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Thursday, October 17, 2013

FREE Character Animation Rig for Autodesk Maya
















+ The Online school for animation and vfx, animationmentor.com is giving away a professional-grade FREE Character Animation Rig that works in Autodesk Maya. Professional quality rig with intuitive controls and a simple design for Autodesk® Maya. Built for action with exceptional body mechanics. Great for animators of all levels. you can Download, display and animate the Character for your noncommercial, personal use.  

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Friday, April 05, 2013

MAXON Announces New Live 3D Pipeline Between CINEMA 4D and Adobe After Effects


+ MAXON, leading developer of professional 3D modeling, painting, animation and rendering solutions, today revealed the first step in its strategic alliance with Adobe Systems Incorporated, aimed at delivering a new level of integration between its powerful 3D application, CINEMA 4D, and Adobe® After Effects®. The recently revealed next release of Adobe’s industry leading software will include two MAXON technologies directly within the new Adobe After Effects: CINEWARE and CINEMA 4D Lite.
CINEWARE: The New Live 3D Pipeline between CINEMA 4D and After Effects, which eliminates intermediate rendering between applications, is made possible by CINEWARE, which establishes a bridge between the two applications. One of the biggest benefits to artists will be seen in a streamlined workflow, enabling them not only to import native CINEMA 4D scenes directly as assets into After Effects but also to utilize CINEMA 4D's multi-pass workflow as layers. Users will benefit from decreased rendering time because CINEWARE makes CINEMA 4D’s Advanced Rendering Engine available directly inside After Effects. With access to this functionality, rather than having to render every revision, users will now be able to work on CINEMA 4D projects within After Effects and see the changes real time. “This pipeline cannot be found anywhere else to this extent, and it will completely change the workflow of artists in the future,” says Harald Egel, MAXON’s co-founder and CEO.  
CINEMA 4D Lite: Also included in the next version of After Effects is a taste of CINEMA 4D's powerful workflow and toolset. This limited, yet feature-rich version of CINEMA 4D gives artists access to an exceptional selection of the software’s functionality. Since CINEMA 4D Lite launches directly from within After Effects, the availability of a full 3D application is expected to have a significant impact for artists interested in or already incorporating 3D into their After Effects workflow. “Now more than ever, our users have been asking for 3D capabilities in After Effects to enhance their motion graphics and/or visual effects projects,” says Steve Forde, senior product manager for After Effects at Adobe. “CINEMA 4D is a ‘go-to’ application for 3D motion graphics. That’s why we have chosen to work closely with MAXON to provide digital artists a fully integrated 3D pipeline that allows them to spend more time to create compelling, rich media,” he adds.

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Monday, February 11, 2013

Autodesk Mudbox 2013 - Review


+ Studiodaily.com has published a Review of Autodesk Mudbox 2013. In the last half decade Autodesk has developed Mudbox into the premier 3D sculpting and painting application. An integral part of the Autodesk Entertainment Suite Mudbox 2013 ships with a much-improved interface and, this time around, much better usability as well. While there aren't any new sculpting or painting tools in this update, the sculpting and painting workflow itself is enhanced. However, there is still plenty of room for improvement. From the start one of Mudbox's best features has been its uncluttered interface. But as Mudbox developed its interface has been slow to keep up. In Mudbox 2011 the interface received a general color-scheme update.

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RTT Student Visualization Award 2013


+ Last date for Submission is March 15, 2013. Get your creative caps on and let your ideas flow for this year’s worldwide RTT Student Visualization Award! Complete the short story below in your own remarkable way, using two computer-generated images (CGI) and showing us your skills in story creation, modeling, rendering, lighting and other associated areas. The winning projects will be presented to professionals and enthusiasts from over 20 countries at our 3D visualization event RTT Excite 2013.
>> More information

