Animation Master v11 released

[JA-forreal]

Great! It's good to a see news about a new version of Animation Master posted here on CGtalk.

[Dakini]

Yeah, great news about A:M. :applause: I just watched some movies at amfilms.hash.com and i loved them ! I didnt knew that Tak and the Power of Juju was made with A:M (i thought it was Maya). The look of A:Ms hair and fur is simply amazing. For the 300 bucks of A:M you dont even get a hair plugin for other packages :) .That shows me how ignorant i'm sometimes are about small 3d packages :bounce:

[FloydBishop]

I used to use A:M back around version 7 or 8 I think. It was pretty nice.

The Tak game that was mentioned was done by Avalanche Software. Those guys are huge Animation Master users... and their work is very nice.

What is the stability like?

[Signal2Noise]

Wow! They still making A:M?:eek:

{ducks}

;)

[Anti Aliasing]

Originally posted by Floyd Bishop
I used to use A:M back around version 7 or 8 I think. It was pretty nice.

The Tak game that was mentioned was done by Avalanche Software. Those guys are huge Animation Master users... and their work is very nice.

What is the stability like?

Today it's as stable as every 3d animation package. Its not 100% crash proof but which program can claim this ? It's a shame that there is no demo available, but they have a great Web demo that shows some of the terrific workflow of A:M. Rigging character is so much easier in A:M than in any other application i know.

[liquidx]

I bought Animation Master v8.0.

In my opinion the product could easily be the #1 animation software on the market, however, it constantly crashed, and then it was "upgraded" to v9.0 with no support for v8.0.

When I brought it to Hash's attention, that I wasn't interested in paying for another upgrade to a piece of software that never worked in the first place, I was basically shrugged off, and told that they won't support v8.0 anymore, and that I would have to purchase the upgrade to version 9.0.

So as far as I'm concerned I would never purchase this software or deal with the folks at A:M ever again. A lesson that cost me $300.00 to learn.

sorry.

[balistic]

regarding http://amfilms.hash.com, I must say, I like Hash's new little video showcase. It's cool to see Man in the Moon finally being shown publically . . . I did the lights and shaders on that a few years back.

Man, so many memories on that site.

[Meko]

man what a walk down memory lane.


i started on AM and the support i got was Wicked.

the best part of am is the "animaster list"
everyone who has the program has an email service and you ask questions and get answers within minuts.

AMs never crashed on me since the.... 2 years? that i used it.

but that was version 9

now 11? methinks i might have somethign new to invest in.

[fxgogo]

The most intuitive CA tools I have used. Well done Hash.

[BNicolucci]

Congrats to Hash on what looks like their best version yet!

Also really like the AMFilms site. BTW, What ever happened with "Man in the Moon"? The little trailer for it looked great. Definitely captured the William Joyce look really well.

[Mazer]

well... if only someone made an extensive review... I'm not used to invest on software without trying it or reading several reviews...

[Zack]

Well, it's nothing extensive, but take it from me, it's worth it.

Several pro users who had left the software for several years due to stability issues are returning to it. I've been using the betas for months and in that time I have only crashed probably once or maybe twice (that's pretty darn good, for any software, especially in Beta testing). The hair tools could easily be compared to S&H and Sasquatch. Users like Victor Navone and the Soulcage department have been touting A:Ms animation tools for years, and once you get used to using splines they're really a dream to work with.

Take a look at www.hash.com/am2004/ for all the new features in this version. You may have missed some of the features added in the last few versions. It's really a great all around app, especially for it's price. It's surprising that it's not as popular as similarly priced apps with so many fewer features.

If you haven't looked at Hash lately, look again. hehe

Rock on Hash.

(btw: I wasn't payed to say this, the 20 bucks they slipped me were for... consulting!)

[Zack]

One of my favorites on AMFilms: The Cuckoo Trailer (http://amfilms.hash.com/search/Entry.php?entry=679)

Shaun Freeman is still hard at work on this.

[liquidx]

Hey. I'm not particularly knocking the software. The reason I wanted to use it was that I read alot of good stuff about it. The core concepts/UI/Splines are all great. And remain so. I just wish it worked when I tried to use it.

My main beef is that if they put out something that wasn't working, then they should support those of us that actually bought it. While $300.00 is cheap for an animation package compared to others, its ridiculously expensive if it doesn't work.

I did a cursory check at their site --

http://www.hash.com/am2003/files.asp

Version 10 alone went from 10.0a - 10.0r -- that's 18 versions worth of "updates".

It seems to me that if you have a piece of software which may be in need of 18 potential updates, you may want to hold off on selling it until you feel that there won't be any significant number of "updates".

That's really my only point to this. I do think that this is a fantastic piece of software, however, personally I can't afford blow another $300.00.

Nevertheless, I wish them the best of luck, if for no other reason than I think it takes alot of guts to come up with a different approach to modeling, and keeping the price reasonable is equally admirable.

Just my 2 cents.



DISCLAIMER: This is clearly just my own personal opinion and experience, and should be treated as such. I make no claims that this is representative of how their software was/is and as such consider me to be just another opinion.

[Zack]

Their updates are not patches. You can use one "update" the whole time through if you want. They don't fix problems, they change and add features. It's a mini-free upgrade, not a bug fix (although occasionally a version will have something negative, in which case they will make a new update fixing that problem, although this is not usually the case).

If you don't like the product, you can return it in 30 days. Other than that, I'm not sure what you could have against the price... And yes every version you get is fully working. I'm using v11.0 right now, and there are no problems whatsoever.

I'm sorry if you had a bad personal experience (although you didn't clearly state what happened, you just state that they went through 18 updates).


Zack T.

[ruscular]

I have been very happy with V10.5, and yet was extremely dissapointed with v9

The company gave me a second chance with v10.5 and to my surprise it has been very good, and now I hear how much better v11 has become.

So I was once like yourself,and sweared to god that I'll never give hash another penny for their software. Well in that time I like v10.5 so much I went and got Raf setup machine, a flash export plugin, 2 other plugin as well, and all for A:M

Now Im saving up for the next upgrade!

[liquidx]

Zack --

If you had taken the time to look at the link I provided (this is for version 10)--

http://www.hash.com/am2003/files.asp

you'd notice that the word "fixed" is used a majority of the time. Thus, I would venture to guess that the "updates" aren't just adding functionality, but are actually fixing issues.

To address your own question, when I was using version 8.5 it would consistently crash. Some crashes seemed to be reproducible within certain constraints. That is to say I couldn't exactly reproduce them every time, but I could increase the likelyhood by performing several actions.

Either way, I used every "update" to see if it would fix the issues. When I used the last update for version 8 (ie. 8.5p), the problems persisted, at which point I contacted support again, to get this problem resolved.

The email I received back (yes, I actually went through my inbox), was:

"Sorry, we only support the current version- I'd suggest upgrading for $99"

That's the entire email verbatim, with the exception of the email sig on the bottom.

