Always Looking for a Good Deal
Sometimes our company, Hash Inc., is suspected of lacking some of the finer graces normally associated with more "professional" organizations. It's all a matter of perspective. If one considers the nepotistic atmosphere that pervades the place, the deep commitment to personalizing the product, all combined with a "pay as you go" attitude, a certain perceived jocularity occurs. Some of our past marketing innovations like "comic book" documentation, including a training videotape, and "bubble pack" packaging may not seem like good ideas now but I assure you we thought they'd change the world at the time. Most of our customers are very patient and understanding. A case in point comes to mind.
Always looking for the best deal in supplies, my father, Dale, discovered a bin of $1.99 "blank" videotapes at a supermarket. These cheap tapes were a new plastic housing holding recycled, magnetically erased tape. The sales counter guy was hesitant, "You sure you want these?" he asked. "Is there anything wrong with the tape?" asked my pop. "Well... no, but ..." he paused. "I guess they're okay."
Soon, a new customer called. The conversation started typically enough: a cautious but friendly voice on the other end of the telephone.
"Hello. Is this Hash?"
"Yep. How can I help you?"
"Uh. I really appreciate the fact that you guys go to the effort of making a training video."
"Well, thank you."
He told us of an animation he was working on. We encouraged him and asked if there's anything we could do to help. "No," he said. He'd just called to say "Hi," and, "Where'd we get the videotape included in the package?"
"Oh, we made that ourselves," replied my father proudly.
"No. I mean the videotape tape," the customer insisted.
"... Stereo Super Stores."
The customer offered as explanation to his odd question, "Well, I work at an adult bookstore..." he started.
My father was getting confused. He wasn't quite sure how to reply to that last statement. The customer continued, "I don't think these tapes are quite erased. Your stuff recorded okay, but the beginning and end of the tape has the remains of a dirty movie."
My father was stunned: we did after all record our own tapes, and no one had ever looked since we started the new batch.
"It's okay," consoled the customer. "I'm not offended - I even recognize the movie, it's just that some of your other customers might not be so understanding.
That day was born the famous Hash motto: "We LIKE our customers!"
Titanic
My cousin, Hillary, gushes about the movie "Titanic", having already seen it eight times and expects to watch it yet again a few more times. Eventually of course, she asked me what I thought of the film.
"It's one of the best ever made," I answer truthfully.
"Will you go to see it with me again?" she asked.
"No. I'll probably never watch that movie again in my life.
Hillary was astounded. She couldn't coincide my two seemingly conflicting statements. Aware of the confusion, I carefully explained myself.
"To women, 'Titanic' is a love story - to men, it is a story about those doomed husbands' and fathers' helplessness, ineffectualness, and death."
"No it's NOT!" Hillary exclaimed. "It's uplifting!"
"To who?" I asked. "The ship's designer? The captain? The band? The young ambitious men in 3rd class? Leonardo? What man was uplifted in this story... The scoundrel?"
Hillary's female friends had overheard this conversation which immediately degenerated to me being chastised by indignant shouts.
"You just don't like it because a woman is the lead!" was the chorus.
When I was again given an opportunity to speak, I had an example ready for them.
"The movie 'Blue Velvet' is also considered one of the best movies of all time. It too I will probably never watch again though I agree with its excellence. 'Blue Velvet' projects the same helplessness and violence without the love story. I challenge you to watch 'Blue Velvet', then let's have this discussion - once you are familiar with the feeling I am expressing."
p.s. "Schindler's List" falls into the same category.
Effects
With the Beta release of Animation Master 6.1, some of you have noticed our preoccupation with "effects". Bully; this was our 1998 strategy. For years we've focused on underlying character animation features while neglecting gimmickry, but now we boast as many frills as anybody else. It's not that effects aren't important - sometimes an animation job hangs on the client's desire for equaling what's out there, and what's out there is effects. We've always intended to do effects (four different kinds of turbulence, particles, force & material effectors, hair, Radiosity, weathering, glow, lens flare, inter-lens reflections, film grain, gamma correction, etc.), but we had to get the character animation and rendering foundation solid first.
To be honest, there are some worthy plug-ins that are more robust at a particular effect, but as someone always points out - a single plug-in costs five times more than our whole product. And we haven't finished yet: with each release we will continue to enhance our effects - a little here, a little there, guided by our customers' suggestions. Because, in fact, we don't really know how to use effects.
Magazine Reviews
We at Hash like our customers. We're proud of the work they do and we encourage all of them to pursue their dream of storytelling. This credo doesn't necessarily coincide with the computer graphics industry's image of itself. The typical computer graphics customer is a company, and has different priorities - price is not one of them. In fact, the only way price plays a role in the business market is to exclude the mass market, which professionals see as a threat to their job security. We understand this market split, and for the most part we agree with it - but we think there's room for both of us. Unfortunately, the computer graphics industry, consisting of large corporations, magazines, and trade shows, perceive the low price of Animation Master as a detriment. A leading-edge product that competes head-on with even the most expensive software packages in most categories (and is premiere in many), costing only $199 is an anomaly.
We are often asked, "Why aren't you included in Product Roundups in the magazines?" Because we ask not to be: every time we are, we're the lowest priced and subsequently lowest ranked product in the group - low price dictates low perceived value in the magazine's view. Our agreement with magazines is, "Unless the person reviewing Animation Master knows how to use it, we don't want to be included." When a magazine honors this honest request we are annoyingly helpful. We often get critized in the resulting articles, which is perfectly legitiment and helps us identify areas that others think need work. It seems fair. However, some magazines react very differently. We are suspicious of the undeniable (but always denied) connection between advertising and reviews. Those magazines where we don't advertise never print our press releases (which is okay). And if they never mentioned us again, we'd be relieved. But, alas, a new "review" in a magazine which otherwise never mentions us, is about to appear. This "review" was submitted to us for "fact" checking. The facts are: more than half of the authors claims where wrong or fallacious; there was not one positive point made about the software; the whole article was so negative that the reviewer begins by posing the question, "Can $199 software be any good?", with the article's general tone clearly signaling his opinion.
We were appalled at the blatant and clumsily done attack. There seemed to be no reason for it. We've been assassinated in the press before without the magazine looking like a culprit, (they are usually professional; most negative articles are simply a clever measure of the amount of bad statements equaling the amount of good statements). We suggested this magazine find an alternate author, one who is proficient in our software. We helped "correct" the massive misinformation in the existing article but were aggressively pursued by the author (through the magazine's editor to keep his identity secret). We pleaded with the magazine to find someone not so obviously biased, even suggesting they post a request on our very active mailing list, or at least have the guy call the office or get online for product support. We never heard from the magazine again except for their advertising salesman to suggest, "we can still be friends". It's no wonder we handle publicity delicately. We call it, "flying below the radar", because not being noticed by someone with an agenda can be a good thing.
NDAs
It is not widely known, but Animation Master has produced some exceptional commercials the modeling, animation, and rendering being the equivalent of anything out there. No recognition for these feats is forthcoming, however, because the work is often secret! We only know about some of it because we see the incidental data while fixing bugs that are slowing the production companies. Who knows how much secret work is done without us knowing anything about it.
We were appalled at our first confrontation with the "Non-Disclosure Agreement" (NDA). I’m familiar with NDAs from my days in engineering, but the truly draconian turn they take in the art field is almost unbelievable. Now, NDAs make statements like: "deny all contact", "hide the existence", and "legally pursue rumors"! If anything, over the years the NDAs have become even more virulent. Animation Master’s modeler is becoming prevalent on many commercial productions, but we couldn’t claim even the hint of credit without threat of lawsuits.
I’ve tried to plead my case to resisting studios; that I need to get some recognition, that $199 is great and everything, and we’re glad we can offer such personal and immediate product support, but, There is a definite distortion that occurs between what our own perception of Animation Master is verses the market’s perception. When we look in the mirror, we see a handsome product producing superlative work of which we personally have many, many examples, but the market sees reflected something somewhat less attractive, with emphasis on the warts. Only the people who are active on our mailing list catch a glimpse of the potential that is out there, and no one can measure the product’s true worth because of the secrecy.
