For the life of me, we're not going down that path and no one should be getting the normal talk to on how to find work in the computer graphics industry, mainly because its not normal. While finding a job in the industry, you'll run into tons of characters both animated and in real life, and there are many hurdles that could make reaching your dream job a nightmare. However, you can make it and earn that fantastic job, if you follow these simple steps compiled from years of experience in the industry.
But first, you must understand the bumps and bruises along the way:
1. Competition.
In computer arts the main language that is spoken is ascetics , and how pleasing something is to the eye. Thus, this language is spoken around the world, and so no one job is restricted to location, which creates millions of applicants.
2. Degree vs. Non-Degree.
For many of us, learning animation and modeling started at home with no teacher and no classroom, and it can be argued that we learned principles that could never have been taught at school. Today, many universities have just began to implement 3d design into their art programs and this has baffled many job recruiters who now have to answer, can lessons be learned at school that couldn't be self taught and what are the importance of grades in the industry? The point is that the answers to those questions are all subjective and do not be surprised if a college grad or self learner, gets hired over you.
3. Entry Level.
At any job, being entry level is tough. However, for people who love their own work, it can be even more of a burden as they can often find themselves working on projects that they don't care for. This can result in poor effort and a bad end result. Understand that you are working for someone who has been at the job longer than you, and although you might have years of experience, you still have to work your way up and gain the approval of your co-workers.
4. Everything is Fun until its work.
Can you imagine working all day on modeling, and then coming home to model some more? Often, this doesn't happen as sooner or later we get sick of what we are doing and can't continue doing the same thing especially at home. Working at home was easy when we were single and building our portfolio, but with a job and maybe kids, exhaustion and priorities set in and "[file name].max" can't be given as much attention as it once did.
So after reading all of the hardships awaiting you in your search, you are now ready to find your dream job and here are the ways how:
1. Be Flexible
The first lesson that must be learned is that not every computer graphics job involves making fantasy lands or mystic characters. The job market for artsy jobs and jobs that surround creative thinking is very LIMITED. Therefore,you must expand your market scope and look to companies that need 3D services and not creative thinking alone. Understand that the product industry (cars, boats, architecture) need concept design artists to bring their ideas to life for a good sale, that would make you the picthman. The point is that ANYTHING that needs 3D SERVICES is in your job market. Examples: Condos, Navy, oliviergregoire.
2. Become an Expert in one program.
When jobs require one program, it means that you need to be the best of the best in that program and bringing C or B level work to a job interview just won't cut it. Therefore pick a program to learn and that way although you might be ineligible for jobs that use other applications, you have a better chance at getting a job that uses the program that you do know.
3. Be Versatile: Accessories to your knowledge
Computer Arts, doesn't incompass one particular skill or one particular program. Thus, you have to become at least an intermediate at a variety of popular programs. If you think everything is about 3D Studio Max, it isn't. What would you do if your workplace uses Maya. Your in luck here since most modeling programs have the same basic functions, and 3d design theory is universal. However, you might be asked to do work in Photoshop or Flash. So what programs should you learn, try: Adobe CS, Corel Painter, Flash, and a plethora of modeling programs even Poser (Do you think companies will spend a bunch of time waiting for you too model a perfect face.
Another tip, learn to merge these programs together. Model in Max integrate with After Effects through Blue Screen, and create a background in Photoshop.
4. Freelance
There is nothing better than working for yourself on your own time and repping all of the rewards. The main problem with freelancing is that its not a yearly salary plus pay can be otherwise meager and hunting people down for your money is not a good feeling. Customers can be a pain and never let up on their demands. However, the benefits are clear:
A.) Helps build your resume.
B.) Creates a clientel and if you do it right, will lead to other opportunities through free advertising
C.) You determine the amount you will get paid and the stronger your resume becomes is the more amount of money you can charge. Think of each successful job as your own promotion.
If you still have a problem with freelancing, think of it like this. De Vinci, Donatello, Michelangelo, was never hired by any employer and did all of their work freelancing. Why can't you be the same. Plus, if your inbetween work Freelancing can mean the difference when faced with bills.
5. Make yourself known.
Walking into interviews with your resume and portfolio only is not acceptable. You need to have a website that shows your employer what you can do with a bigger canvas. Including a short blurb about yourself would also be very valuable in building a personal relationship with your employer. Instead of just pictures of your work, show what you could do when you set your work to music in a cool video, so use Youtube or another free service to create an animation reel. Also, you can gain clientel without even having to go to job interviews because you can share your link any where you want including forums or online directories. Plus if an employer needs to share your work, then they have your link too.
Take it from me, finding work is never easy. But once you get in the industry and have references everything else will fall right in place.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Top 10 Must See Movies of 2008
Athough we are still in the early parts of 2007, and well beyond the award season and just before the summer blockbuster bonanza, its never too late to look ahead to 2008, which looks to follow the quintessential Hollywood formula of creating sequels, remakes, and adapting comic book to the big screen. So what movies will you be looking forward too:
Honary Mentions: Babylon A.D., Speed Racer, The Mummy 3, The Incredible Hulk 2, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
10.) Iron Man
Marvel a few months ago released the Iron Man Animated Movie which was pretty well done in its use of CGI and story. But on the horizon is Iron Man the film that stars Robert Dawney Jr. When will Hollywood ever learn that you can't throw big names into a big budget movie and expect results. Dawney Jr. has only been good at two things Alcohol and Drug abuse and now he's going to abuse our eyes and ears with this film. The supporting cast includes "Its hard out here of a pimp" Terrance Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow who's last superhero movie, "Sky Captain" wasn't very good either.
The interesting part of the movie and the reason why its on this list is because we all want to see what the suit would look like. Similar to Ghost Rider, we can stomach the movie if the superhero looks cool.
9.) James Bond 22
Honestly, nothing was special about the last Bond. I would call it a breath of fresh air and Daniel Craig played Bond commendably, but its easy to do so after seeing the original Casino Royale with the best Bond to put on the suit and hold the gun. So in order to adequately judge, we have to see how he will be in the next Bond film.
8.)Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Harry Potter is growing up, and even the actors taking new roles in more explicit and adult movies. Daniel Radcliffe recently has performed nude in English theatre, and we should expect to see more roles of the same as he gets older. How will this effect the Harry Potter audience or his performance in the movies. Will he even care? That is to be seen.
7.) The Dark Knight
What was more impressive: Christian Bale's acting or the voice that he put on for the role of Batman. It seems as though the Batman franchise has learned its lesson, which the makers of Iron Man still needs to learn, go with good non mainstream actors and you will have a successful film. Heth Ledger is going to play the Joker and it is rumored that Harvey Dent will also be a part of the film. Its just too bad that Jack Nicholas was and will always be the best Joker in the history of Batman films.
