United3dArtists Archive

richlevy · Post by **richlevy** » 11 Feb 2011, 01:30

The best video training for the program are the ones by Joe cosman, I have just about all of them, they are priceless for understanding the way to do rigging and aniamtion in Messiah, the rest you have to depend on Weg and the members of the forum.

Rich

ruscular3d · Post by **ruscular3d** » 11 Feb 2011, 02:24

For years TS was behind in true animation package for character rigging, but was ahead in modeling. This PMG close the gap with animation and a very fast rendering engine with SSS skin surface and really good hair feature. But get the pro version in order to get the auto rig plug-in.
Looks like Saturday will be the last day for the special. It's closing down the wire.

tylerzambori · Post by **tylerzambori** » 11 Feb 2011, 02:32

I'm betting on Sunday. I don't think it's reached even 75% yet....
nope more like 65% right now.

Benji · Post by **Benji** » 11 Feb 2011, 04:11

I can understand why you wouldn't want to buy this app, even at 40 bucks, if you've got you're 3d set sussed already. Learning a new 3d app to the point of being competent isn't a trivial exercise.

That said, this is only the second time I've looked at Messiah, and it's already obvious that it is many times more intuitive and rationally laid out than Blender (for my brain, anyway).

I actually requested at one point that TS adopt a tab system similar to the one in Messiah. It reminds me of another 2d app called Canvas, which had a great gui imo.

Personally, I've been looking for something to effectively replace 6.6 (okay, that can never truly happen

), and along with modo this looks almost ideal. Actually messiah is kind of like modo's evil twin, except that messiah is an animation program that's become a sweet rendering tool, while modo is originally a modeling program that's gone the same way.

If this deal comes off, I suspect there will be a few Caligari refugees bringing our warmth and charm to the messiah scene.......

ruscular3d · Post by **ruscular3d** » 11 Feb 2011, 04:20

If nothing else, if you bought 3 extra license that you would be able to turn around and sell it for twice and it would still be a good deal! In fact pay off for the first license. What the company is looking for is a bigger user base to build a bigger community of positive minded big brother for the newbies.

tylerzambori · Post by **tylerzambori** » 11 Feb 2011, 04:30

Benji,

I've never seen more warmth and charm anywhere else.

@ruscular 3D, I dunno about that...because now everybody else will have bought
a cheap license too.

ruscular3d · Post by **ruscular3d** » 11 Feb 2011, 04:35

richlevy wrote:It's a very good deal guys. I bought another license. The license can be put on a usb devise and use it on multiple computers, in my case, I am always using one of a couple of laptops and a workstation, for 40 dollars I get another usb drive and I can leave them in the laptops.

The render engine is a modified version of Arnold, it is node based, pretty cool stuff. With a plugin to use the MDD format TS would be able to swap animations back and forth.

There is the possibility it may take some time at the rate the bar moved from this morning it may happen sooner than I thought

Froo, you could always sell the second one, they have a very liberal license policy.

10 for the animation package or 40 for the full studio, it's just too good to not try, thy could not be so foolish to mess up with this, every site I visited this morning had a thread on this.

Rich

I want to clear up one thing the license is for each machine, so you wont be able to use the same usb flash drive for all your computers.

ruscular3d · Post by **ruscular3d** » 11 Feb 2011, 04:38

tylerzambori wrote:Benji,

I've never seen more warmth and charm anywhere else.

@ruscular 3D, I dunno about that...because now everybody else will have bought
a cheap license too.

There will be many that can't afford to do anything, or those that pass it up because the hype will seem too good to be true! So they'll buy it from you for $300

Benji · Post by **Benji** » 11 Feb 2011, 04:42

I want to clear up one thing the license is for each machine, so you wont be able to use the same usb flash drive for all your computers.

Actually, that's not true.

The license is dongle based, so if you tie it too a USB stick, you can theoretically use it anywhere (as long as the OS is the same brand). There are apparently some caveats with saving scenes between machines, that I don't really get just yet.

Also, I've just done some reading and messiah exports to FBX and some proprietary point cache format. You can also get a plugin converter for BVH files (export).

froo · Post by **froo** » 11 Feb 2011, 04:50

I read in the setuptab forums, that you can buy a single license, and install the software on multiple computers.
Then, take your USB drive from one computer to the next.

Regarding saving scene files, probably, a good general rule of thumb is,

save your scene. Then remove the thumb drive, and put the thumb drive on another machine.

