Bahraini Graphic Designer

2012-02-12T22:59:00.001+03:00

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Bonyface - A ready 3dsmax 2012 plugin for facial animation

2011-11-01T21:42:00.001+03:00

BonyFace is a complex facial animation system, was written on MAXScript, works in 3ds max 2008 and above. It consists of tools for rigging, skinning and animating facial expressions on 3D-Faces with ease and flexibility.

Since it's a script, the user can freely share the BonyFace rigged character with another professional NOT having BonyFace, anyone can load and render the scene with BonyFace-objects without having BonyFace installed like any common 3ds max scene.

BonyFace starts facial rig creation from scratch, it's an easiest and fastest way to create facial rig, with BonyFace you can create full face rig in 10-20 minutes!

Basic tools of BonyFace are freeware. You can use basic tools to create rig and skin, adjust parameters of the rig and animate control objects with standard tools of 3ds max without any limitations.

Extended tools of BonyFace are available only for authorized users of the script. You can use extended tools to create complex professional facial animation and simplify whole workflow

Rigging and Skinning (basic tools)

Spline based system allows the user to properly "map" a 3D-face
Stretchy bones drive the whole face for unlimited facial expressions and deformations
Rig system for head is created automatically based on spline system
Skin phase is performed automatically. It automatically adds a Skin modifier to the head (or modifies an existing Skin modifier if present) and adds bones of BonyFace-rig to current skeleton. Cat, Biped and Bones are supported.
Skin mechanics works with the internal skin modifier of 3dsmax and intelligentely auto-weights the points of a 3D-Face to provide you with a perfect base on muscle deformation
Intelligent weighting automatically recognizes several regions of a face and applies proper weighting to the vertices according to where they are
After skin phase the user can tweak the envelopes as they normally would, to get an even better deformation for their character, this however in most cases is not necessary
BonyFace automaticly creates rig and skin for tongue and eyelashes

Control Mechanics (basic tools)

Using a system of standard max circle shapes, the user gets UNLIMITED deformations on their 3D-face, this is one of the great features that sets BonyFace apart from other available plugins and scripts for 3dsmax
The Direct Controls (blue colored) provide immediate deformation of skin regions
The Soft Controls (yellow colored) have a weight system that globally changes the position of the direct controls
Ability to rotate and stretch the lips is provided
You can adjust any settings of the rig very fast and easy through a very comprehensive UI

Face Control Center and Selector

You can select and/or move any control through a very handy UI, even if the control is hidden, actually you don't need to select any control in the viewport in most cases
There are many different ways to manipulate with selection, move opposite controls together or apart using Ctrl, Alt and Shift keys
There are some comfortable and useful tools to manipulate with mouth controls

Poses and Animations (extended tools)

You can save, load, browse and apply facial poses and animations
Two different modes: Mixer and Grimace are provided to interactively mix the poses
Importer of poses and animations - you can use poses and animations were made for one character on another character

Animation Layers (extended tools)

You can create and manage with animation layers of three types: AutoBlink, BVH (a standard motion capture file format) and Normal (standard keyframe animation)
It is possible to change the weight of layer
AutoBlink layer periodically applies the poses, so you can use it to make any repeated animation, such as blinking, breathing, laughing and etc.
BVH-layer transfers mocap animation from BVH-model to 3D-Face. BVH-model is automatically created by BonyFace when user loads BVH-file, it is possible to interactively adjust controls movement at any frame
BVH-files created by Zign Track are supported

Finally, you can download the limited Bonyface version of Bonyface from their Visit BonyFace website and a full version for 399$ (150 BHD ). The BonyFace Team also have a tutorial section and a gallery which will get you more inspired. so best of luck and happy upgrading ;)
... make sure to like and share this tool if you appreciate it !

Advanced Rotoscoping Techniques for Adobe After Effects

2011-10-21T19:00:00.002+03:00

Let's face it: rotoscoping is a drag. You can put countless hours of work into cutting elements out from even a few seconds of your footage, and it comes out badly more often than it doesn't. You want to scream and rip out your hair, not to mention kill the guy who shot the footage and said "We'll fix it in post."

But don't sweat it. We've got you covered! VFX and compositing expert Pete O'Connell shows you advanced techniques for rotoscoping in After Effects that will change the way you think about one of the most challenging tasks for any compositor. Pete uses his unique style to show you the tricks he's picked up and created for big-budget Hollywood features including Stranger Than Fiction, The Fountain, Just Like Heaven, Across the Universe, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, and the highly acclaimed Transporter 2.

