showson1 Posted October 12, 2004 Posted October 12, 2004 Hi all! What are people's opinions of the videos available from Anzovin? I just got A:M recently and I'm picking up the animation stuff pretty well, but have a lot of difficulty with the modeling. Thanks for any opinions. Steve Quote
kungfudork Posted October 12, 2004 Posted October 12, 2004 everything i've ever bought from Anzovin has been well worth the money!! i own: Raf's rigging tapes (VHS) Secrets of A:M 2002 (VHS) Rigging a Face (VHS) Nonlinear Animation with Raf Anzovin (VHS) Animation:Master QuickStart CD TSM 1 Model A Face with Bill Young CD Weight Mover TSM 2 Animate a Face with Justin Barrett CD ALL WORTH THE MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!! -Dieter Wagner Quote
anzovin Posted October 12, 2004 Posted October 12, 2004 Hi all! What are people's opinions of the videos available from Anzovin? I just got A:M recently and I'm picking up the animation stuff pretty well, but have a lot of difficulty with the modeling. Thanks for any opinions. Steve A:M QuickStart 2 covers basic A:M modeling concepts in great depth. Bill Young's Model a Face CD takes off from there with intermediate and advanced modeling examples. Between the two, there is about 4 hours of modeling-specific instruction. http://www.rafhashvideotapes.com Steve Anzovin Studio Quote
wwoelbel Posted October 12, 2004 Posted October 12, 2004 I would suggest that you pickup the CD/DVD version of the training products whenever possible. I spent/spend lots of time going back and forth in the material while working in AM. The VHS solution is a bit cumbersome for me (VCR is down in the living room, scene positioning is tedious and slow, roommate annoying/annoyed with entertainment center takeover). I have made a couple of mistake purchases in my time but I consider the training material from Anzovin to be extremely well spent money. Quote
olioli Posted October 13, 2004 Posted October 13, 2004 I liked the first quickstart cd a little better than the second...Reason being, the host goes through the entire disk REALLY fast. I'm still new at this so I had to review the sections over and over and over again just to make sure I totally understood what he was saying. Overall from 1 to 10, I'd give it an 8. (the modeling section was a bit tough) Theres a lot of great info here for beginners. Then again, I'm a musician, what do I know Quote
Brandonbrzfan Posted October 13, 2004 Posted October 13, 2004 The videos were excellent!! I wish they had some on texturing ,but everyone I have purchased has helped me a great deal!!! Quote
anzovin Posted October 13, 2004 Posted October 13, 2004 The videos were excellent!! I wish they had some on texturing ,but everyone I have purchased has helped me a great deal!!! Bill Young's Mastering Materials CDs are all about texturing. http://www.rafhashvideotapes.com/ammamacd.html --Steve Anzovin Studio Quote
anzovin Posted October 13, 2004 Posted October 13, 2004 Anyone like to comment on Justin Barrett's Animate a Face CDs? We haven't had much feedback on them yet, and we are anxious to hear what people think. --Steve Anzovin Studio Quote
wwoelbel Posted October 13, 2004 Posted October 13, 2004 Can't comment (yet)... I've been away from AM for some time and didn't notice these new goodies in your store window. I'll have to pickup the "(blank) a face" series pretty quick. Quote
Mega Posted October 13, 2004 Posted October 13, 2004 I highly reccommend ANY product from the Anzovin's. All are top notch and incredibly well designed. Support is as as good, if not better, than the products themselves. I would suggest getting TSM2 and WeightMover. When it becomes available, I plan to get their live action CD...so...when will it ship? Tony Quote
strohbehn Posted October 13, 2004 Posted October 13, 2004 I'll hop in here with my enthusiastic endorsement of Justin Barrett's "Animate a Face" CDs. I'm relatively new to A:M and had never animated anything prior to buying "Animate a Face". For me these CD's were a perfect mix of technical instruction pertaining to the A:M interface (i.e. curves, timeline, keyframes, etc.), as well as a great insight into how a professional animator approaches and executes a lipsync project. After watching the CD's a couple of times I was able to easily get around in the A:M timeline editing keyframes and curves, and produce an end product that I was really excited about. Justin Barret's presentation was concise, relaxed and easy to listen to, and thoroughly covered all aspects of animating a face. I would definitely buy another Justin Barrett training CD. Hopefully there will be more to come! Quote
zowat Posted October 13, 2004 Posted October 13, 2004 I bought the everything bundle from Anzovin in April of this year just after getting A:M. it was money well spent . Every cd is informative and packed with good tips and trick to help you do things faster and easier.. One of the great things is you get to watch an expert user works on screen and listen to their train of thought. I would definitely recommend any of the cd they offer for sale . I also purchased Justin Barrets " animate a face " cd but haven't finished watching the whole thing yet , but the parts i have watched are very well done. Easy to listen to and full of good info. Quote
