jason@cbmami.UUCP (Jason Goldberg) (03/05/91)
I am pretty new to Imagine, does anyone know how to exit the "show" screen after viewing a rendering? The manual says that you should just click the mouse, but that doesn't seem to work (nor does anything else I have tried). I can shuffle to other screens via Amiga-N/M but I can't do any more work in Imagine after I hit the show button. For now I am having to view my renderings in The Art Department Pro. Also did anyone else catch the ironly when reading the "Warranty Information" section of the Tutorial Manual? The second sentance of the first paragraph of the Warrany Information section on Page 13, reads... "...This warranty card will make yo eligible to receive Impulse's world-renowned technical support on its toll free hotline (see chapter on Technical Support)." I found it funny, in light of Impulses "world-renowned technical support," that there is no chapter on techincal support, upon further examination, there is also no toll-free number! (unless you happen to live local to Impulse). Don't worry too much, though, because they do have a toll-free number for orders... :-) -Jason- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jason Goldberg UUCP: ucsd!serene!cbmami!jason Del Mar, CA
rnollman@maxzilla.encore.com (Richard Nollman) (03/09/91)
I cannot seem to get through to Jason directly so will have to post this to the group (it is in response to his post) > I am pretty new to Imagine, does anyone know how to exit the "show" >screen after viewing a rendering? The manual says that you should just >click the mouse, but that doesn't seem to work (nor does anything else I >have tried). I can shuffle to other screens via Amiga-N/M but I can't do >any more work in Imagine after I hit the show button. > For now I am having to view my renderings in The Art Department >Pro. > Also did anyone else catch the ironly when reading the "Warranty >Information" section of the Tutorial Manual? The second sentance of the >first paragraph of the Warrany Information section on Page 13, reads... >"...This warranty card will make yo eligible to receive Impulse's >world-renowned technical support on its toll free hotline (see chapter on .Technical Support)." > I found it funny, in light of Impulses "world-renowned technical >support," that there is no chapter on techincal support, upon further >examination, there is also no toll-free number! (unless you happen to live >local to Impulse). Don't worry too much, though, because they do have a >toll-free number for orders... First, if you don't already know about it, if you own Imagine, get on the Imagine mailing list. I am a novice Imagine user and have saved myself hours (days, months) of aggravation by getting answers, helpful hints, etc. Just send mail to: Imagine@athena.mit.edu and ask to be added to the mailing list. I had the problem with using the clicking the mouse button in a rendered screen and it drove me up a wall. It is a bug (I call it a bug anyway). Never click your mouse when you are in a rendered "show" screen. It does not lock up your Imagine session as you probably are convinced it has. The cursor is actually skulking around in the Project Menu screen (you just cannot see it). Normally, to get back to the Project Menu from a rendered image, press the ESCAPE key. NEVER click the mouse. However, if you do click the mouse by mistake when you are in the "show" screen (rendered image), you can use Left Amiga_m to get back to the Project Menu. Then you just click the mouse button and the crosshairs will reappear. As far as the toll free number, I am not sure if I called that or a toll number (I was desparate -- before the Imagine list existed). I had been told by a friend not expect much in the way of support. He told me that they are notorious for being difficult. Well, I called, and the support person was very helpful. He spend probably a good 30 minutes with me, guided me through the first tutorial, and gave me some tips (such as the ESC key exit from the rendered image screen). Finally, I have been through the "learning wall" of Imagine. If you are a former Turbo Silver user, you probably will not have the learning wall to overcome. I was a stranger to any 3D modeling program. At one point I was ready to chuck the program and go back to Dpaint III. I was totally frustrated. The manuals are just too sparse. When I finally posted to usenet pleading for help, I got alot of responses. One common thread is that Imagine is an incredibly tough thing to learn (Turbo Silver, I was told, was much worse if that is possible), but that I should stick with it, it will be worth it. They were right. It is the kind of program that puts the Amiga machines in a class by themselves. And contrary to my first impressions, the program can be very easy to use and very intuitive. Impulse could have done so much more in the way of extensive tuturials, examples for various procedures (like Extruding to Path -- I needed help on that one), libraries of objects and attributes (a la Toaster Lightwave), and some complex examples of complete projects from start to finish. If you have problems getting up to speed, as a fellow-novice, I probably can help (I probably have had the same ones). If I cannot, the Imagine mailing list members probably can. Rich Nollman
bobl@graphics.rent.com (Bob Lindabury - SysAdm) (03/11/91)
