Between the Lines

Project Pinocchio 3D Character Controlled Real-time in Maya

As I mentioned on my Twitter account (@ShaanHurley) Friday, Autodesk’s own digital mad scientist or researcher in the Office of the CTO Brian Pene created a 3D rigged character using the new Project Pinocchio technology preview from Autodesk Labs and stepped it up a few levels. He took the rigged character he created and using a Xbox 360 Kinect &  FaceShift was able to control the character in Autodesk Maya live in real-time.

What a great way to read bedtime stories to your young kids and give them a deep dark nightmare experience. Imagine setting the screen to your Skype call for a live business meeting or call home while traveling. Of course for those in the animation business there are more practical applications than my two examples, but I just like to warp the use of technologies just like my humor.

“Project Pinocchio is a free technology preview that leverages Autodesk's powerful 3D design and animation tools to provide you with a web-based laboratory where you can create fully-rigged custom 3D characters. Design a creation of your own or modify existing stock characters using a variety of pre-defined body types, facial features, and clothing styles for inclusion in 3D games, animations, and scenes.”

Check it out:
Autodesk Labs: Project Pinocchio and Xbox 360 Kinect FaceShift http://youtu.be/jxT0Xti4yG0

Brian also tested out controlling a character using the upcoming hardware LeapMotion:
Autodesk Labs: Project Pinocchio character controlled by LeapMotion in Maya

Project Geppetto Makes it BIG after Graduating from Autodesk Labs

More concrete proof that the Autodesk Labs project feedback you provide feedback on can propel them into a real product, feature, or technology. Autodesk Labs Project Geppetto from last year that was a really huge hit and great to demo is making it into the core 3ds Max product as it  is shown in a 3ds Max 2014 sneak peek video. It has evolved even more than the Autodesk Labs project and now named 3ds Max Populate feature. You can create autonomous random characters to populate your 3ds Max animation scene providing much more realism by having natural acting crowds following paths and interacting. 

Sneak Peek Video of 3ds Max from Product Manager Frank Delise. http://autode.sk/WqXlAD

So the former Autodesk Labs Project Geppetto makes it in the Autodesk circle of life from Autodesk Labs technology preview to Beta in 3ds Max 2014 and soon as a full feature in the upcoming 3ds Max 2014 product. 3ds Max 2014 is not shipping just yet, and will be coming out after customer beta testing is wrapped up soon.

Cheers,
Shaan

Oscar Nominated Disney Animation "Paperman" Released on YouTube

I first saw this animated short movie being shown before a feature movie Wreck-it Ralph in November at the cinema but now Disney is releasing the Oscar nominated "Paperman" on YouTube for everyone to enjoy. It is very creative animated short which blended traditional animation and some complex computer animation methods resulting in an amazing retro style.

 

Bravo Disney for releasing this so everyone can enjoy it but perhaps February 14th would have been a great day for releasing it since it is a love story.

Paperman is nominated for Best Animated Short Film in the 2013 Oscars.

Go watch and enjoy this short 5 minute animation.
http://youtu.be/aTLySbGoMX0

Background on imdb:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2388725/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Want to know more about the technical nuggets on developing the animation, see these articles.

• The Making of Paperman by It’s Art Mag
• Inside Disney’s New Animated Short Paperman by Animation World
• The inside story behind Disney's Paperman by fxguide
• Disney’s Paperman Is a Perfect Short Film  by Wired
• http://youtu.be/-36xCSOFNOA
• Disney's Oscar-nominated Paperman ... - 3D World
• A Little More About Disney’s “Paperman” by cartoonbrew.com
• Computer-Assisted Animation of Line and Paint in Disney’s Paperman (pdf) by: Brian Whited, Eric Daniels, Michael Kaschalk ,Patrick Osborne, Kyle Odermatt, Walt Disney Animation Studios

Cheers,
Shaan

Animated Autodesk Organization Chart

This wicked cool data visualization of the evolving and ever changing Autodesk org chart was created by the  Autodesk Research team member Justin Matejka.

