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July 01, 2002>>
Release 5 scripts are already surfacing:
Layer Bar v1.0 by Herman Saksono - Extends 3ds max 5's layer system, simplifying its ui at the same time. Nature Painter v1.0 by Herman Saksono - Create grass and pebbles using a brush based interface. PolySculptTool v1.0 by Herman Saksono - Sculpt polygon objects using a brush based interface. Also of note (R4 compatible): TreeMatoGraph v0.2.4 by Borislav Petrov - A graphical interface to the Material Editor. Lets you visualize and edit maps/materials relationships and quickly navigate the Material Editor. SpreadSheet Editor v0.4.2 by Borislav Petrov - Provides a flexible and highly customizable base utility for mass-displaying and manipulating object properties. [ more... ]
Maxscript master coder Borislav Petrov is asking users of the scripts he's
been kindly releasing to the public for free to let him know in which
productions (TV, games, movies) have been used, as well as great personal
artwork. Please contribute to Bobo's credit list by emailing him at bobo@email.archlab.tuwien.ac.at.
Modeling Joan of Arc (French - includes step by step instructions on modeling body, head & props)
Modeling the eyes (French) Making of The Viking animation
3D Festival reviews Discreet Plasma: "...web designers
now have access to a fully featured Web 3D production tool
at a sensible price."
Digit Magazine reviews Carrara 2.0: "The best entry-level 3D application bar none." CG Focus has a brief review of RE:Vision Effects ReelSmart MotionBlur & Twixtor: "...very easy to use and they allow you to produce high quality effects in your scenes." DV.com reviews Combustion 2: "...an excellent product that fills important niches left open by the competition." (Login required.) Digit Magazine reviews Toon Boom Studio 2.0: "...a very good animation solution for the Web."
Darkling Simulations' DarkTree 2 procedural shader
and effects authoring software is on sale for a few more days (until the end of July). Check out the list of resellers at Darksim.com.
Now that Siggraph 2002 is over, here's two online reports :
Computer Graphics World - Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 CGarchitect [ more... ]
Digital Media Net have launched, in association with Discreet, a new website called Content Mastering which basically offers Discreet news, articles, etc.
144,525,420,000,012 to be exact (that's 144.5 trillion in human terms).
Check out the Picture, as there's no news release from cebas yet.
PMG has posted a demo version of its animation software. Messiah:animate may be purchased for $595 (regularly $1045) until August 7, 2002.
x-bit labs has a nice article on anti-aliasing in 'consumer' 3d graphics cards online.
A pretty in-depth review/analysis of the different AA schemes and the problems with each is discussed. And to top it off, a sample application that shows (no need for a 3d card) the anti-aliasing algorithms + their problems was constructed and put available for download.
Computer Graphics World online is running a series of reports on the different events and technologies on display at SIGGRAPH. Also of note, a promotional video of the animations shown at SIGGRAPH's Electronic Theater is up at Siggraph.org.
Eyematic announced FaceStation 2, an upgrade to its 3D facial animation software
suite. FaceStation 2 integrates Eyematic's computer vision technology with
speech analysis techniques to improve the realism and accuracy of the resulting
facial animation. This integration also simplifies the creation of multiple
language content and sound-based animation effects. FaceStation 2 includes
additional professionally designed, ready-to-animate characters as well as
workflow and usability improvements.
FaceStation 2 is currently in beta testing and will be available for both 3ds max and Maya users starting next month. The suggested retail price of FaceStation 2 is $1,995. All existing FaceStation customers will receive a complementary upgrade when FaceStation 2 is released.
3dTotal are hosting another tutorial from David op De Beéck, this time about modeling a mouth. [ more... ]
Interested in how Ted Boardman would be doing Max 5 classes with Max 5 not even being released yet, I followed a link from Siggraph News.
Browsing on, led me to a page with 3ds max 5 new features, -and- a shipping date: July 31st.
San Antonio (Jul. 24, 2002) -- Softimage Co. and international special effects company Avtoma announced today the companies have partnered to provide the film industry with new productivity and creativity enhancing methodologies and technologies. The first results of this joint effort are tools for working with High Dynamic Range images (HDRI) in SOFTIMAGE|XSI, the industry’s premier 3-D nonlinear production environment.
