Existing users, 
Hi!
Many of you told us about the bad things about Animation:Master... some things are more or less true, some are not, so I as an user of Animation:Master for several years now will comment on some of your statements if you dont mind.
Some of you told us about their bad experiences with the support of Hash... the most unseen aspect of your comments were:
- Hash is a small company which cant afford a own support-team. So they implemented an forum and A:M Reports, which will connect you to the community (which is a very helpful and friendly one) and the programmers and even Martin Hash (company-owner) himself. If you have questions, especially the once like "Will A:M work with Tiger?" you should ask them there. In fact, many people did and I think they didnt answer you because of the 20 replies of Martin to the forum-topic... for all of you who didnt know that till now:
The latest A:M v12.0 and of course A:M v13.0 ARE available for Tiger.
One of the comments which really annoyed me is this:
"A:M has very few modelling features. Maya has many... why doesnt they get that fixed?"
There are quite many modelling-features available. Sure Maya has more, but you leave some facts out: Most of the modelling-features in Maya are for polygones and cant be transfered to Patches so easily.
Other possible reasons why they "dont get it fixed...":
1.) You keep the control over your modell if you do much by hand. If you dont like that, you should stick to Poser...
2.) Many features are available through free plugins.
3.) Most users like/love the clean interface of A:M which would become the same optionlist/overwhelming-thing as 3ds's GUI is if you add too much at the surface. In fact, A:M has many more modelling features if you work with it in the depth than you can imagine... nevertheless they are easy to access for the advanced users and at the same time won't irritate the new user.
"A:M is buggy."
I have to admit, that the Windows-version of A:M is more stable than the one for the Mac.
I cant tell you much about the Mac-problems there, because I use A:M at my Windows-machine. There I have to say that with the exception of Cinema4D there is not other 3d-program which is more stable than A:M, if you use a good and more or less clean system. I worked with 3ds and Maya at work and I had the same amount of crashes there too.
I admit that for example in version 9.x A:M was very unstable but that changed since version 10.0.
My conclusion:
The Cons:
1.) A:M cant easily communicate with other 3d-apps, because patches and polygones dont like each other much... but in v13, a new patches->polygones-engine is introduced which makes it a bit better.
The Pros:
1.) A:M has some nice features like the hair-system, the new cloth-system
2.) Great animation-set which can easily be compared to the one of XSI
3.) A good and easy to learn interface
4.) It has the most reasonable price I can imagine... 299 Dollars? Which other 3d-software package can be bought for that price? (Blender... that's it...)
5.) A nice community and a nice Bug-Report-System. -> A:M Reports. Your problems will in general be fixed within 1-2 weeks in the next release of A:M which can be downloaded free for one year.
6.) Update-costs from any version to the newest version (even v1.0->v13.0) are 99 Dollars.
My 2 cents...
*Fuchur*
Animation:Master
digital character modeler/renderer
Version: 14.0
A:M - Much better than many will tell you....
Feedback Type: Commentary
Contributed by: Fuchur Thursday, June 08 2006 @ 02:18 PM PDT
Product Platform: MacOSX
Used Product For: Over One Year
Recommend Product: YES
Comments
A:M - Much better than many will tell you.... - rambo47
I am a 7th and 8th grade art teacher, also teach a computer class. I received a grant for $300 for software for my classroom. Many of my students are interested in animation and are experimenting with Flash. I was planning on purchasing the Animation Masters software from Hash, so they could experience creating more lifelike animation. I have five new PCs in my room and would need something I could run on all five, though not necessarilly all at the same time. Could you please advise me on what software you would purchase? I would hope that whatever your advice is, the software would be compatible with Flash.Friday, August 11 2006 @ 08:30 AM PDT
A:M - Much better than many will tell you.... - Kerwin Rabbitroo
And now for the counterpoint. I made a serious attempt to use AM for over 6 years on a Mac. It is a PC program that has been *ported* to the Mac, not designed for it. It heavily relied on libraries from Microsoft that even Microsoft abandoned. When it became totally unstable, all Hash could see was "get a PC." Is that support from your vendor want?Support for Tiger? A year late. This meant they couldn't even run stabily on Apple's latest hardware. Hash's answer, "Get a PC."
Don't like their modelling tools? Fuchur put it best--their attitude: "Stick to Poser." (Never mind that tools like Luxology's Modo, Z-Brush, C4D, Maya, all run better on a Mac with more tools.)
Probelm with the way the implement something that causes it to crash under OSX? Their answer "Apple put us through hell." (Again, never mind that other vendors have long solved the same problems.)
Friendly User Community? Hash A:M has a very loyal fan-base. They will be happy to tell you why Hash is better than everything else, yet they're always short on naming real studios doing real production on A:M. Sure, they'll tell you all about the three or four Hash alumi who of made it into "The Industry", but they don't mention the thousands of others who will have *nothing* to do with A:M. By they way, if you mention that Hash A:M on a Mac doesn't run so hot, that "friendly community" will be happy to tell you "Get a PC" and if you don't like that answer, they'll be happy to tell you you're *stupid* for using a Mac to do animation. (True story.)
"Clean inteface?" Well, if you mean you can't find a function and that it isn't well documented when you find it, then yes, A:M is "clean." Some of us prefer fully customizable interfaces such as C4D's and Modo's.