Again, this was my personal experience with version 8.5, I haven't used the software since, so there is no way for me to know how well these issues have been addressed. I will assume that they have been resolved satisfactory, based on your own experiences and those that have posted in the thread, and will happily leave it at that.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to PM me.


DISCLAIMER: This is clearly just my own personal opinion and experience, and should be treated as such. I make no claims that this is representative of how their software was/is and as such consider me to be just another opinion.

[entity_primus]

I look at it this way...

1.) You can't get new features like these in other 3d apps without some kind of limitation(example: lightwave hair=saquatch lite ?) so you still end up buying a plugin !

2.) The cost is just amazing. Doesn't mean you have to abandon your other 3d apps! But you won't need another 3d app after you're able to utilize A:M! And even if you miss a few versions of A:M it's still only $99 to upgrade-- I went from 6.0 to 8.0 and 8.5 to 10.5... it's not complicated! I didn't have to have version 7.0 so I could go to 8.0 or higher--- like was said before--- A:M upgrades are not patches/ fixes/ updates-- these are included in the $99 upgrade. It's obvious they (Martin and the programers, testers, advisors, fellows= the HASH community) are not in it for the money folks!

3.) And anyone that has trouble with A:M was probably using it erronously or hit a snag. There are ways to use an app and compatibility issues with hardware ALWAYS IN EVERY APPLICATION YOU BUY OR GET! Period. So don't expect Hash to be responsible for that... That's YOUR part... keep your machine in shape, because A:M takes advantage of ALL of your machine's capabilities.

4.) Animation Master is one app!!!!! Modeler, Renderer, Animator all in two fast clicks... you don't have to switch between programs, just windows.

5.) I could list all the features here, but that would be redundant.... go to www.hash.com (http://www.hash.com) !!

JUST my 2.3574 cents.

RJ

[entity_primus]

Have you ever tried NOT doing those things that make a hang or crash and maybe do it a different way or find a work around until the problem was resolved? That's the first step to reporting it.

By the way... I used 8.5 and found that there wasn't much that I did that made a "crash". I used it for about three years. Most of what's on my web page was done in 8.5.!
heres the link:my web page (http://home.comcast.net/~entity_primus/sciBORG_cinema.htm)
As soon as I head about the new sprites and hair and bones weighting, I was ready to upgrade. AND BOY, version 10.5/11 is just :buttrock: :eek: :drool: :bowdown: WOW!!!!!!

RJ

[Zack]

All I can tell you is that I used the original version there for approx. 8 months with no problems. If there are fixes made (and yes you are right, I didn't follow the link the first time, I apologize) they are usually because someone noticed a crash that they found to be repeatable several steps (there are people who find this to be a fun hobby I guess) an example is:

Fixed crash with the following steps detatch, attach, select all, copy flip attach, undo

I don't think it's an incomplete product whatsoever and I have never found it to be. It is incredibly stable, and if you find a crash Hash will fix it, many times within a week. I don't think you'll find any other software company that is that helpful.

No further questions. If you want to upgrade, it's still $99 and I know this version is much more stable than 8.5.

[DigiLusionist]

I, too, had many problems with A:M 8. Upgraded to 2000, but got too busy with LW work t keep trying to get farther in A:M.

Does A:M support polygons or SubDs yet? Or is it still a closed pipeline?

[Zack]

Nope, still just splines. And I don't think that will ever change. If it does I think you will see a huge increase in price.

[-JT-]

I too started on AM, it's an amazing well-thought software, but sadly far too many crashes .....

[mayafishing]

Great News

[fxgogo]

I sold my AM 7 to get the Sketch and Toon plug-in for Cinema 4D, but now I am thinking I would of loved to have kept it to get the latest update. Oh well, when I win the lottery I will get it again.

[John Keates]

Mini review:

I have been using AM for a few years now. I will try to present an objective account of preceding events for those who are confused as to why some people say that the program is as stable as hell and others say that it crashes all the time.

I started with v8.5p++. My graphics card at the time sucked so it did crash a lot. I was just playing with 3d at the time so I got into beta testing v9 as a kind of S&M hobby.

I didn't imagine that v9 would take so long to become usable (it never really did) but you have to remember that there is only a small team of programmers at Hash so it takes a while for them to iron out such complex code. They have been working on the same basic code base now ever since and each revision is more stable and fleshed out than the last. the latest versions of v10 are pretty stable and the Soal-cage department swear by it. 10.5 is more stable and with a more complete feel to it. V11 is more robust still and has some amazing hair features and re-written interface code that will be able to grow a lot in later versions (there is a six-monthly product cycle).

Hash have really started to listen to its costomers. It has its own forum now and people are free to talk about feature requests on it. It is amazing when a few people can start talking to the programmers themselves about how something can be improved and then the change is made in a few weeks or even days later. There are no more creasing issues now as far as I am concerned and the renderer, whilst not being the fastest in the world, is capable of some really nice output.

If you check out v11 and find that it isn't up to your expectations of stability then remember that it probably will be in a few months. I can't say quite how stable it is just now as I havn't been pushing the program recently (no time). But I can say that once you have gotten used to hash patches (which are quite un-like other splines and pretty lean and robust) then you will be able to knock out animations like nobodys' business.

This is just the experience of one person who has been with the program for a while. All I can say is that I probably wouldn't have gotten this far into 3d if it wern't for AM. I hope that this little review is honest and helpfull... and hey, AM is only $300 :p

[Dalemation]

This new version 11 of A:M is amazing and well worth the asking price for the great Hair features alone. I previously dabbled in many 3D software packages but nothing really `clicked` with me. Someone at work suggested I take a look at Animation Master and I`ve not looked back since.

It`s not going to suit everyone but for me it seems so intuitive and logical. To see how intuitive you only have to view the brilliant animation training DVD produced by Jeff Lew recently.

At the same time I got into A:M a friend at work started using 3D Studio Max. Last week he asked me where he could get A:M and how much it cost. He reckons he just can`t work Max out.

So many people seem totally preoccupied with what software others are using. I`ve always hated being `one of the crowd` to the point where I sometimes think I avoid things just because they are popular or the `in thing`. With Animation Master I`m sure this isn`t the case - I use it because it`s the only 3D software that I`ve managed to understand and achieve results fairly quickly.

Okay, the renderer isn`t the speediest but it produces great results now and I would much rather have animation features that are easy and fast to use than a supersonic renderer as I use seperate machines to render overnight anyway.

Good luck to Hash for being different I say! :buttrock:

[Layer01]

is animation master a modelling/animation package or do you bring in your models form other apps into it and then out like MB? sorry i have never used AM and at the moment its late (i need sleep) and i am lazy so i cant DL the videos to see for my self.

also on that note how would you compare AM with MB (motion builder) just curious. or ar they so different in their ways that to even suggest comparison is futile. :shrug:

[adrencg]

Originally posted by liquidx
I bought Animation Master v8.0.