6.) Watchmen
If you have not read the comic book then please torrent the word Watchmen and you will thank me later. In what many have said sparked the revolution that brought reality to the pages of comic book, the Watchmen is so dramatic that it even is listed of Time's 100 greatest novels. Here's there description:
...former crime-fighters are drawn back into action by the murder of a former teammate, The Comedian, which turns out to be the leading edge of a much wider, more disturbing conspiracy. Told with ruthless psychological realism, in fugal, overlapping plotlines and gorgeous, cinematic panels rich with repeating motifs, Watchmen is a heart-pounding, heartbreaking read and a watershed in the evolution of a young medium.—L.G.
5.) The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspin
The Chronicles of Narnia was perceived by many to be the Lord of the Rings for Christians. Disney actively invited their entire congregation from many churches to see the movie, and the box office sales skyrocketed. Will the producers "adjust" the script (the book) to satisfy fans of the movies.
4.) Star Trek XI
There is no current info on the movie, but we know that its scheduled for release in Xmas 2008. More to come.
3.) Priests
A modified Japanese Comic that's:
" The story is a vampire Western that concerns a warrior priest who disobeys church law by teaming with a young sheriff and a priestess to track down a band of renegade vampires who have kidnapped his niece."
Isn't odd how almost every movie from Japan becomes a major hit in the United States. Will this be another one.
2.) Indiana Jones 4
Years in the making, will we finally see a valiant comeback from our favorite adventurer? We will soon find out by next year as Harrison Ford reprises his role as Indiana Jones. The question will be is if he is too old to pull of the stunt work or perform with the same enthusiasm that he did. But just in case Ford needs some help, Sean Connery will once again play Professor Henry Jones, and if Connery can do what he did for Catherine Zeta Jones in Entrapment then we may see another movie in the tradition of the Indiana Jones that won 7 Academy Awards will be difficult
1.) Jurassic Park IV
What is considered the most profitable and most captivating series of the past decade, Steven Spielberg tries to right the wrong of JP3 with what is to be, Spielberg's if not movies' next great masterpiece. In 1993, we were hypnotized by the vast terrain and brilliant detail in of each Tyrannesorous Rex, and the entire film one terabyte. Since then, ILM has moved far and ahead of that point to create movies with full CGI characters and galaxies in StarWars, and the dramatic sea's in Pirates of the Caribbean.
The only drawback is that Joe Johnston, director of JP3, will also be directing this film as well. For this film to live up to the expectations it needs Spielberg to be a VERY hands on producer, as well as a better writing team.
Honary Mentions: Babylon A.D., Speed Racer, The Mummy 3, The Incredible Hulk 2, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
10.) Iron Man
Marvel a few months ago released the Iron Man Animated Movie which was pretty well done in its use of CGI and story. But on the horizon is Iron Man the film that stars Robert Dawney Jr. When will Hollywood ever learn that you can't throw big names into a big budget movie and expect results. Dawney Jr. has only been good at two things Alcohol and Drug abuse and now he's going to abuse our eyes and ears with this film. The supporting cast includes "Its hard out here of a pimp" Terrance Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow who's last superhero movie, "Sky Captain" wasn't very good either.
The interesting part of the movie and the reason why its on this list is because we all want to see what the suit would look like. Similar to Ghost Rider, we can stomach the movie if the superhero looks cool.
9.) James Bond 22
Honestly, nothing was special about the last Bond. I would call it a breath of fresh air and Daniel Craig played Bond commendably, but its easy to do so after seeing the original Casino Royale with the best Bond to put on the suit and hold the gun. So in order to adequately judge, we have to see how he will be in the next Bond film.
8.)Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Harry Potter is growing up, and even the actors taking new roles in more explicit and adult movies. Daniel Radcliffe recently has performed nude in English theatre, and we should expect to see more roles of the same as he gets older. How will this effect the Harry Potter audience or his performance in the movies. Will he even care? That is to be seen.
7.) The Dark Knight
What was more impressive: Christian Bale's acting or the voice that he put on for the role of Batman. It seems as though the Batman franchise has learned its lesson, which the makers of Iron Man still needs to learn, go with good non mainstream actors and you will have a successful film. Heth Ledger is going to play the Joker and it is rumored that Harvey Dent will also be a part of the film. Its just too bad that Jack Nicholas was and will always be the best Joker in the history of Batman films.
6.) Watchmen
If you have not read the comic book then please torrent the word Watchmen and you will thank me later. In what many have said sparked the revolution that brought reality to the pages of comic book, the Watchmen is so dramatic that it even is listed of Time's 100 greatest novels. Here's there description:
...former crime-fighters are drawn back into action by the murder of a former teammate, The Comedian, which turns out to be the leading edge of a much wider, more disturbing conspiracy. Told with ruthless psychological realism, in fugal, overlapping plotlines and gorgeous, cinematic panels rich with repeating motifs, Watchmen is a heart-pounding, heartbreaking read and a watershed in the evolution of a young medium.—L.G.
5.) The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspin
The Chronicles of Narnia was perceived by many to be the Lord of the Rings for Christians. Disney actively invited their entire congregation from many churches to see the movie, and the box office sales skyrocketed. Will the producers "adjust" the script (the book) to satisfy fans of the movies.
4.) Star Trek XI
There is no current info on the movie, but we know that its scheduled for release in Xmas 2008. More to come.
3.) Priests
A modified Japanese Comic that's:
" The story is a vampire Western that concerns a warrior priest who disobeys church law by teaming with a young sheriff and a priestess to track down a band of renegade vampires who have kidnapped his niece."
Isn't odd how almost every movie from Japan becomes a major hit in the United States. Will this be another one.
2.) Indiana Jones 4
Years in the making, will we finally see a valiant comeback from our favorite adventurer? We will soon find out by next year as Harrison Ford reprises his role as Indiana Jones. The question will be is if he is too old to pull of the stunt work or perform with the same enthusiasm that he did. But just in case Ford needs some help, Sean Connery will once again play Professor Henry Jones, and if Connery can do what he did for Catherine Zeta Jones in Entrapment then we may see another movie in the tradition of the Indiana Jones that won 7 Academy Awards will be difficult
1.) Jurassic Park IV
What is considered the most profitable and most captivating series of the past decade, Steven Spielberg tries to right the wrong of JP3 with what is to be, Spielberg's if not movies' next great masterpiece. In 1993, we were hypnotized by the vast terrain and brilliant detail in of each Tyrannesorous Rex, and the entire film one terabyte. Since then, ILM has moved far and ahead of that point to create movies with full CGI characters and galaxies in StarWars, and the dramatic sea's in Pirates of the Caribbean.
The only drawback is that Joe Johnston, director of JP3, will also be directing this film as well. For this film to live up to the expectations it needs Spielberg to be a VERY hands on producer, as well as a better writing team.
CG Artists Job Description
Production
VFX Producer: Overall responsible for the business and scheduling side of the VFX.
VFX Coordinator: Works with the VFX Producer - often responsible for the artists on a specific sequence.