jason@cbmami.UUCP (Jason Goldberg) writes: > > I am pretty new to Imagine, does anyone know how to exit the "show" > screen after viewing a rendering? The manual says that you should just > click the mouse, but that doesn't seem to work (nor does anything else I > have tried). I can shuffle to other screens via Amiga-N/M but I can't do > any more work in Imagine after I hit the show button. > For now I am having to view my renderings in The Art Department > Pro. You don't press the mouse button, you press the ESC key. If you accidentally hit the mouse button, you can move your mouse up to the top of the screen and pull down the image a bit, click on the Project screen and THEN press ESC. Alternately, you can right-Amiga-M to the Project screen, click on it and press ESC. It still is a terrible way to do things. > :-) > > > -Jason- -- Bob The Graphics BBS 908/469-0049 "It's better than a sharp stick in the eye!" ============================================================================ InterNet: bobl@graphics.rent.com | Raven Enterprises UUCP: ...rutgers!bobsbox!graphics!bobl | 25 Raven Avenue BitNet: bobl%graphics.rent.com@pucc | Piscataway, NJ 08854 Home #: 908/560-7353 | 908/271-8878
neil@celia.UUCP (Neil Richmond) (03/28/91)
I had a demonstration of Imagine yesterday. It was, I confess, the first time
I saw it. There were some nice things, but it could use a lot more. One thing,
is that I was wrong about the motion descriptor. You draw a path and Imagine
takes the number of frames you give and fits it to the path. No keyframes! No
splines! Big disappointment! But it is a useful way of planning a path of
action, just limited. They should implement some spline functions. The object
editor is VERY NICE. It shows the most work of the two modules. One nice thing
is the abilitity to use magnets to model. Its too bad that they don't allow
you to use the magnets in the animation module. It would make it much more
powerful. I think it is short sighted to depend on morphing to do all your
character animation, like facial expressions. It means you have to make targets
for each expression. Take a word like h-e-l-l-o. There are at least 3 or 4
targets there. Now take a sentence and figure out how many targets there. Add
sentences together to make a dialogue and you have a lot of targets that you
have to make and store. Now if they used multi-level interpolation, you could
get away with less targets, but you will still have to make quite a few for a
story with dialogue. I have got to go. But I was impressed with a number of
the features.
neil
--
Only 3202 shopping days left till the next millenium!
Neil F. Richmond INTERNET: celia!neil@usc.edu
Rhythm & Hues Inc. UUCP: ...{ames,hplabs}!lll-tis!celia!neil)Scott_Busse@mindlink.UUCP (Scott Busse) (03/29/91)
Neil, Imagine does have both keyframe animation, and spline paths. Acceleration and deceleration are not linked to the spline function of paths though, but rather to an option in the Action editor.(Note the accel/decel is only available as of version 1.1) As for the morphing being used for such things as facial animation, you would perhaps do well combining object morphs with cycles prepared in the Cycle Editor to get the most complete effect. This may cause an unacceptable problem with seams between a separate jaw and ? though. Even to use just morphing is not really a problem though. Since you are going to the trouble of setting up the "target" positions anyway, it is fairly trivial to introduce the morphs between these targets using the Actor line in the Action editor. It sure would be nice to have an AREXX port to take care of various Action editor setups with scripts. Write a letter or make a call to Impulse requesting an AREXX port, please. I put in my 2 bits, but Mike Halvorson doesn't think that there is sufficient demand for it. If you have any questions about Imagine, try subscribing to the Imagine mail list by sending a request to "spworley@athena.mit.edu" and you will begin receiving an Imagine specific thread. And if I can answer any questions, ask away, or email me. I have no link with Impulse, other than by the umbilical cord I have to Imagine :)... * Scott Busse email: O O O_ _ ___ ..... * CIS 73040,2114 ||| /|\ /\ O/\_ / O )=| * a763@mindlink.UUCP l | | |\ / \ /\ _\ * uunet!van-bc!rsoft!mindlink!Scott_Busse Live Long and Animate... \
DEB110@psuvm.psu.edu (Doug Bischoff) (03/29/91)
Uh, Imagine DOES have Keyframe animation... takes a little getting used to but after you use it a few times it's quite well done. Lets you change all aspects of an object over any number of frames. VERY powerful. Look again. /---------------------------------------------------------------------\ | -Doug Bischoff- | *** *** ====--\ | "I'm not God... | | -DEB110 @ PSUVM- | * *** * ==|<>\___ | I was just | | -The Black Ring- | *** *** |______\ | misquoted!"| | --- "Wheels" --- | *** O O | -Dave Lister | | Corwyn Blakwolfe | T.R.I. ------------- | RED DWARF | \---- DEB110@PSUVM.PSU.EDU D.BISCHOFF on GEnie THIRDMAN on PAN -----/
jlange@oracle.com (Jim Lange) (03/29/91)