In my opinion the product could easily be the #1 animation software on the market, however, it constantly crashed, and then it was "upgraded" to v9.0 with no support for v8.0.

When I brought it to Hash's attention, that I wasn't interested in paying for another upgrade to a piece of software that never worked in the first place, I was basically shrugged off, and told that they won't support v8.0 anymore, and that I would have to purchase the upgrade to version 9.0.

So as far as I'm concerned I would never purchase this software or deal with the folks at A:M ever again. A lesson that cost me $300.00 to learn.

sorry.

I had a similar experience...

I used Am around version 8 and it had some serious issues with stability. I mean, working in it was the most nerve wracking experience -- every move I made, I was expecting a crash. I stuck with it for a while, because it was beautiful when it did work. The bones and smartskin is better than anything I've ever seen.

When I called tech support(which I imagine was just some guy's house), they told me I needed to reformat my hard drive before installing AM.

BS. I uninstalled it with the hopes of trying again someday if it became stable.

So is it stable these days? on XP?

Mike

[Parlo]

So is it stable these days? on XP?

Mike [/B]

I use it on XP and it's solid as a rock. There is the occassional view of the destop - I'd say once every couple of days at most. And this is when using the software atleast 12 hours a day so I'd still say "Solid as a rock".

What with the the arrival of the A:M forum 9 months or so ago the dark days of v9 are pretty much forgotten. As someone else has already said, many of the 'old timers' are revisiting the software and brusing the under sides of their jaws in the process.

[KenH]

I bought v9. It was so unstable, I never used it.
I upgraded to v10 all the same in the hopes of something that worked. It did. Now I've been beta testing v11(anyone can) and I've had less crashes on it than v10.
There is a clear pattern here. AM is improving all the time and the users have a direct voice in that improvment.

Find that AM crashes with Graphics card X? Report it to Hash and it will be fixed in a couple of weeks. They are a small team and so it is impossible to test every conceivable configuration out there. But what matters is when there is a problem, they will listen.
Think of a way to improve your workflow in the software? Tell Uncle Hash and he will listen :D

For those wondering:

Don't be fooled by the name Animation Master. AM is a fully fledged 3D production suite. Animation is merely its forte. It's got amongst other things: Hair/dynamics/spritacles for infinite effects/crowd tools/smartskin/expressions...agh hell, just go to their site! ;)
This is one of the reasons I went for AM.....most of the cool stuff isn't in other software. You have to buy it in expensive plugins!

It is also possible to get polys into AM with a free OBJ plugin on the net. But you're probably better off learning how to spline as AM is built with those in mind.
To the guy who asked about Motion Builder....I used it for a while on the educational scheme, but then I discovered AM and found I could do the very same things easier with it.
Of course, this is just my opinion but you've nothing to lose by investigating yourself.

[JeffPatton]

Once you create an animated model in A:M, can you export that out to use in other programs? Or will the animations only work in A:M?

Thanks,

Jeff

[spakman]

Originally posted by Dakini
Yeah, great news about A:M. :applause: I just watched some movies at amfilms.hash.com and i loved them ! ...

Off the heezeee!!! Hash is awesome. Those cats keep cranking out incredible stuff. Cut my teeth with a few commercials and some other stuff with that package back in the day. Haven't kept up with it since I was forced to move to SI then Maya...

(kinda think they should put an "amfilms" link to this page
http://www.hash.com/boids/cinema/BOF_sor.mov)

back at'cha d=^)

[Anti Aliasing]

Originally posted by Jeff Patton
Once you create an animated model in A:M, can you export that out to use in other programs? Or will the animations only work in A:M?

Thanks,

Jeff



You can import and export BVH files (Animation format from Biovision) with an plugin which is also included in source code, so a programmer could easily develop his own format for a game engine.

[Goon]

for anyone out there that hasn't used A:M, just go through the animation master forum on this site.
Things are hardly as possitive about it as this thread is.

I no longer use A:M, but when I did (8.0-10.0) it had a reputation for horrible stability which it lived up to, and worse support for any customer that got on the company's bad side.

While some of that may have changed, I doubt the company has greatly changed its ways since the last version.

[neilyb]

I originally bought A:M on the strength of its "Feature" list back at version 8. I guess I only used it for around 6 months before deciding that the extra money spent on real software WAS worth it! The stability was dire and many of the "features" didn't work (dare I mention flocking...?).

I hope they have got themselves a real winner this time, but i guess there will be alot of people will need some heavy convincing (me included) before they will part with $300 (which works out at around 350-400 in Europe).

For now I stick with Cinema, it crashes......NOT!


N

[DigiLusionist]

Over the last seven years, I have run into the Hash guys demoing A:M at different places. I think the software looks great and even has excellent features.

But my biggest qualm with the advertising of this software at the conferenes and conventions is that they refuse to acknowledge how important an open pipeline is.

These days, if I can't use my existing library of polygonal or SubD objects in an animation package, that package is useless in our production work. I am not about to spend an inordinate amount of time and money redoing the objects in A:M because Hash disdains polygons.

That's why, for me, I would never use A:M for anything more than personal projects or rendered stills.

It's too bad, too, because the character animation tools are so well executed.

[3DArtZ]

I am really excited about the direction that the software is going.
While it's true that A:M is sort of it's own club in some reguards to using other models, the stability is absolutely up to par with that of every other animation package out there.
Features actually work as advertised and the hair system is something that just has to be experienced.
No one was more aware of the stability issues than hash and they have (finally) addressed them.
I have had my problems with the company in the past, as you could probably find by searching the posts in the a:m forum,
but I am now a satified user.
Ease of use in the CA dept. will go a long way in leveling the playing field were pipeline issues might be concerned.

Mike Fitz
www.3dartz.com

[odinseye2k]

for anyone out there that hasn't used A:M, just go through the animation master forum on this site.
Things are hardly as possitive about it as this thread is.

I no longer use A:M, but when I did (8.0-10.0) it had a reputation for horrible stability which it lived up to, and worse support for any customer that got on the company's bad side.

While some of that may have changed, I doubt the company has greatly changed its ways since the last version.

Version 8 had horrible stability? The thing was a champ, even when I was just a novice and would have found my own ways to bust it up but found few.

Now 9-early 10 I will admit was nightmarish. That was the dark time that I thought I had gone with something that was on its way to obsolescense.

I think the horror of v9 changed AM and Hash both for the better. Nowadays the programmers (and Martin himself occasionally) directly interact with the community - there is no longer one point of contact with the company, which has helped customer service somewhat. There was about a month of solid polls and discussion on everything from marketing to the level of AM professionalism led by Mr. Hash. This has energized both community and (seemingly) the company itself - a dead branch has been chopped off and the buds are there.

As for the local AM forum, there is a healthy concentration of malcontents and plain trolls. It's also worth noting that a lot of people that started that forum to air their dirty laundry after being forcibly removed from the official Hash list have begun to regain interest in the software.

