This is an archive of CompuServe forum messages from 1985 to 1995, as saved in transcripts by John Foust.
Search Results (189 messages)
Hi Mar. I just got the Animator Studio demo cd and was pleased to see you're still using my Screaming Mouse animation in your demos! I animated that mouse about 7 or 8 years ago on an Amiga and left it here on CompuServe in the Amiga forum. From what…
I'm not sure what you mean. I use batch rendering to do multiple files unattended over the weekend.
Okay, thanks. I'll give it a try!
#Batch rendering
Message #169912
I've discovered the joys of batch rendering! Is there a way to render Video Post files within a batch render? I didn't see any mention of it in the manual. Thanks!
I made the change you suggested, and it worked! Thanks! I had the display set higher so that the images used by Mirage would work. All I have to do is remember to switch back when I use Mirage, which is a great plug-in, by the way.
To be honest I'm not sure how my main display is set! I'll check & give it a try. Thanks.
I'll give it a try. Thanks!
#Building Faces
Message #168681
Why am I having trouble building faces? I can pick the first vertex, but then the pick box disappears. I get coordinates at the top of the screen, but no visible pick box. What's the problem?
This is excellent information! Thanks a lot. I'll look into the hardware and software as soon as I can. Thanks again.
Vidi-Amiga
Message #192387
Hi, thanks for the reply. I'm ccurious about the Vidi-Amiga used in an animation pencil test system. Is it easy to use? Will it work on an Amiga 2500? Expensive? How easy is it to find these days? I haven't done anything Amiga-wise in a few years, so I'm out…
Yeah, that's what I meant by divide the fields: it's an automatic tv-thing! I'll give it a try.
Yeah, but if you need a "dynamic" frame of animation, say, to impress a client or to go into print material, a field-rendered frame wouldn't look right. You'd have to render that special. The problem I had with Wavefront was that I was rendering at 648 X 486, but to…
I'm not really curious about the nuts & bolts of how it works, as long as it DOES work! I've got some experimenting to do now! I think my questions have been answered, I've just got to try it & see. Thanks for the input!
So animation rendered on fields will not produce single images that don't either flicker or look like 2 images overlapped, right? The full effect is only visible when the tape is running at 30 fps. Thanks for the info! I'll definitely do some test renderings & see what happens. I've…
So if animation is rendered at 640 x 486 on fields, meaning a 90 frame sequence would actually be a 180 FIELD animation, and then it's transferred to NTSC video, the transfer will automatically divide the 2-field frame into separate fields. Does that sound right? But you HAVE to render…
This is what I mean about not being able to get a straight answer on fields and pixels! You've got 525 lines of video, right? You've got 480 lines of pixels, 640 pixels wide, right? HOW DO YOU FIT 480 LINES INTO 525??? Field rendering renders every other line, right?…
I won't be going to NAB, but I know somebody that will. I'll have him check out the new PAR system & report back. My biggest concern is visual compression noise. The ImMix gives excellent results, plus the editing capabilities speed things up considerably, but there's still a considerable amount…
Yeah, but you see, this is where I get confused! Even and odd scan lines. You're talking video now. How does video translate from rows of computer pixels? I've got a program called Producer by AXA. It's an ink & paint 2-D animation program, but it has a 24 fps…
I'm more aware of the compression noise than, I assume, my clients. Video tends to hide some of it, and transfer to Beta SP, as opposed to 3/4 or vhs, means a little less image loss, but it's still there. I'd have to see the PAR (or the new upgrade…
#Field Rendering
Message #163660
I've heard a lot about field rendering and how it makes animation look smoother, but can anybody explain to me exactly what's going on when you render to fields. I understand that an animation is rendered at 60 fields per second, where half the lines are rendered per frame. But…
#A PAR Question
Message #163658
Hi. I'm looking into the PAR as a way of transfering animation quickly to video. I've had access to a mac running the ImMix system. What I was wondering about the PAR is compression noise. Is this an obvious problem? I've noticed definite compression noise on the ImMix, especially in…
Vidi-Amiga
Message #189350
Can anybody give me some information on Vidi-Amiga, hardware to allow hooking up a videocamera to an Amiga? Thanks.
MAGIC
Message #159146
I sent a message before about problems I've had with Magic. Well, I found the upgrade (Magic4) and tested it out and have had no problems! The improvements made over the previous version are incredible! Much easier to use, and very effective. The warning about not parenting your emitter or…
This Light plug-in sounds like what I'm looking for. Where would I find that? Thanks for the tip.