With the new HDRI tools, users can quickly and accurately re-construct lighting conditions from live-action sets. The process provides for more realistic simulation of natural and outdoor lighting in 3-D scenes and on 3-D objects and reduces production times and costs.
San Antonio, Texas, July 24, 2002 -- NXN Software, the leading supplier of Digital Asset and Production Management (DPM) solutions for the digital entertainment and computer graphics industries, has introduced NXN alienbrain VFX, the first asset management solution specifically designed for the production of computer-generated feature films and complex visual effects productions. The software addresses the specific challenges faced by CG film productions such as handling and protecting terabytes of digital assets in millions of individual files, organizing teams of more than 100 people and managing projects with timeframes of two to four years.
San Antonion, Texas, July 24, 2002 -- ArchVision, Inc. today announced the company will increase the breadth of its RPC (Rich Photorealistic Content) solutions by delivering RPC Creation Tools and Content Servers designed to allow customers to build, manage and deliver custom RPC content. Betting that the growth of the design visualization market hinges on a shift from complex content creation to easier-ot-use content assembly and editing tools; the company plans to expand the quality, quantity and reach of manufacturer-specific content to the millions of design professionals around the world.
NewTek’s ScreamerNet Network Rendering Solution Will Soon Scream on Linux Render Nodes
San Antonio, Texas -- July 23, 2002 -- NewTek, Inc., manufacturer of industry-leading 3D animation and video products, today announced the forthcoming release of LightWave 3D’s network rendering solution, ScreamerNet, for the Linux OS for i386 systems. Professional facilities making use of the stability and low cost of Linux-powered render farms will be able to take advantage of the power and beauty of LightWave 3D’s render engine. Facilities already invested in seats of LightWave 3D [7.5] will be able to do so at no extra cost, as the Linux ScreamerNet module will become a standard part of the shipping product upon release, and will be a free download for current owners.
July 24th 2002. Munich, Germany -- IRIDAS Digital Interaction Design, a leading provider of software based digital playback solutions for the film and broadcasting industry, today
announced it's Education Initiative aimed at supporting institutions in the field of film, broadcasting and animation education through the inexpensive licensing of IRIDAS' award-winning products. [ more... ]
RealNetworks forms the Helix Community with support from HP, Intel, Nokia, Oracle, PalmSource, Sony Corporation, Sun Microsystems and more than 20 Other Companies and Organizations
SAN FRANCISCO, July 22, 2002 — RealNetworks®, Inc. (Nasdaq: RNWK), the global leader in Internet media delivery, today announced Helix™, the first open, comprehensive platform and community to enable creation of digital media products and applications for any format, operating system or device. Press Release
Machinima is a process of making
short films using game engines from games such as Quake or Unreal and characters created for those games as their actors. The results
from this low-poly moviemaking practice are surprising: using camera framing
and visual language from filmmaking adapted to game engines creates visual
stories that are strongly tied to the characterstics of the engines themselves
(themes, characters, environments, style of movements, low-poly geometry,
sounds, etc.) and retain an air of familiarity for anyone who has played
those games before. Here are some links on the subject: Wired article, Machinima.com, Machinima Film Festival. Sample movies: "Quad God", "Apartment Hunt" (& "Hardly Workin'"). Check 'em out and judge for yourself.
Recognizing that not everyone needs to use every part of a high-end 3D animation system, Release 8 of CINEMA 4D will be based on an integrated modular system that will enable users to custom-build an application that closely fits their individual needs and budgets.
New Orleans, LA - July 23, 2002 -- When you're hot, you're hot. Turbo Squid, the world's premier online digital marketplace, today unveiled the results of four comprehensive surveys conducted to gauge the Turbo Squid user experience. The results were overwhelmingly positive for the upstart New Orleans dot-com, with a full 99% of customers saying they will purchase from the site again; and the same number saying they will recommend Turbo Squid to their colleagues. [ more... ]
Massive Software has announced that it will soon release its Massive crowd
animation system. Massive was used by Weta
for The Lord of the Rings to create thousands of digital extras. The software
treats 3D characters as 'agents', each one of them communicating with their
environment and other agents using sight and sound analogs. Agents are animated
using a range of different pre-built motion cycles which are blended and modified
by the Massive engine itself. Massive is compatible with .obj geometry and
Acclaim format skeletons. Price has yet to be announced.