Ah well, so it is with such an approachable and inexpensive product. We trade such difficulties for the thousands of sincere users who do let us show their work and who are doing their part to promote the software.
It Takes All Kinds
When Cabbott Sanders came to work at Hash he was 14. He'd dropped out of school. I'd heard of his precociousness already: he's written an article in "3D Artist"; he understood how to use "figure substitution" (the old days before "action objects"); and he'd had a computer piece in the Multnomah Art Show. Ray Di Carlo, an artist friend of mine, highly recommended him.
On his first day, Cabbott was an innocent, white-blond boy with rosy-red cheeks and an easy smile full of braces. Immediately the other guys took to him. I was supposed to give him a pep talk before he started. He remained constantly smiling as I spouted the religion, but when I was done he asked, beaming. "It sounds great! Can I start today? But I've got three appointments to make this week."
Three appointments, I thought. What kind of appointments can a 14-year old kid have? I asked.
"On Tuesday," he replied sheepishly. "I've got my 'Anger Control' class."
"Anger Control" I exclaimed, surprised.
"Well... I sorta hit my girlfriend... but she deserved it, and I didn't hit her very hard...."
I didn't know what to say. How could this sweet kid be mixed up in violence? It must be some knee-jerk government overreaction.
"On Wednesday I have Traffic School."
"Traffic School?" I exclaimed again, even more surprised.
"You're 14. 14-year olds don't go to Traffic School!"
"Well...," Cabbott grimaced. "I got too many speeding tickets, and I had an accident recently."
My mouth fell open, and my apprehension was growing as to the possibilities of Cabbott Sanders's third "appointment". I hoped it was something charming and demure.
Cabbott could sense me waiting for good news. He kind of screwed up his lips, "It's really not as bad as it sounds," he started.
I was aghast. What could he possibly be talking about that compared unfavorably with his previous two revelations?
"I've got to go to court on Friday."
"Court!" I exclaimed on last time. "You're 14-years old."
"Well..., I..., Uh..., They said I had a bomb at a high school football game, but it was really my laser, and I don't know why they evacuated the stadium, and my mom says..."
I was in a daze. Who had I just hired - John Dillinger? Anyway, Cabbott started that day and he worked for Hash for 4 years between "appointments". The Cabbott Sanders saga continued unabated - including the "Bubble Trouble" car, the lighted snowboard business, two simultaneous broken arms, dressing all in bright yellow, the search for hidden Nazi gold in Vietnam, etc., etc. Nobody at the office needed to watch TV for entertainment.
Alas, we lost Cabbott Sanders a week after his 18th birthday. He wanted to go snowboarding with his friend who was still in high school, so he put a "dry ice bomb" in a garbage can on campus and called in a bomb scare. The bomb went off, the school was evacuated, Cabbott and his friend had a great day in the snow.
The city prosecutor had been waiting for Cabbott to become an "adult" for years: the district attorney's office had a party. So Cabbott went to prison, and we don't see him anymore. I heard he's eligible for work/release soon. Great animator, lousy judgement.
PS Cabbott is emancipated now and his new computer came is for sale at WalMart Stores!
History of Anime (Excerpt from 1998 Anaheim Anime Conference Speech)
Animation Master can facilitate the natural transition from traditional 2D animation techniques to the new way of the computer. The anime industry is full of talented artists. To take that talent and magnify it, so that a single artist can tell more stories in their career, that is the goal of Animation Master.
What is anime? Technically I mean. How come you can recognize the anime "look" from a single still. Why is manga so obviously Japanese. These are important questions for the computer animator because they dictate a work style.
The anime look conveys as much history as technique. By answering "Why doeses", technical choices on how to design and stage characters in an anime animation are better made.
Manga's (comic books on which most anime is based) early beginnings stretch clear back to the early 1800s but post WWII is when manga truly assumed cultural acceptance in Japan primarily due to the work of Osamu Tezuka starting in the 1950s when he almost single-handedly turned manga into a serious art form. He dominated the media until the 1970s with elaborate plots and subplots that set the example for the animators that followed.
Originally, boys' and men's manga (shonen) was predominately action, war, sports, and sex. Plots were strong, but there was little character development. Girls' and women's manga (shojo) was full of emotion, relationships, and personal development, usually at the expense of plots. (Nowadays shonen and shojo manga have adopted the strengths of the other).
Initially, shojo manga was modeled on the Takarazuka theater, which was often set in the mystical "west" where women were strong and ambitious. Romance and excitement permeated the stories, but often the women had to masquerade as men in order to do things otherwise impossible for women at the time. The Takarazuka are an all-female troupe which caters exclusively to teenage girls unique to Japan. Consequently the male parts in the stories were played by impersonators. It is considered normal for young girls to develop a crush on these women dressed as men, and many parents think the infatuation is somehow "purer" because the men are played as an adolescent female fantasy: romantic, communicative, and sexually non-threatening.
In anime, the characters in these stories also tended towards western ethnicity, best identified by round eyes and colored hair. By the 1960s, round eyes were no longer a racial trait, but had become the means to display emotion: hope, fear, sadness, love. Larger eyes tended to invoke these emotions even more effectively. Also, shojo manga panels tended to be ornate, featuring symbolic backgrounds to convey feelings and emotion. Hair color became an aesthetic means to indicated a character's motivations: beware blondes in anime! Nowadays, anime characters that are supposed to be western usually include freckles or a large ethnic nose.
The popularity of anime in America is easy to track. Osamu Tezuka's "Astro Boy" appeared in the US in 1964. "Kimba the White Lion" (my personal favorite) debuted in 1966, also from Tezuka. In 1974 there was "Space Battleship Yamato". 1983 brought "Warriors of the Wind". "Robotech", that amalgam of three different unrelated series (Macross, Southern Cross, and Mospeado), became a cult clasic in 1987. But most critics agree, Japanese animation first broke into the big time in 1990 with the British showing of Otomo Katshuhiro's "Akira".
Anime Stories (Excerpt from 1998 Anaheim Anime Conference Speech)
Americans are attracted to manga (comic books from which most anime is based) by several salient features:
* the high-tech look
* the creative fantasy worlds
* the genuine tension created by bad things happening to good people
* character development
* robots, powersuits, "mecha"
* sexy, powerful women
Americans identify the creativeness of the stories as their attraction to anime, but in the same breath they despair over the often difficult to comprehend plotlines. This is simply the flip side of the same coin. Anime stories and plots aren't considered unduly creative or complex in Japan because, like western stories and plots, they're often based on mythology and legends all Japanese hear from their childhood, just as the western myths of the Greek and Roman gods, like Hercules, are thoroughly familiar to us. Anime may be difficult for westerners simply because the Japanese audience knows too much.
What makes anime's underlying themes so alien is that their basis is animistic rather than Judeo-Christian. For example, the Christian West believes in a universe that is rational and just; virtue should be rewarded; reason is more reliable than intuition; there is a clear distinction between reality and fantasy. In Japan, anime is escapism from a society of physical crowding and strict social conventions.
Most stories derive from Shinto, Japan's indigenous religion. A Shinto deity, called a hami, is not like a western god even though it is often compared as such. A hami is anything that inspires awe: an ancient tree, a range of mountains, and most animals.
Japanese audiences don't mind heroes whose causes are egotistical or selfish. Actually, anime heroes are usually supporting characters who don't talk much. Since heroism is a matter of character and motivation, there is no right and wrong side. In anime, the enemy is often heroic.
Anime tends toward the samurai tradition of self-sacrifice. Many characters meet meaningless, shabby, undeserved deaths. Often, virtue is not rewarded and evil goes unpunished.
Contrary to western Judeo-Christian values, to Japanese suicide is an honorable choice. It can redeem lost honor, and suicide missions indicate true selflessness and altruism of motives. A familiar Japanese saying is, "The way of the samurai is death."
