CGIndia.Org : Graphics Magazine - 3D,animation,graphics,VFX,Competitions,3ds MAX,Photoshop,XSI,Maya,VRAY,Tutorials,Plugins,Softwares Releases,News

Friday, July 29, 2005

Houdini 8 Public Beta Download ***

Side Effects Software Announces Houdini 8 Public Beta

- Side Effects Software AnnouncesHoudini 8 Public Beta
Side Effects Software, is pleased to announce the availability of Houdini 8 in public beta. Houdini 8 delivers many significant enhancements to its expanding CG artist community with particular emphasis on dynamics, lighting and character animation. CG artists from around the world can DOWNLOAD the Houdini 8 public beta and run it for free as part of the Houdini Apprentice Program and learn about all the new features.
Houdini Dynamics
The Houdini 8 dynamics architecture is a powerful new addition to Houdini’s already renowned particle and effects capabilities. With rigid body, cloth and wire dynamics solvers available with Houdini 8, studios will have a wide range of options to choose from when developing visual effects. The rigid body solver includes the ability to bring in a fractured piece of geometry and hold the parts together until a collision occurs.
With the new dynamics architecture, Houdini is the first package that enables different solvers to talk to each other. For example, rigid body objects can fall onto cloth objects and push on each other realistically. Impact values can then be extracted and used by Houdini to create effects such as crushing the rigid objects or adding dirt maps to the cloth. Studios can also integrate their own proprietary solvers into Houdini to benefit from these capabilities.
Lighting Tools
Houdini 8 lighting includes new Interactive Photorealistic Rendering (VIPR) support for Houdini Mantra and IPR support for RenderMan (IRMA). VIPR makes it easier to make changes without re-rendering the whole scene by saving out a cache file that pre-computes the sampling and shading parts of the render process. VIPR lets you save multiple cache files for different render layers. These cache files can then be loaded as objects that are rendered even if the geometry and shaders are no longer there. Additional enhancements in Houdini 8 include: deep shadow maps for speeding up and improving the rendering of motion blur, transparent objects, colored transparency and tiny details such as hair; a light linking editor for managing light, shadow, and reflection masks; a new parameter spreadsheet; a render output dependency graph and much more.
Character Tools
Also, there has been numerous productivity enhancements to Houdini's character tools. For example, artists now will have access to digital asset rigging tools that enable users to quickly set up body parts for characters that have bones, kinematics and constraints already built into the pipeline. Enhancements to animation workflow and faster bone geometry help make Houdini a very attractive option for character animation.
Houdini's character tools are currently being used at C.O.R.E. on Disney’s feature animation “The Wild.” “Houdini’s rigging tools have provided incredible flexibility when setting up our characters,” said Dennis Turner, Rigging and Crowd Supervisor. “We can bundle up our rigs as Houdini digital assets and continue to make revisions and improvements throughout the life of the character, even after animation is in place.”
Download the Houdini 8 Public Beta Now

(Source:Side Effects Soft.)

Labels: Houdini

Skin Shading with Mental-Ray for Maya ***

Skin Shading with Mental ray for maya

- There are a few advantages of rendering passes instead of the whole image. One of them, is the ability to make changes to specific parts of the image (and save time). Only a few shading components require raytracing. This tutorial shows how to use a mix20layer material to render passes with mental ray...............................................Link !!!!

(Source: DeathFall)

Labels: Mental Ray

AutoSolids Version 3.13 Announced ***

AutoSolids Version 3.13 Announced

- Pace, Florida, July 29, 2005--AutoSolids, Inc.(ASI) has announced the release of Version 3.13 of it's AutoSolids and AutoSolids EXPRESS products. Version 3.13 includes support for AutoCAD 2006 and AutoCAD 2006-based products and improved foreign language support. AutoSolids is now available for AutoCAD versions 14.01 thru 2006 and all versions of Mechanical Desktop and Architectural Desktop.AutoSolids V3.13 greatly enhances AutoCAD's 3D abilities by providing

Fast, easy-to-use, constraint-free parametric creation and editing of solids
Streamlined, efficient user interface including AutoCAD-standard dialogs, realtime previews of all solid modeling operations, and flexible command access via toolbar and/or pulldown menus, command line typing, or AutoSolids' exclusive 3D Command Center
Specialty solid modeling functions such as cutting solids with open or closed 2D profiles, direct extrusion of text objects into solids, retraction of boolean operations, and more
Automatic generation of multiview 2D drawings via the QuickDraw utility
Realtime display improvements via the RealView advanced visualization toolset

AutoSolids runs INSIDE of AutoCAD, maintaining 100% AutoCAD compatibility at all times. For existing AutoCAD users, AutoSolids requires zero re-training and maintains all current AutoCAD investments of training and data, none of which is possible when switching to an entirely new 2D/3D CAD system.Version 3.13 is a free update for existing AutoSolids customers; all AutoSolids purchases include free lifetime version upgrades with NO maintenance or subscription fees. New single-user licenses of AutoSolids are available for $495; new licenses of AutoSolids EXPRESS are available for $295. AutoSolids and AutoSolids EXPRESS Version 3.13 are available now for AutoCAD versions 14.01 thru 2006 and all versions of Mechanical Desktop and Architectural Desktop.Time-unlimited demonstration versions of AutoSolids, online ordering, video demonstrations of AutoSolids' major features, and additional product information are available at http://www.autosolids.com.About AutoSolidsAutoSolids is an ObjectARX application that greatly extends the solid modeling, viewing, and visualization capabilities of AutoCAD and AutoCAD-based products. AutoSolids is available directly from AutoSolids, Inc. and from select AutoSolids resellers. For more information about AutoSolids please contact AutoSolids, Inc. at 800-255-5130 or info@autosolids.com or visit www.autosolids.com.

The official first party at Siggraph 2005!

- Join us this Saturday July 30th, 2005 starting at 9pm, at the Mayan Theater (1038 S HILL ST, DOWNTOWN L.A.), for the official first party at Siggraph 2005!Try to arrive before 12:30am or you'll miss all the fun! and just go directly to the VIP line and mention that you are coming to the CGC party. 21 and over please. The CG Channel party is sponsored by The Gnomon Workshop, The Gnomon School of Visual Effects, Hollywood Camera Works and CG Agency.........hmmmm Should have sponsored Travel & Lodging/Boarding of poor artist like me :D !!!!

(Source:CgChannel)

Turtle 2 demo at SIGGRAPH 2005

- Illuminate Labs will be giving demonstrations of the eagerly awaited next generation of Turtle, Turtle 2 at SIGGRAPH 2005. For all the information about Turtle 2 and the updated product specifications, download the product sheet.
Illuminate Labs will be at booth 963 at the exhibition. We invite everyone to come by and get a personal demonstration of Turtle 2 and sample some Swedish candy.
Source: The Illuminate Labs Team

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Apple Motion 2.0 Review ***

Apple Motion 2.0 Review

- Now in its second generation (and second year), Apple's Motion 2 is not a tremendous advancement over the first release. Version 2.0 includes performance tweaks, new integration features and several additions in the areas of effects, particles and behaviors. Nothing too major there. But Motion is a fantastic tool for DVD authors who want to create motion menus and video editors who need to create their own graphics, as well as motion graphics pros who want to use it as a powerful complement to their current suite of tools.Motion, of course, is not positioned as a replacement for any particular motion graphics package, and it is not, as some would have it, an " After Effects killer." For those who use After Effects , Motion is designed as a complementary tool. Priced lower than some large filter collections (much lower, in some cases), Motion offers a full range of 2D motion graphics creation capabilities, including about 200 effect and adjustment filters, a complete particle engine with 175 particle presets, generators, shapes, special behaviors for semi-automatic animation , animatable text, shapes and masks, audio playback in the timeline and more. On top of all of this, Motion is just plain fast, and has been since its first release. And version 2 is even faster, making it even more attractive.........................Read Full Review !!!!