I myself just returned from an professional/academic conference where our presentation was a smash hit thanks to some acting and animation clips I put together. I put less than three days of solid work into the clips to generate a minute's worth of animation and all of the requisite models (5 spacecraft) with textures. And I am only a hobbyist.

The only thing AM needs is an open pipeline. I think Martin is afraid of AM becoming everyone's CA bitch - it will probably still take a lot of convincing to break that line of thinking. There are several AM users that are creating their own pipelines around AM with special tools, however, so hope is still alive.

[spakman]

- lots of new Modeling Tools


I wonder what these are.

[liquidx]

Many of you that are proponents of the software have addressed the purported stability/instability issues.

I feel like I am the one that started that thread, however I also feel the I was trying to make has been sorely missed.

While producing a stable piece of software should be the number one concern of any software producer, my biggest gripe is that after spending $300.00 to purchase a piece of software THAT NEVER WORKED FULLY, I was told to spend another $99.00 to upgrade to another VERSION, with no guarantees that this one would work any better.

So while it wasn't stable to start, I was basically told to take a hike or pay them even more.

Am I the only person here that seems to think this is wrong? Why in Gods name should I pay anyone a single penny more, if you didn't deliver the goods in the first place?

I should have been either,

A. Given my money back (this was well beyond 30 days - since I didn't even get the software until my b-day), or

B. given proper support to try to address my issue, or

C. Given a FREE upgrade to v9 (which judging from the previous posts would have done little to alleviate my problems).

Whichever way you want to spin this, the bottom line is that I received shoddy customer service at best, and downright thievery at worst.

Just my personal experience. Take it for what its worth. Cost me $300.00.

[Flog]

I think if it is more stable and gets a reputation for being stable it could easily exceed many of the 3d software

Cinema 4d for example, you have to buy plugins for hair, or advanced particle systems, or flocking.

Hash has hair, particle systems, and flocking...I loved flocking.

But it was highly unstable. But now I hope it does get stable.

1 other problem is the spline modelling takes forever. I wish it was hardy and took high poly models. I model in Wings 3d and Zbrush, but it will not take those models. I sure wish it would cause it would be great.

[Goon]

Originally posted by odinseye2k
Version 8 had horrible stability? The thing was a champ,

for me 8 was useably stable in comparison to 9, and 10 wasn't too bad either, for A:M. But I managed to crash all of them quite frequently, esp. when using any features other than the modeling/animation tools, like softbodies and hardbodies. And having it lock up on saving was quite bad too.

I think the horror of v9 changed AM and Hash both for the better. Nowadays the programmers (and Martin himself occasionally) directly interact with the community
If that is the case then the best of luck for Hash and its community.
- there is no longer one point of contact with the company, which has helped customer service somewhat.
lol

But I won't be re-joining the AM ranks again until it is open enough that I can use it with high end software w/o stepping through some convoluted process.

[KenH]

LiquidX: I don't deny you had a bad experience but the time has long since passed for us to help/advise you.

Flog: You absolutely *can* use AM with obj models out of Zbrush. I bring them in all the time with an obj plugin. It even works with displacements. :bounce: There's a thread on it in the AM forums.

[GeorgeDittmar]

i started on AM on version 8 and liked it but then i got out of 3d and then i got back with max and i am not a lightwave person and me personally would never go back to AM mainly just because its modeling is not what i like

[GeorgeDittmar]

hehe and i just found my old animation master program. LOL

[spakman]

Originally posted by KenH

Flog: You absolutely *can* use AM with obj models out of Zbrush. I bring them in all the time with an obj plugin. It even works with displacements. :bounce: There's a thread on it in the AM forums.

Can you point me to the thread? I'd love to see the results.

peace d=^)

[iso]

I think some people claim that it is stable because the memories of version 9 still haunt them. I have found that the version 11 crashes as much as it ever did, and once again from simple things like selecting some points and trying to copy and paste them (not all the time, but it does happen more than it should).

One of the features that was introduced in, v9 I beleive, does not work at all (being able to pin various item timelines in the main timeline). After talking to them a few times they finally admitted that it was a bug.

I figure by AM v.23 things will rock!

[DrEddie]

Those are not simply corrections, Animation Master keeps getting more and more abilitities. This has to be the fastest improving program I have ever seen! Big things are added, little subtlties are added. It is truely amazing.

If there is any complaint, it is that it is hard to keep up with all the new things cool things that are added! What wrong with these people? (No real complaint here!) Are they trying to make this the best Animation Program around?

Plus, they have free downloadable Camtasia Movies that walk beginners through the basic tutorials -- sound and visual demonstration on how to use Animation Master. Much easier than reading the manuals.

But if you need a manual, there is a new Technical Reference Manual (which includes v. 11) that has just been made available through Zandoria. http://www.cafeshops.com/zandoria.9928938

It is a very exciting time to be involved with Animation Master. I wish all this support had been availble when I first got involved with AM, but I am glad it is available now.

DrEddie

[KenH]

Sparkman: Here's the thread...
http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4897

But you gotta register to see it. It's free. :)

Also, here's an example of the displacements in the zbrush forums about three quarters the way down:

http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=015376&p=4


ISO: All I can personally say is I don't experience those specific crashes. Sure there's been one or two, but I've had that with most software also. Also, I'm unaware of that feature you mention. I'm not sure what it does.
BTW I hope you reported those bugs to support....
As you can guess, I think v11 does rock. ;)

[TIMTHESORCERER]

i got into 3d using AM, great package especialy for the cost, but be warned! material editor, particles, and modeling (only spline cage, no polytools or nurbs) are not great.

[mg3d]

Best of luck to the AM guys and gals. Yer gonna need it :)
:beer:
-mG

[mg3d]

I tell ya one more thing. AM would be a great package if it supported polys. Being splines only pretty much prevents that.
And since Martin is so dead against polys I don't ever see it happening. But just as my previous post states..Good luck fellas. Seriously. I do miss fiddling around with AM (jeese, it's been at least 4 years now since v8.554846548654lkzzzz) But I doubt I'll ever use it again.

:beer:
-mG

[ruscular]

to those that paid for a V9 software you might want to write or call hash support and ask for Steve Sappington, and tell him what you thought of the version. I did that and he gave me a free upgrade to V10, and heck if your lucky you might get a V11. I cant commit to that but he did give away the upgrade for those that were not happy with V9 at the time it was release.

The only thing he ask of you is for you to call him in a civil manner and honestly talk about what you feel about purchasing your version. Im glad I did because I feel that V10.5 was even better than V8.5 in so many ways.

I am giving you an option to try and if your still unhappy then yeah, I think you have every right to keep bitching. But I think if you gave it another try, you may change your mind like I did.

[Zack]

I think some people claim that it is stable because the memories of version 9 still haunt them. I have found that the version 11 crashes as much as it ever did, and once again from simple things like selecting some points and trying to copy and paste them (not all the time, but it does happen more than it should).