"Cheap?" Yes, A:M is the lowest cost out there. You get what you pay for, caveate empor, etc., etc. How much is your time worth to you? How much is your frustration worth? How much does it matter when you trip across an A:M bug that destroys your work. Get used to saving a lot and often if you live with Hash.
I've used all of the major 3D apps on a Mac. That includes, Lightwave, C4D, Maya, Modo, Hexagon, SIlo, BodyPaint, Blender, Cararra, Strata, InfiiniD, RayDream, Hash. On PCs I've used XSI and 3DS Max. I've been coding and doing 3D art since my first short film in 1979 which was programmed on Textronics terminal.
A:M was once an intersting program. It's time has past and it simply has not moved with times. If you value your money and your time, STAY AWAY FROM ANIMATION MASTER. Any other program will likely be a better use of your time. If you want to be in the mainstream, invest in Maya. If you want a good basic system, start with the lower end C4D and work your way up. If you want to focus on modeling, look at Modo with it's new rendering engine. If you're a texture artist, then BodyPaint on the mac is a way to go.
Even Lightwave9, which, though it has a rocky history on the Mac, is an outstanding bargain at its current price.
A:M is not the only way to work in 3D. And if you outgrow A:M, you're screwed because it's modeling process and models are virtually impossible to import/export in a usable fashion to any other package (despite their "new" claims to the contray that they're now "compatible" with polygon-based approaches.)
Don't fall for A:M hype and definitely don't trust the A:M fanclub because they will defend their club chairman at all costs. Don't trust Hash and the speed of their fixes. I've waited over two years for fixes to Mac funcitons in A:M on the Mac that was working fine on the PC version.
Feel free to contact me on CGTalk (user "Rabbitroo") if you want the insight of someone who's been doing 3D on Macs for more than 10 years and has been using and developing 3D software for over 20.
Cheers and Happy 3D'ing,
Kerwin Rabbitroo
Thursday, July 13 2006 @ 08:18 AM PDT
A:M - Much better than many will tell you.... - Kerwin Rabbitroo
And now for the counterpoint. I made a serious attempt to use AM for over 6 years on a Mac. It is a PC program that has been *ported* to the Mac, not designed for it. It heavily relied on libraries from Microsoft that even Microsoft abandoned. When it became totally unstable, all Hash could see was "get a PC." Is that support from your vendor want?Support for Tiger? A year late. This meant they couldn't even run stabily on Apple's latest hardware. Hash's answer, "Get a PC."
Don't like their modelling tools? Fuchur put it best--their attitude: "Stick to Poser." (Never mind that tools like Luxology's Modo, Z-Brush, C4D, Maya, all run better on a Mac with more tools.)
Probelm with the way the implement something that causes it to crash under OSX? Their answer "Apple put us through hell." (Again, never mind that other vendors have long solved the same problems.)
Friendly User Community? Hash A:M has a very loyal fan-base. They will be happy to tell you why Hash is better than everything else, yet they're always short on naming real studios doing real production on A:M. Sure, they'll tell you all about the three or four Hash alumi who of made it into "The Industry", but they don't mention the thousands of others who will have *nothing* to do with A:M. By they way, if you mention that Hash A:M on a Mac doesn't run so hot, that "friendly community" will be happy to tell you "Get a PC" and if you don't like that answer, they'll be happy to tell you you're *stupid* for using a Mac to do animation. (True story.)
"Clean inteface?" Well, if you mean you can't find a function and that it isn't well documented when you find it, then yes, A:M is "clean." Some of us prefer fully customizable interfaces such as C4D's and Modo's.
"Cheap?" Yes, A:M is the lowest cost out there. You get what you pay for, caveate empor, etc., etc. How much is your time worth to you? How much is your frustration worth? How much does it matter when you trip across an A:M bug that destroys your work. Get used to saving a lot and often if you live with Hash.
I've used all of the major 3D apps on a Mac. That includes, Lightwave, C4D, Maya, Modo, Hexagon, SIlo, BodyPaint, Blender, Cararra, Strata, InfiiniD, RayDream, Hash. On PCs I've used XSI and 3DS Max. I've been coding and doing 3D art since my first short film in 1979 which was programmed on Textronics terminal.
A:M was once an intersting program. It's time has past and it simply has not moved with times. If you value your money and your time, STAY AWAY FROM ANIMATION MASTER. Any other program will likely be a better use of your time. If you want to be in the mainstream, invest in Maya. If you want a good basic system, start with the lower end C4D and work your way up. If you want to focus on modeling, look at Modo with it's new rendering engine. If you're a texture artist, then BodyPaint on the mac is a way to go.
Even Lightwave9, which, though it has a rocky history on the Mac, is an outstanding bargain at its current price.
A:M is not the only way to work in 3D. And if you outgrow A:M, you're screwed because it's modeling process and models are virtually impossible to import/export in a usable fashion to any other package (despite their "new" claims to the contray that they're now "compatible" with polygon-based approaches.)
Don't fall for A:M hype and definitely don't trust the A:M fanclub because they will defend their club chairman at all costs. Don't trust Hash and the speed of their fixes. I've waited over two years for fixes to Mac funcitons in A:M on the Mac that was working fine on the PC version.
Feel free to contact me on CGTalk (user "Rabbitroo") if you want the insight of someone who's been doing 3D on Macs for more than 10 years and has been using and developing 3D software for over 20.
Cheers and Happy 3D'ing,
Kerwin Rabbitroo
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Thursday, July 13 2006 @ 08:14 AM PDT