#%!!*% LION AT THE DOOR

[Kelley]

As the required rite of passage for TWO, here's the lion and the door. Have spent the best part of a week chewing on the carpet just to get it to this point. It's been better, and it's been a lot worse. Adding Kinetic constraints always flips the hands 180 degrees. Keeping constraints on has been an exercise in frustration suppresion.

 

Ah well, if I have to disgrace myself before the entire Hash community, let this be the day.

LION_AT_THE_DOOR.zip

[Rodney]

Too small! Boo!

I want to see more.

 

Even John Lasseter had to start somewhere.

Might as well be here with a Lion at the Door for you.

 

I'm not sure it applies to you here but don't forget to turn off the Balance/Balance rigid constraints.

We have some Exercise 6 gurus these days and if you post in the Exercise 6 topic they'll help you get through those rough spots.

[c-wheeler]

Yes too small!

Try rendering out as a sorenson 3 .mov file to at low resolution

Chris

[Kelley]

Yes too small!

Try rendering out as a sorenson 3 .mov file to at low resolution

Chris

 

Good advice all. It's small because my first iteration was 320x240, and even when zipped, it was a few Mb over the upload limit. So I hastily halved everything. Just for the helluva it, I'll post a re-do in Sorensen 3.

 

Balance/Balance Rigid? Indeed? Another item glossed over in the manual.

 

And speaking of manuals: why were all the tutorials deleted in V.13? It's what I loved in V.11. They actually told you where to go, what menus to pull down. But there was no theory. Now we're arse-deep in data and theory and [at first reading] no tutorials, no discernable organization, not even chapters headings. It would be nice if there was a "What's New" section and how to use it.

 

I'll choke back my rant on the 9pt Miniscule light they chose for the text. I'm using an old mans eyes here...

 

Back again...can't find Sorensen 3. Checked formats. There's only .avi, Quicktime, and Targa Sequence. Under "compression", there's Cinepak, Intel (4 flavors), Microsoft (2 flavors) Intel again, Microsoft (2), Indeo, Fraps Video Compress [for screen caps] and Full Frame Uncompressed.

 

I tried rendering out at 320x240 Flat Shaded, but the .zip file is 2.81 Mb., even bigger than Final Quality 320x240 which was 2.64.\

 

Suggestions?

[Tralfaz]

I am not at the computer with A:M on it right now, but if you select QuickTime first, then click on Compression, you should be brought to a window where you can select Sorrenson 3 and a host of other goodies...

 

The compression types you mention are for .avi files.

 

Al

[Kelley]

...but if you select QuickTime first, then click on Compression, you should be brought to a window where you can select Sorrenson

 

...and so it proved to be. 'Got everything spec.'d out [& resolution set to 'Low']. But while I can see each frame as it renders, right out to the last, when I summon up the final product, there's just a solid black window.

[Caroline]

I had this problem at the weekend, after I upgraded my Quicktime to 7.1.6.

 

What version of Quicktime are you running? (in QT- Help Menu > About Quicktime).

 

If you're running QT 7.1.6 you can downgrade - see This Thread

[Kelley]

I had this problem at the weekend, after I upgraded my Quicktime to 7.1.6.

 

What version of Quicktime are you running? (in QT- Help Menu > About Quicktime).

 

If you're running QT 7.1.6 you can downgrade - see This Thread

 

Looked up Quicktime. I'm running 7.0.3 Quicktime Pro. I upgraded from some other version when I was told that it was necessary if I wanted to download SFX from the 'net.

[Caroline]

Well that is odd, because that black at the end, but fine while it was rendering, is exactly what happened with mine. I wonder if it's to do with the 'Pro' bit. Because I bought Pro last week. But mine's fine now on Pro 7.1.5.

 

If you find out what it is, do let us know!

 

Presumably it renders OK on tgas and avis?

[Kelley]

Presumably it renders OK on tgas and avis?

 

Yes. And I only tried the Quicktime because the zipped .avi's were a little too big to upload. I haven't tried to do the whole animation as a Targa Sequence, but V.13 sees Targa decals allright.

[Tralfaz]

...but if you select QuickTime first, then click on Compression, you should be brought to a window where you can select Sorrenson

 

...and so it proved to be. 'Got everything spec.'d out [& resolution set to 'Low']. But while I can see each frame as it renders, right out to the last, when I summon up the final product, there's just a solid black window.

 

I have been doing some tests with QuickTime since I also just upgraded to 7.1.6. It should also be noted that I just did a complete and fresh install of Windows XP SP2 on my PC this past weekend. I am also using A:M 13s (Oz). Each test render that I did is coming out just fine. I started with just a single pass, no shadows, etc. and it worked. Then I slowly started adding things back into the render process such as multi-pass (16 passes), then motion blur, shadows, etc. until just about everything was turned on. QuickTime still showed the final render properly.

 

Al

[Kelley]

...be noted that I just did a complete and fresh install of Windows XP SP2 on my PC this

 

Interesting. I, for the moment, am on my HP Pavilion with XP Home Ed. Seeing as I'm going to load V.13 onto my Compac laptop with [gasp!] Vista tomorrow, I'll run another test when I get that going.

 

Thanks for all the advice.