ax-pei Posted October 14, 2004 Posted October 14, 2004 My experience with anzovin has been an utter dissapointment. I ordered Raf's non linear animation tape and the setup machine (got it for an xmas gift when it was first released). It never arrived. I contacted Anzovin (Steve) he told me my order must have been sent to someone else (yeah, right). So, they eventually sent the tape (non linear animation) - but no CD with the setup machine (I was told to download this from the site) - that isn't what I paid for (I bought my own xmas gift). So, I paid for a CD that I never got. Customer support.... well in my experince it was non existant (JP who ever was the scape goat for that problem). The non linear animation tape... well in a nut shell it is at best enteraining. (In my opinion) here is why. on the tape Raf is constantly 'adjusting this' and 'going over here' to adjust that' etc. there is very little explaination of what is being adjusted and where 'going over here is' that is being adjusted. If you sit 6 inches from your tv you may be able to follow what he is doing, but I could not. The setup machine... after 'rigging' the model and re-loading into am (on those few occasions when I could (see below) and turning up the poses, the model had no spherical constraints or any type which is what I had hoped the 'tool' would do - you can still move any limb on a model in any direction you want - unlike an actual body, which has limits to how much the joints can move / bend etc.) when loaded back into AM (version 8.x) my screen would usually go white, then I would have to re-boot my machine. Occassionally my machine would crash, but most of the time AM would crash the moment I tried to do anything with 'rigged' model. So as a tool.... it was like using a hammer for driving screws.....not worth the effort. If you have had good experinces with any anzovin 'tool' or 'tape' good for you. I was going to ask for a refund (over a year ago) but decided not to. I would not order another product from them based on my experience with the first screwed up order / terrible customer service and also due to my disappointment with what I eventually recieved and downloaded. have a nice day ax Quote
anzovin Posted October 14, 2004 Posted October 14, 2004 Dear ax-pei, We'll be happy to refund your money by check or provide alternate products if you will provide an order number or real name for us to track. We want people to be satisfied with what we offer. Shipping errors do sometimes happen, especially at holiday time; our apologies if we did not resolve yours properly. I believe that most of our other customers are satisfied with our service, but please, anyone else who feels that they were deliberately cheated, contact me immediately at steve@anzovin.com. Not sure what the problem was with The Setup Machine, but were you trying to use it with A:M version 8? TSM1 does not work with any version earlier than 8.5, and this is clearly stated in the online product information. Were you able to use any of the free rigged TSM1 models? Also note, TSM does indeed create a constrained model with controls. In most cases the underlying constraints, which rarely are spherical constraints btw, are hidden to keep things looking cleaner. Perhaps that caused some confusion? As for Raf's NLA tape, we do have a CD version that is easier to watch. This title is a port from videotape, as the product page states. The NLA tape has been out of print for more than a year now. The CD contains an expansion of the lecture Raf gave at a Siggraph panel in 2001, but most people still seem to feel that the material is well worth viewing. I know this is only your second post on any Hash forum. We would have been happy to address your continuing concerns earlier. If you have any questions about any of our products, please feel free to ask here or write me directly. Steve Anzovin Studio Quote
Dalemation Posted October 14, 2004 Posted October 14, 2004 I have purchased all of the available Anzovin CD`s over the last couple of years. I have found both the product and service to be excellent. The items have always been delivered within a week, sometimes in a couple of days, to here in the UK. All of the CD`s make great viewing and most of my A:M knowledge has been obtained from these, Studio45`s CD`s and David Rogers book. The Non Linear Animation CD I find superb. It was the first thing I studied before I embarked on production of my little film `Mad Edd` and tells you all you need to know about combining and blending actions in a choreography. The Anzovin CD`s are very professionally produced and must take a long time to create. I think they are exceptional value for money when you consider the work that goes into them, the information contained, and the cost of some other training materials. Dale. Quote
vf124 Posted October 16, 2004 Posted October 16, 2004 The Non Linear Animation CD I find superb. It was the first thing I studied before I embarked on production of my little film `Mad Edd` and tells you all you need to know about combining and blending actions in a choreography. Great ... my copy will be here next week ... My experience with anzovin has been an utter dissapointment. Hmmm ... as a beginner, so far, I've ordered three (3) different sets of CDs fm Anzovin ... no problems whatsoever ... The people there have always been courteous ... Quote
Christopher Mackay Posted October 16, 2004 Posted October 16, 2004 I've got more Anzovin products than I can quickly recall -- I see Secrets of AM 2002, Rigging A Face, Non-linear Animation, and Creating Setups (6-hours long) -- and those are just the VHS tapes. I also have a number of the CD-ROM-based tutorials (I've copied them all to a DVD-ROM, and I don't have it close at hand or I'd list all of them, too) and TSM1.3. Their materials are of the highest quality (yes, even the VHS versions); I find the explanations thorough, the instructors knowledgable, and the topics relevant. I look forward to their next products. Quote
anzovin Posted October 20, 2004 Posted October 20, 2004 Here's a link to some other comments people have made about our discs: http://www.rafhashvideotapes.com/testimonials1.html Steve Anzovin Studio Quote
olioli Posted October 21, 2004 Posted October 21, 2004 Well, even though there may be a bit of hesitation on my part, I'm sold! I'm placing an order for the non linear animation cd...crossing my fingers I'll be able to understand the tutorials and how to apply what you teach. Quote