BTW I just remembered, since I purchased 2 licenses... one is for a 32 bit system (my XP computer),
and the other is for a 64 bit system (the laptop). Sooo... hm. I guess I can't sell one of them. Maybe
I should've just bought a single 32 bit license. Ah well. There should not be any problems with passing
a scene back and forth, so long as it doesn't get 'too big' for the 32 bit app right?

JimB · Post by **JimB** » 11 Feb 2011, 07:17

I bought a pro license which according to the comparison chart covers 32 bit and the 64bit systems, so I'm hoping if needed I can use the license with a stick for both systems.
http://projectmessiah.com/x6/products.html"

v3rd3 · Post by **v3rd3** » 11 Feb 2011, 09:40

Math Path · Post by **Math Path** » 11 Feb 2011, 09:54

Yes, it looks like many folks take progress of this bar quite seriously now

richlevy · Post by **richlevy** » 11 Feb 2011, 13:45

In one day the bar moves up 25% (I think, it is all a blur to me), I wonder if today is the day? I'm gonna miss that bar

Looks like by the end of the weekend, it will all be over.
I am cramming for finals, and cramming on Messiah training videos, this one really got my long stagnant juices flowing again, almost to the extent of when TS was still in beta... sigh...

For those that purchased the pro version, this thing can do some really cool stuff, I have been purchasing videos from SetupTab and Joe Cosman since I bought Messiah back in 2009, I spent over 5 hours going through different topics last night just to get motivated

1 of the series was procedural animation for game engines, that one is absolutely amazing the power that is in Messiah. I used to love that TS was capable of procedural animation, Messiah is also, but on a completely different level.

Thanks for letting me get nostalgic

Rich

Délé · Post by **Délé** » 11 Feb 2011, 13:56

I've had messiah studio for about a year and half now and really like it, but I too wish there was more "free" training. Joe and Billy put together some great paid training (and they deserve to be compensated for their hard work), but I think a paid system makes people a little more reluctant to share information, thus leading to that "circle of druids" feel that Tyler talked about. When you pay for training, it doesn't feel right to turn around and share that knowledge freely (though there are still some very helpful folks on the forums willing to share their knowledge if asked). Hopefully a large new infusion of users will lead to more free-flowing information though. I think more free videos and such is also good for marketing. It gets people up and running quickly and shows them what the app is capable of.

Anyway, messiah studio is not without it's quirks. For instance, I hate the default navigation. You can change it in the "customize" tab though. I think the interface could be much more intuitive as well. Some things are not logically placed. For instance you can save files from the "file" tab (makes sense). However, if you want to save as an FBX file, you have to use the exporter in the "customize" tab. Not very logical to me. All saving should be done from the "file" tab IMO. There are just little things like this that make it less intuitive than it could be.

Once you find your way around though, it is a powerful character animation and rendering suite. The skinning works a bit different from other animation packages. It has an auto-weighting system. So to adjust weighting, it's common to add extra "hold" bones. If that fails to get the desired result, you might fall back to using effectors (essentially volume weighting). This rigging method can be very fast and effective for video production. It's not ideal for game production though since it can create much more complicated rigs with more bones, leading to larger file sizes. Luckily it does have weight painting too. That would allow you to keep a rig lean, but then you lose some of that nice efficiency that messiah studio lends itself to.

There is also the AutoRig tool. That makes it crazy fast to get a very professional rig for bipedal characters. All you do is position the bones inside of your character, adjust any weighting issues with hold bones or effectors, then hit a button. Poof! You have a nice rig with IK legs and FK upper body. You can even add/delete bones from the AutoRig and it still works. For instance, you might have a character that doesn't need fingers. You can simply delete those bones from the AutoRig before you press the button and it will still work just fine. While it can work, the AutoRig can be a bit cumbersome for game development though.

One of the really nice features is the "Setup" tab. That is where you rig the character. Having rigging and animating separate allows for some powerful flexibility. You can go back to the Setup tab to alter a rig whenever you want, even after animating! So if you start animating and realize that the rig is not performing quite how you'd like, you can simple switch to the Setup tab and alter the rig. So long as you don't delete any bones that have animation, your animation will stay in tact. Pretty slick!