(Source: digitalproducer.com)

Labels: motion graphics

NewTek Announced LightWave v 8.5 Release

LightWave v8.5 Release Announcement

-NewTek is pleased to announce the upcoming release of version 8.5, the fifth free update for LightWave [8]. This new update will include the following enhancements:

New OpenGL Hardware shader option using the hardware renderer in OpenGL video cards to display many of the render functions in real-time. Lights, light falloffs, blending images on surfaces, per-pixel lighting will all be available in real-time, with an option to turn this feature on and off.
New Parts-to-Surfaces tool allows for easier integration of 3D objects created in other applications.
New Multi Shift allows the user to do multiple shifts in a single edit with a history profile that can be saved and applied to other meshes.
Dynamics now launch a control window that allows you to switch to other applications while calculating dynamics in LightWave.
Particle dynamics have been improved for accuracy, including interaction with collision planes. A new algorithm also allows large dynamic scenes to load up to 10x faster.
104 new configurable keyboard shortcut options.

LightWave v8.5 will be available as a free download for registered owners of LightWave [8] in Q3 2005. For More information please visit newtek.com !!

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

EverMotion Released Two New Archmodel Collection **

EverMotion Released Two New Archmodel Collection

- Have you ever lost your race with time doing visualizations? Have you ever been embarrassed of unfinished renders, spending all night on the modeling process, instead of rendering? If you are an architect, and if you need to work fast but with highest pecision, this is the thing for you. Archmodels volume 5 gives you 43 professional, highly detailed objects for architectural visualizations. This is an excusive collection of the most realistic armchairs you have ever seen. Why waste costly time for making something that you can have from the best at Evermotion?
(Source: EverMotion)

Di-O-Matic Inc. annonces Facial Studio for Windows 1.5

Di-O-Matic Inc. annonces Facial Studio for Windows 1.5, the most complete software for head creation has even more great features

– DiOMatic, a leading developer of character animation software, announced today the release of Facial Studio for Windows 1.5, an major point release in the company's award-winning character animation product line.Facial Studio for Windows 1.5 improves the technical and artistic quality of facial modeling and animation as well as accelerates production pipelines. With Facial Studio for Windows 1.5, easy head creation is just a click away. With the Alias ‘s FBX interchange file format, you can export of 3D heads with custom defined shapes deformations to every major 3D application. Facial Studio for Windows 1.5 and its 500 facial controls is the most intuitive head creating software.Facial Studio for Windows 1.5 offers tons of new features to increase the PhotoMatching efficiency which allows you to create heads based on photos faster than ever.

(Source: Di-O-Matic)

CGarchitect Chooses VisMasters Commerce Solution

VisMasters Commerce Solution

- CGarchitect, the architectural visualization community’s most popular online resource, announces the addition of a new commerce solution, the VM Store. CGarchitect’s goal is to provide the most comprehensive and up to date online resource for the architectural visualization community. CGarchitect chose the VM Store, an initiative of ArchVision, Inc., to bring a tailored solution to its members and provide targeted product selection, presales customer support services, as well as a dedicated technical support staff. Since 2001, CGarchitect.com has grown from a few visitors to nearly 90,000 unique each month, all the while continually bringing exciting developments to the design visualization industry. “CGarchitect is providing its community with the new VM Store because of the great features, quality customer service, dedicated tech support, and most importantly because it’s designed with our members in mind,” says Jeff Mottle, President and Founder of CGarchitect.com.“It was important for us to team with CGarchitect on this new initiative,” states Magnus Lindqvist, Manager of VisMasters, “VisMasters was conceived as a way of helping the design visualization community. I can’t think of a better way of accomplishing this than by teaming with the industry’s leading community, CGarchitect.com.”VM Stores present the industry’s leading design products and content through a solution to professional designers. Working with the world’s leading developers of visualization solutions, VM Stores host software products such as Rhino, Piranesi, V-Ray, nVerse Photo, and Photoshop Elements as well as content from popular developers such as ArchVision and Hyperfocal Design.

(Source: CgArchitect)

Monday, July 25, 2005

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Burton Eye Candy

Several of the visual effects supervisors on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory tell Alain Bielik how they managed to incorporate complex CGI.

- Tim Burton’s fondness for practical effects is notorious. On all his movies, he has favored prosthetic make-up, miniatures or stop motion puppets to carry his vision, turning to digital tools only when no other option was available. When he set out to adapt Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for the big screen, he hoped that this approach would — again — suit the project. Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s story tells the tale of a young boy who wins a contest to visit, with four other children, the mysterious chocolate factory of Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp). The plant turns out to be a maze of magical rooms and machines manned by amazing little people, the Oompa-Lompas. Although the fantasy world of Willy Wonka was ideally suited for Burton’s unique visual style, it required the creation of a universe far more complex than any practical effects could achieve. “When we started on the project, we estimated the visual effects shots count at 300 or 400, but it ultimately grew to 800, the majority of which were created by The Moving Picture Co. (MPC),” notes overall visual effects supervisor Nick Davis (Harry Potter 1, Troy). “It grew enormously, and one of the reasons was that Tim was initially a bit hesitant about using too many digital effects. He wanted to do as much as possible in camera and use CGI only when absolutely necessary. For example, one of the most ambitious sequences in the movie involved dozens of squirrels performing very complex actions. We had three options to create them: train real animals, build animatronics or use CG animation. We hoped that we could solely rely on the first two options to create most of the shots, but the movements that the script called for turned out to be too extreme to be accomplished in-camera. In the end, Framestore CFC produced more than 70 shots of very complex CG animation, with Jon Thum supervising the effort. It was extremely difficult....................Read Full Article !!!!
(Source: VFXworld)

Gnomon School: Digital sculpting ' the human form '

Gnomon School: Digital sculpting the human form by Zack Petroc

- Gnomon is very glad to announce that renowned digital modeler Zack Petroc will teach a five-week course in Digital Sculpting of the Human Form. This course will run on Mondays from 7 to 10 pm, beginning Monday August 8th and running through September 5th. Those interested can register online, in person, via fax or postal service.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The ability to infuse your digital sculptures with life, realism, weight and balance is an invaluable asset for every artist that is interested in improving their character and creature design skills. This advanced course takes an in depth look into the creative decision-making process, and digital-sculpting techniques that make these elements a permanent part of your design vocabulary. Utilizing ZBrush and Maya software, Zack Petroc discusses improving rhythm, proportion, balance, and surface development through a greater understanding of human anatomy. The course will simultaneously cover a step-by-step approach that showcases how underlying muscles and bone structure affect the true form of the human body.

(Source: Gnomon3d)

Sunday, July 24, 2005

ClayTools for Maya released

ClayTools for Maya released in good time or SIGGRAPH demonstrations.