I have no idea what you're talking about... I haven't even experienced these problems in the betas, for gods sake.
edit: for those who are interested, I made my whole machineflesh w/ a beta version of v11. Seemed to hold up pretty well (even though I've dropped the ball recently...)

Anzovin Studios uses both A:M and Maya and several other apps and has been heard to say that Maya is worse when it comes to crashing...
another edit: I use Maya too sometimes, because I need the skills if I ever plan on being hired by a studio, and the fact is it crashes on me more than A:M. People are afraid to knock the hand that feeds them.

[iso]

don't get all testy now :) I just want people to know that it is not something that does not experience crashes and they are there. If you haven't had any crashes then that is sweet for you, but I still have them a lot of the time.

[Zendorf]

3 Years ago ,I started my 3d journey using AM mainly because it was the cheapest 3d app at the time and I simply could not get my head around Blender. Aside from the horrible instablity (started on v8 and then upgraded to 8.5) and inability to play nicely with poly apps, I really did love AM and felt that anything was possible with it. As a result I vehemently defended it to friends of mine who were using cracked versions of Max and Maya, and they were actually quite impressed at some of the stuff that I had pulled out of AM. I became very tunnel visioned in thinking that splines were the only way to go and that all poly apps sucked (there is a lot of this sort of propaganda in the AM community).

It wasn't till the whole v9 fiasco when I just waited and waited to upgrade, but the vibe was constantly that it was just inherently unstable, so I clung onto the v8.5p....oh my precious.... Combined with the fact that I started an animation for a short film comp here in Oz (Tropfest) and just could not get it finished because AM gave me so many troubles. I had done my first animated short for the previous year competetion had persevered through all the crashes....usually about 10 a day.

Reluctantly a year ago, I started looking at other options and was swayed with Wings and Cinema4d. Sure, the character animation was not up to scratch with AM, but everything else was way ahead of it. Have since gotten Motion Builder to use for CA, but have still kept interested in developments in the Hash community, waiting for signs to upgrade. I did finally upgrade to v10.5 this year and found that I was still having random crashes, so figured I would wait till v11. Funny thing is that I downloaded v11 last night and it seems very stable from playing with it for a few hours. Unfortunately for me, spline modelling now just seems like a total chore and was driving me nuts, along with some very strange staticy noise appearing all over the viewport (no there is nothing wrong with my system thanks)....oohhh man I think I have had my day with AM ....:hmm:

If Hash ever has the wisdom to get incorporate poly modelling or even just poly model usability (aside from just props) to go alongside the nice CA workflow, then they will really get a lot of new customers. But at this rate, I really couldn't recommend it to a newcomer as I once would have....
Anyway , there is enough Hash bashing on cgtalk, so I will leave it there. Maybe I will check out v12 or 13 when they come out
:shrug:

[kr3ml]

well... it looks like there is some kind of new fur tool witch is probably the coolest new tool in A:M , not even 3dsmax has fur, or you have to buy the plugin (shag:hair, shag:fur) =P

[Bliz]

The new hair looks quite promising. I looked at the quicktime of the Orangatan and was perplexed to see an example animation with lower teeth and gums jutting through the top lips (??!) :surprised

Sure the movie is only designed to show the hair off but it gives off the impression that it was too hard or long-winded for the creator of the movie to fix the animation error.
Someone at Hash could have least painted over the error in After Effects or similar, before posting it.

As for the software itself, I quite liked it when I tried v6 but I don't know about upgrading... The spline modeling is novel and direct in it's own way but it'd be nice if you could export the models to Maya Sub-D's. it seems like a shame of a missed opertunity that the topology of a good Hash model looks very similar to a Maya SubD model. I'm specifically thinking of the way a subD model tesselates to higher detail, seems like the same way you can have 'hooks' on AM splines.

[Anti Aliasing]

Originally posted by Goon
for anyone out there that hasn't used A:M, just go through the animation master forum on this site.
Things are hardly as possitive about it as this thread is.
After reading threads like "LW 8 owners: satisfied?", "What Do You Want For 3ds Max 7?" or "Maya 6 announced" i must say that there is nothing special about the A:M forum at all. Maybe its more open for discussions than the other forums, but i guess thats a good thing. BTW "Hi violet, dont even think about it :) !!"
Originally posted by mg3d
I tell ya one more thing. AM would be a great package if it supported polys. Being splines only pretty much prevents that.
And since Martin is so dead against polys I don't ever see it happening. But just as my previous post states..Good luck fellas. Seriously. I do miss fiddling around with AM (jeese, it's been at least 4 years now since v8.554846548654lkzzzz) But I doubt I'll ever use it again.
Yes, A:M uses special patches instead of polys but there are ways to get poly models into A:M. You can import them 100% correct as props for your scene, but they cant be animated. For animatable models you must convert them into patches (A:M converts them automatically). Mr Williamsen (A:M guru) posted this about model import from Lightwave :
http://www.hash.com/users/joewllms/CGTalk/DXF_Import_Tip.jpg
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=134942
But your right, fitting A:M in a poly based pipeline is difficult. I really would love to see a FBX plugin for A:M that could import models and export the animations for other packages again. You could even rig the character in A:M and export it via FBX. Packages like MB or M:A would really have a hard time then because they costs 3 times the money and dont have that workflow. Its funny that most of the "big" packages rely on MB this days :) !

Originally posted by Ac0rN
well... it looks like there is some kind of new fur tool witch is probably the coolest new tool in A:M , not even 3dsmax has fur, or you have to buy the plugin (shag:hair, shag:fur) =P

There is even a free Tree plugin available now ;) !

[KenH]

I really would love to see a FBX plugin for A:M that could import models and export the animations for other packages again

There is talk about one being developed.

[Anti Aliasing]

Originally posted by KenH
There is talk about one being developed.

Yippeee ! OMFG thats great news ! Thanks pal you made my day !

[chadtheartist]

I'm taking the plunge and getting the $99 upgrade. The hair features alone I think are worth it. Plus I want to be able to pose my models that I create in Z2, and I think this will be the best way to do so.

I'm intrigued by the AM/Zbrush tests as well. My main concern is how much "Reworking" of the model is needed? For some reason my V9.5 won't accept the .obj plugin, and I can't get a quad patched model from Zbrush to AM. .dxf seems to hang, and .3ds just flat out stinks because of the triangulation.

But now that I've seen some of the improvements in AM, I'm curious as to how well it can work with Z2. Especially for texturing, not just displacements and bumps.

When I was working in 9.5, it seemed OK for me. It didn't crash all that much from what I remember. But then again I didn't animate with it at all. Just started to learn modeling, and then I moved on to other software... ahem.

[modernhorse]

There is talk about one being developed. Where is this talk KenH? I'd like to see it.

[KenH]

Sure here's the thread:

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4806

[modernhorse]

Hey cool !! Thanks Ken.

[dfaris]

Originally posted by chadtheartist
I'm taking the plunge and getting the $99 upgrade. The hair features alone I think are worth it. Plus I want to be able to pose my models that I create in Z2, and I think this will be the best way to do so.

