugin for After Effects by Stefan Minning

 

Another thing that I find most promising about A:M is the ability to import Illustrator paths , logos , etc. This will all but completely negate my need to ever open our 'other' 3D prog again ! And you have no idea how content that makes me

 

Thx again Rodney ! Lata lata .

 

Go CAVS ! Tonight vs. Dallas MAVS 7:30 !