Messiah studio is powerful, but with power also comes steeper learning. So put your thinking caps on. With expressions (scripting) you can create some amazingly powerful and intuitive rigs. You can create all kinds of effects like tail whipping, feet reacting to the ground, even completely procedurally driven rigs. It uses a C based scripting language. I wish they would use a more popular language like Java or Python, but it does work. You don't need to dive deeply into scripting to use it with your rigs though, you can just use expressions right from the "Command" tab. You can also totally customize your rig interface with buttons, sliders, etc. Very powerful!

The shading uses a node based approach, not unlike trueSpace. So that might seem somewhat familiar once you get in there. I haven't done much rendering, but I got good results pretty quick. I'm really hoping that Taron shares his skin settings some day. His skin renders are amazing.

Anyway, I'm rambling on too much now. I just thought I'd share my experience with messiah studio. All in all, this is an absolute steal at $40 and I look forward to seeing a lot of you over at the Setup Tab forums.

p.s. Here's a Character TD demo reel by Marek Schneider using messiah studio. Some amazing rigging!

3dfrog · Post by **3dfrog** » 11 Feb 2011, 16:12

Nice Run down Dele, right on the money. I forget that Messiah wasn't as intuitive as I was used to when I first opened it, but now it's like second nature. It takes a little time, but once you get the hang of it you'll see that it is a really nice interface to work with, and by time I don't mean years, maybe a few weeks to a couple of months depending on how frequently you use it and use the manual. This is a fast and powerful app. I have a feeling none of you will regret getting it especially for this price.

One thing you may be disappointed in though, is that when you import a obj the color info does not come with it

all your materials will be listed but the colors will not be there, so you have to recolor them. You'll have to reapply maps too. If you use lwo, 3ds, or modo files you will have the color come in, I do not know why it doesn't with obj but it doesn't and obj is my file of choice. So don't spend lot of time getting just the right coloring in ts if you are to use obj. But once you get it in Messiah you will see how powerful the material editor is for doing this.

Oh, and another thing, before I export to obj from ts to messiah, I turn on the bridge and use collapse mesh tool, this keeps all your materials nice and orderly when imported to messiah. The luvv plugin or froo's obj plugin will both work fine for exporting to messiah. I like froo's plugin myslef.

ruscular3d · Post by **ruscular3d** » 11 Feb 2011, 16:30

Benji wrote:
I want to clear up one thing the license is for each machine, so you wont be able to use the same usb flash drive for all your computers.
Actually, that's not true.

The license is dongle based, so if you tie it too a USB stick, you can theoretically use it anywhere (as long as the OS is the same brand). There are apparently some caveats with saving scenes between machines, that I don't really get just yet.

Also, I've just done some reading and messiah exports to FBX and some proprietary point cache format. You can also get a plugin converter for BVH files (export).

I am humbly corrected! You can run it on another computer. So the license is tied to the dongle!

trueBlue · Post by **trueBlue** » 11 Feb 2011, 16:57

Ok I bought the Pro version. Progress bar = 72%
Thank you Rich, Dele, and 3D Frog. Wasn't going to (most likely regretting not doing so) until reading your post. Never used a Dongle before. Sounds nasty like an EDD thing or something.

froo · Post by **froo** » 11 Feb 2011, 17:16

It's just a USB drive I believe.

Steinie · Post by **Steinie** » 11 Feb 2011, 17:23

froo wrote:It's just a USB drive I believe.

Lightwave back in the Amiga days also had a dongle....hated it!
Usually a little circuit board encased in plastic that plugs into your usb port.
You lose it your screwed.

Way to go trueBlue!

Steinie · Post by **Steinie** » 11 Feb 2011, 17:34

I bought the $40 Pro version for one very important reason....HAIR.
It doesn't list it for the $10 version and I didn't want to chance it.
Something others might want to consider.

(3DFrog doesn't care because Frogs don't have any...

)

Another thing we have to consider is if we buy the 32 bit version and a few years from now you updated to a new computer with 64 bit... $1100.00 repurchase!

froo · Post by **froo** » 11 Feb 2011, 18:02

I bought a single 32 bit license and a single 64 bit license.

Math Path · Post by **Math Path** » 11 Feb 2011, 18:08

Thank you Délé for the comprehensive overview of Messiah. You were kind enough to share very valuable hints, thoughts and experience with us newbies. Kudos also to 3dfrog and Rich.

I'm playing around with Demo version just now. My impression is, that the UI is not only different to anything we might saw before, but also seems to follow some sort of philosophy, which need to be explored first. I think, this philosophy is the key to mastering the software, and not plain learning the functions provided by certain buttons.
Nevertheless, I managed to change the GUI style and Gamma, which was kind of success.

