TEN24 shares free images of their scans for anatomy reference

TEN24 shares free images of their scans for anatomy reference:

http://www.anatomy360.info/anatomy-scan-reference-dump/

DOOM Alpha testing footage

Nice, ID Software recently released new video showing exclusive footage of new DOOM Alpha testing.

fStretch for Maya FREE and Open Source

So I found by accident that fStretch - cool stretch-driven blendShape deformer for Maya has been made open source and donation based.
http://www.cgaddict.com/

Versions up to Maya 2015 are also available at Autodesk Exchange Server:
https://apps.autodesk.com/MAYA/en/Detail/Index?id=appstore.exchange.autodesk.com%3afstretch%3aen

Here is link to source code and all plugin builds:
http://www.cgaddict.com/real-download.html

Doom Alpha feedback

I managed to catch some bit of information from DOOM Alpha testing. Apparently the page was already removed, but it seems that multiplayer is "reminiscent" to original DOOM. That sounds very well so far.

Hellblade Development Diary 16: The Face of Senua

Really cool video showing 3Lateral studio from Serbia helping with face expression modeling and setup for Ninja Theory.

Jurassic World raptor reel from Image Engine

Impressive creature and set extension work by Image Engine on recent blockbuster Jurassic World

JURASSIC WORLD BREAKDOWN REEL from Image Engine on Vimeo.

Ashish Shah Texturing Reel 2015

Here is great work shown by my friend Ashish Shah from India. Generalist focused on texturing. Contact Ashish Shah lightrig@gmail.com>

Ashish shah vfx showreel 2015 from ashish shah on Vimeo.

Combine skinClusters in Maya

You can easily combine skinClusters in Maya from version 2015, I just found. Using the classic Combine mesh function, now there is option to also combine their skinClusters into one. Which can be handy to retreive the combined weights in one, for cases when the merging of skinClusters is needed.

Custom icon path in Maya

So after some time I decided to add a custom icon path to Maya. I always used labels and default commandButton.png or pytonFamily.png icons with only adding my custom label.

So I have added a line to my Maya.env file

XBMLANGPATH = %USER_SCRIPT_PATH%\icons

I found a problem when adding this custom icon. First I used Maya UI interface to change name of the icon (clicking on the Edit button on shelf). I used relative name of course, so just put name of the icon. For example: constraint.png

This didn`t work and Maya didn`t find the icon in the new search list added I think in Maya 2015.

So I closed Maya and edited the actual shelf script file. I changed the name of icon in flags -image and -image1 like this:

-image "myIcon.png"
-image1 "myIcon.png"

Then started Maya again and this time it worked. So here is a tip, if you have custom icon path with your custom icons, after adding the path to your XBMLANGPATH variable, just change your shelf script file in some text editor. Remember, only when Maya is closed, otherwise it would overwrite it since during closing process it stores Shelves (default Preference settings).

Pixel Vienna

So I found about another CG Conference. I think the more the better. Here is PIXEL VIENNA, apparently taking place in Wien :)
www.pixelvienna.com

PIXEL 7 from PixelVienna on Vimeo.

DOOM website

doom.com

This has been around for some time but I had to post this. Isn`t that the coolest game website today? :))

Rigging Tutorial on building rigs with Python in Maya

I have recently made my first course for Digital Tutors about Rigging with Python in Maya. This 8 hours course will show how to make rigs 100% using script. A technique which starts to be used more in high profile film productions.  Here is link for a full tutorial:
http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/2283-Procedural-Rigging-with-Python-in-Maya

I would like to thank to Kaan Kucuk for providing this great model of Komodo Dragon and Pavel Hrubos for making test animation walk cycle for the end lesson.

Sneak Peek: Procedural Rigging in Python with Custom Library in Maya from Digital-Tutors on Vimeo.

fixing 2016 MA file for Maya 2013

I had a problem with getting Maya 2016 scene to 2013. Because it was Maya Ascii, I just commented out all occurences of "rename -uid " as "//rename -uid " and import worked :)

Math Node | Autodesk Exchange Apps

Cool!



Math Node | Autodesk Exchange Apps:



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Sorting Maya 2016 open GL artifacts

I had a strange artifacts when working in the Maya 2016 open GL model window. Also the Isolate mode didn`t work properly and I couldn`t see the joints there.
I found that it was caused by having Viewport 2.0 as new default settings in Maya 2016. If you are technical artist, then watch out for this one. I switched to Legacy Default Viewport and everything was fine.

cgstudiomap IS BACK!!

cgstudiomap:



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Maya UUID

Recently found that Maya has nice mechanism with UUID attribute on each node in the scene. I don`t know when did they add it but it`s pretty cool! Check this command which finds a lambert shader node based on its unique ID:


import maya.cmds as mc

objUUID = 'E3FABA33-4254-E1F8-6AEF-2FA0A90EBAF7'
mc.ls(objUUID)[0] 

Rigging Demos

Nice collection of rigging demoreels:
https://vimeo.com/groups/masterofrigging/page:1/sort:date

Worth checking out if you are looking for some inspiration.

How to reduce noice from voice recording

I found these 2 videos on youtube which helped to reduce noise from voice recording on PC.

I was also deciding if buying USB sound card would help, and the second video confirmed it.

Cg & programming keyboard

So this is my latest keyboard. Connect IT LED illuminated. Keys are classic layout, not too hard to press but still with feedback.
Feels very comfortable for typing. I've also added soft pad to reduce the noise which comes from the table when typing. I can recommended this one. As a nice bonus there is control for volume and other multimedia functions with Fn key combination.