 

The OrgOrgChart (Organic Organization Chart) project looks at the evolution of a company's structure over time. A snapshot of the Autodesk organizational hierarchy was taken each day between May 2007 and June 2011, a span of 1498 days.

Each day the entire hierarchy of the company is constructed as a tree with each employee represented by a circle, and a line connecting each employee with his or her manager. Larger circles represent managers with more employees working under them. The tree is then laid out using a force-directed layout algorithm.

From day to day, there are three types of changes that are possible:

• Employees join the company
• Employees leave the company
• Employees change managers

Instead of recomputing the full layout each day, we animate the transitions from one day to the next. In this version of the video, each second corresponds to approximately one week of activity.

 

Spot my node in the visualization, good luck as it is harder than where's Waldo but trust me I am in there.

http://bit.ly/WmntbI

Cheers,
Shaan

Related articles

OrgOrgChart: The Dynamic Organization of an Organization

Animated growth of an organization

Autodesk 123D Catch Created 3D Christmas Card

Today I received a 3D Christmas video card on Facebook from Mark Flayer. The video was created with the free Autodesk 123D Catch and Autodesk Showcase by a colleague of his Rusty Belcher. How awesome is that!

Check out the video and prepare to have your mind blown when you think all it took was a common digital camera and the free 123D Catch software to capture the Christmas Village in 3D,

Merry Christmas Card created with Autodesk 123D Catch and Showcase - Great job by my company's very own Rusty Belcher http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAt0eBqIlrA&feature=youtu.be

Product Update 6 for Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 & 3ds Max Design 2013

In an effort to continue improving our products based on customer feedback and CER reports a new Update was posted for 3ds Max 2013 & 3ds Max Design 2013 today.

 http://autode.sk/UQvGI2

Sweet Autodesk Post & VFX Eye Candy Friday

I always love the Autodesk Media and Entertainment customer show reels as they are full of pixel popping eye candy.

Here is the just released IBC 2012 Post & VFX Show Reel featuring visual effect and post production editing in Autodesk products by real Autodesk customers.
http://youtu.be/b1Y4Q7LLt64

cgchannel.com covered this show reel at http://bit.ly/USVT5p 

Also check out the Autodesk Smoke 2013 at IBC 2012 http://youtu.be/L1dkxFTHZKw

Autodesk Labs Posts 3 New Technology Previews & More

Autodesk Labs has been busy with updates and posting new technology previews this week. Autodesk Labs is where we can post emerging technologies in a pre-beta technology previews. If you have not visited the Autodesk Labs website recently and browsed what is available, take a few minutes and you might find something like the following preview technologies that may peak your interest. All Autodesk Labs technologies are free, all we ask is you provide feedback on them so they can either evolve and graduate as real Autodesk products and solutions or perhaps let us know they are not of interest and why. Each Autodesk Labs posted project has feedback links on them.

Augmented Reality for Autodesk Showcase

Visualize Showcase Models in the Real-World through your web cam. This is a plugin for Autodesk Showcase 2013 where you can mix your digital designs with a real environment also known as Augmented Reality.

DesignScript for AutoCAD

This is not a replacement programming language for AutoLISP or any other Autodesk supported scripting and programming languages. DesignScript is a mathematical geometry programming environment for computational design of complex geometric designs and exploring several concepts for design and analysis.

Maximo® Integration for Autodesk® Revit® 2013 products

Extend BIM into building operations and building lifecycle.

Cheers,
Shaan

Unleash the Zombies! Project Geppetto for 3ds Max 2013 Updated

Project Geppetto is our free technology preview for easily adding realistic autonomous crowds to 3ds Max animation and scenes. Project Geppetto helps bring your designs to life. This is definitely one of the more funs things to come alive in the Autodesk Labs. 

 

They appeared like zombies to me in the last Project Geppetto Labs technology preview release as the characters were limited and a default gray scale with rough edges, Now there is a nice textured display mode for the characters - no melting flesh, and do not feed on brains, so technically they are not zombies.

Below is a simple scene with Project Geppetto characters placed in a scene with Utah's Delicate Arch captured with a FARO Focus3D laser scanner.