Well I realize, I'm just one of those who are pushing 'progress bar' but we learn fast. So feel free to dig in and share more of this stuff.

trueBlue · Post by **trueBlue** » 11 Feb 2011, 18:29

You guys are confusing me. The way I see it is the $40.00 Pro version includes the 32 bit and 64 bit. I was not offered either or when I purchased it.

LeonRegis · Post by **LeonRegis** » 11 Feb 2011, 18:32

The problem is, I have the money on my account to pay for the 40$ version but I don't know how to put that on my paypal account, it says that want to attach with my credit card, but I don't have one and my parents neither, we use just debit cards, how can I pay Paypal with some kind of boleto?

JimB · Post by **JimB** » 11 Feb 2011, 18:39

LeonRegis wrote:The problem is, I have the money on my account to pay for the 40$ version but I don't know how to put that on my paypal account, it says that want to attach with my credit card, but I don't have one and my parents neither, we use just debit cards, how can I pay Paypal with some kind of boleto?

PayPal accepts debit cards, just choose to pay by PayPal when checking out.

froo · Post by **froo** » 11 Feb 2011, 18:46

trueBlue wrote:You guys are confusing me. The way I see it is the $40.00 Pro version includes the 32 bit and 64 bit. I was not offered either or when I purchased it.

Hm looks like you are correct trueBlue. Sorry about that!

marcel · Post by **marcel** » 11 Feb 2011, 18:46

LeonRegis wrote:The problem is, I have the money on my account to pay for the 40$ version but I don't know how to put that on my paypal account, it says that want to attach with my credit card, but I don't have one and my parents neither, we use just debit cards, how can I pay Paypal with some kind of boleto?

it is possible to open a paypal account without credit card. all you need is a bank account. but it depend of your bank and your country.
..or if you know a friend with a paylpal account, maybe he can help you.

marcel · Post by **marcel** » 11 Feb 2011, 18:53

trueBlue wrote:You guys are confusing me. The way I see it is the $40.00 Pro version includes the 32 bit and 64 bit. I was not offered either or when I purchased it.

yes pro is 32 and 64. But the most important with the pro version is the adventage of multi-core (the standard version is limited to 2 cpu only). and you have a lot of new functions on the pro version (hair). For 30$ more, it is a gift and i don't see the interest to buy the standard standard and limited version.

tylerzambori · Post by **tylerzambori** » 11 Feb 2011, 18:54

This is true, all you need is a bank account. You pay by paypal,
then the seller gets their money right away, but it could take a couple of days
for paypal to get the $ from your bank account. But you do get a paypal
invoice right away.

You can put $ into your paypal account, but all this takes more time.
It coudl take a couple of days to transfer money from your bank to paypal.
Don't bother, once your bank account is verified, you can just do the
purchase, and they will take the money from your bank account.

Paypal is very slow about transferring money around, especially for
refunds.

HTH

Tyler

trueBlue · Post by **trueBlue** » 11 Feb 2011, 19:00

Yes that was a biggy for me. Thanks!
BTW: I do not have a Pay Pal account and I used my Debit card to purchase it.
No problem Froo.

Délé · Post by **Délé** » 11 Feb 2011, 19:04

About the "dongle" thing. Yeah, you'll have to go out and buy a little USB memory stick if you don't have one. You could probably find one for a few bucks. I think the 2gig stick I purchased at Target a couple of years ago was only like $10. It's handy to have one of those anyway to transfer files. I use it for both. You only need it plugged in when running messiah studio.

As far as the licensing, they send you a file to run and it generates a Key ID. Then you email them the Key and they send you a text file with the license. You place that on the root of your USB stick and you're good to go.

It's a little bit of jumping through hoops, but once you've got it set up it works fine. I've even reformatted my HD a couple of times with no issues.

LeonRegis · Post by **LeonRegis** » 11 Feb 2011, 19:09

Thanks for the help guys, I'm checking out a purchase of 1 Pro copy, now I need to put the Debit Card data and my debit card is of a savings account, so isn't a regular account, I hope this does not interfere. I put the number of my card it is in this form: 000000 0000 00000 0000 and then I don't know what the expiration date is, I think it is something just of credit cards right? I put the number of my card plus the CSC (3 digits) and then I got two messages:
TOP: Card Number: You have entered an invalid or partial credit or debit card number. Please check your entry and try again.

