Tutorials and Broken Links

[Kelley]

Now that I'm in the home stretch with tank treads, it's time to think ahead and decide how to blast the bejeezus outta them.

 

I looked in A.R.M. and found these two tutorials...both of which end in a 'Page Not Found' It's the first of the two that I'd really to find. Can anyone direct me to another URL that will give me instruction on animating "flame/smoke trails" for a streaking anti-tank missle?

[KenH]

There's a project on the AM cd that does something similar. It's under "Projects" in the library.

[Rodney]

The missing links are one of the reasons I'm happy to see tutorials moving toward the Extra CD/DVD. At least then those old tutorials of old won't disappear completely. I definitely don't have those two saved anywhere.

 

As far as smoke and flame following trails I think using the tutorial from the manual... BUT... applying the emitter to a path would work well for you.

JohnL3D not only has some examples... he's got project files too.

Look those up.

 

This is somewhat unrelated but definitely a classic.

I tripped over it while trying to find your missing tutorials.

 

Jeff Lew's Killer Bean Bullet Time Effect - The Tutorial

 

Edit: Ken may be refering to Shaun Freeman's particle sprite tutorial.

The other Freeman (Colin) has one too and posted a heck of a lot of sprite images for our use. Those also should be on the Extra CD/DVD.

 

 

BTW - I haven't taken the time in your topic to say it so will say it here.

Great models!

[Drakkheim]

Wow I just looked at the date on those tutorials... Hard to imagine how much has changed since 1998..

 

I checked the internet WayBack machine.. and they didn't have any archives of the tutorials either.. They may have dissolved into the ether for all time.

[Kelley]

Thanks for all the looking guys. I appreciate it. Thanks for the kind words, Rodney. I'll see what I can track down with these leads.

[heyvern]

The ARM is hard to keep up to date. Links come and go and I just haven't had the time to go through and manage it lately. In the past it was a great resource. But now with this fantastic forum and all of its features the ARM may be nearing the end of its usefulness.

 

Don't forget... I don't get any money to host the ARM site. I do it because of my dedication to Hash and AM and all they have done for me over the years.

 

I couldn't possibly afford to have actual content hosted on my site so the link database for me is the only way to go. Because of that, tutorials that are pulled down from another website will be lost.

 

If you look at the ARM a large majority of the tutorials are very old and aren't even relevant to current versions of AM so that is another issue. It would be hard for a new user to pull out a small portion of relevant info from a tutorial for a version of AM that is years old. Just go back a few versions and you start to lose your way.

 

I hope that in the future with the help of this forum there might not be a need for the ARM. The resources available here as far as space and permanent hosting of files seem to be a much better format for this type of thing.

 

I'm not trying to get out of it... I just honestly believe that the ARM is no longer suited to this type of thing. We need a permanent place for these tutorials possibly hosted by Hash so they can own it and keep it safe.

 

Imagine if this forum didn't have image or file uploads only links to other web sites? It is the same for the ARM. People take those pages or images down and they are gone.

 

I notice that the newest links in the ARM are from January of 2006. I may turn off new members for the ARM and encourage people to post their tutorials here.

 

I would welcome any thoughts on this.

 

-vern

 

EDIT:

 

I would love to see a tutorial repository on the Hash site just like AMFilms! AM films is great and nicely organized. It would be a nice addition and then everything would be in one place.

 

I would even be willing to help out tracking down and transferring relevant tutorials from the ARM to this new spot on Hash. The best way would be using print to PDF. Load the tutorial and save it as a PDF. Just an idea.

[martin]

Don't forget... I don't get any money to host the ARM site. I do it because of my dedication to Hash and AM and all they have done for me over the years.

Vern, you're the man. We owe you big time.

 

I would love to see a tutorial repository on the Hash site just like AMFilms! AM films is great and nicely organized. It would be a nice addition and then everything would be in one place.

 

I would even be willing to help out tracking down and transferring relevant tutorials from the ARM to this new spot on Hash. The best way would be using print to PDF. Load the tutorial and save it as a PDF. Just an idea.

Hush yo' mouf. Dang, now ya gone done 'n volunteered. What'dya need?

[Rodney]

Vern,

I think the A.R.M. itself was (and is) the draw.

Yeah the content is king but you made that content look so good with your skills.

 

No suggestion from me for a change. (I've got them too though)

I just wanted to say 'thanks'.

[heyvern]

Dang, now ya gone done 'n volunteered. What'dya need?

 

Well... I don't want to create this "new site" myself. What I would like is if whoever did AM films could produce a similar area with categories like the ARM.

 

I don't know how it was produced or what tools were used.. but I would be willing to create a layout that is unique but based on AMfilms so it fits into the style.

 

I think the ARM site category breakdown is pretty good. Maybe some new categories will be needed for newer features of course... like hair... AO... SSS... etc. Maybe a new special section for the TAOAM or learning section.

 

There won't be a need for large image previews. It could all be text which would make it load faster and be... somewhat easier to produce.

 

Talking off the top of my head here... but... I would think that uploading tutorials would be the same as uplaoding a movie for AMFilms. At some point when it is "ready" I could start uploading PDF conversions of tutorials from the ARM. This step could go even faster if others got involved as well... just load... print to PDF.... upload.

 

(RTF Format might work as well.)