Since most anime is based on manga, it is assumed the viewer has read the book. This is especially important due to the episodic nature of anime where character development at a particular moment in time defines the plot.
The Manga "Look" (Excerpt from 1998 Anaheim Anime Conference Speech)
Manga draws from Japan's visual heritage for its motifs, particularly the woodblock artists. In woodblock prints, bridges and paths indicated unseen territories, or a single, powerful wave suggests an ocean. Woodblock prints seem very realistic because the artists strategically apply detailing and elaborate shading in areas where they know the viewer will focus.
The ubiquitous Banraku puppet theaters use a wide range of stylized actions and theatrical conventions familiar with all Japanese. In particular, the use of heroic poses and tableaux. These poses are part of the Japanese storytelling tradition and are very familiar to Japanese children, so they convey a lot of implied meaning when used in anime.
The use of a single symbol to express a felling is basic to traditional Japanese art.
Japanese drama is constantly reminding the audience that what they are seeing is unreal by mixing visual elements and styles in the same anime (overly "cartoony" characters in a "realistic" story). Westerners find such dramatic changes in styles incongruous.
All of these things synthesized to make anime a truly new art form.
Implied Anime Conventions (Excerpt from 1998 Anaheim Anime Speech)
When a male character has a nose bleed, this indicates sexual arousal. It follows what is meant if the blood suddenly splashes in all directions.
When the camera slowly pulls back from an extreme close-up, it means what follows is a flashback.
Seasonal change has great meaning to the Japanese. Anime often includes some indication of season as a hint of what is to happen next.
Cherry blossoms are associated with death. The idea is that nothing is quite so beautiful as something which is about to end. Samurai were often compared to cherry blossoms when leaving for battle.
Buddhism is associated with funerals, so be aware of Chinese-style architecture featuring pagoda towers with upturned eaves.
Old-fashioned Japanese architecture harolds an upcoming supernatural event.
A Shinto priestess dressed in a traditional kimono top with red divided skirt (a miko), is associated with contact with the spirit world.
Sound cues are equally telling. Noh and Kabuki traditions, such as wooden clappers, drums, and stylized shouts are used to build suspense.
In erotic moments, anime relies on a single samisen (a guitar-like geisha sound).
Anime with Animation Master (Excerpt from 1998 Anaheim Anime Conference Speech)
Computers are technical creatures, there's no getting around it, but once you learn them and the software, they are logical and predictable. For this reason, once an animator learns a particular 3D animation program, they tend to remain loyal to it.
To begin with - nothing beats a pencil. At least not on frame "1" - even the first dozen frames. However, on frame "1000", when the animators are nearing crazed panic, computers keep plugging away, and you don't have to pay withholding.
Computer 3D programs fall into two camps: mechanical and organic. A simple analogy will help you understand the differences.
Side by side, down on main street are two buildings: a machine shop and a sculptor's studio. Both owners consider themselves craftsmen. The machine shop is full of benders, hole punches, cutters, measuring devices, clamps, and assorted other tools to help build durable, utilitarian goods. The sculptor studio has a wheel, piece of wire, and clay. Both craftsmen are equally productive, but there are vast differences between their two products. Everything from the machine shop appears "professional" - the holes are all perfect, the bends are straight. The interesting thing is that my ten-year old son could make something in the machine shop and you couldn't tell the difference from the craftsman. On the other hand, a sculpture requires tremendous talent. The sculptor doesn't want many other tools, his talent fill that void instead. There's also a greater versatility of shapes that come from the sculptor's studio, and the shapes appear more "organic".
Animation Master is more similar in operation to live action production than it is to traditional 2D cell thinking. Animation Master retains the concept of actors, scripts, lighting, and directing.
I used to say that the computer can't be the animator, but that's not so true anymore. Your role as director is quickly evolving to be the primary one because you tell the actors where to stand, what to do, what to say, when, what, and how.
Initially, some talented person has to build the models, but the models are durable, long-lived, and can be used many times on the same set. The hardest part is the animating, but it too can be reused many times, and at different tempos on different characters. Likewise, the coloring and lighting requires only a single effort, with the computers generating thousands of frames while you move onto the next scene.
My 1987 Masters thesis espoused reusability. In the subsequent decade we have not only expanded on those concepts but have lead the industry in new innovations in reusability. Such as: overloading, action objects, chor actions, and matrix correction. Following a simple rule set, and character can use any other character's actions and still look believable.
Animation Master uses an exclusive patch-based modeling and animating technology that facilitates character animation like nothing else available. Patch models are easy to build and animate, and they are scalable - meaning that you can use the same models and actions five years from now regardless of how computer technology improves.
The "Toon" Look (Excerpt from 1998 Anaheim Anime Conference Speech)
The 3D market is very fragmented. The game industry wants different features than the special effects industry which wants different features than the CAD industry which wants different features than the anime industry. Animation Master ignores CAD, but it tries to address all of those other requirements. The "toon" look is a good example of our quandary. Only anime artists show any interest in toon, but I have a personal interest in it, so about a year ago we put toon outlines and flat shading in the software. It took a long time for the feature to gestate during which time we wondered if it was worth the effort, then finally a flurry of toon projects turned up. Our once orphan feature now had a chorus of new adherents with additional requests we'd never even thought of. For example, even though our "flat shading" option eliminates diffuse shading, we still allow the light to fall-off, meaning that objects appear dimmer as they get further away. Well, it sounds okay in theory but the anime artists using the software can't guarantee what colors will end up in the render. This is important to them because they pick the color palette the whole scene will use beforehand. So, now we need to match preselected colors. Of course, the animators still want the original option for light fall-off for special effects.
Another feature that was immediately requested was the ability to mix "toon" with "realistic" objects. That wasn't hard.
The most difficult request was a line "blur" factor, meaning that besides line color and line thickness, the line could also blur some specific number of pixels. This goes hand-in-hand with improving line quality so that the lines look hand-drawn.
We welcomed these suggestions. It goes without saying that many other 3D software packages charge a lot of money for their toon shaders, whereas we include ours, so assigning a programmer exclusively to toon is impossible. However, our commitment is there and the appropriate efforts will be supplied to fulfill anime artists' requirements.
Speeding Ticket
Though the early eighties found me guilty of a few speeding citations (7 tickets in 7 years), my propensity for getting caught has slackened somewhat as I've gotten older and wilier. That is until I got a speeding ticket a few months ago.
"I'm going to fight this ticket!" I declared, outraged, to everybody in the office when I got to work.
"Sure you are," replied Randy.
"I mean it... They don't gotta a leg to stand on."
"Uh huh," grunted Dan.
Even Ken, who normally bets on me in a good fight, stared pointedly at his monitor when I looked to him for support.
"You'll see," I said. "You'll all see."
The fateful court date came around. I made a great show of preparing to leave the office. Not one person offered a helpful "Good luck." They all just kept working.
"I got a bug for you when you get back," Dan reminded me.
"I'll show you," I said, this time under my breath so nobody could hear.
Traffic court is one of those places where all classes of society mingle together. I was late on the docket, so I got to hear every lame excuse ever devised.
"Oh judge, my speedometer was broken."
"Guilty. Get it fixed."
"Please Your Honor, I was only going 15 miles over the speed limit."
"Add another $100 to the fine."
"It wasn't really me."
"That's not what the officer says. If I have to get him in here, you'll go to jail."
Finally, my turn came. I approached the bench. "I was going the speed limit," I said humbly.
The judge reviewed my citation. "60 in a 60. What prompted this citation Mr. Hash?" he asked perplexed.
I simply handed him a photo of my car. The judge looked at it a few moments. "A red Lamborghini: with personalized 'Hash Inc.' license plates no less."
Smug, inwardly I was smiling at my victory over persecution in an obviously open and shut case. Then the judge said, "I'm going to have to agree with the officer."
Stunned, I stammered, "But Your Honor, I wasn't breaking the law."
"You're telling me you never exceed the posted speed limit Mr. Hash?"
"Uh... Uh... Uh..."
"This time I'll just let you off with a warning, but don't ever come before my court again!"