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Saturday, February 09, 2013

Lightmap HDR Light Studio Live for 3dsMax


+ The new HDR Light Studio 4 Live connection for Autodesk 3ds Max with Chaos Group V-Ray launches today. Artists can now light their scenes with real-time feedback using V-Ray RT as the ActiveShade renderer and HDR Light Studio's innovative interactive HDR canvas. Sophisticated lighting environments can be created in moments to perfectly light and reflect in your shot. It’s an amazing new approach to light V-Ray scenes, seeing the lighting interact with your materials in your final shot. 
This latest Live connection is a free update for existing HDR Light Studio 4 customers who already benefit from the wide range of connectivity including an Autodesk Maya connection which also supports V-Ray. Lightmap HDR Light Studio 4.1 including the new Autodesk 3ds Max and V-Ray connection is available immediately for £299 / $499 / €399 through the online Lightmap store or through any Lightmap Authorized Reseller. 
>> More information

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2013 VES Career Fair


+ Visual Effects Society has announced the dates for 2013 VES Career Fair (Los Angeles). Online registration is open now for all-day event of largest VFX specific Career Fair. Some of the top visual effects software companies will be hosting workshops to teach you how to use the latest versions of top VFX applications from companies showcasing their latest advancements in software technology. In previous years, software companies such as: Autodesk, Houdini, Adobe, and The Foundry all raised the bar with their presentations. 
Date: Tuesday, 23 April 2013 - 9:00am - 5:00pm 

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Friday, February 08, 2013

Maya 2013 Advanced Surface Materials


Dover Studios Launches Maya 2013 Advanced Surface Materials Visual Effects Training Video
+ Dover Studios launches Maya 2013 Advanced Surface Materials, their latest visual effects training video.Maya 2013 Advanced Surface Materials is a practical guide to creating shading networks in Autodesk Maya. This video features crystal clear 1080p high definition video. Through a series of in-depth lessons, visual effects artists, Andrew Hazelden and Russell Hazelden, share countless tips and techniques that will help you create more realistic shading networks.
Essential topics include aging a shiny metal surface by adding a layer of tarnish, using the Mental Ray IPR renderer to interactively preview shading networks, creating 2D and 3D procedural textures, adjusting specular highlights, exploring various ways to assign materials to objects, using environment maps to create reflective materials, and adjusting 2D texture placement attributes. Learn how to use incandescence and glow to simulate materials that emit light. This effect is often used when creating materials for light fixtures, television sets, and glowing hot lava. Discover how PSD networks can be used to simplify the creation of shading networks that contain multiple file textures. Advanced topics include: using light linking to control scene illumination, adjusting shader glow normalization values, viewing render statistics in the Maya render log, and utilizing shared nodes to make shading networks simpler to maintain.

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Monday, February 04, 2013

MAXON's Cineversity launches collection of 200 videos and tutorials covering CINEMA 4D and 3D animation filmmmaking process


+ MAXON is excited to announce that “JET Production Notes,” the highly anticipated collection of more than 200 filmmaking instructional videos and tutorials for users of Cineversity launches today. The series, created by Dr. Sassi, world-renowned computer animator, 3D authority and Cineversity contributor, promises to be one of the most comprehensive collections of instructional videos and tutorials ever created documenting the entire 3D animation filmmaking process from conception to execution. Starting today MAXON is releasing “Integration,” an in-depth 54-part series focused on advanced theoretical and practical introduction to help artists think in terms of production pipeline interoperability and workflow. 
The entire collection will be released over the next few weeks, one new section each week, starting February 4th. Highlights of the JET Production Notes series and each section (in order of release): 