Please enter a valid credit card or debit card number.

Please enter a valid Expiration Date.

I don't know if I'll be able to buy =(

Steinie · Post by **Steinie** » 11 Feb 2011, 19:13

My debit card is in this format xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx
it has an expiration date on the front also.

froo · Post by **froo** » 11 Feb 2011, 19:15

Hey Leon.
Your debit card should have a expiration date on it. Typically lower right hand corner, on the front.

Dele:
Question.
As I understand, one Pro license allows rendering on multiple nodes. I think though, we have to purchase
a network rendering plugin, correct? Whether we do need to purchase that plugin or not, my question is this:
If I want to render on two machines, do I need a copy of that single license, on both USB drives, and have
both USB drives installed while network rendering?

Reason I ask is this: if I only need a single USB drive, for the license, to use while rigging in Messiah,
and I do not need two USB drives, with 2 unique licenses, for network rendering, then I only need
one license. Correct?

Cool thanks.

Wow this is the most active this forum has been in a long time.

LeonRegis · Post by **LeonRegis** » 11 Feb 2011, 19:25

I found the Expiration date....

But the credit card number isn't working out, I'm puting all 19 characters it has: 000000-0000-00000-0000

But it says it's wrong or incomplete, I'm trying to search on internet but I don't find what is the ''card number'' they are looking for, maybe you can help!

Thanks for the Help!

JimB · Post by **JimB** » 11 Feb 2011, 19:27

I take it that your card is one that Paypal accepts.

I dont know if this site is any help to you?
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_debit_ca ... _by_PayPal"

LeonRegis · Post by **LeonRegis** » 11 Feb 2011, 19:30

I don't know, it's a visa card from a Savings Account Type, it's not a Regular Account Card, so I don't know...

pugman 1 · Post by **pugman 1** » 11 Feb 2011, 19:31

About this dongle thing , do you have to have one or can you install it normal and
run the programe

spacekdet · Post by **spacekdet** » 11 Feb 2011, 19:33

You can link Paypal to either a credit card account or a bank account.

I ordered Pro. Will I use it? Only time will tell, but it's worth a gamble.

richlevy · Post by **richlevy** » 11 Feb 2011, 19:34

Here is a link to the feature differences from Animate and Studio
http://www.projectmessiah.com/x6/products.html"
There are many very interesting features in Studio,
Point Animation, this is almost like a soft selet on the mesh so when you are animating cloth on charaters you can fix the pop throughs,
they have a brand new sketch tool you can use for plotting out animation over top of animation, adimttedily this is a pro feature, but it is fun to play around with ideas with it.
As Steinie mentioned hair
upto 16 cores
unlimited render nodes
FBX export
and others, these were the ones I like

HTH

Rich

tylerzambori · Post by **tylerzambori** » 11 Feb 2011, 19:39

LeonRegis wrote:I don't know, it's a visa card from a Savings Account Type, it's not a Regular Account Card, so I don't know...

If it is set up you take money from your saving s account, then you are fine.
Visa is one of the most used. The card number will be right on the card...

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 11 Feb 2011, 19:39

If your card is one that Paypal accepts then try using just the 16 digits on the right (XXX000-0000-00000-0000). Leave out the digits on the left (X's). If the left digits are zeroes that might work otherwise not likely but no harm in trying it.

LeonRegis · Post by **LeonRegis** » 11 Feb 2011, 19:51

I think I can't buy... I search and it's impossible to buy things using bank accounts and principally savings accounts from Brazil (in US that's ok)... just if I had an international credit card...

I think there is no way to do that, I tried putting the numbers as Finis said and nothing, there four zeros on the Card Number: XXXXXX-0000-XXXXX-XXXX

Thanks for the help

Steinie · Post by **Steinie** » 11 Feb 2011, 19:55

Prodigy had the same problem when he tried to setup with a hosting service
here in the States. That is why HostGator is in my name.

tylerzambori · Post by **tylerzambori** » 11 Feb 2011, 20:10

LeonRegis wrote:I think I can't buy... I search and it's impossible to buy things using bank accounts and principally savings accounts from Brazil (in US that's ok)... just if I had an international credit card...

I think there is no way to do that, I tried putting the numbers as Finis said and nothing, there four zeros on the Card Number: XXXXXX-0000-XXXXX-XXXX

Thanks for the help

Try calling your bank, tell them you want to make a purchase through paypal,
with your debit card, and tell them the problem about the number format.
Maybe they can tell you if you can use it, and / or what part of the numer is the
right part to use. Just a suggestion.

