Adobe Photoshop CS6 Beta is available to download here.
"The world’s best digital image editing software is about to get even better. Explore Adobe® Photoshop® CS6 beta for a sneak preview of some of the incredible performance enhancements, imaging magic, and creativity tools we are working on. Discover for yourself why Photoshop CS6 software will be a whole new experience in digital image editing."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uBLXzDvSH7k
Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 has been announced and here are the latest New Features videos. Personally I am looking forward to using iRay Active Shade in a viewport (video below). I understand that iRay Active Shade was only available in 2012 in the subscription pack. I have started making the move from Mental Ray to iRay now and I suggest trying Niveda's iRay out if you have not done so already.http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pji7hLREtoc Check out all the new feature videos here.
Copitor is a 3ds Max script by Mathieu Jacquin which allows you to copy and paste selected objects to another 3ds Max scene or to another window if you have more then one 3ds Max open. It is also useful to back an object up before you try something, such as booleans!
You can download it here.
To install... Drop The file in max viewport and go to Customize ==> Customize User Interface ==> Category: zOffTy Tools ==> Copitor
I have been doing a lot of post production work in Adobe Photoshop with my Wacom tablet recently. A couple of things I came across that I thought might be useful to share.
1. Ring when tapping in Photoshop with a tablet.
This can become very annoying. I believe it comes as default in Windows 7. This is how I got rid of the problem in Windows 7 x64 bit.
-In the Control Panel search for Edit group policy.
-In here you need to go to administrative templates, windows components, tablet pc, cursors, turn off pen feedback.
-In this window change from not configured to enabled.
-Click OK and your done.
Update: There is a lot more information on this subject here.
2. Add a Layer mask shortcut.
I am constantly using layer masks and do get feed up of going all the way to the bottom of the Layers pallete to click the button. In Photoshop there is no default shortcut. To add a shortcut click Edit, Keyboard Shortcuts, under Layer Mask> add a shortcut key (I used Ctrl+Q) to Reveal All.
Wave Generator is a Plugin written by Ruben Mayor and Philippe Jadoul for 3ds Max. Very quickly you can generate ocean surfaces including control over waves. The plugin is currently in alpha version. We needed a solution to create various oceans surfaces. Wave Generator gave me the ability to create the ocean as a 3d object then add materials or even export it to other applications. I found it very straight forward to work with and in 3ds Max I just add a daylight system and a generic mental ray water material to create the image above.
You can download Wave Generator here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UrlsnQ32YhY
Adobe have realeased 6 sneak peek videos on Youtube of the upcoming Photoshop CS6. Video 4 'Content-Aware' was of most interest to me. In the video Product Manager Bryan O'Neil Hughes demonstrates how to move or remove an object from an image using the content- aware tool. See below for the other 4 videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pBIf9KljT68 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XLp1dR2sYkE http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zDfL021HkCg http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9wx8P-GQxOw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UyIHpRjaBic
After hitting Render this is what I was getting, in fact it was a lot more over exposed. Also I turned off Real-World Scale in the UV Maps on the Chair. The problem was with the exposure, aperture and camera distance. Once I had adjusted these three I got the render below which took 21 minutes.I found Nox Renderer nice and simple to use and I am looking forward to working with it more in future and seeing it develop.
NOTE. After writing this post Evermotion have posted some tutorials here. Check them out, there are some great features and you will probably get on better than I did.
Just wanted to post about Autodesk University. This is a great site with content on most of the Autodesk products. Alot of 3ds Max which is great for me. With presentations in all fields of 3D and CGI I highly recommend checking it out. You can log in with an Autodesk or Facebook account. I particularly enjoyed Ramy Hanna's Is That a Photograph? Architectural Photography for 3D Rendering.
Maide Inc have come up with this great way of using the ipad and iphone with 3ds Max and Maya.http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BI_pnzES7F0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=V7V-UkDQUQo
I saw this metioned on Evermotion in their monthly newsletter and gave it a go at work. Not being an Ipad or Iphone user the intuitive functionality did not come as easy as if I had experience with the 2 devices. The Maide Control needed a bit of a learning curve but does have a lot of potential. I got very excited and thought about purchasing an Ipad instead of the Space Pilot Pro I have been dreaming of for a while now. I am currently using the Space Navigator and a Wacom Intuos 3
I started looking into Ipad/Wacom alternatives, there was not as many as I thought there would be. I found a few things of interest then I stumbled upon this actually made by Wacom. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tbuZ_ulQfLA So being very comfortable and happy with both my Space Navigater and Wacom, but being due an upgrade at some point this year is it worth combining the 2 and having only one device on the desk, plus having all the other functions the ipad has? Is it worth the learning curve? Or should I look at this as great potential and go for what I know and love. I have been looking for an excuse to get an Ipad for a while now and as I am looking for a mobile phone contract to use in Monaco, maybe an Ipad could be the way to go instead of an Iphone.
