Current state of AM

#1

OK, I haven’t used AM since V9.5. From there I went on to LW/messiah and used Sasquatch for hair.

My goal is to tell stories with semi-realistic characters; some of which have fur and cloth (cloaks, capes, etc.) Basically they’d look like this:

I’ve been reading up on the changes that have been made to AM and the features that it now has. For those of you who have actually USED these new features like Hair and SimCloth, will these features actually WORK in a production environment? I want software that isn’t going to fight me every step of the way and that makes it easier to tell my stories. All of the advertising from Hash seems pointed toward this idea. But what’s the reality? Is it REALLY easier to tell your stories with AM than with something like LW/messiah/Sasquatch?

Convince me. I loved AM back in the day, I’m just hoping that things with the program are different now.

#2

We HAVE simcloth?

I knew I shouldn’t have skipped the lectures… :slight_smile:

Can’t say I use these features much. Hair I’ve only used to generate quick grass, and as for cloth I haven’t used it for a while - there was a nasty bug last year that scared me off it. I think it’s fixed but I’m sort of leery of it.

The dynamic constraint is all right, I guess. Use it occasionally for a quick secondary motion animation…

Can’t say if it’s better because I haven’t used any other software much, but I’m getting interesting results using poses to create multiple characters out of one model, probably a useful technique for a “one man shop”

Still doesn’t have autosave - how hard would it be to implement?

#3

Boy is it different. Especially compared to v9.5. I couldn’t use that version at all. Hash has become more “user friendly” and encourages you to send them reports of any problems with the software. If you have any that is. I can honestly say it’s now as stable as any other software I have ie very.

Feature wise, hair is beautifully implemented. I don’t have v12 yet, but I’ve heard good things about cloth. It can be resource hungry, but such is the nature of cg cloth.

Hash is actually preparing to make a movie soon using AM. So, this will proof that AM is up to the task of telling elaborate storys.

#4

Note that I have never used anything other than A:M (I’ve used A:M since v8)

A:M has changed significantly since v9.5 - particularly in relation to stability. The modelling and animation paradigms haven’t changed significantly so the latest version should be easy to pick up.

Hair is great - there are a huge number of things that can be done with it - and not just hair on your head… And it’s all animatable.

Cloth is a different story. The old cloth (version you have access to) does not work in the latest version but it has been replaced by SIMCLOTH in v12 Beta. Now simcloth takes a bit of setting up, takes a little while to simulate but once you get the hang of it, it works well with no breakthroughs (and will work easily with your example - if you have the time to simulate) - only trouble is - it’s settings are not keyframeable and you can’t adjust the cloth post simulation AND it appears Hash has no solution to these later items so they may choose to head down another path…

Is cloth ready for a production environment - I’d have to say no (though I have NO experience in a production environment).

Dynamic constraints - well they are great for those to lazy to do secondary animation or lack the time to animate everything (including simple cloth, belly jiggle and the like).

One final point to consider is that Hash appears to be changing the way they work. They are getting back into the movie making business and will be making enhancements to their software to solve real production issues and to assist newcommers to learn the software and process in a movie making environment…

Hope this information helps.

Cheers

#5

I can’t comment on the new cloth, but have some experience with A:M hair.

In a word, impressive! Yet it does have some notable limitations. Out of the box, Sasquatch makes it easier to produce realistic hair and especially fur. A:M’s hair collision detection doesn’t really work yet, but I have had some success at associating dynamic constraints via poses to long hair. Short fur has some odd dark shading anomalies, so it’s best to keep it long, thick and dense, but it does render quite fast. I often find that 16 render passes will still not get rid of the shimmers completely, so I guess anti-aliasing could be improved, although I understand that texture crawl in general has been fixed in v12.

People have done some wonderful renders with A:M hair, like impressionistic paintings that move or look at Cosmonauts ‘Wookie’ in this forum’s gallery.

Take it from me, there is a world of difference between v9.5 and v11.1… yeah, it’s production ready. :slight_smile:

Nice picture btw, is it yours?

#6

If it’s true hash is back to doing in house production it’s a good thing, as many of the small annoyances and interface glitches* I keep coming accross are obviously a case of the software not being used by the development team or at least someone in house from start to finish

  • Things like cps not providing a convenient pivot point, cut and paste operations doing unintended operations like cutting/copying muscle data when you want bone only, chor frame range resetting when you set a camera keyframe, cameras not saving render data like frame range or filename, the software interface customizations being reset by every update, the timeline play button greying out or sticking on play after finishing a render… little things like that.
#7

Bugle: I’ve found alot of those have been fixed in the version I’m using…v11.1g. Also, some of the things you mention are possible but it’s just a matter of knowing how eg pasting a model with bones and then deleting the muscle data to leave the bones only.

#8

These things are easier to explain by pointing at a screen and saying “look, it does this, it shouldn’t do that”. Hopefully whoever is in charge of the hash film production team will do a lot of pointing :slight_smile:

#9

From your original message (via email):

clicked on a CP in chor and it pivoted around it but in modelling and action windows it defaults to the model pivot…

For me, this works fine. Click on a cp in a modeling window and the view pivots round that cp/cps. So, I’m not sure what’s going on there.

#10

Hi :slight_smile:
It’s probably one of those annoying questions but I’ve been out of the 3D world for a bit.
On the latest Hash Animation Master CD which version it is … 11.1 or 12 …?
Thanks.

#11

11.1…v12 is still beta but may be released soon. Also, some users are creating a new bonus CD of goodies…models, projects, etc.

Kevin

#12

Thanks Kevin :thumbsup:

#13

So Higginsdj are you calling Joe Williamson lazy for using dynamic constraints on his Huntress model?..

#14

No - probably too busy per the other half of my statement… Yes in many cases dynamic constraints are great - but they only go so far. Move the model quicky in one direction and see just how wierd the dynamic constraint can make your model react… (or at least thats my experience with them.) :slight_smile:

Cheers

#15

There are several ways that you can make dynamic constraints work better. There is an angle limit and all kinds of controlls. Also, you can have the dynamic bone control poses or smartkins or whatever so you can model the flesh how you would like it in different positions and just leave the DC to determine when and in what diriction the wobble happens.

#16

Yeah, it’s inconsistent. When I wrote that I was getting the wrong pivot all the time, today I also got it but after closing and reopening a window it started behaving properly again. It might be related to having multiple instances of the model open

#17

Send it on in to AM Reports and get it fixed for you and everyone.

#18

Has anyone compared the render speed of AM vs something like Cinema 4d?

Also,is it stable on XP?

Looking for a less expensive animation alternative, but i fear getting AM and then runnng into stability issues.

#19

Don’t know about render comparison (the new one will have render layers) but it’s stable.

#20

I think the odd pivot point thing might be caused by having the model in an open choriography window. I’m sure it will get fixed as soon as someone works out what is going on and sends in a report.