 - Integration (release date Feb 4th) – is a 54-part, in-depth and more advanced theoretical and practical introduction to help artists think in terms of production pipeline interoperability and workflow. Using a structured step-by-step approach, it demonstrates the elements of integrating a 3D spaceship with practical footage. Included is new, state-of-the-art RED HDR-X raw footage and raw 3D models with instruction that allows members to create their own demo clip. Other topics covered include, creating 3D environments, compositing, and more. 
- Cinematography (release date Feb 11th) – is a 27-part, two-hour ‘crash course’ for 3D artists. The tutorial content focuses on elemental cinematography principles including the rules of camera use and lighting as they apply to the features available in CINEMA 4D. [Note: The Cinematography tutorial series received two Telly Awards and a Remi Award.] 
 - JET, Making of (release date Feb 18th) – is a 40-part series that takes all of the large 3D environment scenes in JET, including those with thousands of buildings, to introduce and breakdown widely used digital filmmaking techniques. 
- JET, Speed modeling (release date Feb 25th) – is a production-based series providing ideas and procedurals to create the background and middle ground for a complete cityscape. Based on the ‘Pershing Square’ scene in JET and using its set design as a base, it shares methods to quickly model detailed facades and also demonstrates use of the powerful CINEMA 4D MoGraph toolset to create 4,000 different objects – in less than a day. 
- Animation Techniques for Teams (release date (Mar 4th) – is a course in "non-linear-animation" designed for artists at large-scale production facilities or those collaborating from remote locations sharing video assets. Because JET was created solely by Sassi, this ‘bonus’ series provides critical knowledge and concepts for filmmakers working in teams that are not discussed in the other tutorials. 
 - Lighting (release date Mar 11th) – is a collection of themes that addresses the day-to-day challenges and mistakes artists make using 3D lighting options. 
 - Modeling Industrial Holes (release date (Mar 18th) – is a ‘bonus’ series demonstrating how the powerful modeling tools in CINEMA 4D provide options to produce specific structures, i.e., metal mesh filters and vents. 

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Saturday, February 02, 2013

LightWave 11.5 Now Available


+ The LightWave 3D® Group, a division of NewTek, Inc., announced today LightWave 11.5, the newest version of its award-winning 3D modeling, animation and rendering software for artists and designers, is now available for purchase at www.lightwave3d.com. A no-charge upgrade to LightWave 11.5 is available to all registered LightWave 11 customers via the LightWave 3D website. LightWave 11.5 includes new features and functionality that enhance creativity and streamline productivity for everyone—from individual artists and designers to large animation or visual effects studios. Some of the many new features in LightWave 11.5 include the Genoma character rigging system with modular presets, predator and prey Flocking capabilities, per-object Instancing control, and soft-body Bullet Dynamics with support for FiberFX. Also included are Interchange Tools supporting Adobe After Effects cameras and Pixologic’s Zbrush, stereoscopic and depth-of-field motion blur in the Viewport Preview Renderer (VPR), major workflow enhancements, and more.

 Some of the new features and enhancements in LightWave 11.5 include: 

● Soft Body Bullet Dynamics: Includes soft body dynamics for effects such as cloth, rubber, jelly or other deforming properties. Bullet meshes are now also reactive to bone deformations and wind forces can be added for rippling effects. 
● After Effects and ZBrush Interchange Tools: Offers a new LWtoAE button that allows you to select elements in a scene and see them in Adobe After Effects, including animation, lights and camera settings. The After Effects Camera can also be exported to LightWave to take advantage of the Camera Tracker in After Effects and to provide pixel-perfect matching between the two programs. GoZ technology for Pixologic’s ZBrush allows you to send models to and from LightWave with automatic node flows for textures and normal maps. ZBrush styling tools can also be imported into LightWave and attached to objects for interactive creativity. 
● New Interactive Modeling Tools: Provides new functionality and architectural advancements in Modeler for faster interactivity, performance, and tool development. LightWave 11.5 introduces many new tools like UV Unwrap, Edit Edges, Place Mesh, Slice, Thicken, and Heat Shrink which emphasize the system’s power and lay the groundwork for future third-party modeling tool development. 
● Fiber FX: Respects soft bodies, offers improved Z-buffer support, and adds bundling around guide chains to create advanced fiber braiding and twisting effects. FiberFX now also supports curve poly types, the sketching of curves in Modeler, and rendering directly in FiberFX without using the Strand Maker conversion. 
● Genoma Character Rigging System: Introduces a new modular instant-rigging system that can be used to quickly rig a simple biped or quadruped for animation in Modeler without the need for specialized rigging tools. It offers modular rig presets that consist of skeletal parts such as spines, wings, arms, legs, hands, and feet. Complete rigs for biped and quadrupeds can easily be customized using Genoma. LightWave 11.5 also expands its suite of Virtual Studio Tools for virtual production and adds support in the Viewport Preview Renderer (VPR) for depth-of-field (DOF) motion blur, node-edge rendering, and stereoscopic 3D. It also provides new functionality for Flocking and Instancing and offers many new workflow enhancements throughout the software.