I learned my lesson. I kept the license plates but my new car is white so as not to attract attention, plus, a lot of people don't recognize a Ferrari.
Grades
Kids are all different. Erma Bombeck said it. Art Linkletter said it. Bill Cosby said it. Now I'm saying it. Since my kids were old enough to get letter grades, I've always done the same thing my grandma did for me: "If you get straight A's, you get $50". For my daughter, Heather, and younger son, Haven, this has always been a boon. Every time a report card comes around, I shell out $50 to each of them. Like clockwork; every quarter; quarter in; quarter out; if you get all A's, you get $50, and Heather and Haven always get $50.
We had to modify the rules somewhat for my eldest son, Heath. The rule for Heath is: "If you don't get a D, you get $50." But Heath's never gotten $50.
In April I said, "You know Heath, you're graduating soon, this is the last time in your life you'll be able to get $50."
"I know dad," replied Heath, nonchalantly.
"It'd really mean a lot to me if you got that $50."
"I know dad."
"It's not like you don't get any A's"
"I know dad."
I started to say something more, but Heath interrupted. He looked at me and said with some finality, "I know dad."
Recently, the big moment arrived: Heath's last report card came in the mail. Heath was standing there waiting. I stood solemnly holding the sealed envelope. I slowly opened it and slid out the report card inside. It fell open on its own accord.
English: A
Art: A
Science: A
PE : A
History :A
Math :B
Heath had been cool the whole time, but his curiosity finally overcame his pride. "Well," he asked calmly. "What do you say now?"
I knew I shouldn't say it, but I'm a father, and father's just have to say these things. It's passed down from father to father for generations. After all, isn't this what evolution's all about? I tried to hold my mouth shut but my lips just popped open, "So, what's this B?"
Losing Eyeglasses
The '98 Siggraph in Orlando, Florida exhibitor's party was held at the "Wet 'n Wild" waterpark this year. As a group, all the Hash guys wore their bathing suits and H*A*S*H T-shirts for the evening. The park was reserved for Siggraph only, so there were virtually no lines and the weather was perfect. Of course, we headed first to the high slides where we were one-by-one ejected out of the bottom of a capsule to fall at speeds of 60 mph into a splash track. All of the rides were great - deviously designed with big kids in mind. Unfortunately, due to the exuberant water activity, eyeglasses were not allowed. This didn't detour Will - he wore his anyway, otherwise he'd be blind. After four or five rides he became pretty confident, so when a newcomer who also needed eyeglasses to see asked Will how it was going, Will assured him there was no problem keeping them on.
The newcomer decided to follow us onto the next tube ride, and as these things go, after a terrific cascade down the slopes, the final crash into the splash pond knocked Will's glasses into the drink. Of course, the newcomer whom Will had reassured and who'd followed us steadfastly, also lost his eyeglasses into the depths. Chagrined, Will had to grin apologetically to the blind newcomer and then tell the ride operator that he'd ignored the signs and lost his glasses.
The ride operator stared at Will through half-lidded eyes, "You know, this means I have to shut down the ride?"
Will bowed his head, but the ride operator continued. "Now all of these other people have to wait while we fish out your glasses."
What more could Will do? He nodded, ashamed. The newcomer peeped, "Mine too." The ride operator shared him his glare.
So there we were, all lined up along the rail waiting for the ride to clear out so a diver could fetch Will's glasses. Let me tell you, everyone knew why they were waiting and for who. The diver went under, soon resurfacing with Will's glasses in his hand, then he went down again to come up with the newcomer's glasses, then surprisingly enough, he went down again. Everyone was looking at each other questioningly when the diver resurfaced with a third pair of glasses - then a forth - then a fifth! He got out of the water and handed Will and the newcomer their glasses then asked if Will knew to whom the others belonged. Will shook his head no, but someone overheard the question and yelled, "Did someone say glasses! I lost my glasses on this here ride!" The victim bumbled over to pick up his glasses. The other two eyeglass losers, who had gone to lost-and-found, then returned and picked up theirs.
The ride resumed, Will much chastened, and the crowd broke up. As we walked away, the diver, who was just ahead of us, slowed down to talk. "Are you guys with some kind of computer thing?" he asked. "I usually don't get this many glasses in a week."
Stomach Ache
It was COMDEX. Two days each way in the van to Las Vegas. A five day ball-breaking show. The usual COMDEX team went: Marshall, Greg, Noel, and Ryan. But this time Doug Adams went along (Doug did our SGI port once upon a time). He was hoping to drum up some business at COMDEX with its quarter million person crowds. Doug flew in; the other guys drove - they hitched up in Las Vegas.
First thing Doug says, "That plane gave me a terrible stomach ache!"
After 28 hours of driving in the van, Marshall's sympathy level was particularly low.
"Yeah. Those planes will do that."
Doug caught the drift and shut up about his stomach ache for about an hour until after they'd gone out to eat. "Man. I'm telling you. My stomach's really hurting," he complained after dinner.
Marshall glared at him after just putting a hundred bucks down on the restaurant bill.
Greg, however, showed some compassion. "Where's it hurt?"
"Right here in my gut." Doug jabbed a finger into his lower abdomen.
"You sure it's a stomach ache?" asked Greg.
"Don't know," replied Doug. "Never hurt like this before."
"Maybe it's constipation?" suggested Greg innocently.
"It ain't constipation!" denied Doug angrily. Marshall and Noel smirked.
That might have been the end of it if Doug's discomfort had alleviated, but he wasn't looking too well later that evening. Even Marshall was getting concerned.
"I'm telling you its constipation," insisted Greg. "I get it sometimes real bad, just like this."
"It is not," Doug said meekly, but by this time he was willing to believe anything.
"There's a pharmacy," Marshall pointed out, "Do you want me to stop there or not?"
"Stop!" ordered Greg.
"Don't stop!" urged Doug.
"I'm stopping. Maybe you can get some Tums or something."
The five of them roamed the pharmacy at 1:00am in the morning.
"Here are the laxatives!" yelled Greg across the room.
"Shhhh," Doug responded.
Undaunted, Greg held up an enema kit. "This always works for me!" he yelled.
"Shut up you idiot!" growled Doug.
"Do something man," Marshall called, embarrassed, "I'm not standing in this store while you guys argue about assholes."
In desperation, Doug paid for the laxatives and enema kit.
Back at the hotel, Greg was pounding on the bathroom door, yelling "Doug! Is it working? I told you it always works for me."
"No, it isn't working, you f**king idiot!" Doug responded angrily from inside the door. "I'm dying in here. Do something!"
Doug's face was covered in sweat when he opened the door. Marshall jumped up, "Jesus, man! I'm taking you to the hospital."
They half carried Doug to the van and sped him to the hospital. The doctor in the emergency room felt Doug's abdomen and immediately called for an operating room. "This man's appendix has burst. As soon as I can get him prepped, we're going to have to remove it."
"Just take him in now," said Greg. "I don't think he's going to need an enema."
"Huh?" asked the doctor suspiciously. He looked to Marshall and Ryan. They nodded their heads confirming Greg's observation.
"What's going on here?" asked the doctor.
"You tell him Ryan," prompted Marshall.
"I'm not telling anybody anything," Ryan quickly replied. "Greg you tell him."
So Greg explained the circumstances to the doctor, and though perplexed, he sent Doug straight to the operating room.
As the gurney rolled away, taking Doug under the knife, Greg yelled after them. "Hey, Doug! See you'll probably get a discount because of me."
Hero
There's a little "Mini-mart" down the street from the office. It smells of chicken finger grease and old coffee grounds but most of the guys in the office have become habituated to going over there a couple of times a day. Of course, the clerks know everyone's face though not their names, and visa versa.
Randy and Will do the 2:30pm run for a "Biggie" coke and package of mini donuts. Standing at the counter, they were suddenly jostled from behind by a woman in an old army jacket bolting for the door. The woman clerk serving Randy yelled, "She's stealing a 40 ounce malt liquor!" and ran from behind the counter to pursue the thief. Without hesitation, Randy dropped his coke and donuts and followed after.