Madrid-based Next
Limit has announced the release of Real Flow 2.0: features include a new
streamlined user interface that includes time-sliders to preview fluid simulations
over time, an improved internal engine for greater particle management and
a brand new body dynamics engine that enables 3D models to collide with and
be dragged by the fluids. RealFlow 2.0 retails for $895, and will be available
on-line at www.nextlimit.com beginning September 1st, 2002.
Softimage has announced the latest
version of its 3D animation software, version 3.0 introduces a new behavioral
animation and crowd simulation system that incorporates full-featured behavioral
scripting, visual state-graph editing and dynamic motion synthesis. Other
highlights include: tools for working with HDR images and the integration
of Mental Ray v.3.1 technology, enhancements to hair and fur dynamics tools,
as well as to its advanced particles system.
XSI 3.0 is scheduled for release in October 2002. Customers purchasing a new license will be provided with a no charge upgrade to version 3.0 when it releases.
SAN ANTONIO (Jul. 23, 2002) -- Curious Labs, Inc. today announced `Poser 5', the eagerly anticipated new version of their award-winning 3D-character animation tool for artists and animators. Poser 5 will deliver unprecedented features combined with an ease of use that will enable artists, hobbyists and creative professionals access to technologies never before offered in one package. Poser 5 is expected to be available in late summer 2002 with a suggested retail price of US $549. Upgrades from previous versions of Poser and Poser Pro Pack will be available through a tiered price structure.
Tuesday, July 23, 2002 - San Antonio, Texas -- Trinity Animation announces a new crowd creation system for users of 3ds max. This plug-in, called Crowd Creator, allows the user to build crowds of thousands of people to populate animations of arenas, theaters, shopping centers and other busy environments. Crowd Creator provices a fast and easy way to bring these environments to life.
Tuesday, July 23, 2002 - San Antonio, Texas -- Cebas Computer and Trinity Animation announce a new realtime viewer and 3ds max exporter called deezoo. This new realtime system uses hardware acceleration (OpenGL and directX) and the latest technology to allow for a robust online 3D experience. Deezoo supports virtually all forms of animation, materials and modifiers so that you can build your animated online world with a single click from the exporter.
Native Support Integrates Discreet Products into the FBX Hub
SAN ANTONIO – July 23, 2002 – Kaydara Inc. announced today at SIGGRAPH 2002 that Discreet products will now support Kaydara’s FBX™ authoring file format. Discreet will integrate support for FBX into upcoming versions of its 3D animation and visual effects software, including 3ds max, inferno, flame and flint. Discreet’s users will now have a seamless pathway for the acquisition and authoring of mixedmedia™ content, wherein 3D animation, video, and audio elements can be utilized across a common workflow. Discreet ’s support for FBX provides its visual effects and animation artists access to a wealth of content through Kaydara’s extensive network of FBX partners.
San Antonio, Siggraph 2002 - July 23rd, 2002 eyeon Software announced today the newest version of the dynamic compositing and special effects solution, Digital Fusion. Digital Fusion 4 is eyeon's 9th major release and incorporates hundreds of improvements and a variety of new features, including real-time caching, floating point image processing, macro tools, advanced tracking, grid warping and integrated scripting. DF4's speed, coupled with creative tool sets and unparalleled product support, allows for maximum workflow efficiency.
San Antonio, TX -- July 22nd, 2002. At booth 5062 at Siggraph, 2002 Digital Element has announced an August release for a free upgrade to its award-winning 3d modeling and rendering software WorldBuilder. [ more... ]
Tuesday, July 23, 2002 - San Antonio, Texas -- Cebas Computer and Trinity animation announced the features of finalRender Stage 1 - the follow-up to the popular finalRender Stage 0 rendering/global illumination plug-in for 3ds max. The new renderer is a complete replacement renderer for users of 3ds max 4 or higher.
Press Releases : finalRender Stage-1 finalToon (part of the above) Read a bit more at the source down below.
