We had the first NY Hash A:M User Group Meeting today. I think it was quite a success. This is in a large part due to Mike's great hosting at his place.

Mike had a nice spacious living room with snacks and drinks for all. We all discussed a little about ourselves and what we do with A:M. We talked about our shared love of A:M and what we thought about the future of the software and stuff like that. The smokers enjoyed smoke breaks in the big hallway and had some nice discussion.

We then went to Mike's cool little projection room and watched some 3d shorts. We also viewed some awesome work by some of the guys. I forgot to bring up my little humble movies I have on my web site to show though. You guys can see them on my web page though. It was really cool seeing animation on a nice big projector screen as I am usually viewing animations on my little 19" monitor. Next time I want to see my frogman riding his bike on a big screen. lol.

I was pleasantly surprised by the presence of my old pal Duke. Duke was a member of the original User Group and we used to have meetings at his office in Manhattan. We had some good nights out on the town too back in the day.

I am very pleased with how this meeting went. This is a really good group of folks. I hope we can get together again soon. Unfortunately the soonest I can do is January because I will be pretty busy next month and my finances will be tight due to the holidays. Please don't let that stop you other guys from getting together sooner though if you wish.

You guys would be welcome out here on Long Island too but I think that is kind of inconvenient for most of you. Probably in the spring and summer you guys can take the trip out and enjoy some bbq in the land of trees and plants.

Guys, post your thoughts about the meeting here. Are there any ideas you have for future meetings? Maybe we can make some outings or something somewhere too, I have no idea where though We can all hop a plane to Washington to visit Hash headquarters. lol.

Well, talk to you guys soon.

Hey folks,

I had a great time -- very productive and inspirational. It was a pleasure to meet you all. Mike, thank you for being a gracious host; your answers, advice, and info not only encourage, but, creatively energize me. For everyone that contributed to this meeting -- thank you. This was everything I'd hoped for. Joe, as aways your work speaks for itself. Simply brilliant. For all that couldn't make it, I hope you'll think about it; the support and critique are what makes this software, forum, and community the success that it is.

Yes, the user group meeting was just great for me too. All the good conversation about A:M left me extremely inspired and I ended up working almost all night trying out some of the new ideas I learned about how to use Animation Master. It was just so great being around very knowledgeable and accomplished AM users and seeing examples of their work in Mike's mini DVD home theatre.

I, also, would like to thank Mike for his very generous contribution of having the meeting at his place. Just a couple blocks over from the York St. F-Train stop in Brooklyn there. There could be another meeting there in a month or so and I just can't wait to prepare myself with a bunch of questions and bring some of my new stuff to show off and perhaps get some help with.

For the very first meeting, I agree. It was a total success. As far as the future goes. My biggest problem with AM is how to get it to do, what " I " want it to do. I mean things like, how to Drag this here, drag that there, turn this off, turn this on .... etc, if you know what I mean ...
Just as an idea, I propose that we could try a small project or two together sometime and get into the actual mechanics or the guts of AM and create something as a group and in the process, share in the learning of how to do it.

Thanks to all who attended, it was fun and I am so looking forward to the second meeting.
I am about an hours ride out east on the LIRR plus a $5.00 cab ride and sometime in the future could host a meeting too.

Thanks, I hope to see all of you again, soon.. Jerry Angus

I'm glad to hear everyone had such a great time. I did too.

Since Dennis isn't available to attend another meeting until next year, I'll volunteer to organize/host one more (probably in early December) if there's any interest. Meanwhile, I believe Dennis is in charge of planning the first NYNJA MUG 2006 meeting, so stay tuned for that.

By the way, if anyone has any specific requests for our potential December get-together, please let me know and I'll try to prepare something.

Oh, and of course, if you're an A:M user in the New York/New Jersey area and you didn't attend last time, what are you waiting for? Come on out to the next one and swap tips with your fellow Hashers!

If you happen to be in the Astoria/Queens area this Saturday, the Museum of the Moving Image is hosting the 2005 Machinima Festival from 11am to 6pm. Ordinarily, this would have nothing to do with Animation:Master, except that two of my films made the cut this year as Official Selections, and each of them has at least one scene I had to use A:M to complete.

Cheers,
Reece