Manta Posted February 25, 2011 Posted February 25, 2011 Hi! I'm an old user and I'm considering to come back to the amazing world of A:M. I come from v11 and I would like to know which version is the latest and what are the main differences between them. Also... I prefer the boxed one and not the subscription. Are both the same? Thanks in advance and regards. Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted February 25, 2011 Hash Fellow Posted February 25, 2011 Hi! I'm an old user and I'm considering to come back to the amazing world of A:M. I come from v11 and I would like to know which version is the latest and what are the main differences between them. Also... I prefer the boxed one and not the subscription. Are both the same? Thanks in advance and regards. v15j+ is current. v16 is "in beta" The interface will look very familiar to a v11 user. Many feature and stability enhancements have arrived since v11. v16 is about twice as fast as v15. Your v11 models should travel to v15 and v16 fine. Do not expect to take v15 or v16 models back to v11. The features of boxed and sub are identical. Sub doesn't require a CD in the drive to start A:M but is locked to the computer you install it on. Boxed lets you take the CD to any computer to run A:M Welcome back to A:M! Quote
Manta Posted February 26, 2011 Author Posted February 26, 2011 Thank you so much for your help Robert. When you talk about speed... Do you mean reduced rendering times or improved 3D view response? Does A:M still come with importers like OBJ or 3DS? Quote
Fuchur Posted February 26, 2011 Posted February 26, 2011 Thank you so much for your help Robert. When you talk about speed... Do you mean reduced rendering times or improved 3D view response? Does A:M still come with importers like OBJ or 3DS? Hi Manta, he is talking about reduced rendertimes per core. (v16 with Netrenderer can use more than one core which will result in even faster rendertimes for animation-output). There are many other operations which have been optimized too of course, but we can't compare these as easy as rendertimes since they are most often very fast anyway. Finding patches is optimized and using multiple cores and so on... You will find a huge amount of new features and you will find A:M to be more stable than before. The interface has not changed (much) and you will be back in action in no time . Welcome back and let us know what you are doing! *Fuchur* Quote
Xtaz Posted February 26, 2011 Posted February 26, 2011 Welcome back Manta .... Does A:M still come with importers like OBJ or 3DS? Yes .... the files that A:M imports are: -PLY -OBJ -LWO -DXF -AV2 -3DS Quote
Manta Posted February 26, 2011 Author Posted February 26, 2011 Welcome back Manta .... Does A:M still come with importers like OBJ or 3DS? Yes .... the files that A:M imports are: -PLY -OBJ -LWO -DXF -AV2 -3DS Hi guys! You know... beside the great animation tools, what I love the most about A:M is the charming community it has!! Seriously... I'm done with egos and other kinds of personalities that I've found. I'm actually working in an ambitious project and I realized that A:M and this BIG family was all I needed to get the job done. And another question... Is it possible to use a USB dongle instead of the CD? Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted February 26, 2011 Hash Fellow Posted February 26, 2011 And another question... Is it possible to use an USB dongle instead of the CD? I don't believe they offer a USB dongle option any more. Quote
Fuchur Posted February 26, 2011 Posted February 26, 2011 I think (but I am not totally sure) that you get an subscription with the CD-version too... So if you buy a CD-version, you can use the subscription for one year to not having to put in the CD in the drive... After the year you have to use the CD or resubscripe so. See you *Fuchur* Quote
Manta Posted February 26, 2011 Author Posted February 26, 2011 No problem at all. I emailed them to see if this is possible. As I said I prefer the CD version over the subscription regardless of the protection used. Thanks again for your welcome. It's great to be here. Quote
HomeSlice Posted February 26, 2011 Posted February 26, 2011 When you order the CD (or the subscription), it will likely come with some flavor of version 15. That is the latest official release. You will want to update that to v15J. Version 16 is still in beta. Many people are already using it, but it is still being tweaked. If you are doing something with deadlines, something you may want to try is installing both v15J and v16 (v16 installs into a different directory, so you can have both installed). V16 comes in 32bit and 64bit flavors, so install the 64bit version if you have a 64bit OS. Then create your assets and animation in v15J. Then copy those files to a new (v16 projects) directory and render them with v16. The reason is that v16 renders much faster. On a PC it is substantial, but on the Mac it is an order of magnitude faster. Plus, a limited version of Netrender is available in the beta that allows you to render animations on two cores of your cpu (or two single core computers) at the same time. Netrender is also handy for setting up a large batch of choreographies to render unattended. Netrender won't speed up the rendering of a single image, however. A single frame will only render on a single core. Quote