San Antonio, TX (July 22, 2002), -- At SIGGRAPH 2002, SplutterFish, LLC, a high-end 3D software solutions provider, today announced the launch of its Brazil Rendering System™ v1.0. Brazil r/s is an advanced, fully-integrated rendering suite for Discreet’s top-selling animation software 3ds max and Autodesk VIZ, Autodesk’s visualization solution. Brazil r/s v1.0 is scheduled for release in August 2002. [ more... ]
Magical Face software to debut in San Antonio this
week
Sega has announced that it plans to show its face at Siggraph 2002 this week in San Antonio - literally. The company will be demonstrating a new animation package called Magical Face at the show, which it claims will dramatically reduce development time on games and CG films. [ more... ]
New tutorial on modelling and texturing American missile "Coyote DMF - 239".
http://www.3dm-mc.com/tutorials/dmf/ [ more... ]
Chaos Group announced that it will give a 25% discount on its bestselling raytracerer [sic] for 3DS Max™ platform!
Thus:
http://www.vrayrender.com/information This offer is time limited only while Siggraph lasts (closes July 25th)
In a twist on "Ask the Underground", this time the Underground asks You :
Are You tempted to Think Different™? Apple is quickly cornering the market on a multitude of creative areas. Their latest gem ? Shake for Mac OS X. Don't worry - You can still get Shake for Windows/Linux/etc. - but the Mac OS X version is half the price. And moving Your existing license over to the Mac will get You a doubling of Your # of licenses - for free. This all follows of course on the stuff mentioned in the More... section. So - are You tempted ? What are Your thoughts on this ? Would You desire a Mac version of 3ds max ? [ more... ]
3d Total have a tutorial by David op De Beéck up which shows how to model a nose using 3ds max's surface tools.
Company Concentrates on Virtual Photography Applications, as Co-Founder Returns to Lead New Company
A consortium, including a co-founder of the company, has bought the business and assets of Advanced Rendering Technology Ltd. (ART) – best known for it’s PURE and RenderDrive 3D rendering solutions. Dr. Daniel Hall, one of the co-founders of ART but who stepped down from day-to-day involvement in 2000, returns and will head the new company as Chief Executive Officer. - Press Release
The upcoming version of Character Studio brings new features including a nonlinear
animation mixer, industry-first Quaternion function curves, and an animation
analyzer and fixer that identifies the finer aspects of an animation for
correction.
That is, with the introduction of new versions of Inferno 5, Flame 8 and
Flint 8 systems (according to the PR). New features include support for mixed resolutions enabling
artists to combine various film, video, graphics and other multimedia formats
within one project; new timeline editing, enabling extended control over
the design of a visual effect; new support for Kaydara's FBX file format,
enabling import of more 3D data for better 2D/3D integration; and hundreds
of specific user-requested features that underscore the richness of the toolsets.
Discreet has also noted the continued global success of the Combustion 2 compositing software
Read the whole PR (1-2).
Alright, here comes the SIGGRAPH flood. Side Effects announced Houdini Escape,
a character modeling and animation-oriented version of its Houdini software.
Price has not been mentioned yet but it's been called a "cost-effective solution"
by Side Effects. Read the whole PR.
Adobe has announced Premiere 6.5, the
latest version of the company's non-linear editing suite. New features include
real-time software previews and a new title designer. Will this be enough
to compete with Final Cut Pro and Vegas Video?
Read the whole PR.
As was hinted at here before, nVidia have acquired ExLuna.
This also magically meant a settlement between ExLuna and Pixar.
Hello everyone. The XYZ & You 3D Users Group is putting on another really
cool event at SIGGRAPH in San Antonio on the 24th of July - a users party
that will include a Tech Rave, 3D Skills Challenge, and Concert. Check out
the details at www.xyzandyou.org/web/techrave.html [ more... ]
You might have heard about the uproar around JPEG, with some company wishing to enforce its patents on it.
Here might be a viable alternative, provided it becomes a mainstream format (and doesn't pull the same thing in a few years as the above company is); DjVu boasts improved compression, memory use, and speed of rendering over JPEG/JPEG 2000, GIF, special fax formats, and even more extensive formats such as PDF. [ more... ]
San Francisco, CA – July 18, 2002 – REALVIZ®, a leading developer of image processing software solutions, today announced that REALVIZ Stitcher® 3.5, the way to build high-quality panoramas for the Web, film, print and 3D, will be featured on the computers in the Studio, an interactive lab at SIGGRAPH 2002. Attendees at the show in San Antonio, Texas, from July 21-26, will be able to experience the power and ease-of-use of Stitcher 3.5, the newly released version of the award-winning panorama-building software. [ more... ]
Optimizations in Brazil r/s lead to rendering 430 *billion* polygons. Large
datasets (3.5 billion polys with reflections and shadows) can be rendered
in a few minutes by the latest version of Brazil. Read the article at Splutterfish.com.
