Hi, I just got Animation Master 3 days ago during Sakura-Con. The way that the salesperson showed off the sheer ease and mechanics of the program amazed me. As I wish to be a 3d animator for my chosen profession, Animation Master is a dream come true.

I know that sense I’m just starting out, I need to read the instruction manual and perform all of the practice projects to familiarize myself with the program. But the idea of creating a humane model, let alone an anime character, from scratch has been haunting me for some time now.It may be that the answers that I’m looking is within one of the instructional dvd’s that I received with the program, but for some reason I cant play them on a dvd player or my computer.

I was hoping if someone on the forum could lead me to some sort of written or, preferably, video tutorial on creating humane models, both male and female if possible. Particularly if someone can lead me to one about faces with moving jaws, and converting realistic to anime, I would be most grateful. I'm just nervous about starting a project without some form of guidance, so anything would be of great help.


Thank you for your time and assistance.

Welcome to A:M!

some of the videos require that you have the free Ensharpen codec installed

http://www.techsmith.com/download/codecs.asp

You are correct that you should do the tutorials in "The Art of A:M" first. Without that basic working knowledge of how to use A:M, most tuts on faces, bodies or anything else would be confusing as they do not retread introductory material that is in the manual.

Study the human (and anime) models on the A:M and Extra DVDs.
Work through the manual (Exercise 11.5 will do a fine job of showing you how to model a face) and settle in for some serious splining.

As has been mentioned by Robert you'll want to know at least the basic options available to you before, during and after the creation of your characters. Success is so much closer to you if you learn it while working through The Art of Animation:Master.

Its not the only way but its proven to be the best for most new users.

Once you've completed TaoA:M you'll be able to pick and choose the areas where you want to concentrate fully.

Great to have you here with us!

[quote name='robcat2075' date='Apr 9 2007, 09:27 PM' post='228328']
Welcome to A:M!

some of the videos require that you have the free Ensharpen codec installed



i tried and succeded downloading of the codec, but the dvd still won't work


the disc says open 'index.html' in your web browser, but it still wont work. i also tried runing it on my dvd players, including the one on my computer and playstation 2, yet nothing is working.

does anybody have any suggestions?

I don't have the disk. Does anybody know what format they are in? Are they SWFs and not MOVs? I'm pretty sure the DVD is a ROM not a video DVD.

Do a search onthe disk for *.mov or *.avi or *.swf

what comes up? Try double clicking on one and see what happens.

NOTHING at all happens when you open index.html? WHat is the error message you get? Are you using Internet Explorer?

The same videos are located here.

http://www.hash.com/VM/

If those still won't play... Just read TaoA:M - that's what most people do.

thank you so much, the site explained that "Data DVD with QuickTime movies, NOT a Video DVD"

i had been trying to use them as video dvds.

thanks for the help

i still don't know what the index.html thing is for though. do any of you? i am using internet explorer, and all i get is an MSN search page.

When and if you do try out the 11.5 tutorial in the book.. you may find it more condensed than might want. If so.. the full tutorial can be accessed here...

http://www.colins-loft.net/new_coop_tutorial/tutorials.html

and you might find some other tutorials of interest here.

http://www.colins-loft.net/tutorials.html

for the modelling use the the first (its newer) for rigging or some hair options, check out the second (havn't updated those since they still fit ).

There are also plenty of tutorials on anime style rendering effects and even modelling anime characters, Try the ARM mentioned on the AM site to find those.

good luck,

C

i feel so stupid for asking this, but what do you mean by ARM?

also, thanks you so very much for the links, they were just what i needed.

as a side note, the charecter i'm planning to make has three eyes and a 7 foot long prehensile tail. know of any tutorials about charecters with eyes in non traditional places (forehead, chest, shoulders, etc.), or modeling/placing bone's on long tails (or snakes)?

ARM stands for Animation Master Resource Matrix. Its linked on the AM Site and has many tutorials. Learning how to model an eye for a face will cover any situation where you need to model and eye. Tails are just like any other appendage, so treat them like an arm or leg, though they will make for lots of 5 point patches in close proximity (you'll understand this later, don't worry about it now.)

Just find a tutorial that fits and go with it. Do try the book first. It will make your life easier later ;-)

C

If you're just starting out in CG then I'd highly recommend you do a two-eyed character and master that before working on 3 eyes, the reason being that you'll learn a lot on how to connect splines properly and to create spline loop flow in a coherent manner more easily that way because there are more examples available. Luckily for you, anime faces are very simplistic and require less splines than realistic ones to achieve a good look.

Long tails are like fingers, essentially. (Colin says arm above; both he and I are correct, I think.) If you do any tutorial on making a hand you can make a tail. Attaching it to your character's bum will be tricky if you want a smooth join, but that's part of the AM learning process. As for bones, you could use an IK chain or you could set constraints down the length of it that copy the rotation of the base bone, so it curls like a cat's.

A tutorial I found invaluable was at Comet Cartoons. He has a spline head tutorial that can be followed in AM. Heads are the hardest, for me. Good luck!

thanks to everyone for all of the help. i found all of the sites that were recomended, although for the AMR a lot of the tutorial links seem to have been deleted. my videos are working fine, i know what to do for creating humane models, as well as stuff i never even thought of. i now feel confidant in creating humanoid models after i finish the basics and become aquainted with A:M.

one last question. when creating bat like wings, would it be best to make a frame and use simcloth to give it the whole bat look? and any resources for bird wings?

And I thought I was trying to learn A:M fast !!!!!

Just a quick tip ... Slooooooow down, if you race ahead you will become frustrated with your lack of progress, get no where fast, think that A:M was too difficult and you were conned, and then you'll sell it to the next Pixar trainee - who should have been YOU !.

A:M is great, I've been using it for a few weeks and the learning curve is steep, but it is not a painful experience.

If you want to learn quickly, skip through to page 15 of the manual and try the first exercise - use the video tutorial for additional help (Martin's tip) ... And (important bit) post it in the TaoA:M forums where we're all submitting our work for critical appraisals - Make sure you select the one for the appropriate exercise !

You'll be surprised how quickly you get through the learning stage.

If you're still wanting to jump in with two feet, and want to look at bat wings, do the following:

Run A:M 2007
Select 'All libraries' in the Libraries - if you can't see it goto 'View' and select Libraries (or ALT+5)
Select the 'Projects' tab at the bottom.
Scroll down until you find 'Dragon'
Double click on 'Dragon'
.... And there are your wings ;-)

But most of all ... enjoy what your doing, it won't be quick, but it will be hugely satisfying ;-)

Alan

sorry if i sound like i'm trying to go to fast, i'm just excited to actually get started on 3D animation and modeling. i am doing the excersise, focusing mainly on modeling (i want to create my charecter in 3D before i even start to animate) and so far thanks to the hash support section, and especially the video training, i feel confidant about how easy and effective A:M is and my limits and learning curve with it..

and i cant thank all of you enough for all of the support and help. i just can't. i never expected so many people to take an interest and help me out, and knowing how supportive the A:M community is... well you get my mean.