Though not specifically 3D industry related, I found this article interesting nonetheless and thought I’d share it.
The Über-Connected Organization: A Mandate for 2010
From the article:
Think about your organization and ask yourself these two questions:
* Are external social media sites restricted or blocked while at work?
* Is the use of social media in the workplace inhibited or frowned upon?
If you answered yes, then your organization is one of the majority of firms with over 100 employees that have yet to embrace the use of social media in the workplace for the average worker.
More…..
The internet’s largest source for FREE training material for Autodesk’s Mudbox has temporarily moved to a different website after a hacker’s attempt at disabling the site.
Site creator and source of all the free Mudbox videos, Wayne Robson, worked tirelessly to get the site back up almost instantaneously. His only purpose for the site is to bring Mudbox knowledge to the masses and provide the only proper forum for Mudbox users to get together and share.
You can find the new location of Mudbox Hub here.
I will be updating the links to Mudbox Hub on my site as well.
It’s amazing time to be a digital artist!!!
ZBrush 3.5 aims to bring you creative freedom and an end to technical constraints. With new features like ZSpheres II, ZSketch, Quick Sketch, Surface Noise, Planar brushes and many other new enhancements, your art will reach a whole new level.
With this new version, we have refined and added to ZBrush’s already exceptional toolset, improving the natural traditional media feel that ZBrush is famous for. We’ve made it easier than ever for you to create organic characters, mechanical objects, environments or product designs. If you are an illustrator, VFX or video game artist, product designer or just a hobbyist passionate about 3D, ZBrush is for you!
We invite you to discover the main new additions to ZBrush 3.5 – enhancements that are the foundation for the upcoming ZBrush 4! In addition, both versions are free upgrades for all registered ZBrush users!
Last Saturday, November 14th, I had an opportunity to attend a very unique conference for the 3D industry here in Houston…….yes I said HOUSTON…….appropriately named 3DCAMP Houston. You want to know what else?
It was free!!
3DCAMP Houston is a participant-driven gathering of like-minded individuals – also known as an ‘unconference’ – with the goal of bringing together 3D professionals in any industry to network, share ideas, and explore opportunities. This includes 3D professionals and enthusiasts from creative and media backgrounds to engineering and scientific backgrounds whether it be film, television, game development, geophysical software, health, or education.
I have to say that when I first arrived at the Houston Technology Center in midtown Houston, 2 things immediately struck me. First, even though I live in Houston, I had never heard of the Houston Technology Center before and second, I need to be living in midtown Houston.
Anyway, after entering the HTC, signing in, and getting my fill of the free (yes I said free again) breakfast, I quickly realized that this un-conference was quickly becoming a who’s who of the 3D industry in Houston. It was nice being able to catch up with people who were either old classmates, old colleagues, or old students of mine.
Networking is always a great by-product of any conference and 3DCAMP was no different. Any time I get an opportunity to network, it’s a good thing. I met a lot of 3D artist I didn’t know worked in Houston as well as many aspiring 3D artists fresh out of schools like the Art Institute of Houston, Texas A&M’s Visualization Lab (The VIZ Lab), and Lone Star College.
Dave Morris Giving a Brief Introduction to all the 3D Campers
When it was time for the presentations to begin, 3DCAMP founder David Morris graciously thanked us for attending (he told us he was only expecting about 30 people to show…..over 100 were in attendance) and gave us a quick rundown on the day’s events and the locations of the rooms where the presenters would be.
After David finished the welcome and introductions it was time for the conference sessions to begin. There were many sessions to choose from and you can see them all here.
I attended 4 sessions…….Sculpting a Human Skull in Zbrush – presented by Johannes Huber, iPhone Game Development – presented by Nathan Eror, Advanced Architectural Modeling & Rendering – presented by Stephen Devine, and 3D Character Animation presented by Tony Shields.
There was also a presentation on Modeling a 3D Head given by yours truly and it was my honor to have my session scheduled right before Johannes’ awesome Zbrush session.
3D Artist & Instructor, Sean Bellinger demonstrating how to model a Human Head.
3D Artist Johannes Huber Presenting "Sculpting a Human Skull in 3D" using ZBrush
Along with the amazing presenters, the conference showcased amazing products donated by some big name sponsors like Maxon, Side Effects Software, NewTek, Turbo Squid, and many others including the Texas A&M Department of Visualization (The Viz Lab).
All in all, it was an amazingly successful start to what should become an incredible annual 3D event that has the potential to be the largest on the gulf coast.
I’m already anticipating the arrival of 3DCAMP Houston 2010!
Apparently the PlayStation Network had issues with the onslaught of online Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 players and came to a grinding halt. Evidently, PS3 owners had to wait for 2 hours to get back online while their XBox 360 owning counterparts enjoyed the awesomeness of this game.
PSN Struggles With Modern Warfare 2 Launch
Epic offers the Unreal Engine 3 for free in the form of the Unreal Development Kit.
UDK is Unreal Engine 3 – the complete professional development framework. All the tools you need to create great games, advanced visualizations and detailed 3D simulations. The best tools in the industry are in your hands.
Unreal Development Kit
For all you Mudbox users, master digital sculptor Wayne Robson is releasing a DVD called ‘LIVE in Berlin’ that will be available on www.mudboxhub.com. It’s a mix of live footage and the screen captured video from his masterclass at Studio Babelsberg at the Animago Film and animation awards on Advanced Mudbox.
This is gifted digital artist who is amazing to watch.
http://www.vimeo.com/7414804
Finally! I’ve completed my portfolio website. Granted it is just a wordpress site, but i am proud of it. It looks a heck of a lot nice than the Blogspot site I was previously using, plus it’ll be easier to update it. Even though there is still some minor tweaking I’ll be doing, I’m very happy with the look of it.
I’m working on creating a static front page to serve as the site’s home page instead of the blog posts. Also I’ve got the site configured to update my Facebook and Twitter statuses when I post on my blog so that friends and family who don’t quite know what it is I do can check out info I wouldn’t normally post on Facebook.
Right now very little of my work is actually in this portfolio, but I’ll be adding a lot of my current work (finished and un-finished) to the site in the next few days. And, of course, any new work that isn’t under an NDA will be posted too.
Lastly, this site will host tutorials for 3ds Max that I’m determined to create. There are a few up right now, but I want to put up more. I simply want to give back to an industry that has shared so much with me.
Thanks for checking out the site!
Ok another test to see if I can integrate my portfolio blog with Facebook and Twitter. So just ignore me…………which isn’t too difficult for SOME of you. Lol
I’m starting to enjoy designing my web page, though I don’t think I’m much good at it. Of course I’m simply using templates as a base for my blog, but it’s been fun customizing it. Also this post happens to be a test to see if when I post on my blog it automatically posts it to my Facebook and Twitter.
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