Over the course of over 2 hours, you'll learn how to use the entire AE toolset in a whole new way. When it's over, you'll wonder why roto work ever gave you the night sweats.

You'll learn advanced rotoscoping but you don't have to be an advanced AE user to learn these techniques. Pete will show you how to let AE's motion tracker do much of the work for you, how maximize results with expressions, how to set up your comps for the most accurate track, how to find and correct bad roto while you work, how to integrate your masks into your primary footage, and much more.

Beyond roto, you'll learn advanced techniques for precomposition, tracking and stabilization, project organization and keyboard shortcuts to dramatically speed up your work.

Chapter Listing

The basic steps used to set up a roto comp in AE. Useful keyboard shortcuts.
Preference settings. Moving mask points using the keyboard. Moving groups of points using the transform box.
The advantages and disadvantages of having your mask layer's visibility turned either off or on.
Tracking Fundamentals: how to motion track and what to watch out for.
How to set up your tracking comp to get the most accurate track. Precomposing and color correcting.
Examples of motion tracking a few points, from easy ones to difficult hand tracks.
Stabilizing foreground objects for easier roto.
Rotoscoping accurately with a minimum of keyframes.
Matching roto masks with the original footage.
Choosing good track points. Applying transforms to a solid.
Making a shape to follow motion, without applying keyframes.
Adding basic detail to roto masks.
Using keyboard shortcuts to speed up the roto process.
Finessing and finishing the roto mask.
Incorporating the new right arm mask into the main matte comp.
Bad roto alert!
Using multiple masks and the transform box to roto out a complex object.
Preparing to rotoscope by stabilizing the footage rather than the masked solid
Inverting stabilization to align a mask with the original footage
Using a secondary solid to avoid scaling distortion.
Rotoscoping details.
Using a secondary solid to avoid composition bounds problems.
Rotoscoping using a 2 point track.
Setting up an expression for 4 point cornerpin based roto.
Using a 4 point cornerpin track.
Saving mask shapes and transform keyframes as a consolidated .ffx file

Click here to see the promo video on creative cow (1024x768) Quicktime required.

Motiva COLIMO 1.2! Fast Overview

2011-10-21T07:00:00.002+03:00

Motiva COLIMO, a realtime postproduction tool that allows change materials over prerendered images,

taking in account physical accurate reflections, refractions and GI bleeding.

CHANGES FROM PREVIOUS (1.1!) VERSION:

- Thea render integrated workflow support.
- Image sequence support.
- New fle format that allows easier connection to third party software.
- InteliThread upgraded that makes user experience smoother and allows faster changes over the colors and textures.
- Better texture fltering.
- Color picker is now applied to the objects in realtime.
- Better lights support.
- Improved viewport control.
- Supersampling feature.
- Alpha support on saving.
- Better memory footprint.
- Faster project loading.
- Faster viewport resizing.
- Samples included.
- Jpg quality selector on export to web.
- New versions of Max2Colimo and Modo2Colimo.
- Minor bugs fxed...

More Info...
Link : http://www.motivacg.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=172
Link : http://www.motivacg.com/
Vimeo Link : http://vimeo.com/motiva

Fast Rendering of Visualizations with Lumion (TM)

2011-10-21T01:22:00.000+03:00

Stunning visualizations in seconds! Lumion uses real-time 3D technology for rendering.This amazing technology of Lumion renders images in a fraction of a second. The aim of of the software is to create a lightning fast workflow between packages like Autocad or Sketchup and stunning visualizations.

Lumion uses real-time 3D technology for rendering.

This amazing technology of Lumion renders images in a fraction of a second.

Stunning visualizations in secondsLumion uses real-time 3D technology for rendering. This amazing technology of Lumion renders images in afraction of a second.

Lumion offers what architects could only dream about for years!
If you are an Architect or 3D artist you will be pleased to discover what you can achieve with Lumion.Visualization software should not feel like an extra job, it should just be there for you when you need it and it needs to deliver results without effort.We provided Lumion with a user interface that is designed around you.
Complex tasks look easy with Lumion. The most important goal of Lumion is to let you do jobs yourself which usually require expensive specialists. That is amazing by itself but on top of that Lumion renders in real-time, meaning you can view the end result instantly.
Lumion supports models created in Sketch-up, 3DS Max, Maya and most other 3D design software. You can run Lumion next to your existing software. Just fire it up and have an image or movie of your work in 5 minutes.

