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[BladeMan.EXE]

New here, BTW. 



For Anim8or...


1. When I'm making a 3d model of a face, and I try to make morph targets for different facial expressions, I always get a few squares around the mouth that look like they're in a completely different lighting or like they're made of a different material. The only way I can find to fix it is to just move surrounding points around until it looks normal. Wat do?

2. How do I import objects/figures without losing their morph targets?

3. If I were making a movie with this software, would it be better to save it as one project titled Mega Man Battle Network, or separate it into different files? Lan Hikari, MegaMan.EXE, Scilab, etc. It seems like a project file for the whole movie would take way too long to load.



As for my account... Why do I have a one letter limit for my signature?

[Steve]

I set the one letter limit to stop spammers from putting their web sites etc.  there.  It was a big problem a while back. Maybe I can remove the limit now that I have a fairly decent spammer blocking service enabled .

[johnar]

 Hello BladeMan.EXE,

2. How do I import objects/figures without losing their morph targets?

 Imported objects should keep their morph targets.?
 I've just tried a couple of tests and they still work here. If you import an object that has existing morph targets, and are loosing the morphs on import, then somethings up.
   In new an8 file, object mode, go Object -> import...then locate and select a file with an object which has working morph targets -> ok.
 Are the morph targets still there in the new file?

3)If I were making a movie with this software, would it be better to save it as one project titled Mega Man Battle Network, or separate it into different files? Lan Hikari, MegaMan.EXE, Scilab, etc. It seems like a project file for the whole movie would take way too long to load.

 I'm making a movie at the moment, and have always tried to improve on saving files without getting lost, confused etc....
 The way i'm doing it now seems to work well.
 note:. if you are making a movie with anim8or, you need to use a video editing software for adding sound, other effects etc....
 Anim8or renders out the .avi's which you then join together in the vid editing software.
 The movie i'm working with now is going to be 10-15 minutes long, and theres no way it'll all be one anim8or file.
 Basically, my setup looks like this.
 Main folder -> Deeper. (name of movie).
 Inside the main folder are other folders. 1) Inside Bell. (everything indoors goes in there). 2) Outside Bell. 3) Audio files....and theres a few others.
 now, inside the folder, eg: Inside bell, theres some other folders, relating to stuff 'Inside', and theres also several Anim8or files, used for scenes Inside the Bell.
 I like to use frame numbers as an8 file titles. So its like...Deeper -> InsideBell->0 1200IB.an8.
 and 1201 1320IB.an8, and 1321 1460IB.an8 etc...
 I also name the video output the same as the an8 file. So the avi rendered from 0 1200IB.an8 is named 0 1200IB.avi (IB meaning Inside Bell).
 So, the shorter answer to your question would be, use multiple an8 files, depending on length, size of your movie.
 My big anim8or files weigh in at around 20mb, but they can be a lot bigger.
 20mb loads fairly quick. (depending on complexities of content, textures etc.
 An uncompressed .avi render from an  an8 will be big, like several GB for less than 60 seconds.
  Hope this has helped a little bit.....

[BladeMan.EXE]

I think I figured out what's going on with the morph targets. I tried importing a whole figure from an an8 file, and it still had the morph targets for the face. I tried importing an object from a 3ds file, and nothing. The object must loose it's morph targets when you export it as a 3ds file. Simple to work around.


And for the movie, I was actually talking about a whole fan made movie. Maybe series if it gets too long. Gonna use Windows Live Movie Maker to put it together, which I already have experience using for lego stop motion.

For the audio, I also have Audacity. Currently working on a MMBN Medley.

[johnar]

And for the movie, I was actually talking about a whole fan made movie. Maybe series if it gets too long.

Yip. So you'll defineately be using more than 1 an8 file.

[BladeMan.EXE]

Thx.

What about the face problem?

[Steve]

Are you using Subdivision meshes? They smooth out the mesh and eliminate many problems like it sounds like you're having. Select you Mesh and use the Build->ConvertToSubdivided command and see if that helps.

[Raxx]

Sounds like a smoothing angle issue. If the angle between two faces is too extreme, it exceeds the smoothing angle and makes a crease, making the lighting of the faces different. You can increase the smoothing angle by double clicking the mesh (up to 180), though ultimately the best way to address the issue is to add more geometry, and working with subdivision meshes and/or increasing the working/final divisions of said subdivision meshes will help you get even better results.

[BladeMan.EXE]

Thanks. I forgot about the convert to subdivided function.

[danielstritt]

I don't remember seeing options for morph targets, where are those? I must have missed that feature, as I am still modeling and not really animating much right now.

Edit: OK, I found it in the documentation, but I did a simple morph to animate it and I am having trouble with that. I didn't find anything in the documentation about animating morph targets, unless I missed it. Can someone point me in the right direction please? Basically can't figure out setting keys on a certain morph value

Thanks

[johnar]

Basically the same as setting key values for anything else in scene mode.
 Open the timetrack. Down the left hand side, locate the figure/object which has the morph targets, locate the name of the morph target, double click on the name and the box will pop up to set key values. Insert a value, click ok.
 Hope that clarifys?
 Once you get the hang of that, try out the graph editor. Once a key is set, you locate it in the graph editor and, when you're in the corresponding frame, you can drag the dot up and down, changing the value in real time, right in front of your eyes. Its pretty cool.

 Time to plug one of my old tuts. 

[cooldude234]

I set the one letter limit to stop spammers from putting their web sites etc.  there.  It was a big problem a while back. Maybe I can remove the limit now that I have a fairly decent spammer blocking service enabled .

*quietly walks into another room*
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
*quietly walks back*
Carry on.