what the heck is going on with HASH
steve pretty much banned all the gurus that they had left, leaving just mostly the newbies who dont know any better, and the few remaining gurus are less likely to help if it in anyway suggest that AM is unstable. So for any new potential customer that want the support group when they buy this software, you might want to forget it about it! (sorry!, dont have the italian accent down)
I feel bad for the newbies who are plodding along with the modeling portion, then hit that wall when it comes to rigging and rendering out the animation. I find that the older version of AM, when you save often it would refresh your memory, with Version 10 I have to shutdown and restart to get my memory back, and now I use a memory manager to do that for me. I have 512 meg of ram, should be enough? you think!
Well now you shouldn’t be worried about Hash any more they will make there own faith. Really sad but ah well.
not worried about it all, just that someone ask whats going on over there and pretty much the company just cut their own throat, getting rid of the support and unsolicted taking of the mascot logo for their software CD cover while banning the owner of that mascot from the list, need I say more? Anyway Im glad I made the jump to Lightwave!
I stopped using A:M in 99, why? well i was tired of seeing people getting removed from the list for asking simple questions on how to make a Bump Map in Photoshop to aplly them on A:M, the answer from Steve always was:
“This is off topic you are removed from the list”
:annoyed: …
Needless to say that if you spoke about Crashes, it was the last time you spoke on that list, unless you signed up with a new name and started talking about crashes again 
Childish? Unprofessional? you bet, got fed up with it, i didn´t care if the prog was (at the time) $199, it would crash as hell, the fault was always our machines, the same one that would run everything else flawless 90 % of the time, except for A:M that would run flawless 5-10 % of the time, so it was my machine and my Windows installation…yeah right.
I started saving, and a year after i was a proud owner of Lightwave (with a litle help from my Bank, even thou the dam taxes that i payed for the Bank lending me money were bigger than A:M itself), after that i was able to make some freelance stuff, payed LW in less than 6 months of having it, and had still money to invest in a copy of Messiah (plugin at the time) for LW.
A:M was a dam fine application years ago when LW´s Maya´s Max´s and Softimage´s where almost out of reach to freelance people, today, i think is simply not worth it, Spline Modelling isn´t exciting anymore, it gives more trouble than anything, besides all the folks that produced great work with A:M are already using LW/Messiah and other tools.
A:M is nice for doodling in Animation, if you expect to find a working place with only the knowlege of it or using it exclusively, sure you can, but i assure you that is a “dream land”. In a heavy production environment, you cannot expect the software to crash 20 times a day, it´s impossible to do work that way.
I´m working right now on an Animated Series for TV, it´s 36 episodes of 1 minute each, we have to make 1 episode a day, we cannot expect crashes, need a faster and Clean render and in that area LW simply RULES
:buttrock: :buttrock: :buttrock:
Sil3
Wow, it must’ve been a real barn burner on the list for this to happen. That’s really too bad. At this rate, there won’t be anyone left.
2000 was a good year for Hash.
They had excellent support, a strong userbase, and the mailing list was brimming with professionals willing to take a 300 dollar peice of software into the big arenas to compete with the likes of Maya, Max, Lightwave, and Softimage.
I mean, we were core, man. We knew the software backwards and forwards. We could take a problem and find some way to solve it. It felt like we were unstoppable. We started new communities, User groups, IRC discussions - anything to get new purchasers up to speed.
We flew down to Siggraph, and demonstrated the strengths of the software for free for many years, we had that much faith in it.
We challenged the Big companies with Martin Hash’s Hash patch technology. We had an answer for practically anything. We ate, drank, talked, and slept with Animation:Master.
And then our efforts started to be taken for granted.
And our artwork was used without permission.
And the Problems plaguing the software surfaced like a boil in each new revision.
And they weren’t fixed.
And then we couldn’t fly anymore.
And nobody at Hash cared.
That was the point at which the disenchantment fell in.
We poured our heart and soul into Animation:Master. We used the software in ways Hash never even thought it could go.
we sent them posters, animations, movie trailers, models, tutorials, and standalone programs to help in their defense against the ‘Animation Giants’ during trade shows.
What we got after all was done was “Is that all?”
Nothing robs you of your creativity, or faith in a company, than to find that nobody cared much in the first place.
…and this is where the software began souring.
Hash, in the past, has built it’s software based on User input, and no doubt, other software’s feature implementations, such as Maya’s cloth. That’s why it was great. A company that listens. After 2000, they seemed to focus more on Version numbers instead of their feature implementations, and more importantly, They focused less on Their users, both professional and hobbyist. Us. The A:M community.
We made you. You cannot ignore us. We sell your software. our posters. our E-mails, Our Reels. Our endless hours of research and reinstalls, and constant creative excuses to smooth over crashing software at demonstrations.
The Animation Master Community is supporting you, not the other way around. Feature requests made by the community should not be brushed off because it’s not sexy enough, or wont sell the software. We asked for them because we needed them. Over the last 2 and 1/2 years, what we’ve been getting is shrugged off, kicked, disconnected, ostracised, and generally insulted for our efforts. This not only shows in the attitudes from the employees of Hash, but it shows in the software.