Supervision
VFX Supervisor: Overall in charge of the look and implementation of the shots. Will be on set to make sure that things are shot correctly. Will be the one to talk to the clients about what is needed. On bigger films, there is often a client VFX Sup, who works on the entire film and oversees the whole thing, and a VFX studio VFX Sup who will actually work with the artists. (The client VFX Sup only really deals with the director and the VFX studio VFX Sups)
CG Supervisor: Responsible for the 3D side of things - all of the 3D artists, and making sure that the compositors get what they need to make the shots work.
2D Supervisor: Looks after all of the compositors, and the 2D only shots, as well as the integration of the CG into the shots.
3D Artists
PreViz: This is a pre-production job rather than a post production job. Creates relatively rough animation so that the director can make decisions on camera angles before he gets onto set. Often used for situations where there’s going to be a lot of VFX, it also gives the actors an idea of what the shot is going to look like, even if they’re just working on a greenscreen set.
Matchmover: Tracks the live action camera move in 3D, giving a 3D camera that the CG scene will be viewed from.
Modeller: Creates 3D models of objects/characters
Texture Painter: Creates the 2D images which will be layed over the 3D models to give them colour and texture. There are usually many textures for each part of an object, defining things like the basic colour, the displacement, areas where there’s more specular reflection, etc. Not necessarily a 3D job, but it’s more tied in with the 3D side of things than the 2D side, so I’ve included it in the 3D section.
Rigger: Creates the rig (skeleton) to go inside the model so that it is easier to move bits of it without having to edit it veryex by vertex.
Animator: Takes the rigged model and gives it movement.
Technical Director (TD): A number of the more technical of the 3D jobs are classed as TDs. This is nothing to do with directing in the usual movie sense of the word.
Effects TD: Often particles - dust, snow, rain, etc. Also cloth and fluids. Bigger companies may have people who specialise in cloth, or fluids, etc.
Lighting TD: Adds lights to the scene. This is the final artist in the 3D pipeline. Often will deal with rendering too. Or the rendering will be done by a…
Render TD: Makes sure that the scenes that the lighter finishes with will render properly. This may involve optimising the scene to make sure that it will render as quickly as possible (for example, deleting all of the geometry that won’t be seen by the camera)
2D Artists
Roto Artist: Cuts out objects, often frame by frame (although interpolation is allowed). Often used for situations where a green/bluescreen was not feasable for cost/time/intelligence reasons. The roto artist may also be called upon to do rig and tracking marker removals, and other clean-up work.
Matte Painter: Creates 2D background paintings that are usually used by the compositors, but may also be passed back to 3D to be rendered in multiple layers
Compositor: Takes the rendered CG, and the live action plate, and any other 2D elements and puts them all together, producing (hopefully!) a result that looks as though it was all shot at the same time.
R & D
Shader Writer: Writes shaders, which tell light how to interract with the different parts of the model, and how to use the textures that the texture painter has created.
Pipeline Programmer: Writes the pipeline software. This is software that doesn’t actually create images that will appear on the screen, but that helps the artists workflow, and overall improves efficiency
General R&D: Writing anything else that the artists may need. Anything from plugins for Shake or Maya through to crowd generation tools.
VFX Producer: Overall responsible for the business and scheduling side of the VFX.
VFX Coordinator: Works with the VFX Producer - often responsible for the artists on a specific sequence.
Supervision
VFX Supervisor: Overall in charge of the look and implementation of the shots. Will be on set to make sure that things are shot correctly. Will be the one to talk to the clients about what is needed. On bigger films, there is often a client VFX Sup, who works on the entire film and oversees the whole thing, and a VFX studio VFX Sup who will actually work with the artists. (The client VFX Sup only really deals with the director and the VFX studio VFX Sups)
CG Supervisor: Responsible for the 3D side of things - all of the 3D artists, and making sure that the compositors get what they need to make the shots work.
2D Supervisor: Looks after all of the compositors, and the 2D only shots, as well as the integration of the CG into the shots.
3D Artists
PreViz: This is a pre-production job rather than a post production job. Creates relatively rough animation so that the director can make decisions on camera angles before he gets onto set. Often used for situations where there’s going to be a lot of VFX, it also gives the actors an idea of what the shot is going to look like, even if they’re just working on a greenscreen set.
Matchmover: Tracks the live action camera move in 3D, giving a 3D camera that the CG scene will be viewed from.
Modeller: Creates 3D models of objects/characters
Texture Painter: Creates the 2D images which will be layed over the 3D models to give them colour and texture. There are usually many textures for each part of an object, defining things like the basic colour, the displacement, areas where there’s more specular reflection, etc. Not necessarily a 3D job, but it’s more tied in with the 3D side of things than the 2D side, so I’ve included it in the 3D section.
Rigger: Creates the rig (skeleton) to go inside the model so that it is easier to move bits of it without having to edit it veryex by vertex.
Animator: Takes the rigged model and gives it movement.
Technical Director (TD): A number of the more technical of the 3D jobs are classed as TDs. This is nothing to do with directing in the usual movie sense of the word.
Effects TD: Often particles - dust, snow, rain, etc. Also cloth and fluids. Bigger companies may have people who specialise in cloth, or fluids, etc.
Lighting TD: Adds lights to the scene. This is the final artist in the 3D pipeline. Often will deal with rendering too. Or the rendering will be done by a…
Render TD: Makes sure that the scenes that the lighter finishes with will render properly. This may involve optimising the scene to make sure that it will render as quickly as possible (for example, deleting all of the geometry that won’t be seen by the camera)
2D Artists
Roto Artist: Cuts out objects, often frame by frame (although interpolation is allowed). Often used for situations where a green/bluescreen was not feasable for cost/time/intelligence reasons. The roto artist may also be called upon to do rig and tracking marker removals, and other clean-up work.
Matte Painter: Creates 2D background paintings that are usually used by the compositors, but may also be passed back to 3D to be rendered in multiple layers
Compositor: Takes the rendered CG, and the live action plate, and any other 2D elements and puts them all together, producing (hopefully!) a result that looks as though it was all shot at the same time.
R & D
Shader Writer: Writes shaders, which tell light how to interract with the different parts of the model, and how to use the textures that the texture painter has created.
Pipeline Programmer: Writes the pipeline software. This is software that doesn’t actually create images that will appear on the screen, but that helps the artists workflow, and overall improves efficiency
General R&D: Writing anything else that the artists may need. Anything from plugins for Shake or Maya through to crowd generation tools.
On Cutting Edge - James Cameroon
The director of Terminator and Titanic explains how movies will be transformed by motion-tracking and 3D technology.
Three-time Academy Award-winning director James Cameron is a pioneer in the field of motion capture. In the mid-'90s he used the nascent technology to create the massive crowd scenes and stunts in his blockbuster Titanic. These days he's still at the cutting edge of the technology, but he prefers to call motion capture "performance capture" because, as he points out, "actors don't do motion, they do emotion."Cameron is in the midst of his latest film project, Avatar, which is his most technologically innovative film to date. The futuristic movie about an ex-Marine will be released in 2009 simultaneously with a massive, multiplayer, video game based on the film.