- SensAble Technologies, Inc. announces that its full version ClayTools system for Maya software will be shipping in the second half of 2005. ClayTools system for Maya delivers unconstrained modeling for high-detail, organic models; incredibly fast texture baking; and integrated and extensible touch interactions within Maya.The ClayTools system uses a virtual clay metaphor that removes the constraints of technical modeling, and offers unparalleled creative expression. The system includes the PHANTOM Omni device, a true 3D interface with force feedback. Users work faster because they use their sense of touch to model virtual clay just like real clay. The system is easy to use by accomplished Maya software artists, and cinematic and fine artists. Users can carve, smudge, and tug at models to rapidly create characters, creatures, terrain, and props in a way that is fast, direct, and logical. The system also includes special tools to speed the creation of large areas of surface detail on models such as reptilian scales, skin pores, or patterned textures.The ClayTools system also includes the HapticExtender/MY plug-in which, along with the PHANTOM Omni device, enables users to interact with 3D scenes in Maya. It adds the sense of touch with 3D navigation to the tools within Maya, and enables users to touch and manipulate objects, components, skeletons, and deformers, and to create and edit geometry. Additionally, the PHANTOM Omni input to Maya (values of translation and rotation) as well as a variety of touch related attributes, can be accessed through MEL to enable the creation of custom tools for modeling, animation, and rendering.
Related Link
Tip: CgNetworks

Vue Fusion, Integrating Vue 5 Infinite

E-ON SOFTWARE TO UNVEIL REVOLUTIONARY PLUG-IN SUITE AT SIGGRAPH 2005

- e-on software, the leader in CG environment software, announced the upcoming availability of a suite of plug-ins to enable seamless integration of e-on software Vue environments in Autodesk 3DS Max or Alias Maya scenery. Vue Fusion - the collective name for this suite of plug-ins - will be previewed at Siggraph 2005 in Los Angeles.Vue Fusion, Integrating Vue 5 InfiniteWith revolutionary features such as EcoSystems™, Vue5 Infinite is the leading solution for the creation of elaborate 3D environments. Vue 5 Infinite strongly focuses on power, productivity and inter-operability and naturally integrates and extends major 3D applications (Autodesk 3D Studio MAX, Alias Maya, NewTek LightWave, Maxon Cinema4D and Avid Softimage XSI) to provide a complete, professional natural 3D studio.The Vue Fusion suite of plug-ins for Max or Maya enable CG professionals to totally integrate their 3D projects into Vue environments. Thanks to Vue Fusion, Vue 5 Infinite environments will become a seamless part of the Max or Maya scenery. In one single render pass, Max or Maya elements will be rendered together with Vue elements, accurately matching shadows, reflections and illumination to deliver totally........................Link!!!!

(Source: e-On Software )

Saturday, July 23, 2005

Extreme Reality™ | Worlds Most Realistic Render Engine

Extreme Reality™ Worlds Most Realistic Render Engine

- Extreme Reality™ has been in development of their own render engine for the past 5 years [also named Extreme Reality™]. The reasons we believe this render engine to be the most realistic and the fastest EVER is because it is revolutionary from the ground up. Created out of necessity, Extreme Reality realized very early on in development of their epic feature film series that in order to pull off the shots they were envisioning, current methods were not going to be capable of producing the results necessary. So it was decided early on that an entirely new CGI rendering technology had to be created. "This project is why the company was formed in the first place", said Elton Sawyer Founder of Extreme Reality. "We exist to produce this project. The scope of this project is immense. To realize the shots for this film we had to start from scratch in every aspect. Most of the shots in this story have never been even attempted before. It was clear from the start that we would have to create our own render engine to pull off most of these shots. Not only that, we couldn't even use the same calculation process that today's render engines use. We started completely from scratch. Now, over the past 5 years we have gotten a majority of the work completed. Thanks to our exhaustive R&D efforts, as well as our partners and collogues from around the world, the open source community, and our friends in higher education. Without the combined effort, this thing would still be on the drawing board. We didn’t do all of this alone, some of the best minds in the world have helped." A full list of all involved will be released in 2006 alongside the first official press conference.
(Source: Extreme Reality tv)

Full 3D modeling step by step course of a Ducati 916

Full 3D modeling step by step course of a Ducati 916

- Full 3D modeling step by step course of a Ducati 916 with our visual method. A 3D modeling real case that will allow you to create your own professional 3D models. We also have a big catalog of 3D tutorials for other models: Audi TTR, Merkava MK II, Mini, etc..........Link!!!!

(Source: tutorials3d)

Thursday, July 21, 2005

FinalRender Stage-2 for CINEMA 4D [Under Development] ***

FinalRender Stage-2 for CINEMA 4D Preview

- Even though finalRender Stage-2 is a true platform independent rendering system - careful attention went into a tight integration for CINEMA 4D 9.1 finalRender Stage-2 respects the unique features and specialties of CINEMA 4D. Such things as CINEMA's native shaders and textures as well as the different light types and light exclude options are fully supported by finalRender Stage-2 for CINEMA.......finalRender Stage-2 for CINEMA is based on the exact same core as finalRender Stage-2 for Maya, in fact a production house using both products (Maya and CINEMA) can interchange the renderer as they wish. Even most of the render settings (approx. 98%) are exactly the same and can be easily transferred and reused between both products.As a standalone rendering system, finalRender Stage-2 needs to be externally driven by the main modeling application (CINEMA or Maya). The software part driving the rendering core is called a "Translator". Every modeling application needs its own translator plug-in to control the rendering core of finalRender Stage-2. Besides "translating" the scene data along with material settings and light setup, the translator also needs to take care about all file I/O communication and network rendering. Every package of finalRender Stage-2 for CINEMA 4D comes with a translator plug-in that controls the rendering core. A tight integration into CINEMA 4D makes sure that nearly every scene setting and material along with proper illumination is passed on to finalRender Stage-2..........................More Inside !!!!

(Source: Cebas GmbH)

Labels: Cinema4D, finalRender

Maxwell Released Sketchup Plugin

- The SketchUp Plugin for windows has been released by NextLimit after a long wait.The plugin is still in alpha stage and available in the download section of Maxwell Render forum.

(Source: NextLimit)

Labels: Maxwell Render, SketchUp

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

NaturalMotion Releases Free endorphin Learning Edition ***

NaturalMotion Releases Free endorphin Learning Edition

- NaturalMotion Ltd., the developers of breakthrough 3Danimation technology based on Dynamic Motion Synthesis (DMS), today announced theimmediate availability of the company’s free endorphin Learning Edition (eLE). Based on theaward-winning 3D character animation software endorphin 2.0, the eLE has no timerestrictions, includes all relevant product documentation, and offers a comprehensivesupport network via the company’s endorphin forum. The software is fully functional;however, it is motion file export disabled and is not to be used for commercial production.The eLE is available now through NaturalMotion’s Web site at www.naturalmotion.com.Used by leading production and animation companies such as The Mill, Sony ComputerEntertainment, Namco and Moving Picture Company, endorphin is the only characteranimation software to utilize DMS, a technology based on artificial intelligence controllersthat imitate the human nervous system. Unlike conventional animation techniques such askeyframing or motion capture, endorphin’s DMS technology uses the CPU to simulate thebrain and body of 3D characters, which allows animators to synthesize human movementsin real time. This approach produces directed and fully-interactive 3D characters thatessentially animate themselves with real-life movements that are unique every time; thusdramatically reducing animation asset production time.“endorphin provides an entirely new approach to 3D character animation that willsignificantly impact how 3D characters are animated in the future,” said Torsten Reil, CEO of NaturalMotion. “With the availability of a free eLE, animators will have the opportunity toeducate themselves on endorphin’s unique DMS technology and develop a valuable skill setfor the high-end industry. Equally, smaller animation studios can evaluate the software attheir own pace, and have the option to rent endorphin 2.0 .........................Full Press Release (PDF) !!!!

Download Learning Endorphin Edition

(Source: NaturalMotion)

Labels: mocap

Aladdin 4D To Go Open Source

Aladdin 4D to go Open Source with your help!

