City Street Model

Character Motivation Is Key: Let Us Believe

I came across this video that Keith Lango posted on his website.  Its an amazing piece of stage puppetry.  With such a simple setup, it clearly illustrates that in animation if people are given enough reason to believe, they will!  We all know that two pieces of foam don't really talk, but we want to believe that they can.  A lot to learn from this simple setup.

 

Slashdot: Digital Models Not Subject To Copyright

"The US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has affirmed (PDF) a ruling that a plain, unadorned wireframe model of a Toyota vehicle is not a creative expression protected under copyright law.

The Digital Artist in Today's Market

The advances in home computers, tablets and software challenge the definition of the working artists in today’s market.  There are no longer just the pencil to paper or chisel to stone.  Art has seem to become more complex as we artists are needing to not only master the basics of art but are also required to learn how to edit preferences and attributes within a software program.  The question, however, implies that moving more towards the digital and away from the traditional makes us l

Modeling Tank Treads

Im currently creating models for a video game and came across a neat tutorial online for creating tank treads.  If you have not created them before, you'll be suprised how easy it is.  After you get through this tutorial you should be able to create treads for tanks or robots with no problem! Above is my result done in Autodesk Maya.

Tutorial Link: http://www-viz.tamu.edu/courses/tutorials/hunter/presentation1.htm

 

Happy New Year - New Website!

I have upgraded my website and am using Drupal to allow for easier updates and more community forum.  This is the first major upgrade in many years.  I hope to add quite a bit over 2008 to this site to help both my clients and the design community.  I look forward to 2008!

 

 

Industry News

 
Angels & Demons: Vatican VFX on Steroids
The VFX stakes were raised for this race against time, Vatican thriller, and Alain Bielik has the scoop.
 
The VFX Pipeline of the Future
eyeon Founder Steve Roberts discusses the immense challenge of efficiently tracking, visualizing and managing data and metadata throughout the entire post-production/vfx pipeline.
 
Night Turns to Battle of the Smithsonian
Rhythm & Hues adds some new CG characters, including a giant octopus and the Lincoln Memorial, to Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.
 
Terminator Salvation: Battle of the Machines
ILM has moved beyond making great photoreal robots and on Terminator Salvation a more efficient and accurate toolset was created for shading, lighting and redering.
 
Maya Plugin Power: The Wakes of Loch Ness
In the latest excerpt from Maya Plugin Power, author Mark Jennings Smith explains liquid simulations using Next Limit's RealFlow plug-in.
 
Drag Me to Hell: Tippett Enjoys the Ride
Matt Jacobs of Tippett Studio divulges what it was like opening up hell for the new Sam Raimi shocker. Includes major spoiler images.
 
Plenty of New Skin & Muscle in Land of the Lost
Bill Westenhofer talks about raising the dino bar for Rhythm & Hues in this new take on the old Sid & Marty Krofft series with Will Ferrell on the loose.
 
TD-College: Preparing Students for VFX Production
Vfx vet Kevin Mannens tells us what distinguishes his new production-based online school for TDs from its competitors.
 
Chris Landreth
Academy Award winner Chris Landreth to speak in the Computer Animation Festival at SIGGRAPH 2009.
 
Introduction to Maya 2009
Digital Tutors presents its latest DVD: a comprehensive Introduction to Maya 2009.