Anim8or Help

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Backlash49


Table of contents
     
  1. Materials
  2. Textures
  3. Forums
  4. Definitions
  5. FAQ
  6. Lighting Tips
  7. Anim8or Support Programs
  8. Anim8or Manual
  9. Links

MATERIALS


all materials

*for glass assign transparency of .1-.4 for best results.
**to aquire a black outline see Anim8ors Tutorial Sections

picture

Material

Ambient

Diffuse

Specular

Rough

Brill

R

G

B

copper Copper

.3

.7

.6

6

1.8

228

123

87

rubber Rubber

.3

.7

0

32

1

3

139

251

brass Brass

.3

.7

.7

8

2

228

187

34

glass Glass*

.3

.7

.7

32

1

199

227

209

plastic Plastic

.3

.9

.9

32

1

0

19

252

pearl Pearl

1.5

-0.5

2

99

1

255

138

138

cel-shaded Cel-Shaded**

1

1000

.5

.1

1e^1007

255

255

0

Textures

made:

found:

TEXTURE LINKS


Astronomy.swin
Grisites.com
Noctua-Graphics.de(translated to english)


Anim8or Forums

Official Anim8or Forum
3D Emnity


Definitions

W.I.P
Work In Progress
Box Model
A form of modeling in witch boxes are used to creat the mesh
N.U.R.B.S
A form of modeling that uses,Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines.  This form of modeling uses splines to creat the basic outline of the shape, then uses tools to fill in the gaps between the lines.
MetaBalls
A form of modeling that uses spheres and magnets to create water and gell like effects.  Without Metaballs there would be no water in the 3D modeling world!

FAQ

How do I create a Material?

  1. Open or create a project.
  2. At the top toolbar to right, is a picture of four black spheres, click that button.  A new tool bar will appear at your left.
  3. Double click the button labled New.
  4. A new menu will appear.  Hit the ok button to creat a material, or tweak with the settings until your happy with what you have.
  5. If you with to tweak the settings see the Materials sections for more info.

How do I Import/Export objects?

  1. Open or create a project.
  2. Under the Objects menu. Located right there you will see Import and Export.

How do I change the floor grid?

  1. The floor grid cannot be changed but can be removed

If I cant remove the floor grid, How do 'Change' it to my liking?

  1. In object mode, creat a very large object, very flat, very wide and long.
  2. In scene mode disable the ground grid(see above).
  3. Add a new object to the scene
    4. Adding scene elements
    • Click, build add object
    • add your object from the list that appears
  5. Align the newly added object the the cordinates,(0,0,0)
  6. A tip about about adding custom floor grids, it is possible to apply your own custom textures to it to attain the look you want.

I dont understand part of the tutorial what should I do?

The best thing you can do if you dont understand part of, or an entire tutorial, is to seek help in the Forums.  The forums were put there for a reason, and thats to help you but be warned poeple dont appreciate it if you post in the WIP forum, instead of the General forum, so keep that in mind.

What are some common things that I should look out for when workin in Anim8or?*

  • Always make sure to convert shapes to meshes, this can be a major frustration to someone new to the program and doesnt know they need to convert any any objects listed as a primitive to a mesh before work can be done on it. Build=>Convert to Mesh.

  • Never, use the drag select tool in an inactive window, there currently is a bug in the program that causes Anim8or to crash.

  • When using backgrounds in your render,Settings=>Enviroment, remember this, there is a bug that causes your background not to render correctly, just make an object and texture your object with the image you want for your background.

  • When working with splines, you dont need to use the addedge tool then extrude to convert to a mesh, just simply go into point edit mode(looks like 3black squares) and use the spline tool, while holding down the shift key to make your first line.

  • When splining a complex object, its always good to start from the less noticeable areas, its saves time in the ende and allows you make sure that your going to have room for all those little details.

  • Dont make the mistake of only saving your file(s) to one file name. It is a commen mistake and can and will have bad reprocutions on your work(you wont be able to fix an error you made and accidently saved).

  • Always save in versions; Mythingy01, Mythingy02,.....Mythingy09, Mythingy10, that way ensure that you can fix any mistakes or go back and start an earlier save if needed.

  • If you import any .3ds files into anim8or they will need to be untriangulated, this can be accomplished by hand(select two faces and merge them yourselve) or by using a program called Untriangul8or, its a very handy program I recomend it for download.

  • If your into particle effects, another good download will be, Gener8or, it generates some of the best particle animations for anim8or, and like all of anim8or supporting software is Free.