- Nova Design, Inc. is selling Aladdin 4D into Open Source! We're talking source code, trademarks, documentation, tutorials and everything! Nova Design has put the entire rights and source code to one of their top software titles, Aladdin 4D, on an exclusive offer to the Open Aladdin 4D group (www.openaladdin4d.com) who are raising the money for it.Aladdin 4D is a powerful, but extremely easy-to-use, 3D modeling, rendering and animation package that includes the 3D tools that you'd expect as well as many unique features like relative time-based animation, an amazingly powerful particle system, and one of the fastest rendering systems on the desktop.Nova originally purchased Aladdin 4D in the mid-1990s from Adspec, Inc. and then heavily upgraded and modernized to make it even more powerful and easy to use. Aladdin 4D has many advanced tools for professional 3D animation, yet its interface was designed to be easy for anyone to use. The source code for Aladdin 4D was designed to be as portable as possible. Adspec, under contract, once ported Aladdin 4D to the Transputer board and also did a special Intel processor rendering engine even. Aladdin 4D has already had it's rendering engine test-compiled under Linux, Mac and other platforms in the past. The source code is fairly standard C source code - no 'assembly' required.The initial money raised through donations will be collected by the Open Aladdin 4D group, headed up by Nate Downes, and will be used to purchase Aladdin 4D from Nova Design. Nova has set the amount at only $37,579.83 which, as they've stated, is going to be used by them to pay off old bills. Compared to amounts raised for other Open Source projects, this is minor. Also, any money raised beyond this goal will be used for site costs, and rewards and bounty programs to encourage porting and further development of Aladdin 4D. We have plans for Aladdin's future, never fear!Nova Design's own Kermit Woodall is participating as an advisor and has also agreed to turn over all of the source code for unreleased/uncompleted new features and modules for Aladdin 4D. Additionally all concepts and designs for other features will be freely given over as well.This project can succeed. Aladdin 4D can be saved from becoming abandonware and grow beyond the old 68k Amiga platform.Please visit the Open Aladdin 4D site at www.openaladdin4d.com and donate today. The sooner we hit the goal, the sooner we'll have Aladdin 4D on multiple platforms and being upgraded again!"

(Source: Openaladin4d.Com)

Labels: 3d software, open source

Basics: Introduction to XSI 4.2

Basics: Introduction to XSI 4.2

- Learning XSI has never been easier! "Introduction to XSI" provides over 6.5 hours of project-driven training and guides you through the entire process of modeling, texturing, lighting, animation, and rendering within XSI v.4.2. Ideal for enthusiasts, professionals, and companies adopting SOFTIMAGEXSI as part of their creative arsenal, "Introduction to XSI" provides a unique approach to learning the industry’s first truly nonlinear animation system. A free trial of SOFTIMAGEXSI v.4.2 Foundation is included with "Introduction to XSI" training kits - allowing you immediate access to explore the software and expand their skills.

Buy Now

(Source: Digital Tutors)

CDSL launches 3D Software Object Modeller Pro

CDSL launches 3DSOM Pro

- Creative Dimension Software Ltd have just released 3DSOM Pro, a new software product for creating high quality 3D models from photographs of a real object and presenting them interactively on the web. The technology is based on 3DSOM v1.0 developed by Canon but has been greatly enhanced in a number of key areas."With the new 3DSOM Pro release, image based modeling techniques can now provide creative professionals with a real alternative to time-taking hand-crafted modeling, or expensive digitisation of objects." explains Adam Baumberg, Managing Director of CDSL. "We believe 3DSOM Pro represents a real breakthrough in what can be achieved using these kinds of techniques."The system requires as input, a number of photographs of a real object taken from different angles. The images are loaded into the software and 3DSOM Pro then constructs a high quality texture mapped model......................................More on 3DSom Pro !!!!

Offical Website 3DSOM

(Source: DGD)

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Brazil Rendering System v2.0 for 3dsmax and Rhinoceros [SIGGRAPH 2005]

EXPO Sessions to Showcase Brazil Rendering System v2.0 for 3dsmax and Rhinoceros, and to Present a Tech Preview of Brazil r/s for Maya

- At SIGGRAPH 2005, SplutterFish LLC, a high-end 3D rendering software solutions provider, will team up with The Orphanage and leading software manufacturers, including Autodesk Media and Entertainment (AME), McNeel and Associates, and Archvision, at booths around the convention show floor. The SplutterFish team - along in some instances with noted film visual effects industry users of its software - will showcase the latest version of its Brazil Rendering System™ software v2.0 SplutterFish will demonstrate Brazil r/s v2.0, the latest major release of its award-winning rendering software. Brazil r/s v2.0 offers users powerful new features that include: 3D motion blur, render-time displacement, support of 3dsmax render-to-texture, enhanced GI features including render caches (irradiance, area lighting, subsurface scattering, etc.), core performance enhancements (memory, cpu, etc) and much more. Brazil r/s 2.0 promises to to be the most controllable, fast, high-performance rendering solution available while maintaining the highest quality output and artist-centric workflow top ..................................More Inside !!!!

(Source: SplutterFish )

Labels: Brazil r/s

2005 Architectural 3D Awards Nominees Announced!

2005 Architectural 3D Awards Nominees Announced!

- Following up on last year's huge success, CGarchitect.com is hosting the 2nd annual Architectural 3D Awards to be awarded at this year's SIGGRAPH Event in August. The Awards Competition is open to everyone in the Architectural Visualization industry to highlight the best imagery and animations done in 2004/2005....................................Link !!!!

(Source: CgArchitect)

Monday, July 18, 2005

Ballistic Publishing Releases d'artiste: Character Modeling

The definitive guide to 3D character modeling written by leading character artists

- 18 July 2005, Adelaide, Australia – Ballistic Publishing is pleased to announce the release of d'artiste: Character Modeling, the definitive 3D character tutorial book showcasing the astonishing work and technical skills of leading artists Pascal Blanché, Francisco A. Cortina and Steven Stahlberg. d'artiste: Character Modeling is presented in sections based around each master artist. Each section includes a personal gallery, the artist's work and thoughts in their own words, more than 24-pages of tutorials each, and an invited artist gallery featuring 94 character modeling creations from some of the most talented 3D character artists in the world.
Read More about d'artiste and pre-order Link
(Source: Ballistic Publishing)

Crowd!®, Dopple!™ and Shogun!™

- Crowd!® is a behavioral animation system that uses artificially intelligent performers to build animations for film, broadcast, and video. Built upon a powerful artificial intelligence framework called Neuro!™, the system is capable of controlling thousands of virtual performers in coordinated simulations running on a set of Neuro!™ Machines (distributed AI servers.)
Additionally, for those technically inclined, Crowd!® also provides access to the Neuro!Script. API.This allows you to directly access and extend the system using a simple scripting language to build your own functions and callbacks..................................More !!!!
(Source: Deathfall)

SketchUp - 3D for Everyone ***

SketchUp - 3D for Everyone

- Last Software, Inc., makers of the award-winning SketchUp software, announces the release of SketchUp 5. SketchUp is a simple-yet-powerful tool that enables everyone to design and communicate in 3D on both Macintosh(R) and Windows(R) platforms.SketchUp 5 brings heaps of new features to designers worldwide, including a suite of cool new terrain tools called The Sandbox(TM), which creates easy ways to model terrain and similar organic shapes, add roads, building pads and parking lots. The Sandbox allows the projection of 2D geometry onto complex 3D surfaces -- with ease. A vastly expanded components library (from 145 items to over 3,000) allows design objects such as windows, doors, automobiles and desks -- and organic objects like people and animals -- to lend greater variety and detail to designs. Enhanced sketching tools include depth-cued edges that make the foreground of a model darker than the lines in the background, giving it a more realistic feel. The end-points tool highlights the corners of a model, and transparency maps offer full support for handling and use of images and texture maps. An improved user interface with new toolbars and icons gives SketchUp a new look while enhancing intuitiveness and simplicity. This includes "Snappy Dialogs" in which settings panels stay together, a wider variety of keyboard shortcuts, and improved online user guides.