HomeSlice Posted February 26, 2011 Posted February 26, 2011 Also, I understand your preference for the CD. But at $80/year for the subscription, you get 3.75 years of updates for the price of a single CD version. Quote
Manta Posted February 27, 2011 Author Posted February 27, 2011 Thanks a lot for your insightful help. I'm using Windows 7 64 so... how well will v15 32 run on my system? I know the advantages of the subscription but I don't like to feel forced to upgrade every year and not to be able to run the software anymore. Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted February 27, 2011 Hash Fellow Posted February 27, 2011 I have my 32 bit v15, my 32-bit v16 and my 64-bit v16 running fine on my 64-bit Win 7 Quote
Manta Posted February 27, 2011 Author Posted February 27, 2011 I have my 32 bit v15, my 32-bit v16 and my 64-bit v16 running fine on my 64-bit Win 7 I'm glad to hear that. Well... my main doubts have been cleared and I'll place an order in the next few days. Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted February 27, 2011 Hash Fellow Posted February 27, 2011 Your biggest variable may be your video card. Most work fine, some don't, not sure why. Quote
Manta Posted February 27, 2011 Author Posted February 27, 2011 That's true. It is a GeForce GTX 480. Maybe I'm wrong but I always hear that Nvidia cards work better than Ati ones with 3D softwares in general. At least, while I was at AnimationMentor, those were the cards they recommended the most. Quote
Fuchur Posted February 27, 2011 Posted February 27, 2011 That's true. It is a GeForce GTX 480. Maybe I'm wrong but I always hear that Nvidia cards work better than Ati ones with 3D softwares in general. At least, while I was at AnimationMentor, those were the cards they recommended the most. Just because of Cuda... otherwise I can't confirm that... Never had any problems with ATIs... anyway, a GTX 480 should work great. See you *Fuchur* Quote
Manta Posted February 27, 2011 Author Posted February 27, 2011 I never owned an Ati card so I only speak for the people I know. Hey Fuchur... I see you have a link with recent importers and exporters. Are they better than the older ones? A:M 11 freezes almost everytime I try to import something and I don't know if it is because of the plugin or the software ifself. Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted February 27, 2011 Hash Fellow Posted February 27, 2011 A:M 11 freezes almost everytime I try to import something and I don't know if it is because of the plugin or the software ifself. It's not really freezing, you just have to give polygon import a long time. The progress bar will look like it's stopped at 60% but inside it's still doing stuff. It's still like that but people have success letting things run over night sometimes. But most polygon models are poor candidates for conversion to splines. Learn A:M's spline modeling and avoid the trouble all together. Quote
John Bigboote Posted February 27, 2011 Posted February 27, 2011 Hey welcome back Manta! What was your name before? Maybe some of us remember you. Win7 and A:MV 15-16 is a slam dunk. I would recommend using version 16 beta even though you will buy V15... it's that much better, and incredibly stable. (PLUS- you can take advantage of your 64 bit OS) Poly importers DO take long times... the bigger/more polys... the longer- let it go overnite. AND--- some of our members are experimenting with exporting OBJ models AND animations via MDD file format for external render in Modo or Octane Render... these are exciting times! Meanwhile- the A:M native render keeps getting better and better while faster and faster... all this making A:M an attractive package to 'switch back to'. Hope your transition is smooth and rapid. Quote
Manta Posted February 27, 2011 Author Posted February 27, 2011 Robert... When I open the Task Manager it says that the software has stopped working and the percentage number does not blink. I know how to model splines but there are projects that I don't want to start them again. Hey John! Thanks for your welcome, man. I'm glad to see you again. Your work is always an inspiration. My nick has been always the same. Maybe you remember crazy shorfilms like Robor Show or Writing with Celine. Quote