The thief was down the block and rounding a corner with the clerk right behind and Randy loping along afterwards as the rest of the store's customers watched from the storefront. The old guy who was working Will's counter observed, "That boy don't run much, do he?" And Randy was lost from sight.
Will waited around for awhile, then finally paid for his drink and moseyed back to the office. He told us what was going on so we all gathered on the porch to wait for the return of our "Lone Ranger".
Eventually Randy showed up, dishevelled, sweating, and out of breath.
"Get 'er?" asked Will.
"Yep," replied Randy, and we all went back to work.
A couple days later, I was at the store. The clerk who had been involved in the incident asked me, "Where's my buddy?"
"Huh?"
"Randy," whispered Will in my ear.
"Oh... Uh... I guess he's coming over later."
"Well," said the clerk, who's kind of cute, "I'll be waiting for him with his present." She was smiling as she held up a Biggie coke sitting next to her on the counter.
Walking back from the store I asked, "What's that all about?"
"Every day she waits for Randy and gives him a coke and smiles and tells strangers in the store what happened," explains Will.
Back at the office I asked Randy, "You gonna go get your free coke?"
"Are you kidding?" replied Randy. "I should have let that thief get away."
Missing Ingredient
We worked the San Diego Comicon in August, the largest comics convention in the world. This is a perfect market for Hash animation software - and the only pool of available artists still not committed to any particular animation package.
With my personal interest in comics, I worked the floor, and on occasion even demonstrated. Having not demonstrated in years, there was some vulnerability to whiners and complainers in the crowd. Normally, Greg Rostami demonstrates: complainers are quickly identified and hustled out of the crowd and into a one-on-one by someone else from Hash. Unfortunately, our comicon presence was small, so there was no handler to take the pressure off of me.
"Your modeler doesn't have enough features," a whiner interrupted my demo flow.
"Many fine artists, who have created their own stories, would disagree with you.
Perhaps it just hasn't clicked yet," I breezed through the first barrage unscathed.
"No. Really. This software just isn't powerful enough," insisted the whiner.
This is not a good sign. A repeat whiner can shut down a demonstration, no matter what clever response I could produce. Since the rhythm was broken anyway, I conceded my momentum, and resigned myself to personally attend to this customer's needs - obviously he was at least trying to use the software or he wouldn't be so insistent.
"Well," I began, teacher-like, "What are you trying to build?" I was thinking he was going to describe some kind of machine part or architectural drawing because no one ever complains about building characters with Animation:Master.
"An alien," he responded.
"An alien?" I asked, perplexed. "What's it look like?" I was trying to imagine an alien shape that was impossible to make. I was totally floored - aliens can look like anything and still be acceptable.
"Well, it's kind of tall and thin, and it has spindly arms."
I interrupted his litany. Sounded like any ordinary alien to me. "Could you show me a picture?" I asked. I figured I could model the outline - get him rolling. Obviously, he just needed a little jump.
"Well, no, I don't have a picture. It's kinda in my head."
"Sketch something for me. It can be rough."
"I really can't draw. That's why I'm using a computer."
"Just draw SOMETHING. I'll get you started and you can refine it from there."
"I told you," he was getting angry. "I can't draw at all."
"What? You expect the computer to draw it for you?" I asked, just starting to comprehend what he was implying.
"That's what the computer's supposed to do, isn't it?" he answered sincerely.
Remarkably, the crowd had only thinned during this discourse, not completely dispersing. I looked up to see a dozen attentive faces interested in how I would respond. Whoa, I thought. I'd never considered that some customers would get such a misimpression about where the talent comes from.
"Sir," I stated calmly. "You're the artist. The computer can only multiply your abilities. Maybe you should get somebody else to model for you, and concentrate on directing your story."
I don't know if this reply satisfied him or not but two other people in the remaining crowd bought the software.
Personality Profile
When Hash has a booth at a trade show, there's a sense of confidence, enthusiasm, and success. I call it "an energy beam to god." Other big corporate entities, that normally wouldn't ever talk to us, come by the booth, see the crowds attracted by the energy beam, and recognize that maybe we got something. Watching hundreds of new customers walk away with an Animation:Master, then seeing hundreds more existing customers come by to encourage and advise us, would give any potential partner chills, or current competitor shivers.
Of course, we attract a great number of people who use a competitor's product - they want to see what all of the hubbub is about. There's a personality profile that fits each of the different products: Alias and Soft Image owners are animation sophisticated with perpetual smirks and sly allusions to the commercials they've worked on, but they are always courteous in our booth and say nice, neutral things about Animation:Master. Often they buy it out of curiosity.
Max users tend to be brusque, unbelieving of the price, and suspicious of some kind of catch. They always feel a little insulted that we sell something that costs one twentieth of what they just mortgaged their house to buy - and worse, the plug-ins are free. Still, Max owners are cognitive of whose booth they are standing in, so whatever their negative feelings, they keep them to themselves like diplomats.
Then there's "Lightwave guys". Let me give an example of interaction with a Lightwave guy.
"I'm working on a film!" abruptly announces a twenty-something guy, standing in front of me with two similar-aged cohorts.
"That's great. We support animators in their own efforts to tell stories."
"I use Lightwave."
"Lightwave's a great product. A lot of great work has been done with Lightwave. We specialize in character animation."
"Lightwave does character animation!"
"A great animator can sweat blood to do character animation with pipe cleaners. I'm envious of the quality of animators who use Lightwave. I want some of them because I think they can tell even more stories with Animation:Master." I point out the Dragons animation by the artists at Avalanche as an example.
"Lightwave can do ten times better than that!"
Up until that point I was excusing this gentleman's rudeness as left over allegiance to the Amiga, or maybe Videotoaster fanaticism, but I'd had enough. "Well, I can see your mind's already made up. Get out of my booth."
"I was just gathering information," he replies, even defending himself aggressively.
"I'm not kidding - get out of my booth," I say calmly, but the threat was in my voice.
He gets the hint and stalks away, but both of the guys with him turn to me and smile apologetically, saying with their eyes that they don't necessarily share their comrade's uncompromising views. At least that proved that not all Lightwave guys are so opinionated.
Car Stereo
My oldest son, Heath, gave me some belated advice recently. "Dad," he began solemnly, "Never take a Ferrari into a custom car stereo place and say, 'Put in something nice.'"
It all began when I heard a radio advertisement about "Car Toys anniversary... so all installations are free!" That's my kind of price so I took my car in, parking in front.
"Can I help you?" asked the salesman.
"Yeah, I heard your ad about free installation."
"Not for you," he replied, smiling.
I thought he was kidding. That was when I made my fateful request. He told me it would take a couple of days.
Back at the office I told Marshall about it. He was a little apprehensive.
"He could run the bill up on you," warned Marshall.
"How bad do you think?"
"Maybe 500 bucks... maybe even a thousand."
"A thousand bucks!"
"It's a Ferrari, man."
"A thousand bucks!"
I sweated out the next couple of days before I called.
"It's going to be a few more days."
"What?"
"We're making it really nice."
My hand was shaking when I hung up the phone. It's gonna be a thousand bucks, I thought to myself. How much could they do? There's not even room in the car for a glove compartment. There's no trunk, and no room in the back. The car is basically an engine with a body squeezed over it. In fact, people over 5'10" can't even fit into the passenger seat. What could possibly take a week to install?
It was finally the big day. Marshall and I went to pick up the car. I had resigned myself to shelling out a thousand bucks. My car was parked in the car stereo place's front window to attract attention. I took a deep breath and walked in.
Everyone was smiles. Every employee in the store came over to shake my hand.
"Congratulations. This is the finest installation we've ever done." It was like they'd had a new baby, they were so proud. My skin was itching as they brought over the bill. I opened the folded paper slowly, peeking at the bottom line. Six thousand dollars!
Immediately stunned, from that point on I was a zombie. Docile, they led me to the car, trumpeting their stereo prowess.