SketchUp Website

Aquarium Illustration Take Top Honors in Rendering Contests

Geodesic Dome Home Sketch, Aquarium Illustration Take Top Honors in Rendering Contests

- Luis M. Ruiz of LineSync Architecture was the grand prize winner of the VectorWorks International Artistic and Sketch Rendering Competition. His sketch of the D'hOME geodesic dome home was the architecture category winner and competed in an online vote against five other category winners. Ruiz used VectorWorks to create sketches and 3D models of the Vermont home, including recessed windows and doors, a stone fireplace and a sweeping radial-porch entry. To see renderings and an animation of the project,visit http://www.linesync.com/web/linesync1.html. All category winners are shown at http://www.nemetschek.net/sketch/winners.html. Dave Johnson, a graphics illustrator at Whitney Bailey Cox & Magnani, won the grand prize in Avatech Solutions' 4th Annual Rendering Contest. Johnson's 3D architectural exterior image, Pennsylvania Aquarium Night Shot, was designed as a marketing piece for his firm.It was created entirely in Autodesk VIZ software.He used Photoshop as a postrendering editing tool to add scene enhancements such as landscaping and people.
(Source: Cadalyst)

ProgeARC 2006, ArchT Architectural Software for IntelliCAD, Released in the U.S.

- ICADSales.com announces ProgeARC® 2006, Powered by ArchT®, for direct sales in the United States. http://www.ICADSales.com is offering a free evaluation download of ProgeARC 2006, running in combination with the ProgeCAD 2006 Professional CAD software, also available for evaluation download. ProgeARC's thoughtfully-implemented features help turn your best ideas into fully-documented and detailed designs. Quickly draw essential elements such as walls, windows, doors, roofs, stairways, water closet stalls, handicap stalls, structural grids, and parking stalls using ProgeARC's library of standard styles. Edit and preview styles in an easy-to-use dialog box, or even create new styles to perfectly suit a given project. To review or present your design in progress, switch to a 3D view whenever you wish. ProgeARC also features dozens of handy utilities to speed 2D production drafting. ProgeARC offers demonstrable benefits to your architectural practice that improve the quality of your work while reducing costs. You'll find ArchT to be the fastest, most affordable way to increase your productivity................................Read More!!!!

(Source: Icadsales.com)

After Effects & 3D Studio Max Tutorial

After Effects & 3D Studio Max Tutorial

- 3dKingDom posted new After Effects & 3D Studio Max Tutorial on thier website.In this tutorial I will offer the 3ds max user a cheat to creating a steamy effect quickly and effectively with little rendering time. This tutorial will show you how to create the effect while the application is up to you...........................Link !!

(Source: 3dKingdom)

Friday, July 15, 2005

CREST ANIMATION Studio's 3D Squash & Strecth For Pet Alien ***

CREST ANIMATION Studio's 3D Squash & Strecth For Pet Alien

- 15th july 2005; To any animator, the brief mentioned above would automatically convey that it was a plan for a 2D show. But it wasn't. US based Mike Young Productions was planning Pet Alien, a 3D TV series which would feature squash & stretch and a vast range of other 2D characteristics that were thought undoable for a 3D TV series.The show demanded feature level experience and expertise even though it was budgeted and scheduled for Television. This made it a tall order for any digital animation studio in the world, more so for an Indian animation Studio. In meeting the Pet Alien challenge the team at Crest Animation Studios outdid themselves even as their animators outperformed the rigs, time and again. Interestingly, it was the manner in which the rigs were created and handled by the Crest team that made it possible for their animators to perform.Animation 'xpress proudly presents 'Outperform that Rig!'a case study on on the 3D squash and stretch in the Crest Animation co produced Pet Alien........................Read Detailed CaseStudy !!!!

(Source: Animation 'Xpress)

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Digital feathers with Houdini

VANGUARD ACHIEVES NEW LEVELS OF REALISM IN VALIANT USING SIDE EFFECTS SOFTWARE'S "HOUDINI" ...Houdini Software Enables the Creation of Valiant Characters from Look Development Stage to Final Feather Interaction

- Side Effects Software, developer of the award-winning Houdini family of 3D software, announced today that Vanguard Animation utilized Houdini software to create new levels of realism in the CG animation in the film Valiant. Releasing in U.S. theaters on August 19, 2005, Valiant is an exciting new full-length CG film about a world of carrier pigeons braving the dangers of London during World War II. Key to the believability of this bird-centric world was the feather effects needed for virtually all of the characters. In order to create this visual effect, Vanguard selected Houdini software to achieve realistic motion in the feathers while providing an efficient and cost-effective pipeline. The process began during the “Look Development” stage where it was determined that the feathers would play a key role in the character design. Here, the Houdini team developed techniques for grooming the feathers and defining the interaction between feathers and clothing. “Each of the 30 main bird characters went through a rigorous grooming process to form the basis for feathering throughout the film,” said Rod McFall, Character Development and Pipeline Supervisor. “Houdini was the best choice of software to achieve the incredible realism and fine detail we were aiming for with the feathers and character interaction.” In addition, the interaction between wardrobe and feathers was also defined as part of the pipeline. Data was extracted from the clothing by using Houdini's Attribute Transfer tool in order to define areas where the feathers would need to push down. Because this tool works procedurally based on proximity, the interaction animated as the relationship between the clothing and the bird's surface changed over time..............More Inside !!!!

(Source: CGC )

Labels: Houdini

Polygon Cruncher release 6.63

Fixes a problem loading the plugin in Max

- Polygon Cruncher reduces the number of polygons of your objects without changing their appearance. You keep all details even at high optimization ratio. You also keep texture information, vertex colors. You can also optimized taking care of the symmetry of your objects.
Polygon Cruncher has an OpenGL view which allows controlling optimization results whenever you want. Polygon Cruncher uses an exceptional algorithm, which gives incomparable results, really better than what you can get with optimizer provided with 3DS Max or Lightwave.

Download Demo Version

(Source: MooTools)

Maplesoft Announces Availability Of nVizx For Maple

Maplesoft Offers Affordable Software Alternative for High End Visualization

- Maplesoft(TM), the leading provider of high-performance software tools for engineering, science and mathematics, announced today the availability of nVizx(TM) for Maple, a high-end visualization software for 3D modeling, simulation and presentation. With nVizx for Maple, engineers, scientists and educators are able to take large volumes of natural and synthetic data, add complex calculations and generate high resolution, dynamic images for analysis and presentation. nVizx is the affordable software alternative for high-end visualization. nVizx works dynamically with Maple, the most powerful and intuitive tool for solving complex mathematical problems and creating rich, executable technical applications, to rapidly generate precise, high-resolution images and objects. Images created with nVizx can be saved in standard graphics file formats and pasted into Maple worksheets. Designed by Splinex Technology Inc. and launched under the MapleConnect Premier program, nVizx for Maple enables users who work with complex mathematical data and multi-dimensional models and images to generate dynamic, high-resolution 3D objects and scenes from large data sets and complex calculations in seconds with precise detail on a typical Windows(R) personal computer. nVizx for Maple enables engineers, educators and researchers to rapidly manipulate and modify objects and scenes during research, development and pre-prototyping phases, without having to invest in expensive hardware or limited-use software. The advanced toolset and speed of nVizx for Maple empowers users to push new experimental and investigative boundaries by accelerating workflow through real-time detailed visual feedback.

(Source: Maplesoft)

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Hyper-Real Modeling Course Notes 2004

Hyper-Real Modeling Course Notes 2004

- This MasterClass will demonstrate effective, flexible and efficient techniques for creating hyper-real organic models. With an emphasis on polygonal modeling, this class will explore the modeling process from the concept stage through to pipeline integration. Learn strategies for creating creatures and characters with an emphasis on anatomy and realism. This class will teach effective techniques and workflows for creating models that can then be easily manipulated and animated.........Link!!!!