Fuchur Posted February 27, 2011 Posted February 27, 2011 As others said before... importing can take hours and the Taskmanager does misinterpret that. (normally I would not really recommend to wait as long... if the polygone-import really takes that long, the model will not be useable in A:M anyway... I imported several OBJ-files to A:M just fine. I think they improved the export / import in v13. BUT if you are importing high polycount-files you will have to wait and it is unlikely that you will have much fun with the converted models. A:M is just not made to handle such amounts of patches. These files can however be imported as props. A:M can handle many polygones there, but they are static than. Hope that helps a little. Basicly, as many have pointed out: Importing high polygon-counts is a no-go. Importing lowpoly-objects will take a little but work out just fine with a little readjustment. See you *Fuchur* Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted February 27, 2011 Hash Fellow Posted February 27, 2011 I'm trying the Stanford Bunny OBJ right now and, yeah, Windows says "Not responding" but I've done it before and I know if I wait long enough a bunny will show up. Try something over night. Once you resave it as MDL it doesn't take so long to load. Just to make sure it's an A:M readable file try importing it as a polygon "prop" first Be warned that anything over about 10,000 patches in A:M is asking for very tedious waits when editing splines. Quote
Manta Posted February 28, 2011 Author Posted February 28, 2011 Thanks for the tips Robert. I'm experimenting a lot of crashes with my ancient v11. I can't import nothing. Could it be a problem related to incompatibility issues with Windows 7? Quote
HomeSlice Posted February 28, 2011 Posted February 28, 2011 Thanks for the tips Robert. I'm experimenting a lot of crashes with my ancient v11. I can't import nothing. Could it be a problem related to incompatibility issues with Windows 7? I would imagine importing complex poly models into A:M would take quite a bit of RAM, and you might be running out during the process. You might try opening the task manager, find where it tells you the Available Physical Memory, and watch that to see if you are running out. Quote
Manta Posted March 2, 2011 Author Posted March 2, 2011 I have an old version of Wings 3D that exports to MDL. Could someone send me the exporter corrector? Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted March 2, 2011 Hash Fellow Posted March 2, 2011 Exporter corrector? Thanks for the tips Robert. I'm experimenting a lot of crashes with my ancient v11. I can't import nothing. Could it be a problem related to incompatibility issues with Windows 7? It worked for me on the first try. Here's an OBJ I made in Wings imported as an OBJ into A:M v11.1i running on Win 7 WingsOBJTest01__2_.zip If what you are trying to import is so complex that you don't want to remodel it in A:M it's probably got a lot of polygons. Quote
Manta Posted March 2, 2011 Author Posted March 2, 2011 Yeah... it must be the number of polygons. I'll try to import the mesh in various parts and if I can't, I'll begin again. Quote
HomeSlice Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 If the thing you are trying to import is a static model, like a building or something. Import it into A:M as a Prop. Prop importing is very fast. If it is mechanical and you can break up the polygon model into all the different joints of the model, import each joint into A:M as a Prop and use constraints to rig the thing for animation. If it is an organic character that needs to be animated, your best bet is to re-model it in A:M. You can import a poly model into A:M as a prop and use it as a sort of 3D rotoscope to make re-modeling it easier. Quote
Manta Posted March 3, 2011 Author Posted March 3, 2011 The character is a robot ala Pixar so importing as a prop is not an option. Let's see what I can do. Many thanks anyway. Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted March 3, 2011 Hash Fellow Posted March 3, 2011 The character is a robot ala Pixar so importing as a prop is not an option. Let's see what I can do. Many thanks anyway. Show a picture of it. Quote
Manta Posted March 3, 2011 Author Posted March 3, 2011 I can't. I want to copyright the design first. Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted March 3, 2011 Hash Fellow Posted March 3, 2011 Well, without seeing it, I'd still say robots are the prime candidate for Holmes' suggestion: If it is mechanical and you can break up the polygon model into all the different joints of the model, import each joint into A:M as a Prop and use constraints to rig the thing for animation. Quote
Shazam3D Posted March 10, 2011 Posted March 10, 2011 Hi Manta, hi pals! I'm thinking back to "Splineland" also, I'm a user of Blender/Maya today but I love to animate in A:M. Manta, I sent you an email; I can't login in 3dp. Regards. Quote
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