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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Golaem Crowd 2.2, plugin for Maya


 + Golaem releases Golaem Crowd 2.2, facilitating distributed rendering and supporting Solid Angle’s Arnold. Golaem Crowd, the crowd simulation plugin for Maya.It includes support for Solid Angle's Arnold as well as improvements to ease crowd rendering. Golaem Crowd 2.2 introduces Golaem Crowd Render, encapsulating all Golaem Crowd rendering proxies in a single installation package for easier deployment on render farms. Procedural rendering plugins and proxies are still free to use on an unlimited number of rendering nodes. Golaem Crowd 2.2 includes new procedural shaders for automatic diversity generation in crowds. They are available for Arnold, Mental Ray, Renderman and V-Ray. All procedural rendering plugins have also been enhanced to support multitexture, opening the way to sophisticated texture variations in crowds. 

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Tuesday, December 04, 2012

IABC Launches 2013 Gold Quill Awards with More Than 40 Categories, Including Graphic Design


+ The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) has launched the 2013 Gold Quill Awards, introducing a number of new categories including Photography and Graphic Design. IABC’s annual Gold Quill Awards represent best practices in business communication across a variety of disciplines. Each year, more than 1,000 communication professionals from around the world submit entries to be considered for the awards. The Gold Quill Awards offer 46 categories covering a wide range of communication skills and functions. Categories of special interest to graphic design professionals include: 
 Photography Within a Communication Vehicle: Original photographs created or commissioned for a particular communication project to tell a story or connect with the audience in a meaningful way, including single photos or multiple uses of photos.  
Multi-Audience Communication: Strategies or programs targeted at more than one internal and external audience which align with communication strategies, demonstrating full range of communication skills and showcasing multiple areas of expertise.  
Other Graphic Design: This category is for projects that involve creating an organizational brand identity or other graphic project where design is the primary communication function. This includes cartoons, drawings, paintings, collages, montages, posters, displays, bulletin boards, mobiles, invitations, special signs, etc. that appear in: book and magazine covers, posters, organizational identity materials (logos), product labels and packaging, direct marketing, 3-D materials (T-Shirts, etc.) and illustrations. 

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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

KeyShot Free Plugin for Autodesk 3ds Max®


+ Luxion, a leading developer of advanced 3D rendering and lighting technology and makers of KeyShot®, the first real time ray tracing and global illumination program for 3D rendering and animation, has released an all new KeyShot plugin for Autodesk 3ds Max. This plugin is free of charge for all 3ds Max users. As a member of the Autodesk Developer Network, Luxion has developed a plugin for 3ds Max that automatically loads the model into KeyShot with all parts, groups and layers intact. From the file menu, the export is a one-click process that instantly opens the model in KeyShot. 3ds Max users now have the fastest way to bring their models into KeyShot, creating a cleaner workflow through the entire design process. With the speed of creating material and lighting variations in KeyShot, 3D artists have an increasingly efficient pipeline for rendering and animation. The new 3ds Max plugin can be downloaded here.

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RenderMask and VrayHDRITool for 3ds Max


+ Render luminance, RGB mask from selected objects. The script don't affect the scene materials, lights and render settings.RenderMask Free Script for 3Ds Max. With RenderMask you’ll be able to get antializased masks ready to be used in Photoshop. See this tutorial and start making progress in you daily work. VrayHDRITool is another useful free 3ds Max Script by Ivan Tepavicharov. VrayHDRITool is easy way to set VrayHDRI map. Select object with VrayHDRI map and run the script. 

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