What can you do with Project Geppetto?

Learn more about Project Geppetto on Autodesk Labs

This update includes:

• Support for Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 and Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2013
• Inclusion of the Evolver technology
  “Recently Autodesk acquired the Evolver character generation technology along with certain employees. We have paired the Evolver technology with Project Geppetto to efficiently create large, randomly varied visual styles of Project Geppetto actors. Evolver uses a "virtual gene pool". The gene pool is a set of pre-designed body types, facial features and clothing components that are combined to generate the variety needed for a crowd. Facial features, including overall face, eyes, ears, mouth, chin, nose and cheeks, and physical attributes including overall body, arms, shoulders, chest, stomach, hips and legs, can be customized along with skin tone, eye color and hair. Given additional facial, body and clothing data, the Evolver component can be customized and extended to generate crowds of any culture or style.”
• Extension of the technology preview period until January 15, 2013.

• Project Geppetto Technology Preview

  

  Watch
  Download

• Project Geppetto Quick Start Guide

  

  Watch
  Download

Project Geppetto technology can currently solve some of the following problems:

• Path following: Real-time steering of physically correct walking and running motion that follows a specified path.

• Agile responses: Real-time triggering of physically believable agile motions, such as quick turns. This is required for collision avoidance and navigation.

• Object interaction: Seamless and natural real-time interaction with objects in the environment, such as sitting in chairs, or stepping up to climb stairs

• Intelligent "human-like" dynamic obstacle avoidance: The perception of potential collisions and subsequent evasive actions must mimic the response times and behavior of real human beings.

• Intuitive crowd orchestration: New methods will be introduced that allow artists to directly control the flow and interaction of traffic patterns.

Project Geppetto is awesome and not only fun but practical for autonomous human figures in your animations. Give it a try and also take my tips to hack it detailed in my blog post “Creating an Animated 3D Crowd Animation Hacking It” to make your own characters, even an army of your bosses.

Make sure you have the latest 3ds Max 2013 updates installed or you may experience issues with Project Geppetto.

Send us feedback otherwise we will not know you like it and it will go to the vault of unloved technologies labs.3dsmax.geppetto@autodesk.com also tell us how you are using Project Geppetto by contributing to our Autodesk AREA Project Geppetto Forum.

The Avengers Movie Visual Fx

I must be one of the few that did not run out to the movie theaters last weekend to see the new Avengers movie. The movie blew away box office records and at least 3 of my family has seen it but I was unfortunately buried under a long list of things to do before some upcoming overseas travel. After all the buzz about the movie from those that have seen it, I need to make it a priority to see the movie this week.

Behind the scenes it was a who's who of visual effects companies, many are also using Autodesk software to use the power of visual effects to compliment the storytelling and dazzle moviegoers retinas and cause a flood of squealing endorphins in the brain.

Check out this detailed article on the visual effects process for the Avengers movie.

VFX roll call for The Avengers by fxguide
http://autode.sk/JkmiFk 

Personalized Candy Dispenser

Several people have noticed recent images appearing in online articles and on the 123D Catch page of a 3D head created using 123D Catch, and thought it looked like me.

It is indeed me and my head in 3D created by the fun 123D Team.

I am going to take the model and articulate it to a real functioning candy dispenser in real-life as a 3D print.
Why? It is not to just creep out even more people, but encourage people to think about how the new technologies allow people to capture and create almost anything you can think of from the practical to uniquely fun ideas. I have found if you start showing practical examples people tend to not think about all the possible work flows and uses, but when someone demonstrates a technology using a fun crazy example it tends to get more attention and people thinking about the potential practical uses. So while you could capture your head and modify it in Autodesk applications and then 3D print it, you could also capture a historic building feature or a sculpture in 3D for a historic preservation or restoration purposes.

Give 123D Catch a try as a new version has been posted for free download. There is also a new mobile version for the Apple iPad coming soon and you can enter your email to be notified when it is available.