I'm intrigued by the AM/Zbrush tests as well. My main concern is how much "Reworking" of the model is needed? For some reason my V9.5 won't accept the .obj plugin, and I can't get a quad patched model from Zbrush to AM. .dxf seems to hang, and .3ds just flat out stinks because of the triangulation.



I have had ZB since version 1.2 and I fought and fought to try and get ZB models to AM and AM models to ZB it just never worked right and I was better off just doing to whole model in what ever app I was using. That being said I have not tryed it with ZB2 and most likely wont as I have moved on to C4D. I have kept my AM CD's and I'm watching to see how Hash responds to the big user outcry when version 9 was around.

I too wish that hash would port the animation tools to other apps. Can you imagen that AM's animation tools in LW, C4D, Max whatever app you use but I know that AM's animation tools would rule the world of animation even with all the fancy tools in maya, messiah, MB whatever you can just not beat AM's tools right now. If hash would do this fast nobody would even be close.

[Stychentyme]

I, like many others, was extremely disappointed with version 9. It seemed to be a mess from beginning to end, but it wasn't the software problems that made me abandon AM,.... it was the pompous attitudes of people like Martin Hash, and Steve Sappington that did in in for me.

I was upset at Martin in a letter he wrote to address the issues with AM where he basically told us that version 9 was a bitch, and we should all just pay to upgrade to ver 10. In my view, and others,.... with all the problems that ver 9 had,....subscribers should have all gotten free upgrades, no questions asked.

Steve is another story. I'd had AM since 7.1 and had emailed him with questions on a few occations, never in anger, only wanting to find solutions. I never recieved anything resembling help from him whatsoever. Responses from him were vague, pointless, and sometimes rude. I got the feeling that he really couldn't be bothered to help me,... more than once he told me just to "figure it out myself."

In the end, it was how I was treated by their customer service that made me end my tenure with Animation Master. I really like the software, and who knows?,......I may in the fututre give it another try. I have no problems working with splines, I love the animation tools, and the new features and changes seem to be making AM better and better.

At work I use Maya, and have had nothing but good experiences with their customer support. Maybe good customer service depends on how much you pay for software. :shrug:

Stych.

[Anti Aliasing]

Originally posted by Stychentyme
At work I use Maya, and have had nothing but good experiences with their customer support. Maybe good customer service depends on how much you pay for software.

But you have to pay a lot for that "good customer service" ;) . I heard from Valve employees that one of the main reasons they didn't choose Maya for HL2 was that they had bad experiences with Alias/WaveFronts customer service back in the time of PowerAnimator :rolleyes: !

[madheavy]

Stych. I totally agree with you.
I really got fed up with their pompous 'hey we're selling it to you for only 300 bucks-what do you expect'- attitude.

I never ever completed anything in AM (version 9) because the blankety-blank software crashed too much.

Anytime I mentioned anything about it crashing, they threatened to take me off of their forum. Their arrogance in acknowledging this coupled with the splines-are-good-enough-to-model-everything philosophy made me call it quits.

I use LW 7.5 now and I'm very happy.

[zorque]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by liquidx
It seems to me that if you have a piece of software which may be in need of 18 potential updates, you may want to hold off on selling it until you feel that there won't be any significant number of "updates".

>>>ANY program is going to need updates after release to public. NO beta in the world can find the same amount of minor issues the global market can in everyday use. Would you rather have a company that claims stability and releases little or no updates or one that releases updates based on user input so quickly that the version numbers go high. It's not a matter of "so many bugs the version went to .r..." it's more of a "We fixed each problem as it was encountered rather than making the customer wait."

[QUOTE]That's really my only point to this. I do think that this is a fantastic piece of software, however, personally I can't afford blow another $300.00.

>>>You didn't do research on this. It is only $99 to upgrade to the current version ($99 gets you every update and upgrade for the entire year). And as for support, I still have no trouble getting older versions to work either working with Hash or throught hte amazing support of the mailing forums.

FYI, version 10 (which you didn't like going to .r) was hailed as the most stable version of any of the popular 3D packages by many users in the bigger houses. For that, I am willing to keep my eyes open and install an update every couple of weeks.
-Mike

[drdespair]

I had the 2000 version, in someway it hasn’t really changed from the earlier versions, there is only so much you can do with splines, and the crashes don’t really add to the experience. Other features seem to be shoved into the architecture just for marketing.. (cloth anyone??) As a matter of fact the whole project smelled a bit of Smartism (D) in the mailing list and support. By the time I was just getting the hang of it.. they send a nice little note saying.. we are upgrading.. pay us more! Well I stopped there, and spent money on buying a “plethora” of other tools.. which I am quite happy with.

[KenH]

Each to their own. But I'm also perfectly happy. :wavey:

[liquidx]

Originally posted by zorque
Originally posted by liquidx
It seems to me that if you have a piece of software which may be in need of 18 potential updates, you may want to hold off on selling it until you feel that there won't be any significant number of "updates".

>>>ANY program is going to need updates after release to public. NO beta in the world can find the same amount of minor issues the global market can in everyday use. Would you rather have a company that claims stability and releases little or no updates or one that releases updates based on user input so quickly that the version numbers go high. It's not a matter of "so many bugs the version went to .r..." it's more of a "We fixed each problem as it was encountered rather than making the customer wait."


Mike.

Let's see.

"Would you rather have a company that claims stability and releases little or no updates or one that releases updates based on user input so quickly that the version numbers go high."

Neither. I would prefer a company that didn't release software that clearly isn't ready for public consumption.

I think it is reasonable to release maybe 1 or 2 updates per release. For example, Max going from 5.0 to 5.2 is acceptable. Same with programs like Photoshop, (ie. 7.0 to 7.0.1 - which is extremely minor). Now, before you start saying that those are large companies, I'd like to point out, that countless smaller operations manage to do just the same (ie Pixologic/ZBrush).

18 updates is quite frankly just not acceptable. I don't care which way you spin it. The paying customers shouldn't be your "post-beta" test subjects. Surely, you can agree with me on that.

That's really my only point to this. I do think that this is a fantastic piece of software, however, personally I can't afford blow another $300.00.

>>>You didn't do research on this. It is only $99 to upgrade to the current version ($99 gets you every update and upgrade for the entire year). And as for support, I still have no trouble getting older versions to work either working with Hash or throught hte amazing support of the mailing forums.


I stand corrected, but you clearly missed the point. NO ONE should have to pay for an upgrade if the previous version never worked in the first place. Be that $99 or $300. It's that simple.

While you claim that the previous versions were solid on your machine, I would submit to you, that I clearly don't seem to be alone in having had problems.

I had a 1.3 Ghz Athlon, 512MB, and GeForce4 ti4600. Hardly exotic components. And it kept crashing. I don't think its the job of anyone, but Hash to fix the problem. Afterall, its they, who got my money. So asking me to turn to a mailing list, forum, net, or even my neighbor, is hardly a solution to me.