(Source: DeathFall)

"RPC"- New Australian Trees Collection Released

"RPC"- New Australian Trees Collection Released

- ArchVision, Inc. announces the immediate availability of a new RPC (Rich Photorealistic Content) library, Trees Volume 11 (Australian). This libraryincludes 8 trees designed specifically to accommodate the needs of visualizations produced for the Australian market. The trees in this collection, ranging from a Bunya Pine to a Sydney Red Gum tree, represent a broad selection of trees indigenous to Australia. As with all RPC Content,users of these new collections can take advantage of RPC Platform Tools for ease of placement and editing."The release of this Australian Trees library, developed with considerable input from theAustralian user community, is a true reflection of ArchVision's customer focus and will have animpact on the realism of our customer’s visualizations," according to Peter Blunden, Director of Archimaging Solutions. Archimaging Solutions is the authorized distributor of RPC products in Australia.ArchVision RPC Content saves design visualization artists and animators hours of production time by allowing them to add photorealistic entourage with ease. RPC People, Trees,Automobiles and other Objects increase the value of renderings by adding unparalleled realismwithin the industry’s leading visualization applications.

(Source: ArchVision)

Dosch 3D: Garden Designer V2

250 detailed 3D-models for architectural visualization.

- The realistic depiction and visualization of gardens and ornamental landscapes constitutes an important part of architectural planning and marketing.Dosch 3D: Garden Designer V2 is a comprehensive 3D-object library with all the important elements for the design and planning of a garden, or a particular landscape. The product provides the user with 250 3D-models of hedges, shrubs/bushes, fences, walkways as well as a large number of decorative design elements and potted plants.Use the product for the visualization of historic and modern parks, private gardens, public spaces in city planning, hotel/resort development, corporate headquarters landscaping, golf course design and amusement parks / theme parks.The 3D-models are provided in the widely-used formats 3DS, 3ds max (version 4 and higer), OBJ, LWO (Lighwave version 6 and higher), Maya (V4 and higher), VRML and Cinema 4D (version 7 and higher). They can therefore be used in most 3D-applications.Dosch 3D: Garden Designer V2 is compatible with Windows and Mac computers and is priced at 119.00 USD / 99.00 EUR.

(Source: Dosch Design)

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

The BBC THREE New Animation Award ****

Reminder - 51 Days left to apply

- You are an up-and-coming animator brimming with distinctive ideas and looking for someone to screen your animated film. BBC THREE has the answer: we're looking for fresh and innovative animators capable of wowing our audiences with their killer creations.
All finalists will have their work shown on BBC THREE and showcased at both the Brief Encounters Short Film Festival and the Bradford Animation Festival. What's more, the overall winner may also receive funding to develop an animation project. Come on - turn your ideas into reality.In 2003 it was 'Hobbies' which wowed the judges and the winners have since developed 6 brand new animations for BBC Three. Watch them in New Hobbies.
BBC New Animators awards Link
(Source: BBC New Talent)

Interview of Vitaly S. Alexius at 3dexcellence.com **

Interview of Vitaly S. Alexius at 3dexcellence.com

- "Vitaly" ; I used to be a conventional painter, but about 2 years ago I ‘converted’ to a digital one, when I first opened Photoshop and was rather captivated by its shiny options and colors that simply can’t be mixed with oils as fast. I still make acrylic paintings from time to time, as commissions, but I’m more inclined toward the speed of the digital - the fast process of painting, that doesn’t require buying new paints, canvasses or brushes, and the immediate process of showcase anywhere in the world via the endless vastness of the Internet...............Read More!!

(Source: 3dExcellence)

CGU Reviews | 3dtotal DVD Training Vol 1

CGU Reviews 3dtotal DVD Training Vol 1

- CgUnderground reviewed 3dtotal.com New training DVD...This first tutorial DVD from 3Dtotal.com taps into 3D Studio Max and its counter part Adobe Photoshop. It’s pretty rare, if you use one without using the other. What? It’s recommended that I should copy the entire DVD to my hard drive? Well I could ignore this step and start, but it was a bit laggy and 3D total did recommend that I copy the full contents to my hard drive before I began. Now where to find some space, on this computer… Opening up the DVD interface, you are smacked with an impressive organized navigation. Its not to fancy, but gets the job done and done well. This first visual sets the tone for the rest of the DVD, “organized and intuitive”. This DVD is stuffed with multiple learning types and paths. For example: If you are not a fan of the staring at a screen shot and reading text until the wee hours in the morning, then just move your mouse pointer towards the lower menu of the DVD and click on the High Quality, easy-to-follow video that corresponds to the lesson you are viewing. The videos have a decent pace, and if they zoom ahead, no worries. Stop, pause rewind it all to where you need it. And it does it at a good speed because it is on your hard drive... The interface is very familiar, the menu opens up in your favorite browser and reads like an HTML page. All of your content is on the spot, easy to find and the videos are set up for super fast viewing. (*note one downside to the videos was that we could not resize the video to fit up on our screen with max at the same time.) Another step was taken to give even the note takers an outlet for learning. There are PDF printable versions of each lesson available. This makes it easy to take this on the go. Read while you are on the Train into work, read while you are.................................Read full Review !!!!
(Source: CgUnderground)

CometDIGITAL announced cMusleSystem for MAYA

CometDIGITAL announced cMusleSystem for MAYA

- Comet Digital is pleased to announce the Comet Muscle System for Maya. The Comet Muscle System, or "cMuscleSystem" is a plug-in suite for Maya that provides a high-quality and affordable alternative to standard Maya skin deformation as well as other powerful features. Muscle deformation and skin deformation are provided including both true sticky and sliding effects, skin jiggle, and relax/wrinkle type effects. The entire plug-in suite contains three deformers, five helper nodes and six new API MEL commands. Combined, these tools create one of the most powerful high end muscle solutions commercially available. In addition, the entire toolset is flexible enough to be used for other setup and rigging purposes such as creating spline based rigs, generic jiggle effects or point caching. Many features can be used independently on any object, even if you are not doing muscle deformation. The entire muscle system can be applied above existing Maya skinClusters for limited functionality. In addition, the plug-in provides an automated way to easily convert or replace existing Maya skinCluster deformed objects to the Comet Muscle System. This gives you a quick and easy way to utilize existing work, adding the full power of the cMuscleSystem toolset.

(Website Link)

Monday, July 11, 2005

GLITCH' Montreal Short Film Festival ***

GLITCH' Montreal Short Film Festival!

- For a sixth consecutive year, the Glitch continues its mission of promoting and distributing independent short film production to a growing and diversified public.
Opening of the submissions for the 6th edition
The call for entries for the 6th edition of the Glitch Montreal Short Film Festival has been launched! We are now accepting submissions for the festival which will take place in the fall. We are looking for short films for the following two categories:

Short Films of 3 to 10 minutes
Short Films of 3 minutes or less

More than ever, Glitch has become a promoter of independent film production and in this 6th edition, we are offering participants the chance to win over 5500$ in cash and prizes!
To submit your film, simply fill out our online application.The deadline for the reception of the short films is August 1st 2005.

VFxBlog Interview's: Paul Franklin on 'Batman Begins'

VFxBlog Interview's: Paul Franklin on 'Batman Begins'

- Double Negative visual effects supervisor Paul Franklin talks to vfxblog about his studio's massive undertaking for Batman Begins. Click here for a photo gallery of Double Negative's work from the film with before-and-after images and captions.

Q. Did you know what you were getting yourself into when you started this show?
Ans. Well, we were approached by visual effects supervisor Janek Sirrs back in October 2003, who gave me a call then to tell me this project was in the offing. I'd worked with Janek before on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which was a notoriously crazy project for everyone who was involved in that, so I had a little bit of an inkling about what we were getting into, but we were all kind of hoping ............................................Read full interview !!!!

