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Thursday, July 16, 2009

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Andy Price

News (including online stories)

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Kulsoom Middleton

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Becky Collier

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Submit an image for the Portfolio section
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Digital Art Masters: Volume 4 Book - Now Shipping!

Digital Art Masters: Volume 4 is here, and is now shipping from 3DTotal.com: http://www.3dtotal.com/damv4/!

This year's artists include Loic e338 Zimmermann, Jelmer Boskma, James Paick, Marek Okon, and 46 other extremely talented artists who all give you an insight into the creation of their stunning imagery, hand-picked by the 3DTotal team for the 4th volume in our series!

Scroll down to click and drag your way through the book preview, and visit 3D Total - The cg artists home page for more information. Any questions regarding purchases, please contact cdsupport@3dtotal.com. If you're interested in submitting to a future Digital Art Masters project, please contact dam@3dtotal.com.

We hope you'll invest in the Digital Art Masters series, and that it will become a classic addition to your library. Thanks for checking it out!








3DCreative Magazine - July 2009 Issue - Available Now!

3DCreative Magazine - July 2009 Issue - Available Now! See 3DCreative Magazine - or click on the image below - for further information and to download the free 'Lite' version of this month's magazine:



Welcome to the 47th issue of 3DCreative – a magazine that we should probably rename “3DTutorials”, as we have some great plans for tutorials for the upcoming issues! We kick things off this month with not one, but two brand new tutorial series for you – alongside the second in our new Manimal Character Creation Series.

So what’s new? Well, our biggest new project to get your teeth stuck into is our Next Gen Character Creation Series, in which we have some great talents in the forms of Joseph Harford, James Busby, Gavin Goulden and John Hayes writing for you a six-part series on how to create a next gen character in 3ds Max (Joe), LightWave (James), Maya (Gavin) and last but not least, modo (John) (p.83). The first chapter in the series is all about the low-res base mesh, which our artists knock up using ZSpheres in ZBrush and then proceed into the various software packages to clean it up in preparation for part two of the series: the high-res sculpt! We’re looking forward to seeing how this tutorial goes down over the next six months – we’ve already seen the final results and it really is worth signing yourself up for a subscription to make sure you don’t miss out and get each instalment when it’s hot off the electronic press!

Our second new series for you all is – and no, we’re not crazy – a Photoshop tutorial series! Photoshop, I hear you ask?! Well, we can’t deny that Photoshop is a valuable tool in 3D when it comes to post-production of your renders, and the results we’ve witnessed over the years from artists who utilise Photoshop to give their renders that extra bite have helped confirm that what we’re missing in 3DCreative is a series on Photoshop for 3D. So here we go: part one of our new series looks as how the most common render passes can be used in Photoshop, and we have non-other that post-production pro Zoltan Korcsok back to teach us all he knows (p.40). Stay tuned for part two next month when Richard Tilbury will be taking us through retouching your final renders – another great reason to stay with 3DCreative!

Jesse Sandifer is back with us again this month to talk us through how to create a Mammal-Man in ZBrush, in the second instalment of our Manimal Character Creation Series. Jesse has gone for a surprised deer-type creature crossed with a guy, with great emotion and expression, and he also teaches us a neat trick of how to paint our textures in ZBrush to achieve some pretty cool results (p.50).

In this month’s interviews we catch up with two artists that we’ve got to know through the creation of our recent book project, Digital Art Masters: Volume 4 – we thought it’d be great opportunity to learn more about them and show off their stunning portfolios in all their glory! Our first interview is with CG all-rounder, Weiye Yin, who never fails to impress us with his latest works – be they of the 2D or 3D genre. Weiye has a fantastically diverse portfolio that is well worth checking out on p.6. Second up we catch up with senior artist, Tomáš Král, who rather modestly only sent in just a few of his stunning 3D renders for this interview. We knew he had more to show off than that, so check out p.16 for a visual treat as you step into the mysterious mind of this talented 3D artist.