On the way to the port I stumbled across the Monaco Rally Vintage Car show. Here are a few pictures + the VW spotted in Menton!
It was White Night Nuit Blaunche here in Brighton on Saturday night. It was great fun, one of the highlights was getting to use Sable Vivant's project - Third Eye. 
"ThirdEye is a simple and portable motion capture. Although we have originally designed as a tool for analysis of sign language, we quickly found that this base allowed us to many other applications. This extension of the project resulted in several devices. An example of these applications is the installation that we call 3D and calligraphy that allows for real-time enrollment in a three-dimensional space. The calligraphic gesture is released from the constraints of paper and took possession of the third dimension. Beyond its attractive technology, the installation invites the viewer to continue his action in a virtual space, blurring the boundaries between the real world and that of numerical simulation."
Sable Vivant - Third Eye
Here is a iPad model. It is part of project I have recently been working on. It is modeled and rendered in 3ds max using Mental Ray.
On the day I moved down to Brighton there was a VW Camper Van Show. Here are some pictures from the event. It has inspired me to move on with the Vespa project to a VW Camper. So stay tuned.
It was Eurogamer this week and I headed down to Earls Court. The range of games on offer was incredible, sadly though I didn't get there early enough to take advantage of the early bird ticket. I did manage to play the Nintendo 3DS for the first time. I think I may have one weaker eye as I struggled to focus on the 3D. I had to turn it down to half way-ish. I haven't looked into it but maybe you have to focus it to people's eyes. A statue of Link greeted me on the way into 3DS booth. I played a little of Zelda which I think has alone encouraged me to purchase a 3DS. I also played Mario 3D which I found hard to figure out how to play with Mario in a 3D environment compared to the normal platform that I so enjoyed. Maybe my lack of experience playing Mario 64 and Mario Galaxy had something to do with.
I also played one of my favorite games ever, Pokemon! But it was not the Pokemon that I had spent many hours leveling up, but it was SuperPokemon Rumble, I struggled to work out what I was meant to be doing. I was playing as a Pokémon, rather than a trainer. I think the game had more emphasis on battling (although I couldn't find a battle) than collecting, which I think the two combined help make Pokémon so successful. Stereotypically the battling and collecting appealed to the boys and the collecting and nurturing appealed to girls. I didn't really play enough to pass proper judgment but all in all I will be purchasing a Nintendo 3DS.
After the 3DSing I hunted down the Creative Assembly and passed on my new work, so figures crossed. I then bumped in to one of the best areas, reliving parts of my childhood playing on Crazy Taxi on the Dreamcast, losing at Mortal Kombat and seeing a Saga Saturn for the first time in years at the Replay Expo. World of Tanks deserves a mention for giving me a t-shirt and two tanks. The game basically involves selecting and loading up your tank and playing on a multi-player map in teams trying to destroy the other team. One of the best bits of this game is the ability to smash through everything that dare be in your path.
Undoubtedly the best thing about Eurogamer this year was receiving a free Onlive console and controller. Onlive looks great and seems to be in many peoples eyes the future. It also promises to make indie developers lives easier in the way of getting on the console and the inability to be pirated. It comes with a 30 day trial plus 3 months free if you are a BT customer then £6.99 after that for access to hundreds of games including Fear 3, Batman and Assassins Creed. I have been playing it for a couple of days now and I love it. I am even considering getting rid of the PS3! On the way out I had a go on Uncharted 3 multi-player, it was the first Uncharted I have played and it was incredible. Of all the games I played this was the best.
This post is to describe how I got the reflections on the Vespa in a studio environment. I think you can just add a HDRI to the environment slot in the material editor. But I did it like this.
I created a sphere around the Vespa and applied the HDRI checking it was 2 sided and in the Self-Illumination slot. The Vespa is on a plane with an omni light with a multiplier of 0.01. When it came to rendering I added a Object ID pass and a separate object id to the bike, plane and sphere in the objects properties. The pass and render are below
Using the pass in Photoshop I masked out the background and added a gradient. I hope this all makes sense please feel free to add any comments and ask questions below.