What has motion capture meant to the film industry and to your work?
Performance capture (Perfcap) in recent years has enabled such stunning [computer generated] characters as Gollum (in Lord of the Rings parts 2 and 3), "King Kong," and Davy Jones (in Pirates of the Caribbean) to be brought to life. The technology is critical to the realization of my dream project, Avatar.
In fact, Avatar wasn't possible when it was first written 11 years ago, and only through pushing the technology to new levels over the past year and a half have we reached the point where the film is finally possible to make.
What innovations have you developed for Avatar?
We have greatly enhanced the size of the performance-capture stage, which we call The Volume, to six times the size previously used. And we have incorporated a real-time virtual camera, which allows me to direct [computer-generated] scenes as I would live-action scenes. I can see my actors performing as their characters, in real-time, and I can move my camera to adjust to their performances.
In addition, we have pioneered facial performance capture, in conjunction with our visual effects partner, Weta Digital. This technique eliminates hours in the makeup chair, and various other discomforts, for the actors. Previously, actors needed to have hundreds of tiny spherical markers glued to their faces, and they couldn't touch their own faces throughout the shooting day as a result. With the new system, a lightweight head-rig can be donned minutes before shooting.
We have had great success, and other filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson have worked on our virtual stage doing tests for their upcoming films, and given high praise to the system.
Does the rig cover the whole head, including your face? Does it capture fine facial movements?
The rig is a small skull cap, made from a cast of the actor's head, so that it fits comfortably while being tight enough to avoid shifting. It acts as a base for a strut which resembles a concert microphone (visualize Madonna in concert), except instead of a mike in front of the face, it has a tiny camera. The key to it is the software, which interprets the movement of the actor's face, pupils, and eyelid responses as the image flows in from the video feed of the head-rig camera.
In what directions do you see the technology going in the short term?
Improvements to the software and higher computation speeds and storage densities will enable us to have more realistic environments and more refined facial emotions and hand movements. Hand movement, for example, is still at a crude state.
On Avatar, we're working on-stage at a reality level equal to an '80s video game. At the end of the day, after a year and a half of post production, the images seen by audiences will be 100% photo-real, i.e. indistinguishable from photography. But for our day-to-day shooting, the image can be improved a lot.
Another area which needs improvement is the lighting. We need to improve its ability to handle cinematic lighting, the casting of shadows and so on. All of this can be improved as Moore's Law raises the speed of processing and as upgrades to the software become available.
In addition, we're developing ways for [computer-generated] characters to interact with actors who are being photographed on real, live-action set. We will have real-time stereo (three-dimensional stereoscopic, or 3D) composites of characters, which will be viewed by me in the eyepiece of the camera while I'm shooting a live-action scene. This will be revolutionary. We're not quite there yet, but we hope to have that by August, in time for our live-action shoot in Wellington, New Zealand.
Long term, what do you expect?
I expect that more filmmakers will embrace the technique and apply it to different types of scenarios. For the creation of fantasy and science-fiction characters, Perfcap will largely replace makeup and prosthetics.
Actors need not feel threatened by this change in technology. It doesn't replace acting, in fact it's designed to empower the acting and directing process, as opposed to the traditional [computer-generated] animation process, which uses only the actor's voice, and in which a committee of animators perform the character, operate the camera, and do the lighting.
I believe it will make fantasy filmmaking much more user-friendly for filmmakers, actors, and studios, and ultimately bring down costs. It's just now possible to create photo-real human [computer-generated] characters, but it isn't cost effective.
Many other fields, from medicine to automotive design, now use similar motion-capture systems (though on a smaller scale). Do you ever run across or dream up non-entertainment applications yourself?
I'm bore-sighted on the cinematic process. While one can generally imagine all the industrial and science applications, I'm not interested in developing them. However I can visualize a number of uses for the technique in advanced forms of entertainment, at theme parks and so on.
What role will 3D play in the future of film?
Here's what can happen, although it's too early to say if it will: 3D can become ubiquitous as digital cinema replaces film. As digital cinema rolls out, stereo follows—and in some cases leads the charge, as we have seen recently with the digital 3D releases of Chicken Little and Monster House forcing the installation of hundreds of new digital projectors.
There will eventually be major titles available from all studios at some screens in almost all multiplex cinemas worldwide. I would say the horizon for this is five years. 3D can become a fully accepted way in which audiences view movies. It will become another consumer choice, like premium or regular gas. The premium experience of 3D will be the preferred viewing experience for action, animated, fantasy, and science-fiction films.
3D's broad acceptance at theaters will generate enough content that consumer-electronics manufacturers will make home players and monitors available. The technology exists now, but is not readily available as off-the-shelf products. 3D display will become a must for video and computer games.
In 20 years, stereo media may become the preferred method for displaying all information, including news and other broadcast media. The density of information one can place on a small screen becomes much higher if it's stacked in three dimensions.
Is there something beyond 3D in film? Could we ever see in cinema the same kind of physical participation we're starting to see in video-game consoles like Nintendo's Wii?
Imagine a movie in which the viewer is swept along by a narrative, following the action from place to place, but without the intervention of a camera. You can choose which character to watch in a scene, as if you're an invisible witness standing there while a real event plays out. This is still years away, at a level of realism people would consider cinematic, but certainly not decades away.
I can imagine the dense fantasy worlds I like to create for movies having an equal or greater life in a world of interactive play, authored by others, in a partnership. Of course, add massive multiplayer capability to this, and people will never leave their homes.
Courtesy: BusinessWeek Online
Three-time Academy Award-winning director James Cameron is a pioneer in the field of motion capture. In the mid-'90s he used the nascent technology to create the massive crowd scenes and stunts in his blockbuster Titanic. These days he's still at the cutting edge of the technology, but he prefers to call motion capture "performance capture" because, as he points out, "actors don't do motion, they do emotion."Cameron is in the midst of his latest film project, Avatar, which is his most technologically innovative film to date. The futuristic movie about an ex-Marine will be released in 2009 simultaneously with a massive, multiplayer, video game based on the film.
What has motion capture meant to the film industry and to your work?
Performance capture (Perfcap) in recent years has enabled such stunning [computer generated] characters as Gollum (in Lord of the Rings parts 2 and 3), "King Kong," and Davy Jones (in Pirates of the Caribbean) to be brought to life. The technology is critical to the realization of my dream project, Avatar.
In fact, Avatar wasn't possible when it was first written 11 years ago, and only through pushing the technology to new levels over the past year and a half have we reached the point where the film is finally possible to make.
What innovations have you developed for Avatar?
We have greatly enhanced the size of the performance-capture stage, which we call The Volume, to six times the size previously used. And we have incorporated a real-time virtual camera, which allows me to direct [computer-generated] scenes as I would live-action scenes. I can see my actors performing as their characters, in real-time, and I can move my camera to adjust to their performances.
