Forum Guidelines.
Welcome to the Anim8or Community.
This topic is meant to be a guideline for posting on the anim8or forum. This topic should be read by all members to prevent the crowding of this forum by useless and unnecessary topic/posts.
8) Posting new topics and replies. 8)
Before posting a new topic or reply please consider the following points:
- First and most important: Is your new topic/reply relevant to the forum community? This is an Anim8or related forum, not a chat room. Use your own judgement to decide whether your post is appropriate or not, but keep in mind that all irrelevant posts will be removed by moderators. Try to save us some work...
Posts about other 3D software are allowed as long as they are Anim8or related. Commercial posts are not allowed unless they are something that Anim8or was used in the production of, and then only if the main point is to show the work.
- The one and only language of this forum is English. There are Anim8or users from all over the world and things wouldn't really work if everybody used his native language when posting comments and asking questions... You can always use the personal messages (http://www.anim8or.com/smf/index.php?action=help;page=pm) system if you have a good reason to use other language.
- Be polite and be patient. Bad language of any kind as well as spamming or flaming is not tolerated!
- Has your question/topic/reply been said or asked before? There is no point in having the same question asked by different members. Or having ten people saying: "This is awesome" or "This sucks" without any further information/explanation. Please keep posts informative and useful.
- When breaking the rules, a forum moderator or administrator will remove your post/topic. Moderators can be recognized by the five blue stars by their name and the forum administrator Steve, who has five red stars by his name. Posters of removed posts/topics will be contacted with the reasons of removal.
When you see someone else breaking rules, please report this to a moderator. This can be done by clicking in the 'report to moderator' button below every post. Please do not reply to the topic/post, let the moderators handle it.
- More about the forum setup and help can be found here: Forum Help (http://www.anim8or.com/smf/index.php?action=help)
??? Asking questions on the forum. ???
The forum is here to show and comment on artwork created in Anim8or and to aid those that need help. Most of to members here will be willing to help with your questions and will provide support. We are all here to learn and have fun,
but not every question has to be asked on the forum. Some things are way easier and most of the time faster found by yourself!
Before asking your question(s) on the forum try the following points:
- The Manual! The manual holds most of the answers to your questions when starting with anim8or. The manual can be found here: The Anim8or Manual (http://anim8or.com/manual/index.html) or by the click on the link in the toolbar on the left (<--) and can be downloaded in different languages here: Downloads (http://anim8or.com/download/index.html), also this link can be found on the toolbar left.
The manual is a basic explanation of anim8or's tools. When starting with anim8or it's highly recommended to start with reading through the manual. When you don't find you answer(s) in the manual go through the following steps:
- Has your question been asked before? As described above: there is no point in posting the same question again when the answer is already given. Do a search through the forum, alot of questions have been asked and answered before.
You can search the forum through this link: Search the Forum (http://www.anim8or.com/smf/index.php?action=search) or by clicking on 'search' in the forum toolbar above. Try an advanced search when you don't immediately find what you were looking for.
- Can't find your answer on the forum? Search the internet! Some answers to questions can be found in two seconds when you simply search the internet. There are alot of search engines which can help you search: Google (http://www.google.com/), Yahoo (http://search.yahoo.com/), Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) etc. So when you are looking for a tutorial on making a character, some free textures or you just want to know what Normal maps are: The Internet Is Your Best Friend!
:-\ FAQ's. :-\
It's about ten years now since the first version of anim8or was released. You can imagine that some questions have been asked more then once. To prevent from having those questions asked another 1000 times here are some answers to frequently asked questions.
- I have problems running Anim8or under Windows Vista. What can I do?
See the Vista problems (http://www.anim8or.com/download/index.html#vista) page.
- Why don't the point-edit operations work?
You may need to convert your model to mesh (see Meshes vs. Parameteric Shapes (http://www.anim8or.com/manual/3_object_editor.html#mesh_vs_parameteric) in the manual).
Make sure your model is not grouped (select it and click "Build>Ungroup" or press "u")
- How do I select multiple frames on the timeline (Anim8or v1.0)?