 

We would need to make sure credit is given to the author which is in the ARM database anyway.

 

Eventually the ARM could be... uh... retired... and anyone could easily print a PDF and upload their own tutorials just as is done with AMFilms.

 

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I have to admit I have ulterior motives in this. I desperately want to move my web site to a new host. If I do this now... with the ARM the way it is... it would take a ton of work to recreate it on another server. It is "old" and I would probably have to rebuild it "from scratch" almost... and it would be down for as long as it took to do this transfer. It would be wonderful for me to have it... off my back so to speak. My own site is also a part of this database and I do have limited space. So that is another issue.

 

I also feel this is not me "bailing out". I truly believe creating this new tutorial repository for AM on the Hash site would be 1000% better than the ARM or even tutorials on the forum which are hard to search and maintain as well. You guys would have absolute access and control over it.

 

If I got hit by a bus... uh... first off it would probably hurt a lot... but secondly the ARM site would not be around very long (Maybe I should leave it to you in my will just in case. )

 

I have clients who are always talking about what happens if I get hit by a bus. Doesn't fill me with confidence but I understand their position.

 

I can export the database as an Excel spreadsheet for any volunteers who wish to help convert the linked tutorials to PDF. I have a feeling a huge portion (50%? 70%?) of these tutorials are pretty much... old and useless. Maybe some vetting of the content will be needed as well.

 

-vern

[goodguy20k]

Just a few quick cents of opinion.

 

Make a list of tutorials. Note the ones that are still living, and put those in another list. (Might be nice to get the author's permission as well here...) Then send minions... Err... Volunteers, I mean! To go run through the tutorials. They can note what doesn't work/has changed in the latest versions, and for the more inclined, edit and polish the tutorial. Find a format and shoot it off to the repository.

 

Something like that. I know I wouldn't mind running through tutorials...

[heyvern]

Sounds like a plan.

 

Keep in mind there are almost 600 entries in the database at present. I think a very large majority of these could be culled. Let's say there are 200 worthy of keeping (probably less). Let's imagine, an hour per tutorial for editing. That's still a lot of man hours.

 

My inclination was to stay away from making any edits and just slogging through them and converting to an uploadable format (pdf or rtf) to keep the work load to a minimum. Even then it will be a chore.

 

If we throw in contacting everyone before converting... might as well give it up. That could take ages. Waiting for a response... waiting for the author to update...

 

On the other hand... if the new "tutorial site" exists these could be added at leisure over time... still, I wouldn't be able to move my web site till it is done... but there would still be a copy of the database so they won't be gone forever.

 

I say we just pull a "youtube"... put it up the way it is with proper credit to the author, wait for someone to complain... then take it down or replace it.

 

-vern

[johnl3d]

A lot of what I had posted disappeared when the free site I had disappeared earlier this year ..I have not had time to get something together to post what I had ..actually have ...one of these days and maybe the next dvd. I suggest you search the forum also there are many examples posted here.

[Drakkheim]

How about if we set up a community tutorial Wiki?

then anyone can add new tutorials at any time and we could transcribe the existing ones as a group effort.

 

I've got a hosting account (drakkheim.com) that I'm not actively using for anything except for storage...

I could pop up a subdomain and get somthing set up in short order?

[Kelley]

Back to those missle trails: Starting with the stuff that was right under my nose, I went to the A:M manual and did the "Eat My Dust" using Eddie. On the whole, not bad. The 'dust' looks not unlike the pic. in the manual.

 

My first concern is, as he walks the dust clouds look a lot like light flashes. While a new color would help, [ I'll fuss with that tomorrow] I'd like to get the cloud to look denser, and more grainy. At the moment it's closer to fog. [as does the pic. in the manual]. Can anyone suggest the needed settings in Properties?

 

Also, in the PWS, before the words "Dust1 Action Object" there is a question mark. Is that a good thing?

 

Thanks all.

[heyvern]

Sorry about hijacking your thread!

 

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I always get question marks in actions. I think in my case it is in actions with keyed bones that don't exist... they haven't caused trouble though. I can't recall seeing them in the chor but I don't use that particular effect enough to know what it means.

 

As for the "thin" dust... I too have not been thrilled with that effect and I am not sure if this can be overcome (not an expert).

 

Have you thought about using "spriticles"? You can make some pretty convincing smoke and flame effects... really cool stuff.

 

I used image particles for a fairy dust trail that looked wonderful... sparkly yet dense... lots of different colors and sizes and opacity. Very convincing and very "flexible"... simple to change the length and amount of the "smoke" or dust trail.. density etc. And they are easy to control... turning them off and on, animating the attributes. There should be some example materials for this on the AM disk, and if you got the ExtraCD... there should be even more on those. I think the Balrog uses it in one of those project files.

 

I've seen here on the forum some fantastic smoke trails done with "spriticles" or particle images... or whatever the heck they are called.

 

I like them because I can see them in preview mode on the screen while animating. I don't have to render to get an idea of the results.

 

-vern

[Kelley]

Sorry about hijacking your thread!

 

Ay! No problem. It is in the nature of discussion to wander a bit.

 

Thanks for the tips. I riffled through my [several feet of] software CD's and happily, I found that I did order the A:M Extras CD. This coming week will be dedicated to working out some good particle/sprite/spriticule effects and whatever else I can gin up.

 

Thanks again.