First, they explained. I could turn on the stereo while standing 10 feet from the car by pressing a button on a keyed remote. The new electric antenna would automatically raise. Another button caused the doors to unlatch and pop open. Soundproofing had been layered under the carpeting and inside the doors. The CD player could be remotely programmed to display the names of each CD installed and a track name. A big aluminium-ribbed amplifier was crafted behind the driver's seat; two amps for the custom door speakers and two more for the newly created and crafted headline speakers now located behind the headrests. Behind the passenger's seat was another big dual amplifier and crossover for the new base units mounted under the leg wells. They assured me that even with the top down and going 100 mph, I could hear the high notes in "Stairway to Heaven".
After settling me in the drivers seat, they all waved and smiled enthusiastically as Marshall and I drove out of the parking lot. Neither Marshall nor I had spoken through the whole ordeal. Finally, after we'd gotten out onto the freeway and headed back to the office, Marshall said, "Maybe you should turn it on."
Comicon Demo
Computers have finally become cheap enough and powerful enough that you can actually use them to tell stories. Coincidentally enough, the goal of this software, Animation:Master, is to help you tell those stories. Martin Hash's Animation:Master offers exclusive features not found anywhere else - not even in software costing tens of thousands of dollars. It's unique foundation was designed around character animation and reuse of talent.
Indicate the videotape medley playing in the booth here
First, let's talk about talent and how valuable it is. Talent is the critical path to telling compelling stories. Unfortunately, few people are blessed with all the talents necessary to complete an animated story. Fortunately, computers make talent available through reuse. This means, if you expend the resources necessary to make a beautiful articulated character, that is a one time cost. That character is durable and can be used over and over in story after story. Similarly, the actions your character performs, and even the words it says can be "libraried" for later use, or use by others. This library grows and grows as you use it, eventually supplying much of the talent required to tell a story. This gives you the opportunity to invest your precious talent into even more stories over your career.
Open "Bugs Bunny"
Apply "dance" action
Modify the legs in an Action Window
Open "Marvin the Martian"
Apply "clap" action
Use scrub bar to show wireframe run through
Switch to finished rendered version with sound
Martin Hash's Animation Master is recognized throughout the 3D computer industry as the product of choice for character animation. You don't have to take my word for it, let me quote from this book, "Character Animation In Depth" by Doug Kelly, the 3D industry computer animation bible: "...this is the software I recommend."
Show quote in Doug's book
As for the Mac, see the August issue of "Mac Addict". The review by animator Raf Anzovin says, "Best app on the Mac for character animation." His closing statement is, "..if you want to create walking, talking, living, breathing 3D characters, there's simply no other program that comes close."
Show quote in Raf's article
Look at all of the work that has been done with the product by people just like you. Not people with million dollar budgets, just people with stories to tell.
Indicate poster in booth here
Animation:Master's power and flexibility has few comparisons, and with its $199 price, it is really a simple choice.
Frequently Asked Sales Questions
1) Why are you so cheap?
I don't know about you, but most of our customers think $200 is a lot of money.
2) How come I've never heard of this product?
We've been exhibiting at SIGGRAPH for eleven years. We've been at COMDEX for seven years.
We've been at MacWorld for six years. We also do NAB, Comicon, Anime Expo, NATE, etc., etc. As you can see on our brochure, five major magazines have given us favorable reviews.
3) Do a lot of people use your product?
Our installed base is a true 25,000 customers, proven by our very active mailing list filled with supporters who can help new people get started animating as soon as possible. They write tutorials, critique work, and offer examples for anyone.
4) What films have you been used in?
We target the cost-sensitive, aspiring storyteller market. Our customers produce myriad examples of obviously professional work.
5) Does your program support polygons?
We designed our product to create stories. We try to remain compatible where we can: for example, we have excellent polygon export, and we expose a plug-in export architecture for programmers who need something custom. There is also a method of using polygon models as templates to build patch models from.
6) Do you support plug-ins?
When we see a feature we think artists need, we add it. That way it's robust, integrated, efficient, as fast as possible, and everybody can use it. For programmers who work at studios, we do expose a plug-in interface so they can add their own stuff, like textures, volumetric effects, and motion capture, and if that stuff is usable and cool, we buy it so everybody can have it!
7) How's your render quality?
We're willing to be compared in both speed and quality against any renderer out there. We can achieve virtually any "look" since we included all the features of a-buffers, raytracing and radiosity, and you don't have to pay extra.
8) Other products say they do character animation too.
Animation is always a reflection of the talent of the creators. A talented artist can overcome any obstacle to do great animation if they're willing to sweat blood to make it happen. Just think what that same artist could do with Animation Master, and how many more stories they could tell over their careers.
9) Do you have "subdivision surfaces"?
How come it took ten years for other people to recognize something that we've from the beginning. Subdivision surfaces are simply a latecomers attempt at something we've provided for years, though our implementation is more robust and hidden from the user.
10) Does your software support acceleration hardware?
The acceleration hardware business is still relatively new, with compatibility and expectations not yet settled down. We allow you to specify hardware acceleration with our D3D drivers, but we won't formally support it until they're more robust.
Siggraph Demo
Animation:Master... This software has been painstakingly crafted with only one purpose - to tell stories. Since we wanted to tell our own stories, it seemed only natural that the features we wanted would be the same features our customers needed, which has proven unerringly true.
Right at the beginning, when faced with the insurmountable obstacle of trying to animate characters with polygons, instead we choose patches.
Do vase modeling here
Show real-time patches
Show infinite detail
A big part of any model is the image map detail. Here too Animation:Master is uniquely qualified for character animation. Other products give you only primitive mapping techniques, but our goal was always to make walking, talking, breathing characters who smiled, frowned, and showed emotion. Therefore we developed "decaling", an original innovation of Animation:Master specifically designed for realistic stretching of the face image maps as a character speaks.
Apply decal here
Show "Rod's Head" animation
Animation:Master is famous as a modeler. Many professional 3D houses use the Hash modeler. Even though this seems great, it's the character animation emphasis that really makes Animation:Master special. The modeler is simply a means of building animatable characters.
Add bones to vase
Show bending
Sound can be synchronized to action for perfect lip-syncing. Since lip-syncing is such a big part of storytelling, Animation:Master pays special attention to it with a feature called "Poses". Poses are an easy and convenient way to get just the facial expression you want on a character.
Do "Homer" Pose here
Materials let you make marble statues, or wood grain tables, or eroded metal plates. Materials can change with time, and be put on anything.
Make "hair" material here, showing color and changes in the Material window
Animating is a different talent than modeling, and frankly you do more of it. For over ten years Animation:Master has pioneered the reuse of animation from shot to shot and from character to character. With features like libraried actions, overloading, action objects, and choreography actions, Animation Master sets the standard, and is years ahead in reuse technology.
Open "sneak" animation with "Thom" here
Animation:Master has the best inverse kinematics - the ability to easily move a character's limb into position simply by dragging them.
Adjust Thom's arms here
Animation:Master has one of the finest constraint engines. If while moving a character's waist you want the feet to stay on the ground, simply constrain the feet to the floor. If a character's eyes need to track another character's eyes while they talk, constrain the eyes of each to point at one another. If a character is holding a hammer as a prop, constrain the hammer to the hand.
Constrain Thom to path here
Hair materials obeys the physical laws of momentum, mass , and gravity.
Drop "hair" material on "Thom"
Show close-up of hair dynamics here
We've always had the character animation field wrapped up, but 1998 was the year Hash decided to also attack the effects market. What we decide to do, we do right. There's a full particle engine with forces, object emission and collision, and of course, animation.
Volumetric effects, like volumetric lights with obscurment, dust, smoke, steam, and atmospheric effects are robustly implemented as plug-ins so studio programmers can write their own, but of course ours are included when you by the product.
Show examples
Anyone who has ever seen our lens flares agrees they are the most robust available, with many lens presets, and inter-lens reflection.
Show lens flare settings in Flare window
Animatable material effectors let you control the laser burn on the hull of a spaceship.