Cheers,
Shaan

My Big Fat 3D Head

A fun Friday project to share and something you can do as well. I captured my own head in a 3D model using the free Autodesk 123D Catch software which takes a series of photos from a regular camera and generates a 3D mesh. It is quite simple as long as you read the instructions on how to take your photos. Since glasses are thin featured and also have transparent glass they should be removed. The most difficult part is sitting completely still for about 2 minutes as someone takes photos of your head from different angles.

123D Catch: Capturing my head in 3D using only photos

You can see my head in 3D in Autodesk 123D Catch and the positions of the cameras as it takes about 35-40 photos to get a good 3D model. Since my hair is rather thin it calculated a funny bump on my head and the model is not closed or watertight but have no fear we will solve that easily. Once I am ready to work with my 3D head model I export it as an OBJ. I could use this OBJ in almost any 3D software and have fun with it there but in this case I want to clean up the geometry and close it to watertight so that I can print it on a 3D printer or online 3D printing service.

Meshmixer: Cleaning the Mesh

I import the OBJ into Autodesk Meshmixer to smooth areas, zip holes, and the new feature plane cut tool (thanks Ryan!) to make my head watertight and ready for 3D printing. The new in testing build is what I am using from the Meshmixer forums and moderated buy the one man band and developer Ryan Schmidt of the Autodesk Research Team. http://meshmixer.com/forum/index.php?topic=514.0 Ryan and I are in the same organization as we both ultimately report into the Office of the CTO (OCTO as it is referred to) instead of into a specific Autodesk industry division.

Of course this being Meshmixer you can seamlessly mix other OBJ objects such as a giant ear or a bunny head onto the model if wanted for the Chernobyl nuclear accident human mutation effect. Meshmixer is highly creative and addictive. You can sculpt models very easily and export to OBJ for using in another application or even STL for 3D printing. Did I mention Meshmixer is free?

I even took my newly created and cleaned up head and placed it on a Makerbot 3D printer model in 3ds Max.

Currently I have generated the Gcode machine language to create the 3D printed physical model of my head on my MakerBot Thing-o-Matic in glow in the dark ABS plastic.

Here is the head loaded into the ReplicatorG software that generates the Gcode machine language and manages the 3D printer.

I would have the latest MakerBot Replicator which has a larger build area and two heads but unfortunately I ordered my MakerBot just two weeks before the Replicator model was announced and nobody told me I was ordering an old model 3D printer. To get the latest and the greatest MakerBot Replicator I would have happily waited or even donated my Thing-o-Matic 3D printer to a local school complete with me training them how they can use it.

Some in progress photos and video from my iPhone.

Download Printing my head vid

Cheers,
Shaan

Design the 3ds Max Design Box and Splash Image - Be the 3ds Max Design Hero

Your design could be the next 3ds Max Design box art and splash screen. CGArchitect is holding the 3ds Max Design Hero Competition. Submit your design and it could be the next 3ds Max Design box shot and splash screen as well as win $20,000 in prizes. All you need to do is to creatively use the 3ds Max logo (the dual snake’ish yin-yang looking thing) in your design. Also try to be tasteful and appeal to a wide audience with talent as I do remember some years ago a 3ds Max splash image entry that was of a hairy chest with the logo shaved in the hair, suffice to say that design never saw the light of day publicly.

Here are two splash images created by talented 3ds Max customers Neoscape & Spine3D and used in past releases of 3ds Max. Notice how they worked the 3ds Max logo into the nice architectural designs, that’s how to make jaws drop and win a competition.

 

I know a person that would do very well given his mastery of 3ds Max modeling and rendering. Lucio Da Silva has been using Autodesk products for well over 25 years and has the skills to prove it. Lucio now runs www.cadsolver.com and sent me a few images of his latest architectural renderings. 

 

The competition runs from Friday, September 9, 2011 to Sunday, October 31, 2011.

If you don’t have a copy of 3ds Max Design 2012 there is a full 30 day trial available HERE. Students get a copy of 3ds Max Design 2012 as well as 30 other Autodesk software packages for 3 years in the Autodesk Student Community (http://students.autodesk.com/).

Submit your designs to the 3ds Max Design Hero Competition today! 
http://autode.sk/cg3ds

Don’t be afraid to blow our minds, that’s what we want!