(Source: VfxBlog)

CGToolkit to launch it's first book, "The Art of Rigging"

CGToolkit to launch it's first book, "The Art of Rigging"

- CG Toolkit© announced today that it is entering into the publishing arena with it's debut text, The Art of Rigging. Hot on the heels of the critically acclaimed, The Making of Leon DVD set, The Art of Rigging is the first book in a three-part series that teaches the theory and practices used by professional technical directors in Alias Maya. The Art of Rigging, volume one, is a beautiful text printed at the highest quality in full color. The text presents what is often considered to be a confusing topic in a clear and concise manner that will truly benefit both students and professionals. Because each chapter is designed to become progressively more advanced, readers can quickly find the information they need regardless of whether they are at a novice or professional level.Included with the book is a DVD-based training course with over 30 video lectures spanning every major topic from the book. This DVD is an unprecedented value giving readers over 9 hours of quality training material at no extra cost. The DVD features many Maya scene files, including many original creatures (and their rigs) that were designed especially for this book. To help prospective technical directors learn how to harness the power of Maya's Embedded Language or 'MEL', every chapter in The Art Of Rigging includes full coverage of the creation of a custom script. Line-by-line breakdowns help to demystify complex script creation and will inspire readers to get started writing their own Maya programs. Seasoned MEL scripters will benefit from getting an inside look at alternative programming techniques. No current MEL texts include in-depth discussion of advanced techniques like file I/O, recursion, multi-dimensional arrays and matrices.The Art of Rigging Volume One will go on sale at www.cgtoolkit.com for $59.99 USD. The second and third volumes are currently in production and will be announced at a later date.

(Source: CgtoolKit.Com)

Saturday, July 09, 2005

YafRay 0.0.8 released! ***

YafRay 0.0.8 released!

- Finally! after almost a year, the new version of Yafray (0.0.8) is out. I (jandro) am guilty of all this delay, and eeshlo is the guy to give thanks for almost everything in this new release. Key features are:

- BRDF and anisotropic materials support

- Light dispersion

- OpenEXR format support

- More camera projection modes

- Ambient occlusion

- Multi-cpu render is backMost important new things are the BRDF stuff and all the shading work done by eeshlo as well as the corresponding Blender material compatibility. You will also notice speed up, lot of bugfixes and that we have multiprocessor support back. Check the ChangeLog for a complete feature list.Please report problems in there forum

(Source: YafRay.org)

Labels: Blender

GIANT KILLER ROBOTS STUNNING FX FOR FANTASTIC FOUR

GIANT KILLER ROBOTS UNVEILS STUNNING PHOTO-REAL VISUAL EFFECTS
FOR 20th CENTURY FOX'S, FANTASTIC FOUR

- SAN FRANCISCO - July 8, 2005 - Giant Killer Robots (GKR), an Oscar and Emmy award-winning visual effects boutique in San Francisco, is lead VFX house for 20th Century Fox's highly anticipated summer blockbuster, Fantastic Four, opening nationwide today. As the primary VFX vendor, GKR delivered the film's most challenging and photo-realistic effects. GKR created and developed the intricate fire tools used for the Human Torch and the evil Dr. Doom's Death Ray powers. GKR also created a virtual New York City for the key action sequences.Due to the immense technical difficulties of creating believable characters, particularly the Human Torch, die-hard fans of Marvel Comic's have waited for decades for the fantastic foursome to appear on Hollywood's big screen----until now. GKR's crack team pioneered the way, building proprietary tools and techniques that vividly brought the Fantastic Four to life. GKR had the arduous task of delivering the most complex and technically challenging shots:

-All the fire effects associated with Johnny Storm a.k.a. the Human Torch;

-Dr. Doom's power to absorb and re-direct electricity;

-The Virtual Manhattan environment where the colossal battle and chase sequences takes place.

"Bringing the classic comic book superheroes and their arch-rival, Dr. Doom, to the big screen was a Herculean task - a long-time in the making," said Pete Oberdorfer, F4 VFX Supervisor and founding partner of Giant Killer Robots. "We knew that the legions of Fantastic Four fans would hold us to an exceptionally high standard and we did not want to disappoint them." For the Human Torch, GKR invented a first-of-its-kind effect to successfully capture the organic properties of fire, generating natural-looking flames. Using a 3D laser scan of the actor, GKR developed a 3D model to perform superhuman stunts, then applied their breakthrough tools that simulate the laws of fluid dynamics to recreate the unique look, feel and movement of fire - transforming the model into the Human Torch. Dr. Doom and the evil energy he projects from his hands is a landmark of comic book villainy. Knowing this, GKR worked directly with the director Tim Story to maintain Doom's old school menace and update it with cutting edge technology. Wanting to stay within the laws of physics and have a spectacular effect was an especially difficult challenge. In the end, Dr. Doom's diabolical power stays true to its comic book beginnings, yet updates it for a twenty-first century audience. For the pivotal fight scenes in and above New York City, GKR developed a photo-realistic, immersive environment. The movie's script called for many events that were physically impossible to shoot in New York City. Thus, a virtual New York was needed to allow the characters to fall from the sky, shoot down city streets, and cause havoc in downtown Manhattan. In order to map out the look and feel of New York, GKR used a helicopter to capture aerial footage of the city's skyline and took thousands of photos from building tops and at street level. From this library of raw materials, GKR was able to recreate the distinct character of New York City. "From the beginning, we knew this project required state-of-the-art visual effects. We needed the Johnny's and Doom's superpowers to look awesome," said Kurt Williams, Visual Effects Director, Fantastic Four. "I've worked with GKR before, and I knew they would deliver the goods. Their work looks spectacular."In total, GKR generated nearly 200 shots that are in the feature film. GKR continues to win high-profile projects and create technically challenging, innovative, and imaginative visual effects. Their past credits include: Son of the Mask (New Line Cinema), Blade Trinity (New Line Cinema), The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutions (Warner Bros.), Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo 2 (Warner Bros.), League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (20th Century Fox), Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (C2 Pictures), the Oscar-winning What Dreams May Come (Warner Bros.), and the Emmy-winning Dreamkeeper (Hallmark) mini-series.

(Source: GKR )

Free Vue 5 Infinite Trial Version

Free Vue 5 Infinite Trial Version

- Vue 5 Infinite is the most efficient and advanced solution for creating, animating and rendering natural 3D environments. Vue 5 Infinite naturally integrates and extends all major 3D applications* to provide a complete, professional natural 3D studio.Specifically designed for professionals, it combines a multitude of cutting-edge features that easily integrate with your workflow. With its intuitive, production-oriented layout, you will quickly create and enhance your production with rich EcoSystems™ of wind-swept trees and plants, volumetric atmospheres and detailed terrains in fully animated scenes. Vue 5 Infinite is e-on software's high-end 3D scenery solution for illustrators, SFX studios, architects, and 3D Computer Graphics professionals. It is strongly focused on power, productivity and inter-operability with existing toolkits.
(Source: e-onSoftware)

Toon Boom Studio v3 offers new UI, New Features

Toon Boom Studio v3 offers new UI, New Features

- Toon Boom Animation today announced Toon Boom Studio v3, an update to its 2D animation software. Version 3 offers a number of new and enhanced features, including a simplified interface and new Text and Transform tools, as well as improvements to lip synching and enhancements.Toon Boom Studio™ is the complete animation software solution to quickly create eye-catching animations. The latest release, V3 enables users to easily build animations the cut-out way -- select artworks from existing libraries and animate using motion paths. Toon Boom Studio V3 brings significant improvements to animation keyframing, asset reuse and lip synchronization -- empowering artists to make better animations. In addition, V3 offers a simplified user interface with Drawing and Sceneplanning in one single unified mode. With each release, Toon Boom Studio is injected with powerful new features that will help you make the most of your talents and your time.