LeonRegis · Post by **LeonRegis** » 11 Feb 2011, 20:17

That's a good idea Tyler, but I'll have to wait till tomorrow, banks are already closed...

But probably as Prodigy, I just can't...

Délé · Post by **Délé** » 11 Feb 2011, 20:26

pugman 1 wrote:About this dongle thing , do you have to have one or can you install it normal and
run the programe

As I recall, yes you need a USB stick to place the license on. If your USB stick is larger than 128mb then you can even install messiah studio on it and have it totally mobile. Otherwise you just place the license on it and it acts as a hardware lock.

richlevy · Post by **richlevy** » 11 Feb 2011, 21:01

This is something that gets lost in the procedure of getting your usb dongle working.

It is a regular USB drive, you can place data on it, programs, files, just lke a normal usb thumb drive.

here is the important part.

WARNING!!!
DO NOT FORMAT your drive after you give the drive id code to PMG, it will wipe out the old number and you will have to get ahold of PMG and get another code(ID or whatever you are calling it)
Loose the drive, break the drive and the same applies.

Something I have had to answer a couple of times today, this was my best attempt though

I had some practice.

Rich

JimB · Post by **JimB** » 11 Feb 2011, 21:11

They have put a banner of celebrity names? Above the bar

marcel · Post by **marcel** » 11 Feb 2011, 21:16

- do the drive id code work if i install the soft on an external hard drive instead a usb key? i think it is better than an usb key.
- do the soft work if i put this hard drive on another computer?

jamesmc · Post by **jamesmc** » 11 Feb 2011, 21:27

JimB wrote:They have put a banner of celebrity names? Above the bar

WTH!

But my name IS Janet Jackson!

JimB · Post by **JimB** » 11 Feb 2011, 21:31

I think the banner to view "while we wait" means the deal is probably close to completion.

Math Path · Post by **Math Path** » 11 Feb 2011, 21:43

Actually 22% left. At this rate it will complete within this weekend. Now people are coming who fear, they would be too late if they still wait. I think it's quite entitled fear.

richlevy · Post by **richlevy** » 11 Feb 2011, 21:46

marcel wrote:- do the drive id code work if i install the soft on an external hard drive instead a usb key? i think it is better than an usb key.
- do the soft work if i put this hard drive on another computer?

Hey MArcel

You can do it to an external drive, I am not sure if they would recommend that, I have read stories of guys doing things like that, but I do not think it is recomended, for the MAc and Linux installs I am not even sure if it is an option. I would use a USB thumb drive, I have one of those SD thumb drives for mine, they hide in the slot and are virtually impossible to damage when inside. I used a USB for the dongle for awhile but it was a pain because I had to constantly pull it out, place it in the case... it eventually broke afer 1.5 years.

HTH

Rich

JimB · Post by **JimB** » 11 Feb 2011, 21:49

Hey Rich is that an SD card (in a card reader /slot)that you use?
Like this one?
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h ... x=59&ty=55"

richlevy · Post by **richlevy** » 11 Feb 2011, 21:55

JimB wrote:Hey Rich is that an SD card (in a card reader /slot)that you use?

Hey Jim

http://www.amazon.com/Sandisk-Secure-Di ... pd_sim_e_6"

One of those, if you have the slot (most modern pcs and laptops have them), the drive tucks right in and does not take up a USB slot. That may matter to some, to others it may not. I like it, out of sight, and out of harms way.

Rich

[edit] yes, just like your link. get one 2-4 gig and you can even stick the messiah install on it and if you have to you can use it on another system if you are out and about and your laptop breaks... or whatever.

JimB · Post by **JimB** » 11 Feb 2011, 22:00

richlevy wrote:
JimB wrote:Hey Rich is that an SD card (in a card reader /slot)that you use?
Hey Jim

http://www.amazon.com/Sandisk-Secure-Di ... pd_sim_e_6"

One of those, if you have the slot (most modern pcs and laptops have them), the drive tucks right in and does not take up a USB slot. That may matter to some, to others it may not. I like it, out of sight, and out of harms way.

Rich

[edit] yes, just like your link. get one 2-4 gig and you can even stick the messiah install on it and if you have to you can use it on another system if you are out and about and your laptop breaks... or whatever.