After having reviewed V-Ray, InsideCG now has a review of finalRender up.
Note that this is a review of "Stage-0".
Sitex Graphics :
· have a new website · have released AIR 2.0 · announced TransAIR will be shown at Siggraph · announced BakeAIR will be shown at Siggraph
The 3D Festival website is back.
3D Festival is the largest conference dedicated to 3D artistry and creativity
held in Copenhagen every year. The new site is up and the first artist they've
interviewed is Arild Wiro, an accomplished 3ds max artist. Check it out and don't miss this beautiful version (the final one?) of his Snow Scout picture!
Time for another (the fifth) edition of the Realtim 3d GameArt competition.
This edition's goal : a Human/Quadruped Hybrid Read all the details at the CGchat forums.
The colleagues at Max3D report that Max 5 will not include printed manuals.
“Printed user manuals can still be ordered at an extra cost. The basic bundle will comprise only a Tutorials book, the reactor Manual and the New Features Guide.” Check Max3D for more info
San Diego, CA - July 17th, 2002 - Idruna Software Inc., a specialist in innovative graphics software, is pleased to announce that the new high end version of Photogenics for Windows and Linux will be launched at Siggraph 2002 next week in San Antonio, Texas (booth 8093).
Photogenics HDR will be the first graphics package capable of working with images in 32 bits per channel floating point format, otherwise known as High Dynamic Range, or simply HDR. HDR images allow real world levels of illumination to be represented, which makes Photogenics essential for those working with film, images rendered by 3D graphics software, digital camera RAW files, or for creating realistic textures for the latest image based lighting techniques. Photogenics HDR supports all of the popular HDR formats, including Alias|WaveFront IFF, Cineon/DPX, mental ray map, Lightwave FLX, Radiance RGBE, all flavors of tiff (8/16/32 bit, LogLUV etc.), RAW CCD files from Canon and Kodak cameras, as well as dozens of standard 8 and 16 bit per channel file formats. Photogenics HDR also allows the creation of HDR images by combining multiple exposures taken at varying shutter speeds, and because it supports the RAW digital camera files, the quality and ease of use is unprecedented.
SHEFFIELD, UK (16 July 2002) - LightWork Design, the world’s leading supplier of quality advanced computer graphics software for rendering, simulation and verification solutions, will be unveiling a new modular product suite for LightWorks – the world’s leading rendering engine - at this year’s SIGGRAPH exhibition in San Antonio.
Alias|Wavefront announced today Maya 4.5 which features Fluid Effects
technology (interactive 2D solver, 3D fluids solver, interactive control
with Maya Artisan an Ocean Shader, and volumetric and implicit surface texturing
and rendering) and many enhancements in modeling and animation tools. Maya
Complete will now include modeling features previously available in Maya
Unlimited: this functionality includes advanced NURBS tools and hierarchical
subdivision surfaces and provides the ability to convert between all geometry
types - this includes conversion from subdivision surfaces to NURBS. Maya
Complete is priced at $1,999, Maya Unlimited is priced at $6,999. Upgrades
are priced at $999 for Maya Unlimited, and $699 for Maya Complete. More information at Aliaswavefront.com.
This new version of Quicktime features an MPEG-4 video codec and Advanced
Audio Coding
(AAC) support. MPEG-4 AAC is a technology co-developed by Dolby, Fraunhofer
(FhG), AT&T, Sony, and Nokia (as members of the MPEG group) that provides
true variable bit rate (VBR) audio encoding. According to the AAC website,
the new technology when compared to MPEG-1 Layer 3 (MP3) audio brings higher
quality audio reproduction and requires approximately 50% less data. Download Quicktime 6.
If you are one of those people who love fantasy stories & movies with a medieval theme then you will find just the right tools in Dosch Design's Fantasy Workshop 3d-model collections in order to create your own computer animated fantasy film. Fantasy Workshop characters can be used with 3D-programs which can let the very detailed and expressive characters “become alive”. Be inspired by the fantastic creatures, and tell your own magic story of wizards and knights. [ more... ]
Crytek have put their Polybump™ tools available.