Animation:Master has fire, water, smoke, explosions, and more. Everything you'll need to add exciting effects to you own story.
Animation:Master's ability to layer actions, called "overloading", is fundamental to swiftly construct complex movement from simpler building blocks. For example, it's easy to see why you would want to overload the character's "happy" face over the lip-synch, then overload a walking action from the library. This accumulation of motion usually includes total customization via the concept of choreography actions where final adjustments are applied to a character's action from the camera's point of view, or any other point of view. The custom choreography actions, combined with the underlying building block actions, gives you absolute control of the shot in a minimum amount of time, so that you can tell even more stories, or get your commercial work done on time.
You've just witnessed a demonstration of the most innovative and well foundationed 3D animation product in the world. Let's see those credit cards flashing.
Millimeter Article
Many people think modeling is the fundamental building block of 3D, but I think movement is. How a head model lip-syncs, or an arm bends at the elbow, along with their surface detail, is the primary concern of 3D character animation. Typical movement requirements dictate the modeling technology.
Next, does the modeling technology allow typical shapes to be built easily and quickly. How long does it take to construct a character's head and body? Is the resulting data small and easy on the computer's resources? How is surface detail applied and maintained?
Animation:Master's solution is a Bezier spine mesh whose tangents are algorithmically controlled. They're referred to in the industry as Hash splines or Hash patches to differentiate them from NURBS, but they're really a clever implementation of age-old geometric theorems.
WHY HASH PATCHES ARE BETTER THAN NURBS
Hash Patches can be considered the most high order surface since they can be degraded to NURBS, which in turn can be degraded to polygons. The difference between Hash patches and NURBS is a subtle one: Hash patches are interpolated from splines (very similar to "subdivision surfaces" but with the mechanics hidden), while NURBS are solved for with an equation, where the order of the equation roughly corresponds with the complexity of the shape, making those equations very difficult to evaluate or even determine. This forces NURBS modelers to require tools which guide the artist into making evaluation-friendly surfaces. This has the effect of limiting what kind of surfaces get made - Hash patches have no such limitations. More importantly, you can easily see how patches may pass through various amounts of shape complexity while they animate; unfortunate for NURBS but of almost no consequence to a Hash patch model. Also, to keep the shape complexity per patch low, NURBS models typically are much higher density than the equivalent Hash patch models, and there are many organic shapes that just cannot be made easily with NURBS.
SPLINE CONNECTIVITY IS ALSO IMPORTANT
Hash patches are only half of the modeling equation, Hash models also rely on spline connectivity to get smoothly bending joints and realistic facial deformation during animation. A Hash patch's shape is dependent on not just its own perimeter splines, but also the splines that make up any adjoining patches - meaning a tweak on the splines of a single patch will change the shape of 16 patches!
HASH PATCHES ARE IDEAL FOR REAL-TIME
Hash patches are especially apt for real-time implementation because of their speed of solving and their low density. An entire SDK ("Software Development Kit"), including source code and documentation is available from the Hash web site, "ftp://ftp.hash.com/pub/misc/amsdk.exe". Hash charges no licensing fee nor are any other fees attached to this SDK - it is freely available.
ANIMATION REUSABILITY
Hash patches are important, however, that technology is the SECOND most important innovation in Hash software. Animation has always been Hash's primary focus, so all other aspects of Animation:Master (like the patches) had to be designed to support this goal. Animation requires talent in varying degrees. The goal was to store that talent; to put it in a library for other aspiring animators to draw from and use in their own projects. Therefore, Hash has long championed the concept of reusability. Not everyone can be an animator, but with a large enough talent library, everyone can be a director and tell their own stories.
Action objects, unique to Animation:Master, are a boon to fast animating. Assume your character needs to "see stars" in a shot. The "see stars" action includes the star models that are visible only as long as they are needed, and they are reusable for any character that needs to "see stars". Similarly, unique constraints, like those needed for a character to twirl a hula-hoop, are part of the "hula-hoop" action. Due to the reusability of action objects, any character can hula-hoop.
RENDERING QUALITY AND SPEED
Animation:Master uses a hybrid a-buffer, ray-tracer, radiosity renderer. The a-buffer (similar to the kind pioneered by Pixar's "Renderman"), offers excellent perceived film quality. As comparison, a point sampling renderer, like a z-buffer, has its resolution measured in pixels. Film resolution is said to be about 4000 pixels. A-buffers are an area sampling technique, where the area sampled is inside an 8 X 4 grid. This grid rests inside a single pixel, giving a perceived resolution 32 times greater than the number of pixels, so the equivalent film resolution for an a-buffer would be 1536 pixels, which dramatically improves render speeds. Mirrors, transparency, and refraction use a fast ray-tracer, and the radiosity preprocess adds even more realism from bounced lighting.
We at Hash have always prided ourselves on our customer service, our personalization, and our commitment to our product. That's why it hurts so much when some unscrupulous person persists in spreading false rumors on a public mailing list. For example, recently an especially virulent monger wrote that the Hash guys are "a bunch of pot-smoking monkeys."
The accusation stung deep and it caused all of us to peer sideways at one another - who could it be? Suspicion rested heavily on our group. Each of us in our own way was able to forgive our compatriots their past transgressions - but not this! For myself, after careful consideration, I finally came to the conclusion that it could be no one who was with Hash now - which means it could be a past Hasher.
Maybe it was Todd Kesterson. Todd was an early Hash artist, director of our short, "Joy Ride". He went on get two of his pieces in the SIGGRAPH Film Show, which made him suspicious, but then I remembered that Todd gave up computers to go back to school to become marine biologist.
There was Mitch Hurst, fondly referred to as "The I5 Nomad" after his tendency to travel up and down the West coast freeway chasing programming job opportunities. He owned little more than an old Subaru and the cat that went everywhere with him. Could be Mitch, but I talked to him recently and it turns out he settled down to marry and have a kid.
My favorite candidate was Steve Cummings, an Animation:Apprentice aficionado, who worked with us for a couple of years before leaving to start a video business in Florida. I considered long and hard on Steve being the culprit, but I the final analysis, I guess I just couldn't blame him.
Unfortunately, that left only me. I thought a while about the nature and seriousness of the crime. It made me incensed. Viscous rumors intended to harm my reputation can only be taken personally, so I want to state now and for all time, unequivocally and categorically - I am not a monkey!
The Van
I usually fly to shows but there's a van full of Hash guys who save money by towing the trailer. I hadn't ridden in the van for years, so to exhibit my solidarity I decided to ride along with everyone else to a show in San Diego.
"Do you have hotel room reserved?" I asked.
"We'll get one when we get there," replied Marshall.
"There's better deals that way."
We'd recently purchased another used van, this time a full-sized Chevy. I made the comment to Marshall when we were picking it out, "250,000 miles sure seems like a lot?" To which he replied, "Nah, these big vans can do that kinda mileage easy."
"What do we do if it breaks down halfway there?"
"I've never had a car break down so that I couldn't fix it," he stated flatly.
The van was comfortable; it had four big captain's chairs, a stereo, air conditioning, reading lights, and a bed. We felt like royalty sitting on the velveteen seats, even though they might have been a bit ratty. I had 24 hours of "books on tape" to listen to on the way to help pass the time.
Before we left I told Marshall, "I see you got the ball on the trailer tongue. I couldn't find any tools and I didn't think I could get it tight with just a pair of pliers. What did you put it on with?"
Confidently, he replied, "Pliers worked just fine."
"Are you sure it's tight?"
"Absolutely."
Off we go. I had my head phones on and I was zoning out within half and hour.
Ryan was driving up the Siskou Pass at the border of Oregon and Washington when I was jolted from my tape listening revelry by a tremendous grinding. We pulled to the side of the freeway, got out and inspected the trailer. The ball was gone, the trailer tongue was on the asphalt, and one of the safetly chains was broken. The remaining safety chain was bent but holding.
"Whew," Marshall said. "That was close."
"Where are we going to get another ball up here in the mountains?" I asked.
We scanned our surroundings.
"There's a Bi-Mart, "observed Ryan cheerfully.