In addition, we have pioneered facial performance capture, in conjunction with our visual effects partner, Weta Digital. This technique eliminates hours in the makeup chair, and various other discomforts, for the actors. Previously, actors needed to have hundreds of tiny spherical markers glued to their faces, and they couldn't touch their own faces throughout the shooting day as a result. With the new system, a lightweight head-rig can be donned minutes before shooting.
We have had great success, and other filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson have worked on our virtual stage doing tests for their upcoming films, and given high praise to the system.
Does the rig cover the whole head, including your face? Does it capture fine facial movements?
The rig is a small skull cap, made from a cast of the actor's head, so that it fits comfortably while being tight enough to avoid shifting. It acts as a base for a strut which resembles a concert microphone (visualize Madonna in concert), except instead of a mike in front of the face, it has a tiny camera. The key to it is the software, which interprets the movement of the actor's face, pupils, and eyelid responses as the image flows in from the video feed of the head-rig camera.
In what directions do you see the technology going in the short term?
Improvements to the software and higher computation speeds and storage densities will enable us to have more realistic environments and more refined facial emotions and hand movements. Hand movement, for example, is still at a crude state.
On Avatar, we're working on-stage at a reality level equal to an '80s video game. At the end of the day, after a year and a half of post production, the images seen by audiences will be 100% photo-real, i.e. indistinguishable from photography. But for our day-to-day shooting, the image can be improved a lot.
Another area which needs improvement is the lighting. We need to improve its ability to handle cinematic lighting, the casting of shadows and so on. All of this can be improved as Moore's Law raises the speed of processing and as upgrades to the software become available.
In addition, we're developing ways for [computer-generated] characters to interact with actors who are being photographed on real, live-action set. We will have real-time stereo (three-dimensional stereoscopic, or 3D) composites of characters, which will be viewed by me in the eyepiece of the camera while I'm shooting a live-action scene. This will be revolutionary. We're not quite there yet, but we hope to have that by August, in time for our live-action shoot in Wellington, New Zealand.
Long term, what do you expect?
I expect that more filmmakers will embrace the technique and apply it to different types of scenarios. For the creation of fantasy and science-fiction characters, Perfcap will largely replace makeup and prosthetics.
Actors need not feel threatened by this change in technology. It doesn't replace acting, in fact it's designed to empower the acting and directing process, as opposed to the traditional [computer-generated] animation process, which uses only the actor's voice, and in which a committee of animators perform the character, operate the camera, and do the lighting.
I believe it will make fantasy filmmaking much more user-friendly for filmmakers, actors, and studios, and ultimately bring down costs. It's just now possible to create photo-real human [computer-generated] characters, but it isn't cost effective.
Many other fields, from medicine to automotive design, now use similar motion-capture systems (though on a smaller scale). Do you ever run across or dream up non-entertainment applications yourself?
I'm bore-sighted on the cinematic process. While one can generally imagine all the industrial and science applications, I'm not interested in developing them. However I can visualize a number of uses for the technique in advanced forms of entertainment, at theme parks and so on.
What role will 3D play in the future of film?
Here's what can happen, although it's too early to say if it will: 3D can become ubiquitous as digital cinema replaces film. As digital cinema rolls out, stereo follows—and in some cases leads the charge, as we have seen recently with the digital 3D releases of Chicken Little and Monster House forcing the installation of hundreds of new digital projectors.
There will eventually be major titles available from all studios at some screens in almost all multiplex cinemas worldwide. I would say the horizon for this is five years. 3D can become a fully accepted way in which audiences view movies. It will become another consumer choice, like premium or regular gas. The premium experience of 3D will be the preferred viewing experience for action, animated, fantasy, and science-fiction films.
3D's broad acceptance at theaters will generate enough content that consumer-electronics manufacturers will make home players and monitors available. The technology exists now, but is not readily available as off-the-shelf products. 3D display will become a must for video and computer games.
In 20 years, stereo media may become the preferred method for displaying all information, including news and other broadcast media. The density of information one can place on a small screen becomes much higher if it's stacked in three dimensions.
Is there something beyond 3D in film? Could we ever see in cinema the same kind of physical participation we're starting to see in video-game consoles like Nintendo's Wii?
Imagine a movie in which the viewer is swept along by a narrative, following the action from place to place, but without the intervention of a camera. You can choose which character to watch in a scene, as if you're an invisible witness standing there while a real event plays out. This is still years away, at a level of realism people would consider cinematic, but certainly not decades away.
I can imagine the dense fantasy worlds I like to create for movies having an equal or greater life in a world of interactive play, authored by others, in a partnership. Of course, add massive multiplayer capability to this, and people will never leave their homes.
Courtesy: BusinessWeek Online
Photoshop shorcuts
Photoshop tricks n shorcuts
1. Press Tab will hide tool bar and palette, Shift+Tab will hide only palette.
2. Hold Shift + click the top blue bar for toolbar and pallette will move them to the nearest edge.
3. Double click the top blue bar for any pallette window will minimize it.
4. Double click the grey background will bring up open file option, Hold Shift+double click will open up the browser.
5. Sick of the default grey background around your image? select paint bucket, hold shift and click on the grey background will change to whatever color you have in your foreground color box.
6. In photoshop, all "Cancel" button in a window can be changed to "Reset" button by holding Alt.
7. Caps lock will switch you cursor for accuracy.
8. Press F button will switch between 3 different screen mode give you more working area.
9. To draw a straight line, click then move to the end point and hold shift + click.
10. Hold Ctrl will temporary make any tool into move tool until you release Ctrl.
11. Ctrl + Alt and click drag the image will make an duplication of the current image over lay on top.
12. Hold Space bar will make any tool into "Hand Tool" until you release Space bar.
13. While in Zoom Tool, Ctrl+space = zoom in, alt+space = zoom out.
14. Hold Ctrl and press "+" or "-" will change the % for image in navigator window.
15. When Using eyedropper tool to capture foreground color, hold Alt and click will instantly capture the color for background.
16. With Measure Tool, draw a line then hold Alt and draw another line from the end of the first line will measure the angle.
17. Ctrl+Alt+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Z will go back and forth in the history.
18. Alt+Backspace and Ctrl+Backspace will fill in whole screen with foreground color or background color, Shift+backspace will bring up option windown, Alt+Shift+Backspace and Ctrl+Shift+Backspace will fill the image with foreground or background color but will leave the alpha transparent area alone.
19. When free transform with Ctrl+T, hold Alt to keep the origial image and transform an duplicated layer of it. Ctrl+Shift+T to repeat whatever you did in the last transform.
20. To make sure you Crop is on the edge of the image, hold Ctrl while croping.
21. Ctrl+J will duplicated the current layer.
22. Ctrl+Shift+E will merge all visible layers to one layer, Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E will make copy of the original and merge all visible layers.
