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We concluded today's Live Answer Time with "I Like Mountain Music", a Harman-Ising effort for Warner Bros. This is ostensibly the very first pictures-come-to-life cartoon, a premise to be revisited several times over the years. Several celebrity caricatures are seen, Will Rogers, Edward G. Robinson and others that time has forgotten.

I'm pretty sure I ran into a bug/crash while creating this runthrough. Exporting a model from an Action via the Right Click > Export Model is failing. Steps to reproduce: - Create a simple model (doesn't need bones) - Open that model in a new Action - Right Click in the Action Window > Export Model Don't have anything important open at this time that hasn't been saved as this should lead to a crash. For the curious, how I like to use this export of a model via Actions is to set the default pose of a character or object as a dedicated model. That model then will always return to that state if I remove all other influences so I can easily return to that pose. In this case it was a pose of Shaggy sitting on the giant's throne. Pose him in that key position and then start actually animating the performance directly in the Chor. I'm going to reinstall A:M to make sure it's not just random cobwebs in the system.

@Madfox I downloaded the tb08.zip tea00.prj It is looking for Penelop Room99.cho. Only Penelop Room10, Penelop Room21Cl and Penelop Room25 were included in the zip file. LinkedChor=../../Tb06/interiour/Penelop Room99.cho -- it was appearently from Tb06 (at least that folder on your drive). using one of them instead of the ...99.cho might not be useful for detecting problems, as it could be in the cho file. then there are linked models in 2 locations in zip with different file sizes LinkedModel=../mdl/Power Outlet.mdl LinkedModel=../mdl/Radiator.mdl not in zip LinkedModel=../mdl/Rolling Blind.mdl tb06_05.prj missing Embleem.tif (2x) irsign0.psd (2x) sub03.tga starskey.avi (4x) BlenderGuru_TreeLine_Alpha_con.png (2x) Rumex_Crispus_Rumex_Leaf_1_Color.png (2x) Rumex_Crispus_Rumex_Leaf_2_Color.png (2x) Rumex_Crispus_Rumex_Leaf_3_Color.png (2x) Rumex_Crispus_Rumex_Leaf_4_Color.png (2x) Quercus_Rubra__Old__Quercus_Rubra_Leaf_3_Leaf_Quercus_Rubra_A_6_TR_Color.png (2x) d57fc5402507ffbbaa33b8c3fca8b7de.png (2x) tb06_34.mdl spar0.mdl Forest_Stubborn.prj missing same as tb06_05.prj + chalk_cliffs.jpg chalk_cliffs.jpg tag-tracy-island.jpg (2x) brainz17.mdl (3x) jamez17.mdl How did you create the zip of the projects? the linked action, cho, decal, material and mdl were mapped to a different folder structure than what you provided in the zip. I could step through it and find a lot of the files, but not all, so some of the Cho's are incomplete. F.Y.I. Converted poly model with excessive CP's/patches/internal patches shiva - patches 2862 - CPs 3670 I was going to render the ending part, PenelopRoom25.Cho after she sits down from serving tea, since that is when the Window drapes/curtains (and maybe the wall) pop a couple of times. I looked at the shaded/wireframe video you put up. There is no Popping of the window treatment (curtains/drapes). Only Penelope and Brainz show up, Parker isn't in the Cho I reconstructed. I will try and recreate your render settings, but it is better when they are set in/on the Camera in the Chor or save out a preset to send along so that the settings "ARE" the same when trying to check from another machine. I going to set it to render when I go to bed, but it appears that I have a failure to get any project to render an image sequence at present! A:M just Hangs and I end up Killing it with Task manager. @robcat2075 if I don't figure the hangup before LAT, I'll be looking for suggestions. Gonna try a reload of A:M in the morning, as I've tried and old project, a new blank project with just the default cam/lights/ground, changed from use these to use camera render setting, set different output file types. A question to clarify you workflow/pipeline: you use netrender to render out the image sequence, to jpeg or what file type? Is "ImageToAvi" an application/software you run on your machine or a web-based portal that you upload to? the result is and AVI file encoded with CINEPAK? just a note "Cinepak is a lossy compression codec that uses vector quantization to significantly reduce video file sizes". Could be the cause of the banding and shaky results, but not the popping I would think. Then you use Videopad (SW running locally on your machine) to join the Multiple Choreography AVI's and output one MP4 video file. I would look through the normal rendered image sequence files around the times the defects are most noticeable to verify if it is being generated from A:M. "ImageToAvi" could easily cause what looks like jitter or shaking since A:M output will be rather sharp (edges) and compression may shift those edges in opposite directions from frame to frame. As for VideoPad, unless you're having it recode the video files, I would not expect it to degrade the output if it's just editing them together and putting it in an MP$ wrapper. The underlying video quality should stay the same. Do the ImageToAVI files look fine when viewed before further processing?

