Questions About A:M

#1

I’m seriously considering purchasing Animtion:Master. I really wan’t a character animation program that is intuitive throughout the whole process of modelling, rigging and animating. I have had experience with other programs such as Lightwave and Cinema 4D but they seem really awkward, especially when it comes to rigging and animating. I have had some exposure to Animation: Master in the past, through co-workers, but the program crashed so much I could never really get very far. There was also ugly bumps or creases. It seemed near impossible to get a nice smooth model. However, recently I stumbled upon this forum and it piqued my interest in the program again. After looking at some artwork, like JoeW’s Huntress and the Tak game stuff, things look really nice. So have the creasing issues been fixed as well as the extreme crashing? I also use a mac so are the Hash guys committed to the mac platform or is it an after thought, where the poor mac people have to wait months to get the same features that the pc people get?

I’m really hoping to find something that will allow me to do great character animation without having an annurism because of the overly complex approach. Any thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

David

#2

Modeling in A:M is very different than any other program. It takes a while to learn the ins and outs. Once you do, it’s not too hard to avoid creases. Also, applying the porcelain material will take care of many problems. That being said, I think mechanical modeling is much easier in a poly based ap like Lightwave. Modeling in A:M is like using a detail out modeling method in a poly based program. If you like box-modeling, working with volume before detail, then A:M is a little tricky to use.

Hash has been working very hard on their OS X port of A:M and as of version 11.1 the PC and Mac are on the same footing once again. The Mac was one version behind previous to this. I haven’t tried the Mac version, so I’m not sure if all the features, like the new hair, are feature complete in 11.1. Hopefully they are.

Roger

#3

the spline modelling in Animation master was utterly a chore for me.

but the animation style (rigging and actual animation) made it worth it.

animation master is the program that got me into the 3d industry, so if you have a tickle to purchase it, go for it. the reason for this is if you intend to animate as a hobbiest then this is the best way to go. i mean what hobbiest honestly buys maya? or max? or lightwave. i mean there so expensive.

am is really cheap (and i got discount cause of my student status.) once you get used to the modelling, youll learn to love it very fast.

I just wish maya put in the animation ease and workflow this program has.

#4

As any other 3D app, A:M has weak and strong point. Yes it is extremely cheap, a fantastic value for all the features you get. Also, it is build as a one man studio app, in a way that no other 3D app can match as far as I know. Stability have improve tremendously with the latest versions (in fact, I don’t crash it anymore on my PC). And for character animation, you got one of the best tool and rig out there.

Because you model with spline, crease happen. As already mentioned, you’ll need to learn different modeling trick to avoid them. It takes time, but it is possible. Some people like it, some don’t. Once you get over it, you can model anything you like.

Working with A:M means, in many ways, that you get isolated from the rest of the 3D planet. You can forget about poly models, which are unusable, except if you import them as simple prop, and even so. Forget also about cool third party renderer (at least for now, check A:M to Lightwave Pipeline thread). You stuck with A:M render engine, which have improve, but still a bit slow and has issues for some particular situation.

Mac version of A:M get synchronise again with PC version, but some third party plug-in and stuff are still unavailable, like Darktree.

It all come down to what you need the most, and how much money you can spend on it. You don’t have too many solution out there that do great character animation for Mac anyway. There is the Personnal Learning Edition of Maya, which I think is free for non-commercial work so you might want to check it out. But at the end, I think no other app can beat A:M for easy of use, features and price.

#5

Creasing has been solved on two counts:

  1. Splines work slightly differently now. You can still use the old kind but with the new type there isn’t the ‘ribbing’ that there used to be.

  2. Porcillain has been improved so that it does a better job of keeping detail intact.

You can still get creases if you don’t use even splining but I think this is a good thing - once you get the hang of it you can make nice fleshy creases where you want them keeping the rest smooth.

The program rarely crashes these days and Hash are putting a fair bit of effort into ironing out problems. It should suit your perposes just fine.

#6

It was the ribbing that I struggled with before. It’s good to hear that they have improved that aspect of the software. The inability to create smooth models was a big factor in telling my colleague (who allowed me to test drive A:M) thank you but no thank you. I see now that maybe I should have been more patient and they would iron out some of the issues.

#7

There are certain rules to remember when splines intersect each other. Until I learned them, my models had creases all over the place. Keep in mind that splines have direction and “know” where they’ve come from and are going to. They’re not just lines as in poly progs.

#8

It just uccured to me to say that there is a 30 day money back garentee so you could try before you buy.

#9

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