23. While using Marquee Tools, hold Alt will make the starting point as a center of the selection.
24. Ctrl + D to deselect, Ctrl+Shift+D to reselect what you deselected.
25. While selecting with Marquee tool, press space bar can allow you to move the selection.
26. Hold Shift and press "+" or "-" will switch between the layer mode:
N = Normal
I = Dissolve
M = Multiply
S = Screen
O = Overlay
F = Soft Light
H = Hard Light
D = Color Dodge
B = Color Burn
K = Darken
G = Lighten
E = Difference
X = Exclusion
U = Hue
T = Saturation
C = Color
Y = Luminosity
Q = Behind 1
L = Threshold 2
R = Clear 3
W = Shadow 4
V = Midtones 4
Z = Highlights 4
***The shortcut works even for following situation:
***Alpha turned off, Indexed Mode, Line tool, Bucket Tools, Dodge and Burn Tools
27. While using Brush or any other tools, change the opacity by type the number.
*** type one number for % of it's ten times [4=40%]
*** type two number for exact % [press 7 then 2 will get 72%]
28. Hold Alt while clicking on the eye icon beside the layer will hide all other layers.
29. Hold Alt while clicking the pen icon beside the layer will unchain this layer from all layers.
30. Select a layer, hold Alt and click the top edge of another layer will group them.
31. Hold Alt and click the button "Create a new layer", will create a new adjustment layer.
32. Select a layer and hold Alt, then click on the garbage can button will instantly delete the layer, marquee where you want alpha and Ctrl+click the "Create new channel" button will create a alpha only on the area you marqueed.
33. File> Automate > Contact Sheet: this can create a small thumbnail for every file, this can save you some time from searching.
34. When Move Tool is selected, two box on top can be useful from time to time, those are "Auto select layer" and "Show bounding box".
35. While Move Tool is selected, hold Shift (Alt+Shift+Right click) can allow rather or not make current layer chain with upper layer.
36. With grid on, click the top left corner of the grid and drag to anywhere on the image to set the pivot, double click ont he icon again can reset the pivot.
37. After draw a path on the image with pen tool, Ctrl+shift+H can hide/show it.
38. Control Navigator with keyboard sometimes can be more time efficient than mouse.
***
Home = move to top left corner
End = move to right bottom corner
PageUp = move up one page
PageDown = move down one page
Ctrl+PageUp = move left one page
Ctrl+PageDown = move right one page
Shift+PageUp = move up 10 pixel
Shift+PageDown = move down 10 pixel
Ctrl+Shift+PageUp = move left 10 pixel
Ctrl+Shift+PageDown = move right 10 pixel
39. Ctrl+Tab allow you switch between different image files you are working at.
40. F12 = Revert to how the file is like the last time you saved it.
41. Shortcuts for Channel: RGB, CMYK, indexed color...
***
Ctrl+"~" = RGB
Ctrl+1 = red
Ctrl+2 = green
Ctrl+3 = blue
Ctrl+4 = other path
Ctrl+9 = other path
Ctrl+"~" = CMYK
Ctrl+1 = light green
Ctrl+2 = pink red
Ctrl+3 = yellow
Ctrl+4 = black
Ctrl+5 = other path
Ctrl+9 = other path
Ctrl+1 = Indexed
Ctrl+2 = other path
Ctrl+9 = other path
42. hold Ctrl then you can draw a red box in the Navigator thumbnail for viewing.
43. Hold Alt and click on any of the history step, that step will be copied and become the most recent one.
44. Alt drag a step from a serial action can copy it to another action.
1. Press Tab will hide tool bar and palette, Shift+Tab will hide only palette.
2. Hold Shift + click the top blue bar for toolbar and pallette will move them to the nearest edge.
3. Double click the top blue bar for any pallette window will minimize it.
4. Double click the grey background will bring up open file option, Hold Shift+double click will open up the browser.
5. Sick of the default grey background around your image? select paint bucket, hold shift and click on the grey background will change to whatever color you have in your foreground color box.
6. In photoshop, all "Cancel" button in a window can be changed to "Reset" button by holding Alt.
7. Caps lock will switch you cursor for accuracy.
8. Press F button will switch between 3 different screen mode give you more working area.
9. To draw a straight line, click then move to the end point and hold shift + click.
10. Hold Ctrl will temporary make any tool into move tool until you release Ctrl.
11. Ctrl + Alt and click drag the image will make an duplication of the current image over lay on top.
12. Hold Space bar will make any tool into "Hand Tool" until you release Space bar.
13. While in Zoom Tool, Ctrl+space = zoom in, alt+space = zoom out.
14. Hold Ctrl and press "+" or "-" will change the % for image in navigator window.
15. When Using eyedropper tool to capture foreground color, hold Alt and click will instantly capture the color for background.
16. With Measure Tool, draw a line then hold Alt and draw another line from the end of the first line will measure the angle.
17. Ctrl+Alt+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Z will go back and forth in the history.
18. Alt+Backspace and Ctrl+Backspace will fill in whole screen with foreground color or background color, Shift+backspace will bring up option windown, Alt+Shift+Backspace and Ctrl+Shift+Backspace will fill the image with foreground or background color but will leave the alpha transparent area alone.
19. When free transform with Ctrl+T, hold Alt to keep the origial image and transform an duplicated layer of it. Ctrl+Shift+T to repeat whatever you did in the last transform.
20. To make sure you Crop is on the edge of the image, hold Ctrl while croping.
21. Ctrl+J will duplicated the current layer.
22. Ctrl+Shift+E will merge all visible layers to one layer, Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E will make copy of the original and merge all visible layers.
23. While using Marquee Tools, hold Alt will make the starting point as a center of the selection.
24. Ctrl + D to deselect, Ctrl+Shift+D to reselect what you deselected.
25. While selecting with Marquee tool, press space bar can allow you to move the selection.
26. Hold Shift and press "+" or "-" will switch between the layer mode:
N = Normal
I = Dissolve
M = Multiply
S = Screen
O = Overlay
F = Soft Light
H = Hard Light
D = Color Dodge
B = Color Burn
K = Darken
G = Lighten
E = Difference
X = Exclusion
U = Hue
T = Saturation
C = Color
Y = Luminosity
Q = Behind 1
L = Threshold 2
R = Clear 3
W = Shadow 4
V = Midtones 4
Z = Highlights 4
***The shortcut works even for following situation:
***Alpha turned off, Indexed Mode, Line tool, Bucket Tools, Dodge and Burn Tools
27. While using Brush or any other tools, change the opacity by type the number.
*** type one number for % of it's ten times [4=40%]
*** type two number for exact % [press 7 then 2 will get 72%]
28. Hold Alt while clicking on the eye icon beside the layer will hide all other layers.
29. Hold Alt while clicking the pen icon beside the layer will unchain this layer from all layers.
30. Select a layer, hold Alt and click the top edge of another layer will group them.
31. Hold Alt and click the button "Create a new layer", will create a new adjustment layer.
32. Select a layer and hold Alt, then click on the garbage can button will instantly delete the layer, marquee where you want alpha and Ctrl+click the "Create new channel" button will create a alpha only on the area you marqueed.