In article <965@celia.UUCP> neil@celia.UUCP (Neil Richmond) writes: > I had a demonstration of Imagine yesterday. It was, I confess, the first time > I saw it. There were some nice things, but it could use a lot more. One thing, > is that I was wrong about the motion descriptor. You draw a path and Imagine > takes the number of frames you give and fits it to the path. No keyframes! No > splines! Big disappointment! But it is a useful way of planning a path of > action, just limited. They should implement some spline functions. You will probably get several responses to this, but apparently whoever demonstrated Imagine did not understand (or convey) all of its features. It does support keyframes. In the Stage Editor you can interactively move objects in designated keyframes and create new keyframes easily. Or you can enter coordinates in the position bar (channel) of the Action screen (also part of the Stage Editor). Some new menu options in version 1.1 allow you to "split" the position and alignment channels while moving objects interactively, thus setting a new keyframe for the object. Also, in the Cycle Editor (which apparently was not demonstrated), you create hierarchical motion using keyframes. Go back and ask to try the Cycle Editor tutorial so see how easily you can create a walking figure. Imagine has splines! All paths in the Stage Editor are splines with multiple control points. The only non-spline paths are those used for extrusion (and a special effect called "grow"). Version 1.1 now includes ease-in/out for path motion. You specify the starting velocity, acceleration frames, deceleration frames, and ending velocity. Although this is not as nice as the spline channels used by Animation Journeyman, it is still nice. > The object > editor is VERY NICE. It shows the most work of the two modules. ... There are actuall four modules: Detail, Forms, Cycle, and Stage. > .... I think it is short sighted to depend on morphing to do all your > character animation, like facial expressions. It means you have to make > targets for each expression. This does pose a problem for Imagine. If you constructed your face as a group with lips, eyebrows, etc as separate objects, you could use the cycle editor to animate expresions so some degree (limited to rotation, scaling, and motion), but I don't think separate objects in a group can be connected by faces so you can move a collection of points as one object and have a stretching skin connecting it to its parent. Jim Lange Oracle Corporation
Scott_Busse@mindlink.UUCP (Scott Busse) (04/02/91)
Neil, as I said, the acceleration/deceleration in Imagine is not linked to the spline function. The splines, which are only manipulatable in the STAGE editor, BTW, are used only to get a nice curved edge for the path. The nodes on the spline are not at all significant to the positioning of the object on that path. The positioning of the object on the path is controlled by the Actor time line in the Action Editor. I do understand what you're saying, but that technique does not apply to the way Imagine works... * Scott Busse email: O O O_ _ ___ ..... * CIS 73040,2114 ||| /|\ /\ O/\_ / O )=| * a763@mindlink.UUCP l | | |\ / \ /\ _\ * uunet!van-bc!rsoft!mindlink!Scott_Busse Live Long and Animate... \
neil@celia.UUCP (Neil Richmond) (04/03/91)
In article <5312@mindlink.UUCP> Scott_Busse@mindlink.UUCP (Scott Busse) writes: >Neil, Imagine does have both keyframe animation, and spline paths. Acceleration >and deceleration are not linked to the spline function of paths though, but >rather to an option in the Action editor.(Note the accel/decel is only >available as of version 1.1) As for the morphing being used for such things as I will check out whether there are splined paths. If there are, then the tools already exist to do accelerations and decelerations. It is a matter of placing your keyframes in the correct place and time. Simple example to make an acceleration using 3 keyframes and 30 frames: Keyframe 1, frame 1: Pick first position of object to spline.ie x = 0 Keyframe 2, frame 2: Make this frame identical to frame 1. ie x = 0 Keyframe 3, frame 30: Make a new position for object. ie x = 10 Spline this sequence of keyframes. If you plotted this it would show an accelerating curve. Roughly, like this: 10 * * * * * ** ** *** 0 **** 1...10...20...30 The higher the tension on the curve, the slower the ease in to the move and the faster the acceleration. A deceleration would be the reverse of this. neil -- Only 3196 shopping days left till the next millenium! Neil F. Richmond INTERNET: celia!neil@usc.edu Rhythm & Hues Inc. UUCP: ...{ames,hplabs}!lll-tis!celia!neil)
dtiberio@eeserv1.ic.sunysb.edu (David Tiberio) (05/04/91)
First, how do I subscribe to the Imagine mailing list?
Second, I just found out about the merge feature in Imagine. Well, a
friend of mine (Tomas Arce) wrote a program last November that does the
same thing as the merge feature in Imagine. In fact, a few authors have
approached him about implementing the feature into programs such as
3D Professional, etc. It is available as shareware, and is available on
People Link as "Clean Polygon". If anyone finds this program useful, I
encourage you to mail me with your experiences. It will clean polygons,
points, etc. He is currently working on many other programs that will
include an advanced modeling editor, similar to Modeler 3D.
--
David Tiberio SUNY Stony Brook 2-3481 AMIGA DDD-MEN
"If you think that we're here for the money, we could live without it.
But the world isn't too good here, and it wasn't always like that."
Un ragazzo di Casalbordino, Italia.Mark.Stuart@actrix.gen.nz (Mark Stuart) (06/21/91)
Thankyou to all the people who helped me with my first problem using Imagine (re: World Size). I now return yet again confused... This time the IFF brush mapping has got me beat. To get down to basics and 'experiment' I created a 100x100 Plane with 1 Vert/1Hori section (2 facets). I then mapped a single brush to this, no problems, with default settings left as is. It rendered fine, the brush was in the top right corner. So I moved and scaled the brush to be larger and centered, however, when rendered the brush mapped onto the top-right facet but does not appear on the bottom-left facet. I've tried scaling the y-axis, repeats, mapping to child objects, oh for a manual that made sense and delved into the necessary info :-(