ATAHUALPA Posted October 22, 2004 Posted October 22, 2004 ...okay...I'm late to give reply, but here are my two cents: My personal note: Yiiiihaaaaaa!!!! The best tutorials for the best price I've ever bought My note as a professional Maya Softwaredealer: Tutorials are a hype. People often buy tutorials and DVD's long before they buy the software. And when they start with the software, there are always areas they want to get deeper inside. Tutorials are essential for every good software. And what the Anzovin's have delivered with their CD's, Videos and Software is excellent. You always have to look at the pricetag and what you get for it. Here (with Anzovin) you get more than expected. And look at other vendors (from other 3d software). It's often much higher price and the demos aren't that what you expected. So I want to see more of that. Okay one thing I'm still missing from the Anzovin's. A book like "The Animation:Master Bible", 1200 pages, full color, tons of tips and tricks.... Regards Martin cybersign Quote
Thierry Posted October 22, 2004 Posted October 22, 2004 Okay one thing I'm still missing from the Anzovin's. A book like "The Animation:Master Bible", 1200 pages, full color, tons of tips and tricks.... excellent idea!!!! I will also buy it! Thierry Quote
robertalove Posted October 26, 2004 Posted October 26, 2004 I just got Animate a Face by Justin Barrett and think it is just great. Justin has a wonderful presentation style and conveys a lot of good information. I would like to see more from him. Just my 2 cents worth. Quote
Nosferatu Posted October 28, 2004 Posted October 28, 2004 I noticed that someone called Anzovins' customer service into question, but I would like to relate a very good experience: I ordered two of their CDs (I forget which two...I have several). One of them was fine, but another wouldn't play. I couldn't even read the disk to copy the files to the HD. I sent an e-mail and Steve immediately replied with an apology and a promise to send another one out. He was as good as his word. Steve never questioned me nor did he ask me to send the bad one back. It was simply a matter of "You have a problem...I'm going to take care of it immediately". Customer service like that is what keeps me coming back. Nosferatu Quote
JBarrett Posted November 8, 2004 Posted November 8, 2004 Thanks for all the kind words on Animate a Face. I'm flattered that people like it so much. As for making more, I'm totally open to it, but I'll admit that I'm stumped when it comes to a concept. I'm open to suggestions, though. Jot me a line if you have an idea! Quote
hypnomike Posted November 8, 2004 Posted November 8, 2004 Customer service like that is what keeps me coming back. I had a similar experience and I'm very impressed with their speed and standard of service. I've had a sneak peek at the tutorials I ordered (they're supposed to be for Christmas but I ordered early because of the sale) and they are top class. Well done Anzovin, I'll certainly buy more as I progress. Quote
alejandro Posted January 3, 2005 Posted January 3, 2005 new here... is there an order one must witness these cd's? what exactly is 'non-linear animation'? if you don't mind me asking. thanks alex Quote
wwoelbel Posted January 4, 2005 Posted January 4, 2005 I would not order another product from them based on my experience with the first screwed up order / terrible customer service and also due to my disappointment with what I eventually recieved and downloaded. Wow! I just noticed this slightly older post and had to comment! Something is amiss here. I have ordered multiple products on multiple occasions from Anzovin and have only been disappointed once. The sound was messed up on the first set of tapes that I bought. One email and a bit of patience while the new masters were being produced and I was all smiles. I have never had anything but quick and polite support. I also found the post to be rather rude. Why would you assume that you had beed decieved when told that there may have been a shipping mistake? Steve Anzovin may be many things (none but good that I can come up with) but a big fat liar is not one I would tag him with. Quote
patmals Posted January 13, 2005 Posted January 13, 2005 I recently purchased the beginners bundle (or whatever it is called) comprising Quickstart 2 and Secrets 2002 / 2003. I havent had time to watch much of it, and just watched most of the first cd of the quickstart. The quality is superb and the content is very cool. Though i agree with OliOLi that it went a bit fast at times and some bits were skipped. I mean, if i wanted to skip certain parts, i could do that myself. I just dont like when things are pressed on without full documentation. Overall, they are great and I thank Anzovin studios for fantastic products! Also, a BIG PLUS are the cd holders each CD came with, they are the best and most protective cases i have seen! Good stuff! Quote
Pesto Posted January 18, 2005 Posted January 18, 2005 I have most of the Anzovin products...to me, they are excellent. They really make the best stuff for AM training & rigging. As for Justin Barrett's CDs...buy them...no don't think...just buy them. When I saw Justin's entry in the lip sync contest a while ago using the Shaggy model I knew this guy is talented and anything he puts out as far as training I was going to buy...I haven't been disappointed. Just my 2 cents Quote
Pengy Posted January 22, 2005 Posted January 22, 2005 Just thought I'd add my voice to the mix. Just received my copy of Mastering Materials with Bill Young. Adding this title to the others I have is just like having a tutor come to my house. Thank you folks at Anzovins for making the A:M learning curve a little less steep. Quote
Zaryin Posted January 23, 2005 Posted January 23, 2005 I've got TSM2 and now I think I might buy more titles based on the comments here. Thanks. Quote
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