Sunday, November 23, 2008

Steampunk Myths and Legends Challenge



I have tried entering a few of these contests and never seem to finish. Here's hoping this one will be different.

This is a rough mockup of my steampunk rendition of the "Pygmalion" story.

Not sure if this is the one I want to go with but it might work. I hope to have a few other mockups posted soon.

I am also considering doing these:

steampunk Jimi Hendrix
steampunk Mad Hatter
steampunk John Henry

The following ideas seem to be being done by a lot of people:

lochness monster
trojan horse
medusa
wizard of oz (?)

Friday, November 14, 2008

Autodesk 2009 event notes

Here are the notes for Motionbuilder 2009

Autodesk 2009 Launch Event
Carlsbad CA
Nov 13th Sheraton Hotel
(Autodesk recommends DELL laptops M6400 and M4400)

Motionbuilder 2009
- Improved asset transport through the .fbx file format
- Ragdoll physics can be combined with rigid dynamics (characters falling and breaking walls for example)
New ragdoll -> approximation -> activate collision with rigid body (wall) -> physics solver (gravity)
- Characters can interact with each other through constraints (each character can push/pull the other - double solve)
- Imports cameras via FBX and allows you to setup shots in the story(board) tab. This is great for previz and supports transitions (crossfade etc) between shots.
- Quicktime 7 or greater supports FBX and allows you to jump to different cameras/shots using a hotkey. QT will also show other FBX info such as:
1. FBX file info / stats
2. show skeleton / rig
3. show lights etc etc
Being able to jump to different shots in the QT file quickly is great for previz / camera setup
- Character definition tab allows for creation of “control rig” using Fullbody IK / Human IK.
- Can create new effectors which control rig can “reach” towards (or reach towards the average of multiple effectors)
- Expert mode for relative transform
- FBX plugin exists for XSI but soon full integration will exist
- Motionbuilder interpolation now used in Maya 2009 animation layers

Westwood Designfest This Saturday!


This Saturday, November 15, 2008, from 11am to 4pm, the School of Design, its faculty and its students will be holding their student artshow. Please join us in this event, showcasing artwork from students in Game Art, Graphic Design, Interior Design, C.A.D., Animation, and Visual Communications.