(Source: ToonBoom)

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

MAXWELL Render Beta Version 1.2.2 For Mac OS X and Linux

MAXWELL Render Beta Version 1.2.2 is Now Available For Windows , Mac OS X and Linux

- NextLimits Maxwell Render Beta version 1.2.2 has been just released for windows, and is now available for Mac OS X and Linux. Many other improvements have also been made and new features are also added. Please visit www.maxwellrender.com for further information.

(Source: Next Limit Tec.)

Labels: Maxwell Render

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Fallen Art DVD Movie 10 Euro+Shipping ***

Fallen Art DVD Movie 10Euro+Shipping

- Atoll. An old, forgotten military base somewhere in the Pacific. Soldiers who lost their minds, due to the hardships of past missions, and exemplary officers the Army can't yet get rid of are sent there. There, far away from civilization, laws and rules they nurture their insanities... Fallen Art. Everyone of you knows this story, everyone of you knows this short movie directed by Tomek Baginski, following his Oscar nominated "The Cathedral" produced by Platige Image. Now it's time for exclusive DVD release with presale offer only at Evermotion.
(Source: EverMotion)

Luxology at SIGGRAPH

Luxology at SIGGRAPH

- Be among the first to see what we've been working on. We're holding a special event with our partners Intel and ATI on August 2nd at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles, CA. Register now to reserve your VIP seating. You don't want to miss this.

What will you see?

Everything. You asked for transparency. You got it. You asked for a road map. No problem. You asked what you can expect and look forward to. Here it is. All of it.

Location:

The Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, CA on August 2, 2005 from 6:30-8:00 pm

Register here

(Source: Modo3d)

MicroStation V8 XM Edition Now Available

MicroStation V8 XM Edition Now Available

- Bentley Systems, Incorporated today announced that the XM Edition of its flagship MicroStation V8 product is now available as a beta release to all Bentley SELECT subscribers. XM brings a series of innovations for simplicity to what is already widely regarded as the AEC industry's most powerful software platform. The result is an unparalleled combination of power and simplicity. "The best high-tech products have a common progression: They start simple, then get powerful, then get powerful and simple," said Keith Bentley, chief technology officer. "MicroStation V8 has long distinguished itself as the most comprehensive platform in our market, spanning 2D drafting, 3D modeling, change management, digital security, visualization, animation, and more. Now, with its new interface offering a precise, dynamic match of features to tasks, XM makes it simple to bring the full power of MicroStation V8 to all users in all AEC organizations." This concept of power with simplicity is driven by four major innovations in MicroStation V8 XM Edition: structured workflows, structured content, 3D in PDF, and an updated GUI and new display subsystem.

(Source: Bentley)

EverMotion offers Vray at 655 Euro

EverMotion offers Vray at 655 Euro

- BAfter its enourmous success on the market V-Ray has become the renderer of choice in big production studios accross the world. Feature film productions, multi-million dollar game productions, huge and small architectual visualizations have trusted their visuals to V-Ray. Wouldn't you too? V-Ray has become a benchmark for speed used by many hardware vendors and other renderer developers to test against. Richest set of features, cost-effective and production-ready - you have to give it a try!

(source: EverMotion)

Saturday, July 02, 2005

Autodesk Master Classes at SIGGRAPH 2005 ***

Autodesk Master Classes at SIGGRAPH 2005

- For the third year running Autodesk Media and Entertainment offers you training seminars from the very best in the CG and VFX world. Leading industry experts like Chris Harvey, Gary Davis, Borislav Petrov, Brandon Davis, Dagan Potter from the Orphanage, PaulTaylor/ Jess Fowler from Blur - Academy Award Nominee for best animated short: "Gopher Broke" and others will be revealing their secrets on getting the most out of Autodesk® 3ds Max® software and Autodesk® Combustion® software. Open your mind to the renowned work these award winning experts will share with you and get ready to kick your creativity into overdrive.
Dates & Location

Dates: Tuesday, August 2 - Thursday, August 4, 2005
Times: 8:00am, 10:30am, 1:30pm, 4:00pm
Location: Los Angeles Marriott Downtown, Grande Ballroom
333 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071
(Source: AutoDesk)

Glu3D Liquid System For Max / Maya

Glu3D Liquid System For Max / Maya

- Evermotion is proud to announce that we are new official reseller of great liquid simulator, Glu3D. It is a complete plugin system that makes easy making liquids in Discreet's 3dsmax and A/W Maya. Glu3D uses particles to simulate the liquid behavior, and a multi-resolution polygonal surface is also generated to display the liquid surface.With Glu3D you can create a wide range of realistic fluids. From any kind of liquid like water or wine to blood, gel, mud, honey, lava, cement, ... any fluid solution is possible with Glu3D. Glu3D is designed to work tightly integrated inside the 3ds max™ and A/W Maya standard interfaces. Glu3D uses particles to simulate the fluid behavior, and a multi-resolution polygonal surface is also generated to display the fluid surface.Check our Glu3D site to see more info about it, download a demo and order full commercial version.

(Source: EverMotion)

EverMotion Archmodels Vol.4 PreOrder ***

EverMotion Archmodels Vol.4 PreOrder

- Have you ever lost your race with time doing visualizations? Have you ever been embarrassed of unfinished renders, spending all night on the modeling process, instead of rendering? If you are an architect, and if you need to work fast but with highest pecision, this is the thing for you. Archmodels volume 4 gives you more than 100 professional, highly detailed objects for architectural visualizations. Add our doors and windows to your scenes to make them much more various. We prepared you a new presale offer for this collection. All who decide to order Archmodels volume 4 before release date, will get a full box version for only 69 Euro and access to Evermotion Customer Zone, where will be able to download whole collection before July 14th, 2005.

(Source: EverMotion)

Friday, July 01, 2005

SiTex Graphics Releases AIR 3.1 and TweakAIR **

SiTex Graphics Releases AIR 3.1 and TweakAIR

- SiTex Graphics releases AIR 3.1 featuring new shader documentation, enhanced multipass rendering support, new optimizations, and file compatibility with Adobe® Photoshop® software.TweakAIR is an interactive rendering tool based on the AIR renderer. TweakAIR is designed to allow interactive tweaking of high-quality images with the full range of advanced rendering effects supported by AIR.TweakAIR accepts regular RIB files as input. At the beginning of an interactive session, TweakAIR creates a "deep" framebuffer for the current view, in about the time required for a normal preview rendering. Once the deep framebuffer has been generated, shading and lighting for the scene can be changed interactively, and the rendered image will update to reflect the changes. Although updates are not usually in real time, TweakAIR employs caching and re-evaluation heuristics to accelerate re-rendering of scene elements.First release specific emphasis has been placed on efficient re-lighting.

More on Air 3.1

Features TweakAir

(Source: Sitex)

3Dvf Interview with 'Benjamin Brosdau'

3Dvf Interviews Benjamin Brosdau

- Benjamin; "Practice, practice and even more practice. Don’t become disappointed if it doesn’t work out the for the first time excellence comes with time and patience. CG graphics is in deed a very time consuming area to live and demands a high level of discipline to become good in. There is no magic trick to it around (at least I haven’t found one…) you just have to keep trying and remember to collect as many criticisms as possible"......................Read full Interview !!!!
(Source: 3dvf)

# Skip to Top of the Page

1280 x 768 IE
Contact: CGIndia Powered by Blogger.Com
Copyright © 2005-09, CG India - Some Rights Reserved.
CGIndia, Independent Online Publication; does not guarantees or endorse the accuracy, completeness or reliability
of any Article, statement, website Links, advice or other information displayed, uploaded or distributed through the web site.

About This Site

Advertisements

SITE NAVIGATION

Subscribe

Must Read

Sponsors

Categories

Recommended POST

LATEST Tutorials

WeB FooD

Affiliates

Miscellaneous