project uses

-latheing
-dupe wizard
-motion on a path
-terrain wizard

Click to view attachment

Hehe. That's awesome. (and perilously dangerous too!)
Already makes me want to complete the revised TaoA:M.

As far as I'm concerned; Track record=two for two.


As an extension (boxed call out in the book) for the Duplicator Wizard perhaps you could have the user create your classic Sea Shells?
That one really impressed me and made me realize what the Duplicator Wizard and a little ingenuity was capable of producing.

I can see the title already... "Enchantment Under the Sea"!


That might be a good sidebar. I'll keep that in mind, thanks!

Ha! That's great fun, Robert. I could almost see the string holding up the rocket. :-)

So you are saying its very simple. Can you screen record the process. Nothing too fancy just kind of call out what your doing.

That's what the proposed Tutorial would be... how to do it.

This was like a dry run of an idea for a beginner project that is easy to do because it uses limited tools and introduces some important concepts in the software but still gets an interesting result.

Looks like a great lesson, Robert!

Not a final design of course; I'm sure this can be spiffed up.

Click to view attachment



While I was researching old sci fi rockets, I found out that the famous Flash Gordon rocket was not made for Flash Gordon!



It was originally created in 1930 for a sci-fi musical, "Just Imagine" about life in the distant future of 1980.

It has a few funny gags in it. Part of the plot is they revive a guy who had been struck by lightning in 1930. Waking up in 1980, he asks them "Do you guys still have Prohibition?"

"Well," they reply, "they say in a year or two we might be able to get light wine and beer."

Which is what the audience in 1930 had been hearing for 10 years already.

Experimenting with added details to see what may be enough and what may be too much for a tutorial

Click to view attachment

That version would at least touch on

-more lathe modeline
-reshaping meshes
-duplicator wizard
-motion on a path
-terrain wizard
-magnet tool
-pushCPs plugin
-adjusting lights
-painting a decal and applying it
-bump maps
-surface properties
-camera fog
-combiner material
-Sprite particles system
-adding sound
-rendering

Robert, that's a great, fun test and would make a nice beginner's project. Well done!

Thanks Gerry for commenting on this. I missed the update!



That's a seriously long laundry list Robert.
You've convinced me that it should be more than just a possibility. I know I'd learn a lot from completing it.
While all the line items in your list are welcome the highlights to me are:

Adjusting Lights
Painting a Decal and Applying It
Camera Fog
Adding Sound
Rendering

Those represent areas that are used often but often misunderstood that is likely due to lack of available/current information.

Looking good Robert!

But... I've gotta ask... what's up with the pass-throughs (Rocket vs terrain) ?! That is so unlike you it almost seems intentional. Maybe you've added those as a learning opportunity too?

That brings back some fond memories ....... and a retro way of learning some of A:M tools ......... does AM come with the terrain wizard and pushcp plugin?

Sure does!

Those are indeed flaws I thought would be fleeting enough to not matter, but noting them and fixing them could be a useful part of the lesson.

I think so. I suppose some care would need to be taken to emphasize the learning point, otherwise students would just see a flawed tutorial and think... 'Why am I fixing their problem!?!' hehe

There is a lot of merit to exercises that emphasize problem solving by presenting the problem and then pointing people toward the solution. It certainly helps people build a framework for resolving their own problems.

In this particular case a few alternatives could be offered:

- Adjust the path
- Scale the Model
- Scale the Terrain
- Compositing
(Explore your own custom solution)

Share the results with others in the A:M Forum.

Added: This type of approach would also be a good way to gauge whether the student has in fact actually resolved the problem.
If their resulting video still has the pass-throughs (or whatever error was purposefully placed in an exercise) they have not yet succeeded in completing the exercise.

Flash Gordan Animation Style-----------Really cool Robert ------yes that would make an outstanding learning project!!

This is BOSS!!!!

Troubleshooting and problem recognition/solving are indeed skills not often taught in many jobs. Case in point: when my lovely bride was going to culinary school one class she really wanted to take but was not offered was one in dealing with "what's wrong with my dish?". She envisioned the chef presenting an entree with obvious short comings, then the students were required to define the problem, then correct it. The same approach could be taken here: present a project that has an obvious flaw, be it in modeling, rigging, lighting, animating, then challenge the student to identify and correct.

What I particularly like about that approach is that both the student and mentor(s) know when the goal has been met. Then discussions of all the various whys and wherefores can follow that based on the student experience.

People are too afraid of making mistakes. That mentality is good when you are on the job and under time constraints (We do not like doctors... or anyone else to make mistakes... but we tend to be a bit more forgiving of our own mistakes).

I have a saying that has borne true time and time again: 'There is an error in every transaction.'
The goal in learning and innovation is to exploit error (to turn a deficit into a strength) while on the other hand, the ultimate goal in a 'perfect' execution of the transaction is to make the error(s) utterly trivial and insignificant.

That's actually something I've been thinking of including.

"Let's look at some bad bouncing balls"

"Let's look at some bad walks"

If you need some, just let me know: That is something I really can do well...

See you
*Fuchur*