-Shaan

Lab Coat Please…

As of February 1st I have moved to the Autodesk Labs group within Autodesk as a Technology Evangelist. It is a full circle for me as I developed the first Autodesk Labs site and posted several projects back in 2006, now I finally get to work in the group. I will be working with the teams supporting and evangelizing the Labs hosted technologies to current and future customers.

This blog will remain as it has for seven years, an active all things Autodesk blog with varied topic posts from A to Z, or AutoCAD to Zombies. I have always covered design, science, technology, and visualization on this blog in addition to covering Labs technologies since its founding, so there are no big changes expected to this blog’s secret sauce. I will still be covering AutoCAD topics as it has been an important part of my experience both as a customer and as an Autodesk employee. AutoCAD is an important part of Autodesk technology and a product that is used in combination with many of the Labs technologies.

Autodesk Labs has excelled at providing emerging technology to people for feedback. Technology Previews are not really a beta for a product, but an early Technology Preview. The goal is that you and your feedback shape the direction, and if it might become a product or a new feature in a product.

Autodesk Labs longtime employee and blogger Scott Sheppard “It’s Alive in the Lab” http://labs.blogs.com/ and I will be covering Labs content from different angles, so now Labs has  two voices and blogs instead of one, like stereo but better.

While I have your attention give some new technology a look and perhaps take it for a test drive at the Autodesk Labs. There are many exciting projects posted as well as more coming.

Some examples of the most popular:

• Project Vasari Conceptual design and analysis for buildings.
• Inventor Fusion Technology Preview Unites direct and parametric modeling workflows.
• Project Galileo  Create 3D city models from civil, geospatial, and building data.
• Photo Scene Editor for Project Photofly Create 3D models from photographs using the web.
• Shape Extraction for AutoCAD Convert point clouds to real geometry.

And much much more.

In addition to the larger Technology Previews, there is the Plugin of the Month from the Autodesk Developer Network where our developer consultants aka programming ninjas and our ADN partners post plugins for Autodesk products.

• DrawOrder by Layer for AutoCAD
• ScriptPro 2.0 for AutoCAD
• FeatureMigrator for Inventor
• Offset in XREF for AutoCAD

Cheers,
Shaan
@mrcadman on Twitter

Bon Jovi's The Circle Tour Stage Designed Using AutoCAD and 3ds Max Design

It is always amazing to see what Autodesk customers do with our software and technology. In this case, it is definitely an entertaining experience learning about a great design team and company by watching the video (link below) rockin’ the storyline and some great backing music to make it just that much more of an experience.

Chances are if you have seen a concert or touring entertainment show in the past 20 years, you have seen and experienced a design by Pennsylvania based Tait Towers. Tait Towers designs and manufactures entire stage sets for the top shows and talent in the entertainment industry using AutoCAD and 3ds Max Design like the massive Bon Jovi Circle Tour concert stage set. 

Making sure everything designed and manufactured for the show not only provides a top notch entertainment experience but can be quickly shipped, easily setup, dissembled, and reloaded back on trucks to the next concert venue is critical for the show to hit all the tour dates to delight their fans. Tait Towers use AutoCAD and 3ds Max Design to accomplish their monumental challenge. The combined stage set and entertainment such as a rock band transport the show attendees out of reality for just a few hours and leaves them with a lifetime memory, and if not wearing ear protection that ringing in the ears feeling afterwards. Tait Towers uses 3ds Max Design to render out the 3D stage set designs for the clients to review and approve, which might be Jon Bon Jovi himself.

Tait Towers has designed several touring entertainment shows for all types of music concerts and events, including recognizable names like the Rolling Stones, Metallica, Aerosmith, U2, Prince, AC/DC, Led  Zeppelin, Michael Jackson, Kid Rock, Lady Gaga, Brittney Spears, Kiss, Carrie Underwood, Van Halen, Ozzfest, the Super Bowl, and the list goes on and on.