“Polybump is a fantastic new technology, which allows you to create and render an extremely low poly model, using an ultra high poly model displaying virtually no visible difference between the two. Rendering time is a very small fraction of the time that would be necessary for rendering the high-resolution object.”
e-on software have put Vue d'Esprit version 4.1 available - new features include :
· LightWave 6+ LWO2 file format import · Cinema 4D terrain exports · Direct static Poser scene imports for the Mac OS X version. · TrueSpace 5 file format import · Improved import of low resolution pictures into the Terrain Editor · Improved rendering of skies · Improved resolution when rendering enlarged materials Other improvements were made in the Function editor, animating planets, negative volumetric spotlights and importing Vue 2 scenes.
nPower Software announces Power Solids, the second of a series of "Power" plug-ins for 3ds max. [ more... ]
July 16, 2001, Venice, California -- SplutterFish, maker of the Brazil Rendering System, is pleased to announce Joe Alter's "Shave and a Haircut"™ - the acclaimed hair-creation package for 3ds max™, Discreet's top-selling animation software.
Representatives from SplutterFish will be giving a demonstration of both Brazil r/s and "Shave" at SIGGRAPH 2002 in San Antonio at the Discreet booth (#8062) from 3:00pm-4:00pm, July 23-25. [ more... ]
Three-Time Emmy Award-winning visual effects studio leads visual effects development on New Line upcoming Final destination II.
Digital Dimension recently completed shots on this summer’s blockbuster Reign of Fire starring Matthew McConaughey, Halloween Resurrection and Mr. Deeds. All three movies are currently on the the silver screen. [ more... ]
Michael Halvorson, President of Impulse Inc., today announced that Alan Lorence, owner of Wondertouch and main programmer behind Illusion, has taken over all aspects of Illusion. [ more... ]
SGI and the OpenGL Architecture
Review Board (ARB) announced the availability of the OpenGL 1.4 specification.
New OpenGL 1.4 core features include: depth textures and shadow textures
(enabling real-time shadows and related image-based rendering techniques),
vertex programming framework, automatic texture mipmap generation (providing
rapid updates and high-quality texture filtering for dynamic textures), etc.
Read the whole PR.
The Fujifilm USB Drive
contains no moving parts, enabling it to be lightweight and smaller than
the size of your palm. It offers an onboard CPU for driverless operation
via a computer's USB port. By incorporating a 32-bit processor, the Fujifilm
USB Drive is capable of running additional applications and includes Win
logon as well as automatic boot functionality. The USB Drive, will be available
in different storage capacities, and priced based on capacity (32-512Mb).
The 128 Mb USB Drive will list for $149.99.
Check out a preview
of the shorts to be shown at this year's SIGGRAPH.
CGW has an interesting article
on \t\t\t\tTomek Baginski's short film.
More information on the upcoming Power Solids
plugin has been made available at nPower Software's website. There's
also a new gallery with images created showing off the capabilities of their
Power Booleans and Power Solids plugins.
How
to create realistic Bubbles (Realflow)
Intro to basic rigid body dynamics (Beginner / Reactor) Lofting Part II Modelling a car body using nurms Ablative Armour Comments about greebling Lots of Sci-Fi related tutorials at Scifi-meshes.com
For those who were worrying about all the flooding in Texas (the state where Siggraph 2002 is being held), the Siggraph organization released a statement basically saying everything is good to go.
Read the statement
Digital Media Online, the preeminent publisher of online publications and newsletters for the digital content creation market, announced the launch of DMN Stock Resources, a new resource for premium stock content for professionals.
DMNStockResources.com contains thousands of high-quality photographs, video clips and 3D models, all available for immediate download directly from the site. The content, licensed from respected resources such as Digimation, Viewpoint DataLabs, PhotoSpin and Videometry would cost end users over $500,000 if purchased as individual files. Yet DMNStockResources.com subscribers can access and use hundreds of these photos, videos and 3D models at a cost as low as $1.54 a week. Subscriptions are available for $9.95 a month or $79.95 a year.
“At NAB, Dan "Major Pixel" Kemmis of XYZ and You, the Pacific Northwest's 3D User Group (www.xyzandyou.org), hosted a shootout between the five of the leading 3D software programs [Cinema4D | Lightwave 3D | Maya | 3ds max | Softimage XSi, ed.].