Thanks Rich I have a couple of 4gig hdhc cards handy,its just when people mention thumb drives I automatically assume it has to be a usb stick.

froo · Post by **froo** » 11 Feb 2011, 22:10

Same here; I was thinking, USB stick. I found one of these on the floor in a mall in Virginia. Heh may come in handy now.

If I can find it...
My PC is not so modern; I may need to resort to a thumb drive for it.

richlevy · Post by **richlevy** » 11 Feb 2011, 22:15

When you call for the license code, let them know what you have, I don't know why, but it seems to matter for the generated code you get back. I think that was what Paula had mentioned to me.

HTH

Rich

marcel · Post by **marcel** » 11 Feb 2011, 22:18

@richlevy:
can i use the SD card with "write protected on" to run the soft. just to be sure my SD card can't be erased by error?

richlevy · Post by **richlevy** » 11 Feb 2011, 22:58

marcel wrote:@richlevy:
can i use the SD card with "write protected on" to run the soft. just to be sure my SD card can't be erased by error?

Hey Marcel
I think you can... err... how do you do that

I sometimes use mine for external files in a pinch so I never tried anything like that. I do not see anything on the drive that allows me to make mine write protected. If you can give me instructions on SDHC card I will gladly test it for you.

Rich

richlevy · Post by **richlevy** » 11 Feb 2011, 23:10

Dang.... that is a VERY small switch!!!

Very brief testing, load Messiah (it is on the hard drive of the laptop) and load up a scene and run the animation... it worked. I also was not able to write to the drive...
I'll .play around with it this way for a couple of days and let you know if anything is bad about this idea.

Rich

marcel · Post by **marcel** » 11 Feb 2011, 23:32

Yes it is like the old floppy disk. i find that useful. If i understand, the soft is installed on a harddrive and the SD is used as a dongle. Is it possible to install the soft on different computer then use the SD to work with the computer i want (after the SD installed)?

Steinie · Post by **Steinie** » 12 Feb 2011, 00:13

A very quick overview of the interface of Messiah.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhq0nd0s ... re=related"

Rich or Frog
Once the goal is reached I would appreciate a list of tutorials that would help me
animate a character that you found well done.

richlevy · Post by **richlevy** » 12 Feb 2011, 01:35

Hey Marcel

That is exactly it, if you put the program on the SD drive you also have the ability of using the software on any pc. It is not as efficient, but I have used university pc's to use Messiah in a pinch. To cover what you will more likely do

Place the program on any pc in your office and home you would use the software on, than as a backup you also have a folder on the SD that has the program for emergency purposes. You are than covered in any situation. Thsi way you only need to place the SD thumb drive in whatever PC you are going to use the software in... it is that simple.

Steinie... easy, most people will say the same as this, goto Lulu.com, and depending on what you are interested in
Animation1 by Joe Cosman
http://www.lulu.com/browse/search.php?s ... Search.y=0"

This gives you a very quick but through overview of the tools needed to animate a character in Messiah.

If you are interested in creating your own rigs and developing your skills as a TD, go for the Rigging series (everything else, but start with rigging 1 and 2)

Do you just want to place a rig in a character, any character you have and go off as soon as possible... Autorig3
http://www.usefulslug.com/files/autorigger_tutorial.mp4"
http://www.usefulslug.com/files/AutoriggerCat.mp4"
http://www.usefulslug.com/images/autorigmanual.jpg"

A walker plugin, this is a commercial piece of software that allows you to quickly place together a walk cycle
http://www.usefulslug.com/files/WalkerFeatures.mp4"
http://www.usefulslug.com/development/WalkerSetup.mov"
http://www.usefulslug.com/files/WalkerTutorial.mov"
http://www.usefulslug.com/files/WalkerMouseTutorial.mov"

Tutorials from SetupTab.com, most of the tutorials above links came from here
http://setuptab.com/index.php?topic=485.0"

The above are just a brief description, a membership of SetupTab costs 20 dollars USD, with that you get access to all of the beginner tutorials at their site, they cover many of the same things and more, I think they say there are 40 some of them. So that means they cost you less than 50 cents USD each, pretty good deal in this inflation rich economy.

If you do the LULU route (which is a very good idea) buy 1, you are than on their email list, in a month or 2 they will send you a promotion code in an email for 10-25% off, than purchase some more and save a few dollars

HTH

Rich

froo · Post by **froo** » 12 Feb 2011, 01:39

Sweet thanks Rich!