Check out the video on how Tait Towers designed and built the stage set for Bon Jovi’s The Circle Tour using AutoCAD and 3ds Max Design: http://bit.ly/e9zPWY 

Cheers,
Shaan

The infamous Utah Teapot and it’s Role Played in 3D Graphics History

You may have noticed in the 3D visualization world there has always been teapots used to test renders or textures. A teapot also made a cameo appearance in Pixar’s Toy Story movie in the tea party scene.

Why a teapot

Grab a cup of tea and sit back and read up on the history of the Utah Teapot also known as the Newell Teapot. It occurred right here where I live in Utah at the University of Utah (U of U) back in the 70s. U of U had one of the top computer graphics visualization research departments in the world and was partnered with Evans & Sutherland back in the day. The co-founders of Ashlar, Adobe, & Pixar all came from the U of U. I would love to head up to the U and see what they are cooking up now in the various research labs.

The Utah Teapot

”The Utah teapot or Newell teapot is a 3D computer model which has become a standard reference object (and something of an in-joke) in the computer graphics community. It is a mathematical model of an ordinary teapot of fairly simple shape, which appears solid, cylindrical and partially convex. A teapot primitive is considered the equivalent of a "hello world" program, as a way to create the easiest 3D scene with a somewhat complex model acting as basic geometry reference for scene and light setup. The teapot model was created in 1975 by early computer graphics researcher Martin Newell, a member of the pioneering graphics program at the University of Utah.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_teapot

The History of The Teapot

”The teapot was made by Melitta in 1974 and originally belonged to Martin Newell and his wife, Sandra - who purchased it from ZCMI, (a department store in Salt Lake City). The teapot was eventually donated to the Boston Computer Museum but now resides in the Ephemera collection of the Computer History Museum. It's cataloged as "Teapot used for Computer Graphics rendering" and bears the catalog number X00398.1984. It turns out that the idea for modeling the teapot was brought up over concerns that Martin didn't have enough interesting computer models. Sandra suggested modelling the tea service (they were sitting down to tea at the time). He got some graph paper and a pencil, and he modeled the entire tea service by eye. Then, he went back to the lab and edited Bezier control points on a Tektronix storage tube, again by hand. Hence, he also digitized a spoon and a cup and saucer” http://www.sjbaker.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_History_of_The_Teapot I am surprised Martin Newell did not model crumpets with the tea service. ”The original teapot, from Martin Newell's PhD thesis, consisted of 28 Bezier patches.” http://www.holmes3d.net/graphics/teapot/

It is now at the Computer history Museum and I hope to go see it someday. I hear the museum is amazing. http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/accession/X398.84 Pixar even gave out a walking teapot with 3D glasses for SIGGRAPH 2009. You can see endless variations of the teapot rendered in Autodesk 3ds Max. on a Google Image search http://bit.ly/fRdRoc .

Now you know,
Shaan

Happy 20th Birthday 3ds Max!

The special Autodesk 3ds Max 20th Anniversary site is now live on the Autodesk AREA community:  
http://www.the-area.com/maxturns20

Please wear your 3ds Max & 3D Studio memorabilia (t-shirts, hats, etc.) to SIGGRAPH in order to receive a free 20^th Anniversary t-shirt.  Those not attending SIGGRAPH can order a t-shirt at the 20^th Anniversary online store: http://www.zazzle.com/autodesk

I started with 3D Studio R4 DOS, but also have an original 3D Studio Release 1 package complete with 7 - 5.25 floppies (working).

Next year 3ds Max turns 21, so in the US it can legally go celebrate with a beer.
Congratulations 3ds Max Team!

-Shaan

AVATAR was AWESOME!!!

I was one of  the people in the long lines lastnight to see the first public showing of the new 3 hour James Cameron file AVATAR. This is the first movie I have ever waited for the midnight premier in my life but it was well worth the effort. I had seen parts of the movie from 5 years ago in a Special FX studio to the 23 minute mind blowing preview Autodesk University attendees were treated to just weeks ago in Las Vegas where Producer Jon Landau was there talking about the making of the movie.

