Mike.

But i'm curious about Animation price ranges . i have to give a quote to a client. but i have no clue how much to charge....

The client usually likes to know how much it will cost him. so hourly rate doesn't really gives him the answer. i usually prefer to give a "per image" price, taking in account the usual modifiaction steps. i like to bring down the price if the number of images to do increases. there are many prices. some charge 2500 Euros for a single image, but i'm talking of some well known viz companies who can afford that. some charge 400 Euros, and are in my opinion killing the market. i personnally charge 1500 euros per image. 1200 if there are more than 5 images to do

Thanks again Jim. but i have some difficulty to understand the thing transforming SD into 1024 wide. do you mean that if i render in PAL 720*576, square pixels, the result in display will be 1024 wide ??

Thank you for your help Jim. really. speaking about the final display's specs, i couldn't be precise, as the client doesn't know anything. he works for a housing builder, and only said me that he wants "a dvd to show the project". When i first told him about small format, he looked a bit annoyed, and wanted bigger renders. but i suspect that's only because he paied for the animation, and thus, has the impression that it is a scam if the renders are too small. and, as i am kind of a noob to anim, i couldn't be persuasive enough to impose my point of view. i'm seeing him this afternoon. i'll talk to him about that. because you're right, he will certainly ask me for modifications. and the HD format takes ages to render compared to classic PAL. Thanks again. by the way, what format and compression codec would you advise me to render the sequences in after effects ? (or would you leave the sequences uncompressed ?)

Thanks for the answer. yes i am going to use After Effects for comp. sorry, but what is "SD" for ? (i told you i was a noob at animation ) can PAL(720*576) ratio and format be big enough to show with video projector and normal TV ? because you're right, my renders would take a lot less time with this format. i'll stick to hd for the moment. thanks

I finally used MadCar. It's great. really easy to use. and gives results i couldn't have reached otherwise. Thanks

Hi, i"m really new to animation. a client asked me to do one. its meant to be showed to clients who would want to buy appartements. this will probabily be integrated in a website, znd dhoxed to clients on a tv. Question : which image format should i go for ? same for image ratio. for the moment, i calculate in HD (1280*720) but i wonder if it's usefull, and if the ratio is ok. Thanks

Hi, what would be the basic workflow concerning light cache and irradiance map, in order to calculate an animation with moving objects ? i mean what is the correct way to use the animation(prepass) and animation(rendering) modes ? and which mode should i choose in the light cache section ? i saw an old method in spot3d exemples.... please tell me there is a simpler workflow now. Thanks.

Thank you very much friends. your help is very usefull.

Hi, i want to make a car moving with wheels moving accordingly. Tha path is straight. it's only a rotation issue. If anyone had a tip that would be great. Thanks I have read things about linking an expression controller to the rotation parameter, but i can't get this to work properly. Thanks in advance. Mike

Thanks guys. Dreamscape seems to be a good choice, the price is also not very high. i would also like to test the Flood:Surf Frantic Film software. its price is much higher though....

Hi, note : i did use the search button before posting. if i missed the concerned thread, please forgive me and be kind to point me to it. i am making an animation, and the first sequence is meant to start viewing an animated sea from above, the camera moving towards the coast, where the project is located. i could point a "reference", just to illustrate the speech about the first sequence. http://www.waterfront.sn/flash.html I would like to know if some of you heard about some cool tips or/and plugins to do this (in work in 3ds max 2009 x64) i heard about http://charles.hollemeersch.net/Projects/24/oceanwaves , unfortunately it is only available for 3ds max 9, and that would only solve the mesh animation (which is the main subject), but not the texture water/foam subject. Thanks you

i'm not in texas, but i'd like to see some photos too !

do you have in mind to perhaps use it in some BOXX setups ?