Many of us have decided that our creativity and learning potential is not related to Hash’s software, and we are applying ourselves to other programs, which, though a tad more daunting, gives us the ability, and more importantly, that spark of enchantment we yearn for in this industry; That creative drive that keeps us up late, asking ourselves “How High can I reach?”
There is nothing We can’t do. And while A:M was a pleasant ride in the beginning, Sublime circumstances have allowed for it’s use no longer.
Bitter relationships between one’s software and those who make it are no place for creative minds.
hear ye, hear ye!
I was one of the people who started this ‘riot’ on the mailing list.
I agree with every word of what Joe said here, although back in 2000 I was one of the newbies inspired by the pro’s using it. Now I’ve learned a little bit (check my website, http://www.commiekeebler.com), just enough to be dangerous (to myself and others!) and to know what’s what.
Final verdict: this company is in the pits and so is their software. I keep hoping they snap out of it, but in the mean time I’m switching gears as well.
Mine’s a similar story. I had just paid for the latest upgrade (A.M 99 I think) and received a CD-ROM broken into about 25 pieces. It was mailed in an unprotected cardboard mailer with no padding. I called up Hash to get another copy sent and was informed that (and I quote) “If I want it sent properly, I’d have to send them more money to pay for shipping”.
After that conversation I bought a copy of Lightwave and threw that disk in the trash.
I would have made sure to get another copy
The software is good, and easy to use. It is for the storyteller.
But man does it crash.
I wish I could find another modeller that is as easy to use as Animation Master. I would definately switch and go out and buy it.
Any ideas on easier or as easy modellers?
Zbrush 1.5 has the easiest modeller to date anything as easy as that?
Joe I can sympathize with ya, you remember when I was on the list and then left for Max? Almost got banned for saying I’ll be trying out max.
Steve went over board waaaay too many times with his iron fist. It was just appauling. Needless to say I’m glad now that I left, not because of the app mind you (some of the best animation tools out there) but the AM list was turning into a massive dive. The days when we had Victor Navone and Jeff Lew frequenting the list were golden.
Hash has finally done it :hmm:
salud
I got banned as well, for agreeing with Gilles. I cannot believe they would go so far as to ban Gilles, though… He is one of the top Animation Master gurus out there! Frankly, I am sick of this fascist company, and I’ve decided to move on to another app (probably Lightwave). I really don’t think they’ve slit their own throats, though (as much as I would love for that to happen)… After all, existing A:M users don’t really factor into their marketing strategy. All they care about is cramming a large list of features into a brochure that will lure in unsuspecting newbies (such as myself, 1 year ago). For every bug they fix, two more are introduced, but this doesn’t matter since they don’t have a demo. They are going to continue to thrive by taking advantage of the poor folks trying to get a start in 3d. This thread should be put on the front page as a warning to these people.
I to am one of the people that got the boot from the AM mailing list for asking them to add more support to AM.
I have used AM since version 5 and have
seen hash go from talking and listening to the user group to booting the people that have used AM for years and have done the most to help Hash and AM. Now they are telling users that if they dont like it to go use something else.
I just dont understand that they cant see what the hell they are doing. I for one liked AM for the animation tools and some of the real power it has. Now if Hash folds and we never hear from them again I could care less they get what they asked for.
dfaris: Long live ZBrush! 
Now there’s a contrast in company attitude: Pixologic vs. Hash. Pixologic is a nice example of how a smallish 3d software company should be run (aside from their licensing system; but, that’ll get fixed I’m sure). I’ve been thinking of getting Motionbuilder (full version, $100 from www.3dbuzz.com) to animate my ZBrush characters (if I ever get around to making one;)). I don’t know how practical this would be, though.
Hook whats up?
Motionbuilder I dont know much about it but if it work for you then go for it. You know I went with Messiah Studio and have not looked back at AM since. The folks at hash can kiss my rebel butt. I’ll see you on the ZB boards now there is a company that cares about the people that use its software and I love the way it models.
it’s interesting because i have never really heard of anyone who has left AM and regretted it… Generally, when people leave, they will post somewhere that they have never looked back. With good reason.
Hash is only good for beginners. And even then i wouldn’t recommend it. The mailing list has turned into a concentration camp/religious sect, support from Hash is dead, Martin’s head has inflated to 3 times its normal size… just read this guy’s “Martin’s Minutes”… every other software company is about to crumble AND they all suck too…
Every time i decided i wanted to start a new project with AM, i quickly remembered the pain of constant crashing, got frustrated, and gave it up. One day, like anyone who has ever used AM but was tired of being held back, i grew out of it and left it behind me for good.
The way Hash is going, i think it will dissapear in a few years. Mostly because now people can learn Maya and MAX for free (not to mention all the other good stuff out there: Houdini, wings3d, blender, etc etc) thereby making themselves more qualified for actual industry work. Meantime, AM has been bumped up to having a $300 price tag and its flaws have increased exponentially. Looks to me like Hash is trying to get out as much as they can before closing their doors.
Raji
ps: my avatar is an old old AM render. lol.