Judging from some of the previous posts I would assume I am not alone in my experience with the software or the quality of customer support received. Both were abismal.

While you may think that I am bashing A:M, I'm really not. Even after having used other software, I am still impressed with its ease of use, and quality tools. However, stability is key. And so is customer support, especially if the latter is missing. I still maintained that I really liked the software and the core concepts for modeling and animation it was built on (even though I see how others have difficulty integrating these tools into a prodcution pipeline), I'm just dissappointed with the "support" I received.

FYI, version 10 (which you didn't like going to .r) was hailed as the most stable version of any of the popular 3D packages by many users in the bigger houses. For that, I am willing to keep my eyes open and install an update every couple of weeks.
-Mike [/B]

I wouldn't know. Unless someone gives it to me for free, there's no way I am even willing to consider using it. Purely based on principle. I already paid my $300, and am not interested in paying a single penny more.

The funny thing is, that I never expected to share this experience after all this time with anyone.

[Anti Aliasing]

Originally posted by liquidx
18 updates is quite frankly just not acceptable. I don't care which way you spin it. The paying customers shouldn't be your "post-beta" test subjects. Surely, you can agree with me on that.

I think it cant get any better than paying only $99 to upgrade to the current version and receiving updates for the entire year. And NO the updates are not just patches to get A:M stable they also enhance workflow and add new features. And NO most A:M users dont want to wait and love to get their weekly updates, it's quite fun :) !

Originally posted by liquidx
I stand corrected, but you clearly missed the point. NO ONE should have to pay for an upgrade if the previous version never worked in the first place. Be that $99 or $300. It's that simple.

If it doesnt worked for you in the first place you should have returned it within 30 days ! It's THAT simple.

Originally posted by liquidx
The funny thing is, that I never expected to share this experience after all this time with anyone.

Thanks for sharing :surprised ! No, no really :banghead: ! i really mean that :argh: !

[liquidx]

Originally posted by Anti Aliasing

If it doesnt worked for you in the first place you should have returned it within 30 days ! It's THAT simple.

Thanks for sharing :surprised !

^^^ you might want to re-read my previous posts before subjecting me to sarcasm.

:rolleyes:

[Anti Aliasing]

Originally posted by liquidx
^^^ you might want to re-read my previous posts before subjecting me to sarcasm.

:rolleyes:

Naaah! I really dont want to ! You are just repeating yourself over and over again :rolleyes:

[modernhorse]

liquidx -
Thanks for sharing, really. No sarcasm.

A:M has a history - ups and downs. I think now its in an uptime and hopefully for those of us who have invested time and money in the company and program, it will stay up.

But all of the experiences shared here, both good and bad, serve to educate the community outside the little world of A:M (and every other little world of software). This is where the truth is. No press release or marketing from a company can tell the whole truth, that's not its job.

Users tell the truth, the sometimes awful truth. I can say that by and large my A:M experience has been positive. I really like the software, I really like the community.

I don't like the history of version 9 and what it seems to have revealed about the Hash crew. Oh well, that is now in the past.

Stability (or instability) is legendary with A:M. I truly feel it has been mostly dealt with in recent versions, but I have my days where non-repeatable crashes do occur. I can deal with that as I'm an amateur user. Were I relying on it for my bread and butter I don't think I would be so forgiving.

That does not discount the callous way in which previous customers were treated by Hash. There are too many of these stories to be discounted off hand. But again that was the past.

So, here we are today with a stable version and a company that has shown that it is listening. Good times for current and future users. Good luck to us all !!

[Capt Spaulding]

Hehehehe...

I just watched the demo video and found it quite funky....as ya can tell i haven't tried it...

It's good to hear that Max Headroom has re-established his career as narrator for Hash...or maybe he's been smoking it....;)

The Captain:thumbsup:

[ypoissant]

I'm a happy owner of A:M v11. I love it.

I loved v8.5 too and used it a lot. It was a very stable version and I did several projects with it. I could have decided to stay with v8.5 for the rest of my life but then at each new version, there where a bunch of interesting new features that I could use or at least play with even though I may not have a use of each of them. Nevertheless, I upgraded every single year.

99$ for every year upgrade is really not much. I know software companies who charge way more than that for the single privilege of being allowed to call them on the phone and no other guarantee whatsoever. And 99$ if much less than the price of most single plugins. For instance, the new v11 hair system is well worth the 99$ I paid for the upgrade. With Hash, I get continous upgrade for a full year for that price and I'm allowed to call them whenever I want or mail them whenever I want.

But there is a catch to this almost free support. You will not get the support you "expect" if you start your phone call on a bitching tone. Instead, you will have the support you "deserve". So because of that, I guess some users just can't afford Hash support because the required attitude might just be an impossible price to pay.

v10 was very stable. V10.5 was just as stable as the famed v8.5. v11 is the most stable version ever. I had A:M v11 beta opened for days without crashing even while using Photoshop or Corel Draw or other applications.

V9 and v9.5 where part of another story. They where the first version of a deep core and UI change for A:M. But that is now old story. The changes have been hard on the users and on the developers but in the end, it was for the better. Easier workflow, and a way more flexible and powerfull animation tools and paradigms.

I didn't use v9 and v9.5 much but I nevertheless upgraded to it. And it didn't kept me from upgrading to v10 later. Maybe I'm not so close or short of money that 99$ a year would put me in a mad/angry mood for years (In my case, that was 199$ because I own the Net version). I pay way much more than that for magazines alone every year. Stuff which I read and then trow to the garbage.

No wonder it is so much easier to do an animation in A:M than in any other packages around. Hash have had the courage to rethink some of their paradigms and implement it. I am glad they did. This is the insurance, for them and for us, the users, that we will have ever easier animation tools for some time again.

As they say, your mileage may vary. It all depends what type of gaz you are carburating on.

[XYZRGB]

I have been a faithfull user of A:M for over four years, but I am not sure I would recommend it to anyone not prepared for a few problems that the program has.

My main problem with A:M is attaching arms and legs / other extentions when building a model.
I recently tried out a demo of a poly program, and it seems very easy to do with polys - (1) You just pull out the arm/leg, door handle ...whatever (2) and sudivide.

The area is instantly smoothed.

With A:M ,
(1) I have to hide pieces of my model so I can see the 'armpit area.
(2) Add a CP and hook to create a hole for the arm.
(3) Slowly stitch up 5 point patches and attach the splines to a circle which you extrude.
(4) All the while having to rotate the model , and making sure you are not connecting your splines to the wrong CP.
( 5) You must then tell the program that certain patches are 5 point patches - this can be done with a shortcut key, but is still a pain, since you must click on each one that you create.
( 6) Most of the time resulting in 5pt patches which shade wrong, don't accept decals, and almost always require tweaking.