Bring your A:M questions to Live Answer Time at Noon CDT, Saturday May 30, 2026! If no other issues present themselves we may look at resplining MadFox's Penelope model Ukrainian-American sculptor Alexander Porfyrovych Archipenko was born on this day in 1887. The Kiss (1910) The Hero (c. 1912)

This was an exercise in building a tunnel and large chamber/throneroom (presumably of a giant). ShaggyintheThroneRoom.mp4 I ended up fighting lights more than doing anything else.

A quick look at the wireframe... I see two main problems. first... too many splines. i think this could be thinned out by half for a smoother appearance. second... dead end splines (circled in yellow) are creating creases. Every spline intersection should be just two splines crossing each other. the dead end splines should be re-routed. If you want, this is something we could look at at Live Answer Time.

Thanks for your attention, Ganthofer. I netrendered the choreography's on 1940x1080 4 passes soft. So they're all the same color and state. The most time went out to the setup for new rigging the models in the choreography. For some reasons the models won't keep their constraints preservered. When I have the rendered images, I use "ImageToAvi" to compile an avi file with "CinePak from Radius"codek. Then I have "Videopad from NCH" to add the files and write them out to MP4. I added an addition on my website with the Shaded and wireframe version. If you're really interested I made a download link for the projectfile Forest_Stubborn, with all decals, models and materials. That would clarify the errors more specificly. Also Robcat2075, thanks for your reply! There's a download link also for my penny_sculp5 attempts to obtain a character model. What my gratest trouble was to give the models a preserved feet target constraint. They all have them in action file, but as soon as I import them in choreography they were lame. I had to rebuiled the walk movements again in the choreography, which was quiet confusing. Still wondering why I can't get that User action feet Targets not preserved. https://mad-red.com/animationmaster/

If you could show a wireframe of Penelope's face we might be able to diagnose the wrinkles.

I think Jason is the one who can fix that.

I haven't been able to get into A:M Reports for a long time as well.

Thanks Robert, I'm definitely looking forward to the next release. I haven't been able to get into A:M Reports for some time and it refuses to reset my password. I think I'm locked out.

Check that when v19.5g comes out. It sounds l similar to this bug... https://reports.animationmaster.com/view.php?id=7334

Thought I'd put together a desktop that focuses on The Art of Animation:Master and ran into a new aspect of the patch image bug. The animated TaoA:M pages on the screen should stop at Exercise 1 but... AnimationFirst_Desktop.mp4 Apparently because I have Save Upon Render on in Options the project is saved which reverts the patch image keys out of the project just prior to rendering. A short term workaround is to turn off the Save Upon Rendering option to allow the keys to persists long enough to render. When the project file is saved you'll still lose the patch image data but you'll at least have your render. AnimationFirst_Desktop_freezeframe.mp4

Some general documentation and encouragement regarding spline patch modeling: Animation-First_Philosophy.pdf

Here's a simplified version of this treegen project. Funny error in the project file: The leaves of the trees are assigned to the bush groups so moving the bushes moves the leaves. Because all the trees and bushes were generated in one go the lightest leaves are all on the rightmost trees and bushes I do like the lighter patch density of this approach. Not a full success but not an abject failure either. I did a little more with this but I'll spare you for now. SimpleTreesandBushes.prj

F For now, it's just going to be a console program and i wanted something fun to see when people run it. If it ever gets to be a real A:M plugin then i could do real bitmap graphics.

