Anim8or Community

VirtualDub will remove front end, back end, or cut segments.  very easy to do.  I also use it to convert video from camcorder to targa files (.tga frames) for sequencing into voodoo camera tracking.

thecolclough,

why don't you write a tutorial on how you did it?

Will Anim8or import a script from Voodoo camera tracker?

I figured out that each face did not have a corresponding face that had 4 points per petal.  I deleted the top layer of faces.  Then I extruded the faces that extend outward.  this gave me 4 points per face.  I selected the top edge of the 5 petals and extruded them.  This worked out fine except that when I went to rotate them the petals themselves were not rotating, only the tops.
Here is a pic of the first completed try.  Looks like I missed something about the smoothing or subdividing.

Thanks.  Here's the cropped screen shot just before things start to go awry.

Thanks!  That helps a lot!

Can you help me figure out where I'm going wrong in the eggplant tut?
I've scaled the top extrusion out approx 25%, then extruded again and scaled that in.  Then I selected the 5 upward faces like in the picture.  That's where things bigin to 'go south'.  The newly extruded faces are now selected.  The text says "Once you have then selected as shown on the right, extrude them a small amount, scale them up until they are close to touching, but not quite."  I guess I'm missing out on how to transition from the first extrusion to where the extrusions can be rotated upwards.

I have found that I learn best by tutorials.  I tend to take the tut literally, so reading between the lines is not something I do.  That means, of course, that when a small detail (instruction) is left out of the process, I'm dead in the water.  Confused, I sit, staring at the screen, wondering what to do next.  Whether I back up and repeat, or start over, if the instruction is missing a step or vital piece of info, the result is the same.

We each have our own preferences and learning methods.  Having a bunch of instructions in one paragraph doesn't work well for me.  Do this, then this, then this, then this, then that makes it hard to follow and hard to figure out where I went wrong.

I work better with:

PARAGRAPH CAPTION

Do this. (RMB [Right Mouse Button], etc) (Example pic)

Do this.  (RMB [Right Mouse Button], etc) (Example pic)

Do this.  (RMB [Right Mouse Button], etc) (Example pic)

Do that.  (RMB [Right Mouse Button], etc) (Example pic)

NEXT SECTION

(Numbering the steps may be tedious, but if there's something wrong with the tut, you have a reference point.  Ex. "Something went wrong when I followed step #27.  It didn't look like the picture next to it.")

Having pictures representing progress is great (as in the eggplant tut) and you can tell if you're following the tut correctly.  The problem I'm having with the eggplant tut is that the pictures are too small where I'm having trouble following the instructions, or the text doesn't match what I thing the pic should look like.  Here's an example:

"Once you have then selected as shown on the right, extrude them a small amount, scale them up until they are close to touching, but not quite.  Then use the face rotate  tool to tilt the faces so that they are facing a little bit more vertically.  To do this, click and drag the left mouse button carefully in the vertical direction only.  Moving it to the right or left will twist the faces in the wrong direction."

I know that I'm missing something here, or the text and pics (which are too small for me) would make sense, which they don't.  The faces selected in the 3rd pic are edge faces, not side faces, so I can't figure out how to rotate extrusions that I don't have (like in the pic).

Please don't get me wrong.  I'm not condemning, complaining or criticizing.  I would like to write another version of the eggplant tut the way I prefer it and submit it so folks have a second opportunity to experience the tut from a different perspective and I would have a chance to really zero in on learning.  I've heard that if you really want to learn a subject, then teach it (and I really want to learn this program).  If I can write the tut, and get your feedback to improve it (it would be my first), we would all win.  I just need to know how to start (how to do the screenshots, etc.).

What do you think?

Submitted humbly,
Chaz