Click one frame and then shift+click another one.
- Why can't I rotate bones in the figure/sequence/scene modes?
Use different mouse buttons to rotate around x, y and z axes (see Making a key pose (http://www.anim8or.com/manual/6_sequence_editor.html#making_a_key_pose) in the manual). If you can't rotate a bone in the sequence/scene mode, make sure the movement limits are set properly (see Flexible joints (http://www.anim8or.com/manual/5_figure_editor.html#flexible_joints)).
- How do I post images/attachments on the forum?
You can add an image/attachment to your post by clicking "Additional Options..." below the text input window.
You can also use a free image hosting site (such as Imageshack (http://imageshack.us/) or Photobucket (http://photobucket.com/)) to upload your image and then use the "[img]" BBC tag (http://www.anim8or.com/smf/index.php?action=help;page=post#bbcref) to show the image on the forum.
- Why can't I see shadows?
Shadows are only visible in rendered images. If shadows don't show up in your renders, follow the instructions in the Manual (http://www.anim8or.com/manual/7_scene_editor.html#shadows) and make sure shadows are enabled under the "View>Preferences" menu.
- How do I make a character move?
To make characters move, they need to be rigged. Rigging is applying a skeleton to your character and then attach the bones to several part of the character to make it move. Rigging can be done using Figure Mode (http://anim8or.com/manual/5_figure_editor.html). The movement is later applied in Sequence Mode (http://anim8or.com/manual/6_sequence_editor.html). When starting out with animating a character, try following this basic anim8or tutorial:
A Simple Walk (http://anim8or.com/tutorials/simplewalk/index.html).
- How does the new ART raytracer works?
The newest versions of anim8or, version 0.97a and up, have a new renderer build-in: ART (Anim8or Ray Tracer). This renderer makes it possible to make real-time reflections and refractions etc.. To render with ART go to render> renderer> ART Ray Tracer. Now when you render something it will be done with the ART instead of standard anim8or scanline.
If you want to use ART to make raytraced materials, you need use Attributes. Attributes can be applied by clicking on 'Attributes' when creating a material. More about the raytracer and attributes can be found here: ART Ray Tracer (http://anim8or.com/download/preview/art_raytracer.html)
;) Other help ;)
To fully master this or any program, you can't do without help. Here are some useful links to tutorial and texture sites that might help you out in times of stress.
Anim8or related tutorials
Tutorials made for working with anim8or. Really helpful if you just get started in anim8or.
- Modeling an eggplant (http://anim8or.com/tutorials/eggplant/index.html). By R. Steven Glanville
- Modeling a hand (http://anim8or.com/tutorials/hands/index.html). By R. Steven Glanville
- A Simple Walk (http://anim8or.com/tutorials/simplewalk/index.html). By R. Steven Glanville
- Other anim8or related tutorials can be found here: Anim8or Tutorials (http://anim8or.com/tutorials/index.html).
3d related tutorials
Although some tutorials aren't specifically written for anim8or, they can be used while working with anim8or. This because the basics can be translated into different software packages.
- Low-Poly Character Modeling and Texturing (http://www.3dtotal.com/team/Tutorials_3/low_poly_character/low_poly_01.asp). By Athey Nansel-Moravetz
- Edge Loops for Faces (http://www.3dtotal.com/team/Tutorials/edge_loops/edge_loops_01.asp). By Athey Nansel-Moravetz
- Modeling Joan of Arc - Basic Character Modeling. (http://www.3dtotal.com/ffa/tutorials/max/joanofarc/joanmenu.asp). By Michel Roger
Textures
Some sites which offer free textures to be used for your projects.
- CG Textures (http://cgtextures.com/)
- Mayang's Free Textures (http://mayang.com/textures/)
- The Anim8or Material Database (http://www.anim8ormaterials.cjb.net/)
- 3D Total Free textures (http://3dtotal.com/ffa/textures/texture1a.asp)
If you find anything wrong with this topic or if something isn't clear, you can PM a moderator or the admin about this.
-Originally posted by Floyd86
Global Moderator.