I've been tinkering with AM for about 6 years. I have improved my modeling and rigging skills a good bit but I've never actually started or finished any clip or movie. Is this typical? I'm really just curious if I'm the only one.

I've had A:M for about 1 3/4 years. I'm just now creating my first character and will begin my first short animation. I've been using A:M for creating still images for updating my website. I find it is just plain fun using and exploring the program. But it probably wouldn't hurt to set a goal to do a small short by such and such a date. I find that I sometimes accomplish more when I have a deadline looming.

i've had AM for over 3 years now and have not once completed anything with it. In fact, I have only now made characters and made progress on a project that has some hope of completion

I haven't completed much lately either, but I've enjoyed trying things.

How about this: make yourself a quick character and put him thru some brief situation; nothing bigger than "the door is stuck" sort of thing.

16 months = 18 shorts
I am one of the ones that has no problem completing projects, Although my quality lacks yet improves rapidly.

Well it's nothing about myself. I'm just curious if I'm not alone LOL. It's interesting how many of us work with 3d apps and never really do more than tinker. But we can come up with some nice stuff.

There are folks that have accomplished a great deal and the reason they do is that they have very specific and finite goals.

Where many go wrong is where they have either too big a concept or no attainable goal.
The first can be fatal, terminating in a project that doesn't get finished.
The second tends to keep you wandering with a constantly changing goal.
(I fall into the second category more than the first)

The simple truth for me is that the projects I had originally envisioned simply aren't of as much interest to me anymore.
This isn't to say those old ideas won't be of use again some day but if they return they'll get a serious reworking.

Ideas (and visions) are easy. It's the creation that is work.
We have to start with obtainable goals.

I've bought my first copy of AM some 5-6 years ago...played around a lot, but nothing ever definite. For me it was simply a matter of time..work always seemed to get in the way. But now, having been through my first ambulance ride to the ER for heart issues, I've decided to finally listen to the wife and stop working so much and find a hobby...so AM is back on the table. I've set a goal of producing my first short and start the film festival circuit. Wanted to get it done this summer, but I have decided to push the completion date out to next year because I want the quality to be the best possible and to really push the limits.

The quality thing can really interfere, that's for sure. :-)

A French poet once said, "A poem is never finished, only abandoned."

You can always make it better, so in a sense, you can never truly complete it.

I've only completed a couple of animations, but both were done with a very real deadline, and as such, had a built-in excuse for not being masterpieces. :-)

I do the same with The Wannabe Pirates webcomic. Each and every strip has a real deadline (and as of late, a very tight deadline), so I have to be able to let things go and not worry that it's not the absolute best thing ever done. Could this model be better? Could this lighting set up be better? The answer is always "yes," but if my goal was to make it perfect, it would never be finished.

I am working with A:M for about 10 years now and I acomplished a few aniamtions with it.
I think I am at dont know... maybe 8-10 animations, although only may be 3 or 4 are good enough to be mentioned.

Anyway this is the list I could think of for now:
- an animation of my little blue alien
- an animation with a war-robot
- an animation with two fish after I watched finding nemo
- an animation for my study about a guy explaining the function of a VPN-network
- some animations for my diploma-thesis (so this is a realtime-application)
- the animation for Pfizer AnimalHelathcare (16 minutes long educational animations)
- a animation combined with real-life for a filmproject at my university.
- my Plompers-Series (2 anims till now)

For all of them I needed all my strength to finish them, because I get often uninterested in the process.
I dont know how many projects I started but didnt finish. It has to be about 50 or something like that.

I think this is normal. You just have to overcome yourself and bring it to an end. ALL of these animations could be made better
at some place or another, but there would never be an ending. So you have to say at some point: It is finished, even so
you may see that there are a few problems left.

Best to do: Go for short and good animations. I had the most fun to produce the short animations with a real story behind it.
(like the plompers-series).

See you
*Fuchur*

I think a lot of the tinkering is in getting ones skills up to speed. I've had AM for 10 years and although I can now make models and animate to a degree, I have only assisted others completing projects (ie TWO and SO but there are a dozen or more other projects that just went nowhere).

BUT I have finally bitten the bullet and have embarked on my own project. Mind you it's a bit like quitting smoking. You have a whole lot of false starts until you finally grit your teeth and go with it.

Cheers

It was working with other people that keeped me going Doing the art of animation master with Rodney and comparing my stuff to others that was fun. I actually found myself competing with another AMer to get that done. That was fun and keeped me going.

Then Two started up and that was even more fun! I enjoyed working with teh AM community Al Lot! The highlight was when Robert took me under his wing and really showed me how to improve my animations!

I am not sure what my plans are going to be after school but if there is a chance to do another community project I like to try.

I got AM 8 at a show several years ago.
I tinkered a bit and got distracted.
I then got AM 13 and have stuck to it ever since.
I enjoy the creating of models and am trying to understand rigging.
I think there are so many disciplines to learn that it takes a long time to be good enough to even try much of an animation on your own.
My modeling is slowly improving and I can install a rig and add a few details with the help of the experts in the forum now.
Each character gets a little farther.
Some day I hope to have one working well enough to start learning how to make believable animation.
I enjoy the learning and the people here.
It's my bit of art and creativity...even if it's just for me and the wife.

I have use the software to manipulate photo into a 3D cross eye with using layers and then rendering out to stereo. I have done that with drawings as well as photo. Adobe Photoshop just added the ability to drop 3D object into the picture, but still no cigar as what AM: can do to a picture.

Um, Rus, there's a rendering problem, a black bar I'm SURE you didn't intend to have there...

I've done almost no animations, largely because I have been so busy making models. Literally hundreds of nice A:M models for my seminars. Everybody in the business is envious.

I put a black bar there because she is naked. I didn't start this thread, so I made a judgment of reserve since I didn't post a warning. I had a non-nude one, but couldn't find it.