Bethesda scrapped Doom 4 because it felt like Call of Duty 'with a Doom skin on it' | Polygon

For all DOOM fans here is latest Pete Hines interview about this game:

Bethesda scrapped Doom 4 because it felt like Call of Duty 'with a Doom skin on it' | Polygon:



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André Michaud - Student of the Year - VFX/Animation - 2015 CG Student Awards

So some people know that LAIKA studio is using 3d printed heads rigged in Maya in their stop motion films. But the same technique was used here in a student project:



André Michaud - Student of the Year - VFX/Animation - 2015 CG Student Awards:



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Leaked footage from cancelled version of Doom 4

So here is probably the peak of what we will ever see from the cancelled development version of Doom 4, which at some point was internally nicked "Call of Doom" because of its likeness to Call of Duty, rather then to a sequel of the famous shotgun-demon franchise.

Autodesk Maya service packs

Handy link for latest Maya Service Pack downloads:
http://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/downloads

Wildlife Crossing done with internet pipeline

Nice, this cool short was all done on the internet pipeline with a Pixar director and a team of 58 people from 15 countries with main base in Czech Republic :)

WILDLIFE CROSSING! from ANOMALIA on Vimeo.

Making of Wildlife Crossing with Anthony Wong


WILDLIFE CROSSING! - a message from Anthony Wong [PIXAR] from ANOMALIA on Vimeo.

These Creepy X-Rays Will Make You Look At People In A Whole New Light | IFLScience

Because there is never enough X-Rays ;)



These Creepy X-Rays Will Make You Look At People In A Whole New Light | IFLScience:



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Podpořte "Album Mortal Cabinet" na Startovači - Projekty | Startovač

Thole je novy hudebni projekt Samira Hausera, Reznika a Storma. Jestli jste zvedavi jak dopadne spoluprace ceskych osobnosti EBM, RAP a toho co dela Storm, podporte projekt zde:

EN: This is really interesting new czech music project. Support it if you like EBM / RAP with czech originality:



Podpořte "Album Mortal Cabinet" na Startovači - Projekty | Startovač:



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Maya’s Deformer Architecture - Around the Corner

Nice article giving some insight to the Maya deformer mechanism. Good if you are interested in using custom deformers or want to develop your own.



Maya’s Deformer Architecture - Around the Corner:



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Next Generation of NVIDIA’s GPU - self driving cars

NVidia and Self-Driving Cars - very interesting.

Animation reel from Alvise Avati

Very impressive animation reel by Alvise Avati, hit after hit :) Also notice it`s only 1:25 long - something to remember when you are making your reel - keep it around 1 minute and put only your best there.

Inspirational Artworks: ANATOMY IMAGES

Friend has sent me this link. Very good for anatomy reference.



Inspirational Artworks: ANATOMY IMAGES:



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Maya architecture overview

This is where I found that Maya has over 600 commands and 900 nodes.

http://knowledge.autodesk.com/search-result/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2015/ENU/Maya-SDK/files/GUID-F584322E-4A12-4995-9F4E-A38D4331808F-htm.html

I know lot of people are making function that are not needed, because there is already some command or flag, which can deal with it. Similar with API classes. It is really worth reading Maya docs, searching for a suitable command or googling it or wondering there and often something usefull can be found. Because lot of these "gems" are not advertised at all. But it has a lot of potential.

PyQt for Maya on Windows platform

this definitely helped me to get PyQt working in Maya on Windows

http://nathanhorne.com/?p=460&cpage=1#comment-3027

Mainly people just need to run PyQt within Maya to build and use their UIs. These can be made previously in other enviornments, usually with Qt Designer or just coded.

Maya 2016: Delta Mush Deformer

Kudos to Autodesk for getting this in Maya!

Maya 2016 - parallel rig evaluation

Autodesk is adding new feature to 2016 and as a rigger I am quite excited to hear about it - Paraller Rig Evaluation (I think they mean Multi-Threaded?) and also GPU support. Since the performance of complex rigs is usual problem, this would help a LOT in production.

Evolve rigging and animation reel

Very cool demoreel showing game asset rig setup and animation.


David Gibson - Evolve Animation + Game Development Reel 2015 from David Gibson on Vimeo.

Accelerated File Uploads for Production & Post by Chris Potter

Accelerated File Uploads for Production & Post by Chris Potter:



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Rigging job

Hello Riggers! My friend is looking for someone to setup a simple character in 3ds Max. If you are interested please contact him at loocas@duber.cz

Things to Keep in Mind when Rigging a Character | Animation Mentor Blog

I think these rules are pretty good basics to stick with. Of course you can go much deeper in details about some guidelines, but this is a good start if you are new to rigging:

Things to Keep in Mind when Rigging a Character | Animation Mentor Blog:

Maya copy paste skin weights

So for those who didn`t know about this shortcut - there is very useful function for Copy Pasting skinCluster weights. It needs one vertex selection to read skin weights, then press Ctrl + Alt + c.
Then select other vertices (ideally on the same mesh, but it can be other mesh, just make sure you have the same influence on it) and press Ctrl + Alt + v.

Pretty usefull for putting your desired influence weight mix to other vertex selection, which would otherwise be quite difficult. It is also a way of making certain part of the skin look rigid. Like big scales of the dragon or to maintain clothes edges together.

This website contains this shortcut and also many others you might find useful:
http://blog.tiaan.com/link/2011/07/17/autodesk-maya-hotkeys-shortcuts

If you are interested further, it is using a function in a script MAYA_FOLDER/scripts/others/findSkinClusterFromSelectedComponent.mel

Wolfenstein screenshots until Moon Mission

So after long break I have played some Wolfenstein New Order again and posting a lot of new screenshots. I am always impressed how well the graphics were done in this game. Attention to detail, colors, proportions and quality level. Plus the whole game has its unified style, it was really well planned and then made with high quality.
So far the best Single Person shooter I have played recently.

Link to all screenshots:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/108987559113070929309/albums/6111707939714001873