"A Bi-Mart up here in the mountains? To bad we don't have a Bi-Mart card."
"I got a Bi-Mart card," said Ryan.
Ryan was driving again, this time through the Shasta mountains, a couple hours later when we smelled burning rubber and the van filled with black smoke. Once again on the side of the freeway Marshall announced, "The alternator's froze up and the belts worn through. We'll have to try and make it to Redding.
We'll be running only off the battery so no lights."
"Redding's an hour away," I said incredulously.
"And it'll be night soon," continued Ryan.
Marshall just shrugged.
We poked along on the freeway with no headlights, navigating by the light of the moon, apprehensive that every minute would be the end of the battery's life. There was such a universal sigh of relief when we finally arrived that the 18-hour wait standing in front of "Grand Auto" seemed a minor inconvenience. Our schedule was shot.
Driving south in California along I5 we hit the dessert in Bakersfield right in the heat of the late afternoon. The van's air conditioner had been overtaxed since Sacramento. No one wanted to rotate into the back because it was sweltering. Ryan sniffed, "I smell something again."
"It's the belt!" yelled Marshall. "Turn off the van!"
Luckily, we pulled over before the belt burnt through, but after getting grease smeared up to his elbows working on the engine, Marshall announced, "The air conditioning pump's froze. We'll have to open the windows."
"There's only the driver's side window," said Ryan. "The passenger window won't go down."
Simultaneously, everyone yelled, "I'm driving!"
The oil light coming on in Barstow would have been nothing if we'd had a flash light, and the long oil filler tube hadn't have come out. The engine had got so hot it melted the vacuum hoses so we waited an hour for it to cool off enough to hold the oil spout with a paper towel out of the gas station bathroom. Afterwards, When Ryan tried to start the van it made a tremendous screeching.
"Turn it off! Turn it off!" Marshall yelled.
He put his upper body in the engine compartment once again, this time disconnecting the frozen smog pump. The traffic we were blocking at the gas station had been honking quite a while by the time we got out of there.
Finally, we arrived in San Diego at 3:00 am. The show started at 8:00 and we needed to still set up but everyone was so exhausted from our marathon that we decided to get a hotel for a few hours. All the hotels were full. We had a six day show ahead of us.
Yesterday, all of the guys left for COMDEX but Marshall wouldn't let me go in the van.
Installed Base
I called a magazine editor the other day. I needed to get something straight. "Why didn't you mention us in your SIGGRAPH report? Didn't you see us?" I asked.
"Well, there wasn't a lot of column space and I wanted to cover the big players."
"What's considered a big player?"
"Products that have a large installed base."
"That implies Animation:Master doesn't have a healthy amount of users. Did you see us moving units off the show floor?"
"Yeah, you seemed pretty busy."
"Do you think 3DS Max moved as many units at the show as we did?"
"Probably not."
"Do you think we moved 10 times as many as Max?"
"Probably."
"How about 20 times a many?"
"Maybe."
"Have you ever seen us at other shows?"
"Yeah. You guys always seem to attract a crowd."
"Do you think the sales ratio is similar?"
"Maybe."
"So, your conclusion is that when we're compared side-by-side with other products we win overwhelmingly with buyers, but the minute we walk off the show floor, Max starts selling many, many more units than us?"
He didn't say anything so I finished the conclusion for him.
"Watch Max's mailing-list traffic. Compare it to ours.
Calculate how many units we move on the show floor and multiply that by the number of weeks in a year. I'll bet our installed base is very close to Max's, if not more."
"I'll have to check your product out a little better," he replied sheepishly to my tirade.
"Yeah. You do that."
Be Like
As I've stated here before, our goal is "One artist with one computer making a film on their kitchen table." I am not bashful at repeating this simple credo. It has always been our goal and the software has been designed to fulfil it. When it's clear a potential customer would be better served by a CAD program, we say so, and if a logo generator more closely fits their requirements, we say that too - and even suggest options. We have given up these market segments with no regrets, and admit it. The vast majority of the people appreciate our candour and honesty, that's why I'm always surprised when someone refuses to let "No," be the answer. I'm talking about knowledgeable, sophisticated 3D users who recognize our advantages, but would have us give them up to match their own vision of what 3D promises.
I'm asked, "Why can't you be like Electric Image so I can do this logo?" I bite my tongue to keep from saying, "If you try it our way you can do the same thing.". Instead I say, "Electric Image is a great product for that." But instead of accepting my graceful submission, they continue to stare at me as if waiting for some defence. When there is none, they become frustrated and try again.
"If you could be like 3D Studio I could walk through my house," they announce.
"3D Studio is a great product for that," I respond. My attackers become addled; I am not responding in a fashion they find acceptable. I try to demonstrate some of our unique character animation features, but these are quickly dismissed. There is a chasm between me and my questioners that I can't understand. I've allowed that they know what they're talking about; I've stated our goals; I've show animation from hundreds of customers as examples of what I'm talking about. But none of this is enough - these provocateurs are determined to prove to me that if we could just "be like" this or that other program, we would be more successful. Do they know how disrespectful this attitude is? Does this person think we are unaware of the consequences of our choices? That we haven't considered the options thoroughly? That we haven't focused our considerable programming talents on all aspects of the business and made the hard choices our goal demands? Instead they imply our character animation features have little value. And most of all, it is an indictment of our customers who suggest and want these features. Regardless, I still treat nay-sayers with the professional courtesy they are denying me, and thank my lucky starts that most customers appreciate our labors rather than denigrate them.
Politically Incorrect Home Furnishings
Among my many collections: my coins, my stamps, my old bottles; is my "animal remnants". These are things that are just too ridiculous to let languish unknown. The fact that they suffer from terminal political incorrectness is an added benefit.
Do you realize how large an Alaskan Mountain goat's horn is? And heavy too. Maybe I'll put candy in it like the dried bull's scrotum. The inflated, lacquered Puffer fish and 10-inch shark jaws adorn the bathroom, as does the seashell soapdish holding peacock feathers. The million-year old Wholly Mammoth molar sets on the fireplace mantle. More traditional animal carcass fare, like snakeskin boots, an alligator belt, or calfhide boots barely make this list. Not to leave anything out, my entire dinosaur fossil collection sits in the hutch in the front room and can be accessed at a moments notice.
Functionality always overshadows novelty. Given the requirement that any item should serve some useful purpose, my shellacked toad change purse is easily the favorite item, but the crocodile foot back scratcher has its moments, and how many times have I needed that gazelle horn bottle opener. Rattlesnake key chains are always useful.
An Eskimo mask created from walrus throat skin would almost qualify as art, as would the framed colored beetles of the phyla "Bupressidae" hanging in the living room. The stuffed iguana is old and starting to fade and crack, but the kangaroo paw can opener shows no disintegration even after 15 years. There's two scorpions embalmed inside a resin yo-yo, one on either side, but it's a little heavy.
The guys at the office are aware of my perchance for collecting cadaver arcane, so they contribute regularly. Bob found a superb caribou dung chap stick which promises, "This won't cure your lips but it sure as hell will keep you from licking them!" Will was lucky enough to discover an embalmed baby shark in a convenient display bottle. Dan brought to the office the results of his vasectomy in a small vial but he didn't like the label I put on it, so he took it back home to his sock drawer.
Industry Leaders
Soft Image is one of the darlings of the CG industry. They fart and magazines push each other out of the way to see how it smells. There is some justification for this adulation - they have a great product. For example, they're 3.8 release is getting all of the usual coverage and attention. A lot of our customers have called to let us know all of the things Soft has added. I myself read a couple of the press releases and a review. The hoopla boils down to four specific features: front projection mapping, fast motion blur, dopesheets, and the most important one of all, the one that is going to change the industry, the one that will determine Soft's future as the industry leader - reusable actions via name matching!
I agree that every one of these features is imminently important. Indeed, they do determine the industry leader in 3D animation. I'm glad we have them. I always say, "If you want to see where the 'Industry Leaders' will be in two years, look at Animation:Master today."