How do I use the Alpha Channel
    Photoshop/GIMP comming soon

  1. Open photoshop.

  2. Load the image you want to get rid of the background.

  3. Now load the Alpha Channel.

  4. Convert bother of images to layers so that they are no longer backgrounds, and delet the old backgrounds(you can duplicate the layers and delet the old backgrounds)

  5. Now, select the image and creat a layer mask for it.

  6. Select the layer mask, and go¦ Image=>Apply image, from the new window that pops up, choose the source of the Alpha Channel.*

  7. check the box that says invert data.

  8. Now your donde, just hit ok and take a look at the results!

    *Alpha channel must be open

    PaintShopPro
  1. Open PSP.
  2. Load the image you want to get rid of the background.
  3. Promote the Background to a layer
  4. Load the Alpha Channel and do the same
  5. Now, right mouse click the layer with the image(the image you want to get rid of the background
  6. Make a new layer mask from image,(right mouse click=>new layermask=>from image
  7. from the drop down menu that appears choose the alpha channel and make sure that invert data is checked in the box
  8. hit ok
  9. now the background should be gone and your all done
  10. on a side note, if when you clicked ok all it did was removed your image repeat step 7, and make sure invert data is checked, if it is, uncheck and try again.
I suck at lighting, what should I do

    Hope your audience is blind,..just kidding.Not to worry most poeple arnt that good when it comes to lighting, its one of the many things that takes time to learn.
    This should help with your lighting

  1. Open Anim8or, and load your model into scene mode.

    1. mode
    2. scene
    3. build
    4. add object
    5. choose your object from the list
  2. Heres where it gets a little tricky,(not really a step, just a warning).
  3. Creat 4 lights.
    • 1st light will be the shadow caster and the, brightest(white light).
    • 2nd light will be (along with the next 2)will not cast Shadows. Set this light to a very, very light green(exreem light green), and a little less bright than the first light.*
    • 3rd light will be extreem light blue(as light as you can get without being completely white) and a little less bright than the green.*
    • 4th light will be extreem light red(as light as you can get without being completely white) and a little less bright than the blue.*
  4. *now to teach how to make a light "less" bright, also these settings can be accomplished with spot light and local lights only.*
*this list will be Modified with next release of Anm8or.85
More programs will be added in the future this list was orginialy compiled on Anim8or Org

Anim8or Support Programs

If a link doesnt work, try dragging and dronping into address bar, or copy and past the shortcut into adress bar

Addtional thanks to BOB_I_Ts for whome without him I would have never been able to track down all of the anim8or support apps.

Name Author Dowload/Website What it does
3D Paysage (French)  texel Download Créez un terrain d'une image 
3D Paysage texel website relief maping /Create a terrain from an image 
An8 to xlf converter XLoom2 website with source XLoom format for programmers
an8_2_3ds (French) Pascal Download Exportez une animation dans les dossiers 3ds multiples;
An8Fix "includes VBR" VBD Download fix's most project files with load errors
An8helper sirGustav Download Add a bounce to a sequence
Ani2Pov texel website an8 to povray format
AniTweak(VBR) rounder Download Easily create many particle animation effects
Batchim8or realexander website a program to automate the rendering of scenes
Gener8tor the_doctor website simple particle generator
GI Creator Jonatan Online tool Easily create local lights for GI
HairGen(VBR) Easily add hair to meshes. bongle Download Easily add hair to meshes
Hydraulic Arm Animator MarkAllen85 Online tool Easily animate hydraulics
Infinite Rotator MarkAllen85 Online tool Spin an object forever
Mesh Maker(VBR) bongle Download Create terrain meshes from an image;
Particle Waterfal Creator(VBR) bongle Download Animate particles to create waterfalls
Rain Maker(VBR) Banjo Download Generate animated rain
Randomator v2.0 [vb4 runtime needed] OutThere Download---Tutorial Randomly place, scale and animate objects
SeqRepair bongle Download modifying the frame rate of the sequence, or by manually resetting each key to a new, desired point.
Telescoping Bone Animator MarkAllen85 Online tool Easily animate telescoping bones
Terrabuild OutThere Download Create 16x16 terrain meshes
Terranim8o Leslie Download---Tutorial Create animated terrains, clouds and oceans. 
Treegen Ultra(VBR) bongle Download Create rolling forests quicky and easily
watergen MarkAllen85 website designed for simulating water effects in anim8or
Untriangulator Slayer Download a great App, for taking any mesh that is completely made of triangles(IE.. people that export as import .3ds objects...)It will convert the triangles to square polies.

Anim8or Manual

Official Manual

Links

3D Cafe
Anim8or Org
Anim8or Afterlife
Contact us
Trashcanham
Backlash49

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