Hi all,

Am I missing something, or is ANIMATION: MASTER the only place for posting animations? If so, why are there so few?

Mak

The animation gallery is currently hosted in the free stuff. This is because you can't upload animations directly to the server.

You post a link to a page containing your animation (for example, youtube).
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/index.php?section_id=321

Thanks Sergio, yes I knew about that way to post and posted several animations there when it first started, but there's no way of having them commented on there. So what is ANIMATION: MASTER exactly and why are there so few postings? Is this situation likely to change?

Mak

Animation master is a 3d software like any other. It can do modeling, lighting, animation and rendering. The lack of activity makes me wonder if it IS still used, though.

Ah, I see. I'd never heard of it. Thanks for the explanation.

Mak

Sergio, has there been any talk of having a proper animation gallery here? I don't see any reason why Renderosity couldn't do the same as Cornucopia 3D, where a thumbnail is posted of the animation in the gallery with a link to the animation on whichever server it is housed at? The same as it is in the Free Stuff section really. It seems a real shame that, like the still image galleries, people posting animations can't benifit from comments and advice. I'm sure this isn't the first time this has been raised here, but thought I'd say it anyway. Thanks, Mak

There's been talks, and that is on the "to-do-list" but I am not sure when it will come. Sorry.

Quote - So what is ANIMATION: MASTER exactly and why are there so few postings? Is this situation likely to change?

Mak

Mak,
The Animation:Master forum here at Renderosity has been a bit slow of late but I have high hopes that we'll see renewed interest this year.

Animation:Master really is a great program (aren't they all?).

It's great to see the interest in animation that is currently on the rise.
There was a time where it was really really hard to find any good information, books or even online resources for the aspiring animator (you know... back before the internet?).

Thats all changed.

Not to sound like a commercial for here but A:M is where my focus resides.
v14 of Animation:Master is in Alpha testing and headed for release and I'm excited out it!

It great to see new and aspiring animators of all ages join in and tell their stories.

There is a lot to learn and see!
Look for more information on "Tin Woodman of Oz", Hash Inc's feature film where animators learn as they create an animated feature film to show up shortly in the Animation:Master forum.
If you haven't already seen it you should watch the Stephen Millengen's 'Briar Rose' trailer linked there.  Very very nice!

There are a lot of other projects created both individually and collectively that we'll try to spotlight as well.

If you are an animator, you'll find Renderosity is the online Art Community in 2007!

Best,
Rodney
A:M Forum Coordinator

Thanks for that Rodney.

I'm actually a professional animation director (Jim Henson Digital UK), amongst other jobs, having come to it via animatronic performing and directing, and would love to see more here. As an animator I'm not so brilliant and for our own work (Pastscapes 3D) tend to mainly concentrate on camera animation with a little character work thrown in.

I love looking out for new talent, whether that be for possible future use or just to help and encourage. I really don't care what application they're using as it's all about storytelling in the end. Having said that, good luck with A:M and to Sergio at getting an animation gallery here at Renderosity.

Mak

they won't host animation files on their server AFAIK. that's what they've told me a coupla times. there at least two possible reasons:

• no standardised animation file format (meaning one never knows what filetype it is until one downloads it)
• large file size (meaning they will slow down an already glacial server farm)

so the best bet is to upload one's video to youtube. the advantage there is that all the files are served as streaming flash video (or so I was told), hence at least one always knows what the filetype is, how to play it, and which browser to use.

The files, as you say can be at YouTube, or, in my case, at our own site, but it still needs a gallery. I don't really see the difference between linking to them via its own gallery and from the Free Stuff section as they do at the moment. It could also be stipulated that they are either in QuickTime or AVI formats just as stills have to be in JPEG. I think those who really want to look at the animations would make sure the have the means to do so.

It sounds like Sergio is trying to make it happen and good luck to him.

Thanks,

Mak

yeah, that's the problem. an avi file can be one of dozens of codecs, including the latest wmv3, many of which aren't playable in OS 9/X, despite what geeks will tell ya about flip4mac, vlc and other geek software.

That's also a problem when we want to use videos for some articles on the front page news. However it seems that from now on we will be using exclusively flash video.

Yes, and there are plenty of QuickTime codecs as well. You could again stipulate that is is only QuickTime Sorenson 3, which can be play by anyone with QuickTime and if animators don't have QuickTime then they should. I still think it would be better to have an Animation Gallery that worked in the main rather than not one at all. Again, that's what's happening in the Free Stuff section at the moment, the only place to post them... or, posting a still in the image galleries with a link. What's the alternative? Wait until hell freezes over and there's a common video format or for Renderosity to be prepared, like YouTube, to convert all videos to Flash? Or is that what they're talking about Sergio?

I am not trying to be difficult here, or trying to tell anyone's grandmother how to suck ornothilogical offspring, but be as helpful as I can. I want to see this more for looking at others work than posting my own.

Thanks for your thoughts and patience,

Mak

some day there will be a web video standard, just as jpeg is the standard for still images of web photos now. I can wait. my suggestion would be vob (mpeg2) or flash.

You can access animations through the "Animations" link under the "Features" section of the Renderosity sidebar. It's quicker than going to 'Freestuff.' I've been bugging them for years to set it up so we can add comments but it doesn't appear to be a high priority because they still have it on their to-do list. @Miss Nancy One problem they have is that even within a 'standard' there are different implementations of it. A QuickTime MPEG2 and a Windows MPEG2 are not identical. Sigh...

either kind is o.k. with me, kevin. vlc 0.8.6a plays 'em both. QT also plays 'em both, but drops the sound track from windows vob files.

When in doubt I use VLC. It's a great little app - especially since it's not even version 1.0. I wish it would open multiple windows and allow export to different formats.

ffmpegx is what ya use for export. I have absolutely no idea how to use it, tho :lol: I even asked 'em, and all they say is to go to various sites and download various files. qt pro will export various stuff, but xp users usually can't view 'em, or the sound track will be out of sync for 'em.

"ffmpegx?" That sounds like someone talking with their mouth full of potato chips. (grin)

no crisps here - low carb diet, don't you know :lol: