Here is the best advice to those of you trying to animate. Get up, turn off your computer, and go outside! All the software packages are traps. You have to pay for upgrades and plugins. You see other software packages that you HAVE to have. Everything has tutorials and manuals you have to study. You end up spending all of your time in front of a monitor. You develop carpal tunnel syndrome and eye problems. You always need a faster machine, better video card and monitor, and more memory! It is a trap! Time and $$$$$. Example. I bought Mimic a couple of years ago. It was a nice program but I didn't do much with it. I did buy a text-to-speech synthesizer program. Nice but no substitute for a human voice. Then I bought Mimic Pro II and really got into it. I had been considering getting a voice transformer for several years. Finally bought one, the Boss VT-1. Great what you can do with it. There are units that do more but are much more expensive. Now I am thinking about getting one of those. I was happy with animations with a few sound effects, but now I want sound tracks with multiple voices and sound effects. A lot of sound software came with my sound card which I had refused to learn. Now I sort of have to. I am even thinking about Virtual Reality and 3d Goggles. I understand Adobe Atmosphere is what you need. More manuals to read and more future upgrades. I'd stand up and walk away except my legs no longer seem to work except to go to the bathroom or to get a cold beer. Besides, I no longer have any money left to go anywhere.

Final question. Is there any hope?

One last question: If I really am doomed to not having a real life, would there be a market for a service of doing voice tracks? Supply me with the conversations, the Poser characters, and some general description of the voices. Totally confidential of course.

But, hey! You have fun while your real life goes down the tube. Hell yes, it's expensive, addictive, time-consuming (Lord knows, my wife gives me a hard time about the time I spend here in front of the monitor) and potentially lethal to your social life, BUT: It's fun! :) -Hanz Oh, and no: There's no hope...

That is what I thought. It just seems like I study this stuff and never seem to master it. Others seem to know the intricacies of it.

I'm with you, spurlock5. Often things can get so technical that you find yourself spending way more time trying to climb the mountain that is the learning curve, instead of doing the creative and fun stuff. Perhaps a good excercise would be to train oneself to focus on where one is as the moment, and thus avoid staring blindly into the horizon looking for the spot where one would like to be? In other words, be happy with your current capabilities and accept the fact that you're still not a master. Give time and good things will come. You live and you learn. :) -Hanz

One thing that I notice is that when you half know something it becomes far more difficult to study the material or work the tutorials. You get bored easily and drift into a state of half awareness.

My antidote for frustrations with roadblocks and slow progress on that "Grand Ultimate Project" that got me into this in the first place, is to interspace it with occasional little, satisfying projects that build my skill level with one small part of the whole. I use as inspiration those artists who can capture an entire face or personality with a few brush strokes, and indulge in a bit of minimalism. Take one aspect of that tool kit you've invested in, and try to squeeze something out of it that will surprise, educate and refresh you. The GUP still holds my heart, but it can't be my unrelenting focus.

Actually working on smaller individual projects would be a good approach. One thing 3ds Max and the larger software packages have is a set of tutorials that work you through all the different areas of the software. When you complete them, you know the basics. There are tutorials but no combined set. Each project could focus on a specific area. Every software package has features that are not fully exploited. What I have found interesting is that there are so many people on this forum that are acquainted with the features in such detail both in the Poser and MAX forums. This is a very valuable asset.