33. File> Automate > Contact Sheet: this can create a small thumbnail for every file, this can save you some time from searching.
34. When Move Tool is selected, two box on top can be useful from time to time, those are "Auto select layer" and "Show bounding box".
35. While Move Tool is selected, hold Shift (Alt+Shift+Right click) can allow rather or not make current layer chain with upper layer.
36. With grid on, click the top left corner of the grid and drag to anywhere on the image to set the pivot, double click ont he icon again can reset the pivot.
37. After draw a path on the image with pen tool, Ctrl+shift+H can hide/show it.
38. Control Navigator with keyboard sometimes can be more time efficient than mouse.
***
Home = move to top left corner
End = move to right bottom corner
PageUp = move up one page
PageDown = move down one page
Ctrl+PageUp = move left one page
Ctrl+PageDown = move right one page
Shift+PageUp = move up 10 pixel
Shift+PageDown = move down 10 pixel
Ctrl+Shift+PageUp = move left 10 pixel
Ctrl+Shift+PageDown = move right 10 pixel
39. Ctrl+Tab allow you switch between different image files you are working at.
40. F12 = Revert to how the file is like the last time you saved it.
41. Shortcuts for Channel: RGB, CMYK, indexed color...
***
Ctrl+"~" = RGB
Ctrl+1 = red
Ctrl+2 = green
Ctrl+3 = blue
Ctrl+4 = other path
Ctrl+9 = other path
Ctrl+"~" = CMYK
Ctrl+1 = light green
Ctrl+2 = pink red
Ctrl+3 = yellow
Ctrl+4 = black
Ctrl+5 = other path
Ctrl+9 = other path
Ctrl+1 = Indexed
Ctrl+2 = other path
Ctrl+9 = other path
42. hold Ctrl then you can draw a red box in the Navigator thumbnail for viewing.
43. Hold Alt and click on any of the history step, that step will be copied and become the most recent one.
44. Alt drag a step from a serial action can copy it to another action.
Maya 2008 Review
Maya 2008 Review: Workflow is Key
Autodesk has released a major upgrade to Maya, which drops the sequential numbering in favor of the year, so what would have been Maya 9 is now Maya 2008. The updated package is a strong one, including many new features as well as many rock solid workflow enhancements. The release marks a significant change to Autodesk's approach to Maya's development. The focus is squarely on workflow this time, and the product shines for it.
The tried and true pattern of offering two distinct versions, Maya Complete and Maya Unlimited, remains with this upgrade. Maya Complete gives users all they need for standard 3D projects such as game development, basic animation and visual effects. Maya Unlimited includes some deeper, more application specific features including Nucleus Unified Simulation Framework, nCloth, Hair, Fur, Live and Fluid Effects. There is a significant cost difference between the versions, which may not be the most popular aspect of the product with users; however, it does offer them a choice along with the possibility of saving some of their budget.
Modeling in Maya 2008 is the main beneficiary of the workflow improvements. Artists spend many, many hours on modeling tasks, no matter what their 3D application of choice. In the past, Maya users bemoaned some of the multi-step processes they had to endure while modeling. In Maya 2008, the process has been sped up with a variety of keyboard shortcut consolidations and preview functions, all of which make the work go faster. The new X-Ray highlight feature allows users to select specific objects more easily by ghosting portions of the scene or object. Edges can now be slid, making the process of adding detail to complex geometry much faster. The Boolean functions have also been sped up as well as enhanced with cleaner output. Finally, smoothed meshes can now be previewed along with the mesh cage, which remains editable while viewing the smoothed mesh underneath. This feature alone is likely to be one of the most popular amongst modelers.
Modeling in Maya 2008 is the main beneficiary of the workflow improvements. Edges can now be slid, making the process of adding detail to complex geometry move much faster.
Autodesk, of course, now develops the two most widely used 3D apps: Maya and 3ds Max. With Maya 2008, the beginning of cross-referenced feature sets begins to show. In particular, Maya 2008 now includes accurate, realtime viewport previews, much like 3ds Max. While these interactive previews are not identical to the output of whatever renderer users may choose, they do provide a look at the work that is more detailed and advanced than previous versions of Maya's viewports were capable of displaying in realtime. Another benefit of the more robust previewing in Maya 2008 is a snappier, more responsive user interface. Selecting objects, dialog boxes, panels and general screen updates are much faster.
Autodesk introduced nCloth in Maya 8.5, and it's now been updated in Maya 2008 to be faster, more user-friendly and features improved realtime previews.
In the last version, Maya 8.5, Autodesk introduced nCloth, a new system for creating cloth objects using the Nucleus Unified Framework. nCloth has been updated in Maya 2008 to be faster, more user-friendly and now has improved realtime previews.
Model builders are not the only creators who get attention in Maya 2008. Riggers and animators get their props too with new non-destructive skinning. The old way of rebinding the skin over and over again with each new iteration has been replaced with the new skin editing functionality. Users can keep the skeleton bound to geometry throughout the skinning process, including the ability to add, remove, join or disconnect joints while their previously created binding remains unaffected.
Shader support is also enhanced in the new version. Direct X HLSL shaders are now part of the Maya toolkit, useful most likely to game developers and other realtime application users. Maya 2008 still includes the previously offered CgFX shader support. Even though the shader support here is robust, there are many details that fall outside of their capabilities, especially in the complex game development world. Users will be able to view PC and console shaders in realtime right in the Maya viewports, but there is no guarantee that those previews will be identical to the their final game platform. Game artists won't be surprised that they will need to work with the Maya shaders to create the custom result they desire, especially as next-gen game development continues to evolve at breakneck speed.
Users can keep the skeleton bound to geometry throughout the skinning process, including the ability to add, remove, join or disconnect joints while their previously created binding remains unaffected.
Some additional general category enhancements come with the Maya 2008 update, including API updates for hardware rendering. The API also has some wish list additions for animators, specifically the new constraints API that will allow technical artists to write animation helpers more easily. mental ray 3.6 core is faster now, allowing faster polygon translation and rendering instances of polygons. For example, a 20,000 polygon mesh that has been instanced 2,000 times now renders 20 times faster than before. The improved mental ray functionality also includes the ability to render particles that previously only be viewed in the hardware renderer. This removes the necessity of combing two separate render outputs after rendering is completed. The final mental ray improvement is accelerated texture baking. This is noticeably faster than previous versions, however a precise amount could not identified without comparing one to one with versions of Maya.
Increased workflow being the focus of Maya 2008 is seen with some of the other effective feature enhancements, including speed boosts for Poly Reduce, which is now as much as 30 times faster than previous versions, and a four times speed increase for Poly Smooth. Along the same lines of more speed, nCloth now caches three times faster than it did in Maya 8.5.