To wrap this issue up we have two great making of articles by Andrew Averkin (p.60) and George Krallis (p.72). We’ve also had a play and got our first moving image featured in Andrew’s making of feature, so prepare to be hypnotised by the seduction of things in motion! Last but not least, we’ve got our usual great selection of 3D images in the Gallery section – this month we feature the latest work from Michal Kwolek and Rudolf Herczog to name just two. So enjoy July’s offerings, we’ll be back with more next month!

Lynette - 3DTotal Content Manager - 3D Total - The cg artists home page
Don't forget we also have a 2D magazine! 2DArtist Magazine

SIGGRAPH Artist Awards



At 10:30am on Monday, 3 August, prior to Randy Thom's keynote presentation in the La Nouvelle Orleans Ballroom, ACM SIGGRAPH will be honoring some very highly esteemed artists with awards.

Steven A. Coons Award

Robert L. Cook
 Vice President of Advanced Technology, Pixar Animation Studios

The Steven A. Coons Award is given in odd-numbered years to an individual to honor that person's lifetime contribution to the field of computer graphics and interactive techniques. This year's award is presented to Robert L. Cook for his foundational contributions to physically-based reflectance models and distribution ray tracing and his enduring work on behalf of the SIGGRAPH community

Computer Graphics Achievement Award
Michael Kass
 Senior Scientist, Pixar Animation Studios
The Computer Graphics Achievement Award is given each year to recognize an individual for outstanding long-lasting achievements in computer graphics and interactive techniques. ACM SIGGRAPH is pleased to present this award to Michael Kass for his extensive and significant contributions to computer graphics, ranging from image processing to animation to modeling, and in particular for his use of optimization for physical simulation and image segmentation.

Significant New Researcher Award

Wojciech Matusik 
Senior Research Scientist, Adobe Systems, Inc.
The Significant New Researcher Award is awarded annually to a researcher who has made a recent significant contribution to the field of computer graphics and is new to the field. The intent is to recognize people very early in their career who have already made a notable contribution and are likely to make more. ACM SIGGRAPH is proud to recognize Wojciech Matusik, for his innovative work in data-driven material representations and systems for data acquisition and display.

The Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement in Digital

Roman Verostko
 Professor Emeritus, Minneapolis College of Art & Design
Lynn Hershman Leeson
 Professor Emeritus, University of California – Davis 
Chair of Film Department, San Francisco Art Institute
The Distinguished Artist Award is awarded annually to an artist who has created a substantial and important body of work that significantly advances aesthetic content in the field of digital art. With this new award, ACM SIGGRAPH recognizes contributions of artists working with a wide range of artistic applications. The committee selected two artists for this initial year of the Distinguished Artist Award, which in subsequent years will normally be given to a single artist. ACM SIGGRAPH is pleased to honor both Roman Verostko, for his contributions to the aesthetics of algorithmic art, by fusing his knowledge of computer programming with a long engagement with diverse cultural traditions to produce masterful prints, and Lynn Hershman Leeson, for her paradigm-changing innovations in applying emergent media to visionary forms of creative expression with insightfully cultural discourse.



Related links:
SIGGRAPH 2009
Roman Verostko
Lynn Hershman Leeson

Europe's GDC speaker lineup includes Viktor Antonov, Peter Molyneaux and Cevat Yerli.


GDC Europe 2009 is hosting several top international speakers, including The Building Studio’s Viktor Antonov, Matthias Hellmunch of Exozet Games GmbH, Bigpoint’s Nils-Holger Henning, Lionhead Studios’ Peter Molyneux, among many others. In addition to this, GDC Europe will offer a well rounded schedule of forward-looking panels, lectures and keynotes on game development across several tracks.

GDC Europe will be taking place August 17-19, 2009 at the Cologne Congress East Center in Cologne, Germany in conjunction with gamescom. The conference will convene as Europe’s premier professional event addressing the needs and opportunities for developers and business professionals throughout Europe.