Steinie · Post by **Steinie** » 12 Feb 2011, 01:45

Thanks Rich I'll check out your suggestions.

Pssst, I checked out the Cat Fur tutorial on the Messiah site and little did I know it was
a sex video!!!

I've attached an actual screen capture...

richlevy · Post by **richlevy** » 12 Feb 2011, 01:56

Are you interested in learning how to create motion clips, save them and reload the and blend motions between them?
Animate2 by Joe Cosman
http://setuptab.com/index.php?action=store;cat=2"
Smart Movement by Joe Cosman
DMorph with MDD
Compose Basics
Endomorphs
How to copy and paste keyframes

There is no one right set of training, some may be interested in the Quick tours or the long tour videos to get comfortable with the interface of the program, they would be a good idea, and they are free with a membership to SetupTab.com

I know this was a lot, frankly there is more, Joe Cosman also has some introduction videos on Youtube, others have specific tutorials for specific types of things on different sites around the web, the manual is pretty good for an introduction to some things also.
There is a wiki, and it has a search feature for looking up things quick when you have acess to the net...

Messiah does have enough material to get you going, it is just somewhat scattered around, coming from the world of Caligari and TS, you are al probably used to having information scattered around

HTH

Rich

richlevy · Post by **richlevy** » 12 Feb 2011, 01:58

Steinie wrote:Thanks Rich I'll check out your suggestions.

Pssst, I checked out the Cat Fur tutorial on the Messiah site and little did I know it was
a sex video!!!
I've attached an actual screen capture...

They are an interesting group over there

hehehe

We'll just keep that as a secret

Rich

Benji · Post by **Benji** » 12 Feb 2011, 02:48

Pssst, I checked out the Cat Fur tutorial on the Messiah site and little did I know it was
a sex video!!!

lmao....

froo · Post by **froo** » 12 Feb 2011, 03:49

Greeeeaaaat.... kitty porn....

marcel · Post by **marcel** » 12 Feb 2011, 11:00

should be a function to synchronize the repetition of a movement with the rhythm of music.

Math Path · Post by **Math Path** » 12 Feb 2011, 11:13

Hi Marcel. Do some search in their forums. I just typed 'music' in and found this

.wav files can be loaded in Messiah and are displaced in the graph editor. So you can sync your animation to wave form displace if you wish, as already stated you can also 'scrub' through your sound file

Here is the whole discussion: http://setuptab.com/index.php?PHPSESSID ... opic=529.0

[edit]: I found, what the guys are talking about in the documentation as well
http://www.eggswhyzed.com/messiah_docs/ ... eaudio.htm

Greenthunder · Post by **Greenthunder** » 12 Feb 2011, 14:14

Ordered a Pro license. At 82% now!

Greenthunder

pugman 1 · Post by **pugman 1** » 12 Feb 2011, 14:27

Hi i asked this before. must the programe be installed on a usb stick or sd card or
can you install it normal on boot c ,boot d

richlevy · Post by **richlevy** » 12 Feb 2011, 14:49

pugman 1 wrote:Hi i asked this before. must the programe be installed on a usb stick or sd card or
can you install it normal on boot c ,boot d

We just covered this in the last exchange with Marcel and myself. No you can install the program on any drive, partition and multiple computers you choose, you need to have the license usb thumb drive installed though to use the program. It is highly not recommneded to install the license on a hd. One of the things they had me do when I had problems with my USB, I had to send them the USB drive for them to confirm it not working... sounds like a drive would be a major pain to send to them.

HTH

Rich

Math Path · Post by **Math Path** » 12 Feb 2011, 15:04

Hi Rich.
You said "It is highly not recommended to install the license on a HD" Does it mean, it's still possible, if you want to? And why wouldn't you recommend it?
It seems, there were no troubles with USB thing at all if I do not use it. Sorry for dumb questions. ...Just confused..

pugman 1 · Post by **pugman 1** » 12 Feb 2011, 15:09

Thanks richlevy now i uderstand the hole thing
and thanks for spotting this

froo · Post by **froo** » 12 Feb 2011, 15:23

Hey Math Path.
It sounds like, you can install the license on your hard drive. But, if your hard drive dies, or your hard drive is generally good, but the hard drive sector on which your license resides goes bad and you cannot access the license, then you may need to send the entire hard drive to them, so they can confirm there is a problem.

I believe that is why Rich is saying, it is not recommended to put the license on your hard drive.

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