Also, any model that you want to add detail to in the future needs to be well thought out, or you will find yourself creating a literal maze of 5pt patches, hooks and splines

Lots of times when I flip my model, a lot of those 5pt patches need reworking too.

( It is also frustrating when A:M will not 'see' my .avi files. from my digital camera. They are 8 bit ...or is it 16 bit ... whatever .)

I never really had a problem all that much with crashing. The main problem that I ran into in every version I own is that when you do a quick render and decide to cancel, the program doesn't cancel when you tell it to. You end up punching ctrl+alt+delete and shutting the program down yourself.

All I can say of the tech support is that it is very poor.
A couple of the guys are great to talk to ( Steve ( yes Steve) being one of them ) and very polite, while others are just A**holes --- very , very ... VERY rude!
Also,out of say 50 or so times that I called 'tech support', about 48 or so ended in " I dunno ask the Hash mailing list".

Other than these problem areas, I think A:M is a great program.
Good luck Hash!




:thumbsup:

[E-Z]

my friend was telling everyone in school
he has HASH
the teacher over herd him and called the cops
the cops seached him and his locker
come to find out he had http://www.hash.com HASH CD in his Locker.
the kids parent pressed charges for false charges the teacher got 10 years be hind bars for reporting false statement.

Now which part of the story above dont you beleave?

[KenH]

Now which part of the story above dont you beleave?

The 10 years bit. :applause:

[E-Z]

Originally posted by KenH
The 10 years bit.
nope wrong answer
the answer was when i said (My Friend)
i dont have any http://www.cgtalk.com/images/smilies/clap.gif

[Anti Aliasing]

Here's the OFFICIAL press release:

Hash, Inc. Releases Animation:Master Version 11.0

Vancouver, WA (May, 1, 2004) – Hash Inc. announces the release of Animation:Master version 11.0. This major new release of their flagship 3D character animation product includes new features related to work flow, modeling, rendering, and ease of use.

“One of the new features we are most excited about is our new hair tools,� said Ken Baer, Hash Inc.’s Director of Marketing. “We have worked closely with our users to develop tools that allow artists to easily create realistic hair and make it easy to style and comb. It also works with our dynamics and collision detection so that it is easy to get believable secondary motion without having to hand animate it.�

Grooming mode allows users to interactively brush, lengthen, change density, or even manipulate individual hair controls. The new hair features can also be used to create grass, plants, trees, feathers, and scales, just to name a few. Image maps can be used as follicles to create realistic leaves and feathers. All of these features are included with the Animation:Master v11.0 and do not require additional plugins or costly upgrades.

Also, new drag and drop features make model placement in scenes with existing geometry more intuitive. Improvements to Animation:Master’s world-class renderer include soft reflections and reflection blending.

Animation:Master has become the tool of choice for many artists who want to learn animation. The product’s design revolves around the premise that the artist should have powerful, but intuitive tools that are easy to use, and affordable. Hash, Inc. has always focused on character animation, and providing tools for telling stories. This has led to breakthroughs in organic modeling with spline meshes, re-usable and layered motion resulting in the first commercial non-linear animation system, and powerful features designed for an artist rather than a technical director. This combined with a large and very active online community has resulted in a solid and supportive environment for anyone wanting to create animation for fun or profit.

Hash recently added a site called A:M Films for users to showcase their animation and films at http://amfilms.hash.com. The site allows users of Animation:Master to post their work to a fast server free of charge. The films can be viewed by anyone with a browser and QuickTime.

Animation:Master has established itself as a multi-platform standard for creating organic, true 3D patch based objects and characters. Channel-based motions give users the degree of animation control that is required for quality character animation, eliminating the problems associated with polygonal systems. The program sells for $299. Version 11 is available now for Windows XP, and will be available soon as a native Mac OS X application.

Hash, Inc., founded by Martin Hash, has been marketing software tools for 3D-character animation since early 1987. The company continues to design and build affordable software tools for artists and animators for use in independent and commercial production.
http://www.hash.com/bulletins/pr/hair_interface-web.jpg
Girl character courtesy of Fabrice Favé
http://www.hash.com/bulletins/pr/orangutan-web.jpg
Orangutan courtesy Avalanche Software LLC
----------------------
Ken Baer, baer@hash.com

[Flog]

I wonder how the rendering time is on the hair and AM all together.

[gameboy]

liquidx:

Have you tried asking Hash Inc. if they would allow you to get a refund for the $99 upgrade to version 11 if you weren't satisfied? Perhaps it's worth a try to ask them this. Considering all the power Animation Master has, paying a total of $399 for version 11 isn't all that bad compared to what most other 3D apps in its class cost. :)

[Anti Aliasing]

Originally posted by gameboy
liquidx:

Have you tried asking Hash Inc. if they would allow you to get a refund for the $99 upgrade to version 11 if you weren't satisfied? Perhaps it's worth a try to ask them this. Considering all the power Animation Master has, paying a total of $399 for version 11 isn't all that bad compared to what most other 3D apps in its class cost. :)

Hey, thats a good idea :applause: but i dont think that liquidx is really interessed in A:M

[zorque]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Anti Aliasing
In reply to Liquidx, etc.
liquidx:
Have you tried asking Hash Inc. if they would allow you to get a refund for the $99 upgrade to version 11 if you weren't satisfied? Perhaps it's worth a try to ask them this. Considering all the power Animation Master has, paying a total of $399 for version 11 isn't all that bad compared to what most other 3D apps in its class cost.


>>>Once again, LiquidX has failed to do his research, as the software has a 30 day money back guarantee posted all over its website. You don't like it, send it back for a full refund. You DO like it, you have a package that has $1500 capabilities with a $500 hair plugin (built right in) for $300 ($99 if you're upgrading).
...Bu you guys are right, liquid's apparently made up his mind to be negative on this. I for one am glad I have A:M a second chance (didn't like v9)... I now have a package that I like much better than LW, MAYA, or 3DS.
-Me

[gfree69]

If any disgruntled former users want to sell their software let me know? I can still upgrade that way cant I?

[KenH]

I can still upgrade that way cant I?

I don't see why not. You might make sure by contacting Hash first. They also have a record of who owns their software so that would need to be updated too.
I don't think you'll be disappointed! :thumbsup:

[Flog]

I am gonna try to upgrade, but so scared about lockups and such.

This program would be the best aside from crashes.

They always blame it on the video card. So are you folks that confident in its stability?

I wanna know before I get screwed out of 99 bucks.

[KenH]

I don't work for Hash(surprisingly! ;) ) so all I can tell you are my experiences. On my setup which is using a fairly old Geforce2 card, I've had very few lockups or crashes during beta. Any I have had, I've reported the details to Hash and without fail, in the next release (1-2 weeks) the problem has been delt with. Oh and I keep my video drivers bang up to date. ;)
I realize some people don't like to beta test, but I can say it's been through a long rigerous beta stage and it all looks to be solid right now. You can only beta for so long or you would never release the thing! I personally don't mind it as I can get to play with the goodies sooner! :D

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