Some of the game industry trends under discussion at GDC Europe include the growing market of new audiences for social games and iPhone products, creating new intellectual properties and strong visual identities that define the style of an IP, mobile game development and distribution using smaller teams, digital distribution, using player choice as a game mechanic, and alternative finance and new game development business models. Featured sessions also include international panels that aim to give developers a glimpse into what publishers want with participants from Capcom, Digital Development Management, Disney Interactive, Foundation 9, Jerry Bruckheimer Games, Konami, Microsoft, Namco Bandai and Paramount Pictures.

“There is certainly something for everyone at GDC Europe - we’re very proud to have such high level executives and veteran developers speaking on a wide variety of topics and trends that are vital to game developers in Europe,” said Frank Sliwka, Vice President European Business Development of Think Services Game Group. “We’re excited for our upcoming event which will showcase Europe’s strengths and recent accomplishments within our industry as well as serve as a landmark must-attend event for years to come.”

Related links:
GDC Europe

VRayScatter 2.5.5 Now Available



VRayScatter 2.5.5

Now there is a unique possibility to create even more complicated and realistic scenes and the process is as easy as never before. Intuitively simple interface, rich possibilities and excellent results, VRayScatter offers an amazing*flexibility of control. A new generation algorithm has been developed as well as many new features are now available:

1. Collision object
2. Regular structures with easy control by UVW mapping
3. Along the spline distribution
4. Scattering inside/outside splines
5. Contrast option in VRayScatter texture
6. Camera clipping
7. Offset scattering from splines and geometry edges
8. Custom behavior at the splines and geometry edges
9. 3ds Max 2010 Support
10. Asset Tracking connection
11. Most of VRayScatter settings animatable

Click below for more information
VRayScatter - Plugin for 3ds Max and V-Ray - VRay.com

Guest animators presenting at SMPTE 2009 Sydney

Hi All,
just a heads up for those of you who are able to attend the SMPTE exhibition and conference in Sydney in July.
This year SMPTE will run from July 21st to July 24th at the Sydney Exhibition Centre Darling Harbour.

Entry to the exhibition is free and there will be CINEMA 4D demonstration sessions on the exhibition floor from Tim Clapham from Hyper, Ash Bolan from Umeric and James redmond from Beyond Productions who have agreed to share some of their experiences in CINEMA 4D with the rest of us.
These guys rely on CINEMA 4D to produce commercial content for high profile clients such as MTV, Discovery Channel etc.

Those that attend the CINEMA 4D presentations will also be elligible to enter the draw for a free commercial licence of CINEMA 4D R11 XL Bundle.

Tuesday July 21st from 10 - 11 am.
An Introduction to CINEMA 4D and Craft Director Tools.
Nigel Allen, Animation Specialist, Adimex

Tuesday July 21st from 5 - 6 pm.
The Night is for the Young
Ash Bolland, MD Umeric

Thursday July 23rd from 5 - 6 pm.
3D Animation for Broadcast Using CINEMA 4D
Tim Clapham, MD Hypa

Friday July 24th from 12 - 1 pm.
Advanced Broadcast Techniques Using CINEMA 4D
James Redmond, Lead Animator Beyond Productions

Hope some of you can get along as this is a great opportunity to pick the brains of the guys using CINEMA 4D every day.

All the best
Nigel Allen
Animation specialist
Adimex Australia

WALL•E Wins EMA's Best Animated DVD

If you thought WALL•E’s awards run was over, you’d be wrong.

Not too long ago, WALL•E picked up a Saturn Award, I was surprised because I sincerely thought it’s hugely successful time winning awards had ended. But surprises can be good and WALL•E is at it again winning two EMA (Entertainment Merchant’s Association) Awards! One for Best Animated Title of the Year and the other for Best Packaging because of the DVD’s environmentally sound cover. EMA basically awards the best in home video.

Unfortunately, our favorite little robot didn’t win Best DVD/Blu-ray of the Year probably due to the feature lacking standard DVD. Instead, The Dark Knight won that and three other awards. Nevertheless, it’s still amazing how after more than a year, WALL•E is still winning stuff!

Congratulations again to Andrew Stanton and crew on another hugely deserved victory!