James Cameron used cutting edge 3D motion capture technology from Autodesk such as Autodesk  MotionBuilder to enable real actors to control digital characters in a virtual set in real-time. Jon Landau said “We could not have made this movie without Autodesk”.

I want to congratulate everyone involved in bringing this eye-popping mind-blowing technology changing movie to the screen  Director James Cameron, Producer Jon Landau, Lightstorm Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Weta Digital (an Autodesk Maya using Sfx house in New Zealand), Stan Winston, the great cast actors like Sam Worthington who plays lead character Jake Sully, and many many more that brought this visual and auditory masterpiece to life.

I sincerely enjoyed the file from the first minute to the last. The opening 5 minutes was not to be missed in setting up the storyline as well as being really cool in 3D. The only issue was with so much  action and vibrant colors for 3 hours, I had remember when to blink and swallow or risk my eyes being dried out and my mouth dried wide open. This movie is not all about freaking out an audience with 3D screen gimmicks but actually brings you into the immersive 3D world of Pandora. It was like a good 70’s flashback with the colors and some of the freaky creatures.

I could not help recognize the undertones of man destroying their own planet and the need to go get resources from another planet which was in pristine condition. The Na’vis are the interesting blue colored humanoids (definitely not smurfs) natives with a “special” tail that are being attacked by the mean and greedy Sky People in their search for minerals. I would love to visit a planet like Pandora, but for now I can only experience it on the big screen or in vibrant dreams.

I would strongly suggest seeing the movie the way it was intended in 3D at an IMAX 3D theater if possible.

This was indeed an E-Ticket visual ride!

With only 3 hours of sleep last night, and vivid blue dreams, I will see how much I can get done today before heading for 2 weeks of vacation with many of my Autodesk coworkers.

Shaan

Connection Extension Released for 3ds Max Design 2010

Autodesk has released for download by 3ds Max subscription customers a new Connection Extension for Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2010.
To download log into your Autodesk Subscription account: http://subscription.autodesk.com/

“Features and Benefits

1. Enhanced interoperability with CAD packages – Bring solid models from many of your favorite CAD packages into 3ds Max Design 2010 for visual enhancement or conceptual design and export them back as solids when you’re done. A new high-fidelity SAT data translator helps make it easier to move solids-based data between 3ds Max Design and Autodesk® Revit® Architecture, Autodesk® Inventor® Professional, or certain third-party CAD products without translating to polygons.
   
2. Extensive connectivity with Google™ SketchUp™ modeling software – A powerful new SKP file translator enables you to bring SketchUp scenes into 3ds Max Design with minimal effort and get straight to work rendering or enhancing the visuals. Also, 3ds Max Design can now read numerous free models from the 3D Warehouse section of the Google website.
   
3. Streamlined compositing with OpenEXR - Create professional-quality cinematic narratives. A rewritten OpenEXR translator makes it easier to work with compositing applications, enabling you to blend computer graphics (CG) animation with live action footage.
   
4. Intelligent workflows – Help save time and avoid costly geometry clean-up work with new, more effective workflows for dealing with complex scenes.”

I had some fun importing Google SketchUp model files for Salt Lake City. I downloaded the models from the Google SketchUp Free Model Warehouse for the Salt Lake City Library SketchUp Model and local Italian favorite Tony Caputos located about a block from me.

 

Cheers,
Shaan

Awesome Video - Autodesk 2009 Siggraph Show Reel

It never ceases to amaze me what Autodesk customers create using our products.

Fake or Foto – Take the Challenge

With computers and visualization software becoming more and more powerful it is getting more difficult to tell real from computer generated. Take this fun little challenge. I got 8 of 12 the first time and 12 of 12 the second time learning from my mistakes.

Take the Challenge

Using Autodesk Showcase I have two real-time renderings that are almost impossible to tell from a real object. Autodesk Showcase is downright amazing for visualization of your 3D content.