There are better ways to do this, including our very own Treeez plugin but I had to give tree/plant generation a try. And I learned some things in the process which is always a plus. I do not recommend using anything more than a simple patch for most leaves but in this case I wanted to see how a more realistic leaf would work. A:M handled the number of patches quite well but it was overkill on so many levels. If we have a shot that needs some 'hero leaves' then sure, we should model those appropriately. Otherwise, keep it simple. The branches were interesting and I devised a plan to ensure the base of branches always had an origin in it's parent branch. That lead to some false starts as root CPs all moved to the same CP on the parent branch... and later, to different CPs on that same spline ring... All this did was ensure the base of branches tapered unrealistically. Attempting to leverage the number of leaves that was being generated I suggested all leaves should point in different directions and be further spaced apart. This yielded a nice exploding bush. On the left are the two shapes I fed GPT. Interestingly, GPT suggested the shapes be placed with a pivot base and I agreed. It then created a version of my shapes that had their base on the 0 axis. Nicel done GPT. The leaves having a lighter side is intentional as I instructed GPT to have lighter greens toward where light might come from and darker greens to to opposite. Those colors being assigned to the actual geometry via the patches. Disclaimer: Leafy trees embedded in Project files are pretty dense. proxy_tree.prj

Just out of curiosity, what is the reason for creating an ASCII animated splash screen that can be displayed on minimal hardware in a CMD box/window? Just the retro look? Are you compiling the WAVECAT for other than a Windows PC? You could complicate the C++ coding and use Windows MFC for a GUI input and then you would also have color/pixel access for an animated (and possibly colorful) splash screen.😁

Yes, my usual screencam software makes for a choppier effect and exaggerates the moments the screen is blank. Yes, I think that is a limitation of the process, which wasn't meant for animation. There are options to use characters that are not readable text characters but I don't think they improve the effect Image to ASCII Converter Perhaps an improvement would be to write software that could digest the whole image sequence and ouput the ASCII images such that no single pixel repeated the same character from one frame to the next. That might make enough jitter to keep your eyes from reading individual characters.

Looking good. Lady Penelope looks better in the last video clip on you web site compared to the image here in the forum. That is most likely due to the Lighting in the Choreography. I due notice color banding on the Hood of the car when it's stopped (the pink) and a couple of places on Brains (the guy with the glasses) face color in the room. Are some of the image files at a lower color bit depth maybe? I also notice the widow treatment (drapes/curtains) popping. Are they statically modeled or simCloth? Would have to look at the individual frame renders or scroll through the Scene in wire frame to see if there is actual movement. What file format are you rendering to and what is the rest of your pipeline to get the video file.

It is much better. Did you video this with a camera? The whole screen seems to be moving a little bit 😁 My observation is that when the letters that make up the LETTERS are readable (distinguishable), the rippling wave effect gets lost (at least by my brain). If I decrease the viewing window (like the size it is embedded in the forum) or change the player resolution to low (360 good, 144 even better), then the wave effect registers better for me. Now, I do have a relatively hires large monitor, so that may just be me.

I kind of stalled out on creating a cockpit with all the bells and whistles/buttons but decided to put Thom to work pushing the warning button. Still very much a work in progress. The HUD demonstrates the bug with patch images flipping back to their original orientation after saving. thomflies.mp4 cockpittestA.prj

I'm still plugging away, mostly with backgrounds sets. This latest was more of a reflection exercise as I usually avoid blurs and reflections. I was fighting this shot for quite awhile trying to get just the right camera angle... just the right reflections... etc. etc. The moon is one of my (pat. pending) 5 point patch circles. (and it'd be good to keep the moon in place for parallax purposes) I made no attempt to update the proxy trees. Project file should have everything embedded. LakeFrontPark.mp4 LakeFrontPark.prj

That is 51 frames of ASCII images

I'm on the third part of the animation. I made sequence of a Thunderbird on Forrest Stubborn. One of a teaparty, walking scene of Parker & Brains. At last I tried a scene with Lady Penelope. I.m not such a great character modeller. My attempts ended in a granny like figure I'm a bit ashamed for. Fortunately it declines the time period I'm in. I have the idea the camera is a bit trembling, or the image files are rendered in a misligned way. https://mad-red.com/animationmaster/