Smoothed meshes can now be previewed along with the mesh cage, which remains editable while viewing the smoothed mesh underneath. This feature alone is likely to be one of the most popular amongst modelers.
The good news, for some users at least, is that Maya appears mostly unchanged. Much of what is new in Maya 2008 will appear to experienced users as subtle changes, if they are noticed at all. The real benefits of Maya 2008 become apparent after using it for a few days. Many users are likely to find their Maya 2008 experience to be more flowing and direct. Although the feature list for Maya 2008 may seem short at first glance, the rich workflow improvements more than add up. Experienced Maya users will find the app to be significantly smoother overall, while new users will have less ramp-up time getting to know this incredibly dense piece of software.
Autodesk Maya 2008 is offered in two versions: Maya 2008 Complete and Maya 2008 Unlimited. Boxes include Windows/Mac/Linux versions. Maya Complete sells for $1,995, Maya Unlimited for $6,995. Upgrades from Maya 8.5 cost $895 for Maya 2008 Complete and $1,245 for Maya 2008 Unlimited. U.K. & euro pricing was not available at the time of this writing.
Autodesk has released a major upgrade to Maya, which drops the sequential numbering in favor of the year, so what would have been Maya 9 is now Maya 2008. The updated package is a strong one, including many new features as well as many rock solid workflow enhancements. The release marks a significant change to Autodesk's approach to Maya's development. The focus is squarely on workflow this time, and the product shines for it.
The tried and true pattern of offering two distinct versions, Maya Complete and Maya Unlimited, remains with this upgrade. Maya Complete gives users all they need for standard 3D projects such as game development, basic animation and visual effects. Maya Unlimited includes some deeper, more application specific features including Nucleus Unified Simulation Framework, nCloth, Hair, Fur, Live and Fluid Effects. There is a significant cost difference between the versions, which may not be the most popular aspect of the product with users; however, it does offer them a choice along with the possibility of saving some of their budget.
Modeling in Maya 2008 is the main beneficiary of the workflow improvements. Artists spend many, many hours on modeling tasks, no matter what their 3D application of choice. In the past, Maya users bemoaned some of the multi-step processes they had to endure while modeling. In Maya 2008, the process has been sped up with a variety of keyboard shortcut consolidations and preview functions, all of which make the work go faster. The new X-Ray highlight feature allows users to select specific objects more easily by ghosting portions of the scene or object. Edges can now be slid, making the process of adding detail to complex geometry much faster. The Boolean functions have also been sped up as well as enhanced with cleaner output. Finally, smoothed meshes can now be previewed along with the mesh cage, which remains editable while viewing the smoothed mesh underneath. This feature alone is likely to be one of the most popular amongst modelers.
Modeling in Maya 2008 is the main beneficiary of the workflow improvements. Edges can now be slid, making the process of adding detail to complex geometry move much faster.
Autodesk, of course, now develops the two most widely used 3D apps: Maya and 3ds Max. With Maya 2008, the beginning of cross-referenced feature sets begins to show. In particular, Maya 2008 now includes accurate, realtime viewport previews, much like 3ds Max. While these interactive previews are not identical to the output of whatever renderer users may choose, they do provide a look at the work that is more detailed and advanced than previous versions of Maya's viewports were capable of displaying in realtime. Another benefit of the more robust previewing in Maya 2008 is a snappier, more responsive user interface. Selecting objects, dialog boxes, panels and general screen updates are much faster.
Autodesk introduced nCloth in Maya 8.5, and it's now been updated in Maya 2008 to be faster, more user-friendly and features improved realtime previews.
In the last version, Maya 8.5, Autodesk introduced nCloth, a new system for creating cloth objects using the Nucleus Unified Framework. nCloth has been updated in Maya 2008 to be faster, more user-friendly and now has improved realtime previews.
Model builders are not the only creators who get attention in Maya 2008. Riggers and animators get their props too with new non-destructive skinning. The old way of rebinding the skin over and over again with each new iteration has been replaced with the new skin editing functionality. Users can keep the skeleton bound to geometry throughout the skinning process, including the ability to add, remove, join or disconnect joints while their previously created binding remains unaffected.
Shader support is also enhanced in the new version. Direct X HLSL shaders are now part of the Maya toolkit, useful most likely to game developers and other realtime application users. Maya 2008 still includes the previously offered CgFX shader support. Even though the shader support here is robust, there are many details that fall outside of their capabilities, especially in the complex game development world. Users will be able to view PC and console shaders in realtime right in the Maya viewports, but there is no guarantee that those previews will be identical to the their final game platform. Game artists won't be surprised that they will need to work with the Maya shaders to create the custom result they desire, especially as next-gen game development continues to evolve at breakneck speed.
Users can keep the skeleton bound to geometry throughout the skinning process, including the ability to add, remove, join or disconnect joints while their previously created binding remains unaffected.
Some additional general category enhancements come with the Maya 2008 update, including API updates for hardware rendering. The API also has some wish list additions for animators, specifically the new constraints API that will allow technical artists to write animation helpers more easily. mental ray 3.6 core is faster now, allowing faster polygon translation and rendering instances of polygons. For example, a 20,000 polygon mesh that has been instanced 2,000 times now renders 20 times faster than before. The improved mental ray functionality also includes the ability to render particles that previously only be viewed in the hardware renderer. This removes the necessity of combing two separate render outputs after rendering is completed. The final mental ray improvement is accelerated texture baking. This is noticeably faster than previous versions, however a precise amount could not identified without comparing one to one with versions of Maya.
Increased workflow being the focus of Maya 2008 is seen with some of the other effective feature enhancements, including speed boosts for Poly Reduce, which is now as much as 30 times faster than previous versions, and a four times speed increase for Poly Smooth. Along the same lines of more speed, nCloth now caches three times faster than it did in Maya 8.5.
Smoothed meshes can now be previewed along with the mesh cage, which remains editable while viewing the smoothed mesh underneath. This feature alone is likely to be one of the most popular amongst modelers.
The good news, for some users at least, is that Maya appears mostly unchanged. Much of what is new in Maya 2008 will appear to experienced users as subtle changes, if they are noticed at all. The real benefits of Maya 2008 become apparent after using it for a few days. Many users are likely to find their Maya 2008 experience to be more flowing and direct. Although the feature list for Maya 2008 may seem short at first glance, the rich workflow improvements more than add up. Experienced Maya users will find the app to be significantly smoother overall, while new users will have less ramp-up time getting to know this incredibly dense piece of software.
Autodesk Maya 2008 is offered in two versions: Maya 2008 Complete and Maya 2008 Unlimited. Boxes include Windows/Mac/Linux versions. Maya Complete sells for $1,995, Maya Unlimited for $6,995. Upgrades from Maya 8.5 cost $895 for Maya 2008 Complete and $1,245 for Maya 2008 Unlimited. U.K. & euro pricing was not available at the time of this writing.
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