 

Cheers,
Shaan

3ds Max Design 2010 and AutoCAD 2010 DWG Interoperability

3ds Max Product Manager Ken Pimentel wrote a good blog post covering 3ds Max Design and AutoCAD 2010 DWG interoperability. The new subdivision meshes move easily between the two applications allowing greater collaboration with conceptual design and visualization team members.
Ken’s Blog Post: 3ds Max Design 2010: improved DWG interop

In addition to Ken’s post I created a quick AutoCAD 2010 new mesh object and subdivided it easily into an organic shape, then saved it as a DWG file. I was then able to import it into 3ds Max Design 2010 as a Subdivision Surface object. I can also use DWG to export back and forth and even to Revit as a Massing object.

There is also the new AutoCAD Visualization Suite which combines AutoCAD, 3ds Max Design, and Autodesk Showcase.

Now you can tickle vectors and excite pixels in your design flow!

Cheers,
Shaan

Animation Academy 2009 for Secondary Schools

This one is related to students and educators which is something myself and Autodesk 110% believe in as they are the future.

Autodesk Launches Animation Academy 2009 for Secondary Schools

“The six-part curriculum introduces students to 3D animation and visual effects technology while immersing them in core academic subjects such as science, math, language and arts. For the first time, Animation Academy includes Autodesk Mudbox digital sculpting software and Autodesk MotionBuilder character animation software, along with the Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Maya modeling, animation and rendering software.”

For further information on Animation Academy 2009, please visit http://www.autodesk.com/pr-animationacademy.

Great Example of AutoCAD and 3ds Max Used Together

Marcelo Eder Cunha an Architect from Brazil in a nice feature article in CGSociety describes his process for creating a architectural design for the cover of Ballistic Publishing’s ELEMENTAL3 “Homage to Sidonio Porto”.

Link to article from CGSociety

Parabéns a Marcelo!

Autodesk Impression 2 for Download by Autodesk Subscription Customers

Turn your DWG and DWF files into an impressive hand stylized rendering without having to break out those smelly ink markers, pencils, or talent. Unlike other methods you can update your rendered image when your DWG file changes instead of having to start all over again in the process. Images stylized in Impression provide another way to see the project instead of a exact 3D crisp rendering which communicates to some as a completed design, the 2D or 3D DWG files in Impression can give an impression of in process, quality style, and still pre-construction thinking and convey a different impression and much faster. Give it a try as you will see how fun and easy it is to impress others and sometimes it is hard to tell which was a watercolored, pencil sketched or inked marker rendering from what you output with Autodesk Impression.

The products that get this Autodesk Impression download benefit are:

AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Map 3D, AutoCAD MEP, AutoCAD Revit Architecture Suite,AutoCAD Revit MEP Suite, AutoCAD Revit Structure Suite, Revit Architecture Revit MEP, and Revit Structure.

Impression 2 will initially be available in English only.

New in Autodesk Impression 2

Users of the first release of Autodesk Impression, as well as the Technology Preview, will notice several new features and overall improvements. Enhancements include

• New options in the Import Wizards, including Layer Packing for improved drawing performance
• Enhancements to the Area Fill tool, which now offers five different methods for applying styles
• Expanded content libraries, including watercolor trees and pencil strokes in traditional lineweights: H, HB, 2B, and so on

New features include

• The Match Properties tool, used for applying the style, layer, or text properties from one object to another
• A new Power Fill tool fills multiple areas based on shared criteria such as shape, layer, CAD color, and lineweight
• The Drawing Performance Tuner, designed to improve application performance by packing objects on layers and modifying how styles are displayed
• The new Block Editor, which offers a seamless environment in which to create and edit vector-based blocks
• The Global Stroke button, which adjusts the stroke type and lineweight of geometry and inserted blocks

More About Autodesk Impression: http://www.autodesk.com/impression

Become a Member of the Autodesk Impression Community (FREE)

Become a member of the Autodesk Impression Community to stay current with all the latest developments and resources available for this product. Learn how Impression is evolving, find new content to use in your images, and share your experiences with other users. Benefits of membership include access to

• Content Sharing
• Member Discussions
• Blogs, Local Events, and Webcasts
• User-submitted Tips and Tricks

Membership provides you with up-to-date information on the latest developments with Autodesk Impression, and with tools to help you get started.
Go to http://impression.autodesk.com/community.