Yes, I've done quite a bit of cloning (thanks for the shift/ctrl tip though). What I meant was, as in making clones of objects in the Keyframer where the copies imitate the original, why not be able to do the same thing with lights? If I'm not mistaken, Keyframer clones…
Okay, that explains it! While we're on the subject of "wishes", is there a way to make multiple clones of a spotlight? I've got a scene that has a few track-lights, each light having a spotlight parented to it. It'd be nice if I created one spot, then cloned it…
#Texture Mapping Faces
Message #157969
Why doesn't 3DStudio allow mapping of just selected faces? I had a 3-sided tube that I wanted to map with different textures on each side & had to separate the sides into objects, add the mapping coordinates, then attach them all together again.
Thanks, Lee, I'll do that. Let me put one together and I'll either send the file or send a description. Like I say, the test file is about as simple as you can get!
Funny! I'll try that. I seem to recall getting Magic to work beautifully a long time ago, but I don't remember how! This is frustrating!
I'm using Magic3, but I do have Magic4. The only thing that scares me about Magic4 is that it has problems when it's parented to another object. At least that's what the docs say. Two of the demo .3ds files work okay , bu they're the explosion examples. The demo…
I do that too. I push the life of the particles to the length of the Keyframer scene. I tried rendering the star-shaped path demo that came with it & got very strange results.
I do, I use a flat, self-illuminated color. I'll add glow once I get the motion I want.
Okay, here's what I do, very simply: I create a flat, self-illum color in materials editor. In 3d Editor I create a cube, center it, then assign my flat color to it. I then adjust its attributes so that it doesn't cast or receive shadows, and I turn on the…
#MAGIC Help
Message #155847
I'm having a heck of a time getting Magic to work correctly! I don't get the "Disney Dust" effect as promised. What I get is more like Fireworks, where the trailing dust follows the emitter. And I'm working from a very basic file (a cube moving along a path, and…
Yeah, that's what I've been doing. I'll save the object(s) in a separate file, modify them the way I want, then merge them back into the original file. This works, it's just a little roundabout.
Time Scaling
Message #152149
Is there a way to scale the timing on a single object or set of objects in the Keyframer? I've used the time scale command for the whole file or part of the whole file, but haven't been able to use it on individual objects, unless I take the objects…
Okay, I'll check the Tempo demo out. But I'm surprised to hear that it takes an ipas routine to fix something like this. Thanks.
Well, you see the problem is I DON'T want evenly spaced camera positions, since I have an ease in on the final position. What I don't understand is why the spacing changes when a key frame is added. I might add that this doesn't seem to happen if no ease-ins…
#Smooth Moves
Message #151759
Okay, help me out. If I put together a nice smooth camera move, say from a high position moving to a close-up, and add a full ease at the end, everything's fine. A nice linear move. NOW, if I add a keyframe somewhere along that linear path, say to pull…
Okay, thanks. I'll get out the manual & take a look. I came up with a couple ways to do it (non-Video Post) but they were pretty roundabout ways of doing a fairly simple effect.
#Video Post Question
Message #150596
Is there a way in Video Post (or somewhere else) to generate a double-image? In other words, one transparent image atop another, like halfway thru a dissolve, but held for a number of frames? Thanks.
Well, for one thing, I think we're in the wrong section! Maybe we should say something in the IPAS section! A Quicktime movie maker would be a BIG time saver for me. I'm not sure which demo I downloaded. It's the most recent one I know that. It didn't work…
Quicktime Maker
Message #147293
Hi. I tried to get the Quicktime Movie Maker demo program to work, but ended up with an empty .MOV file. I'd really like to know more about this program as it might save me quite a bit of production time. All my 3D animation (and 2D as well) goes…
What? You mean release 4.0 doesn't have the "Fix Everything" button installed yet? Darn! I'll give your suggestions a try & see what happens. Thanks.
Oh yeah, and another thing. I tesselated the object, then melted it and got strange spiky points sticking out all over! Very weird! Apparently there's no one-step way to fix my problem. Sounds like I'll have to do a little manual "diddling". Normally the 3-D type looks fine. It's when…
Well, I tried tesselating the objects. The problem is, the object is broken up into trinagles in such a way that there are quite a few long, pointy faces. Tesselation only adds more of those faces. This is where I'm getting the "wrinkles* in my smooth surfaces. Is there a…
That's probably it. I'm getting the most rough edges on the front of the logo, which is flat. Thanks.
#Smoothing Question
Message #146503
I have a question. I built a logo in 3D, then used the MELT software to get it to collapse into a pool. No problem. However, in rendering I get occasional sharp triangles appearing on certain frames, like the smoothing is getting confused. I've tried re-smoothing each morph shape and…
Hi, can I jump in here? I had to animate a flag once, using the waves utility on a flat sheet witl plenty of faces. This gave me the wavy surface. Then I took each object and tapered it so that one edge was straight and statinary. This gave me…
By the way, the flare effect looks great! Bravo, gentlemen!
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