After attending the event, the editors of Computer Graphics World polled the judges and operators participating in the 3D software shootout at NAB for their opinions about what it meant. What follows are some facts and figures relating to the shootout, the list of survey questions, and the responses.” Read the full article
“Side Effects Software Launches Houdini Apprentice Program
Available first to attendees of Houdini Annual Meeting during SIGGRAPH SANTA MONICA, Calif. (Jul. 09, 2002) -- Side Effects Software has launched the Houdini Apprentice Program, which includes a non-commercial version of the latest (5.5) Houdini family of products called the Houdini Apprentice Edition. Apprentice users can run the complete family of products which includes Houdini Master, a full-featured animation and effects package, Houdini Select, an entry-level 3D module, and Houdini Halo, a stand-alone compositor. Houdini Apprentice Edition is a two-CD set. The first "Install" CD contains the software and the second "Learn" CD is loaded with self-study training resources to help artists get up to speed with Houdini.”
Animation Magazine has awarded Interactive Data Visualization's SpeedTreeMAX its coveted Seal of Excellence in its SIGGRAPH edition.
Past winners include nVidia, Discreet, HP, Compaq, Adobe, and Dell. SpeedTreeMAX was the only product featured in this year's SIGGRAPH edition to receive five stars in all categories. SpeedTreeMAX is distributed by Digimation. Full Article (at the bottom)
Bionatics have updated their procedural
3D plant modeler with some new features, including the ability to take advantage
of Max's native wind features, complete control over how many textures are
used per model with the new function Material Nodes, adjust the level of
detail of both 3D and 2D elements (create a tree with a low wood geometry
LOD and high billboard LOD), etc. A 30 day demo version is
available.
GMCC Software has started a public beta test of its upcoming plugin Workflow max. Workflow max is a
self contained and fully integrated asset management
system for users of 3ds max 4 and higher. The new plugin allows 3ds max users to manage and share their digital assets by connecting them to each other and to the shared assets through an industry standard ODBC database. No additional software is required. For a limited time (during testing of the beta version), Workflow max can be downloaded and installed free of charge without any usage restrictions. Visit GMCC Software for more information.
Australian studio Iloura has created
a very funny 'Crocodile' animation
for a Chupa Chups commercial using 3ds max. Iloura has also produced a new
Telstra
commercial using the VRay renderer. Check 'em out!
World Machine is a node-based heightfield/terrain generator application, capable of producing some interesting terrains for use in just about any 3D application.
Hermoni.com have posted an 'interview' Q&A with two Pixar animators, Victor Navone and Alex Orrelle.
Next Limit S.L. (RealFlow | RealWave) have released version 1.0beta of their FlowTracer plugin for 3ds max 4.
Itanium
2 processors will feature 3 MB and 1.5 MB of integrated L3 cache and
1 GHz and 900 MHz frequency speeds at prices ranging from $1,338 to $4,226.
Systems and software based on the Itanium 2 are expected to be available beginning
this quarter. Read the whole
PR at Digitalproducer.com.
M.A.N. Graphics is offering VisualMarker,
a new motion capture software. VisualMarker is a fast and easy-to-use utility
for converting 2D markers positions to pose bone-based models. It can use
up to 4 video streams with simple webcams (prefers high-speed cameras though),
does not require calibration and exports keyframes to Max. High accuracy
allows users to add animation of fingers. A woman animation demo is available
on the website's Motion Capture page.
InsideCG reviews
Deep Paint 3D 2.0: "...as close to 3D painting perfection as you'll find
in today's market."
Post Magazine reviews After Effects 5.5: "...(a) 'must-have' upgrade."
"After almost two months of hard work HOT-temperature.de has been relaunched
as Mediaspeedway.de. The new version
(v3.0) is a website for both professionals and amateurs of CG and video.
We'll support them with daily news, thousands of tips&tricks, events,
contests, galleries, free downloads etc. Please visit us at www.mediaspeedway.de."
Check it out! (Website content in German.)
Tales and tips from the studios: Post Magazine has the article.
Dirk the Daring is back! As reported in a previous
news item the creators of the original Dragon's
Lair game back in 1980's have been working on the 3D remake of the laser
disc classic. To help promote the release of the game (due out this Fall),
the developers have put up a new website
with a preview trailer, screenshots of the game, etc. Check it out! Also
of note, GameSpy has an interesting interview with
Don Bluth on "Art, Games and Storytelling".
Check out this great animated short
by Marco Schirmer and Sandy Lewanscheck from Germany.
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