|
Here's the latest News and information on CG events, sofware release and new tutorial releases here at CG Academy. If you have any tib-bits that would be of interest, please send them in to...
|
 |
|
|
|
Just click on the link below to subscribe to the CGA RSS feed We have formatted our feed to give the best results in most RSS broswers. If you do find an issue with our feed, please contact via our news email address (see left panel).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Autodesk Announce Softimage 2011
Posted by CG News
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
And it looks like (nor surprises here), Softimage 2011 is due for a release bump in the near future also....
"Autodesk, Inc. announced Autodesk Softimage 2011, a comprehensive 3D application featuring a unique, multithreaded GigaCore architecture and innovative tools: the Interactive Creative Environment (ICE) and Face Robot facial animation toolset.
Softimage is also an ideal companion product to both Autodesk Maya and Autodesk 3ds Max software pipelines with its easily programmable effects simulations, advanced character rigs and lip-synched facial setups.
(Automatic Face Robot Lip-Synching – Quickly generate facial animation based on an audio file with new automatic lip-syncing in Face Robot. A new dedicated view for controlling the phonemes and visemes offers function curves to help modify their contribution. With this new functionality, the Face Robot toolset delivers a more complete, automated solution for facial rigging and animation.)"
Click the link to read more over at cgnews...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reported By On 13-03-2010 at 11:22:23
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Maya 2011
Particle
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
That Duncan Brinsmead has been at it again. In this case, at it, is producing some rather interesting tests using Maya 2011's Fluids and general dynamics upgrades. Have a look, there seem to be some pretty nifty additions in there......
"Maya2011 has now been announced. You can find the “what’s new” list here:
what's_new_in_2011
While the focus of this release was the transition to the QT based user interface, there are lots of other nice features and enhancements. Here are some of my favorites of the ones I worked on.
Fluid Auto Resize
I have found that this really changes the way I work with Maya Fluids, especially for flame and explosion simulations. This automatically contracts and expands fluid boundaries to track the contained density. It also takes emitters into account, so one can simply position the emitter anywhere desired and at the start frame the fluid will fit to the emitter location even if the emitter is outside the fluid. For effects like torches it feels like the fluid is no longer confined to a box. As well the simulations tend to run much faster because there are fewer voxels to compute, cache and display. One can also...."
Hit the link to view the samples, over at The Area
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reported By Chris Thomas On 12-03-2010 at 19:47:14
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
An Interview With John Musker And Ron Clements
By Luke Bonanno
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Have you seen The Princess And The Frog? If so, this may be of interest......
"If you're enough of a fan of Disney animation to know the names of the people who make it, then you're already well aware of Ron Clements and John Musker. If not, you certainly know their work.
The two men came to Disney in the late 1970s while in their early twenties. After wetting their feet on projects like Pete's Dragon, The Small One, and The Fox and the Hound, Clements and Musker were placed in charge of The Great Mouse Detective as two of the 1986 film's four directors and ten writers. From there, the two took the lead as the writers/directors of the beloved musicals The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. After helming Hercules and Treasure Planet, the duo disappeared from Disney, like everything about traditional animation seemed to. But they and the medium return on The Princess and the Frog, an acclaimed fairy tale in the style of the '80s/'90s Disney animation Renaissance."
Click the link to read more....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reported By On 12-03-2010 at 19:34:15
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ILM - Back In The Day
Home Video
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We are really not sure from whence this springs. But it seems on a few days during the production of Star Wars, someone had a home movie camera on site at ILM. It has been edited to highlight all of those shown. Again, happy days it seems.
hit the link to watch onwards......
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reported By Chris Thomas On 12-03-2010 at 15:07:30
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Star Wars
Behind the Scenes Snaps
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fancy a little nostalgia? Maybe a little Star Wars nostalgia? Well, hit the link to see some pretty rare, behind the scenes Star Wars (A New Hope) pics. Happy times.....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reported By Chris Thomas On 12-03-2010 at 15:04:46
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Beautiful Grim
Posted by Matt McCorkell
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
There is some great artwork over there. Check it out.. And please also, donate if you can....
"Artists from around the video game and movie industries have come together under a common theme: Beautiful Grim. Organized by Mythic concept artist Mike “Daarken” Lim and Dreamworks Animator Leif Jeffers, the fundraiser came together when Mike’s girlfriend, Cat Rey went through a bilateral mastectomy and 16 weeks of chemotherapy. Everyone knows that health care in the United States is substandard. In the end bill you receive can be devastating to your life and livelihood (even with health insurance). Money raised will go to support those costs and any excess amounts will be put directly towards a breast cancer charity."
Click the link to read more over at CG Channel....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reported By On 12-03-2010 at 14:38:10
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Valve Confirms Mac Versions Of Steam, Valve Games
by Chris Remo
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rejoice (MacHeads) for Valve is bestowing upong you, some of its STEAM!
"Valve will release a version of its Steam digital distribution service for Mac next month, along with Mac-native versions of its own games, the company confirmed today after days of hints -- and owners of Valve games will have access to both platform versions.
The Source engine, which Valve uses to develop all its internal titles and also licenses to third-party developers, will incorporate OpenGL in addition to DirectX, to allow Mac support for all Source developers.
"We looked at a variety of methods to get our games onto the Mac and in the end decided to go with native versions rather than emulation," said Steam development director John Cook in a statement released ahead of this week's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco."
Click the link to read more over at Gamasutra....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reported By On 12-03-2010 at 14:33:10
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Maya 2011
Release Announced
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Maya 2011's release is just around the corner (April). And it looks like Autodesk have been very busy on this release. We'll take a looksie and give you some feedback on the new features. Promise.....
For now, hit the link to read up on the major features on The Area
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reported By On 12-03-2010 at 10:37:10
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cartoons On The Bay Lifetime Achievement Honor
Awarded to Don Bluth
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Here's a tenuous link. Video games, Dragons Lair, Don-Bluth? Well, Mr Bluth is to receive an awars. Yeah, go Don!
"The annual Italian animation festival Cartoons on the Bay has released its list of program tributes, Pulcinella Award nominees and panels for its upcoming edition. The 14th edition of the four-day event (April 15-18), which takes play in the Rapallo, Portofino and Santa Margherita Ligure (the Golfo region of Tiglio) will offer the usual mix of TV previews, special tributes, one-on-ones with directors, producers, TV execs and charming contests and local flavors.
Widely acclaimed American animator Don Buth will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s edition of the festival. Bluth, who set a new standard for independent animators by breaking away from Disney in 1979, setting up his own studio (Sullivan-Bluth) in Ireland, and directing animated pics such as The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, The Land Before Time, Anastasia and Titan A.E. as well as the laserdisc game Dragon’ Lair has been invited to speak at the event"
Click the link to read more over at Animation Magazine....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reported By On 12-03-2010 at 10:33:02
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tilty-Shifty New York
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tilt-shift camera shots. We've featured them before, and hey, they ARE cute and fun. Well, here is another, this time of a bustling New York. My favourite has to be those ickle helicopters. Bless.....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reported By Chris Thomas On 12-03-2010 at 10:30:52
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