A different kind of software
Lumion redefines how you use software. Regardless of the difficulty of the task at hand Lumion makes it feel easy. Extensive user testing combined with GPU technology was used to create a new level of usability.
The graphics engine is designed for instant visualization. Just import your models and Lumion makes them look good. No effort. No waiting. Lumion’s “theater mode“ allows you to us it as a 3D viewer for easy flytroughs of complex 3D models in real-time.
Lumion includes a stunning arsenal of high quality content. A huge library of plants, trees, people, cars, animals, landscapes, buildings, materials and more provides you with everything you need to make movies and images stand out.

Materials and lights
Lumion comes with a extensive material library to quickly provide your models with realistic appearances. Need changes in your model? Update your model with a single click in Lumion and all materials are automatically applied to the updated model.

Lumion materials combine perfectly with the sophisticated lighting system. This system simulates daylight, fog and sky color. Creating good looking images was never this easy.

Recommended System
Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7
2GB system memory
1GB Graphics memory
NVIDIA GeForce 260 or equal performing 3D card
Supported file formats
Textures: BMP, DDS, PSD, PNG, TGA
Models: MAX(Requires 3DS Max installation), DAE, FAB,
FBX, OBJ, 3DS, DXF
Most tools such as Sketch-up and Maya allow exporting to one of these formats
Supported output format
MP4, BMP, JPG

Included content
Lumion includes a very large library of materials, people, animals, trees, plants, buildings, street furniture, landscapes, cars, boats, roads and more.

Tutorials and Demo Version can be found on Lumion Website

Working With Symbols in Adobe Illustrator

2011-10-20T19:36:00.000+03:00

A symbol is an art object that you can store in a document, and reuse multiple times in your artwork. Using symbols can save time and greatly reduce the size of your files. Here’s a quick overview of how they work..

Working With Symbols in Adobe Illustrator

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Got Minutes? Lets go to the Museums of the World ! online...

2011-10-19T23:02:00.001+03:00

Artists out there.. Ever wished going to a Museum for a while and get inspired by the art created centuries before... or probably go to 2 museums and see the details on the paintings... details so detailed that you could actually see the slightest brush stroke or cracks in a painting... here's a short talk about Google's Amit Sood of why he created the Art Project and allowed us to see the many artworks in the greatest museums around the world...

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Quick Tip: How to Draw an Infinite Clock with Art Brushes

2011-10-19T17:00:00.014+03:00

How to Draw an Infinite Clock with Art Brushes
Follow this tutorial and you will find out how to draw a clock that goes round and round to the infinite with the help of Adobe Illustrator’s Art Brushes. You will also learn some tricks on how to make all the hours and the divisions to fit perfectly.

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

Step 1

Start by opening a new web document then draw a 500 x 400 px Rectangle that will define your working space. Now take the Spiral Tool and draw the first spiral like the pink one in the image. While drawing the spiral press the Up Arrow key on the keyboard to create more segments. When you are done draw two more spirals or just scale the first one and make sure they are centered at the end.

Step 2

To create the Spiral Art Brush first take the Star Tool and draw a small black triangle. Rotate it -90 degrees and using the Selection Tool (V) drag the right side to make it longer like below. Drag the obtained shape into the Brushes Panel and choose New Art Brush. Use it to stroke the first spiral made.

Step 3

Next you need to divide the spirals and to do that first draw with the Pen Tool (P) a straight vertical path that will define the 12-6 direction through the middle of the clock. Take the Add Anchor Point Tool (Plus Symbol) and starting from the top click on each spiral to add a point where each spiral intersects this path. Zoom as much as needed and do this until you arrive at the other end of the spirals, all the way in the middle not only on the shown point in the image. When you are done take the Scissors Tool (C) and click on all these added points to cut and obtain the half segments.

Step 4

Take the Type Tool (T) and type the hours from 6 to 12 first. The font I used is Algerian, 105 pt. Go to the Object menu and Expand then scale each hour like shown above each one. Now you need to place them at equal distance from each other and this is an important step otherwise the hours and the divisions won’t fit. Take a look at the X and Y values in the Transform Panel. Keep the same Y value for all hours and at the X value starting from 6 keep adding 100 px for each hour according to the previous one. Repeat this step for the 12 to 6 hours.

Step 5
Drag the 6 to12 and 12 to 6 hours into the Brushes Panel and choose New Art Brush. From now on I will refer to them as 6-12 Art Brush and 12-6 Art Brush. Stroke the first segment of the third spiral, the black one, using the 6-12 Art Brush and as you can see the straight path drawn at the step 3 doesn’t go through the middle of 6 and 12 as it should. Here is the trick to fix that. Drag the art brush back into your working area from the Brushes Panel and there will be a rectangle in the group. Select it and drag the left side in the middle of 6 and the right side in the middle of 12 like you see in the image. Do the same for the 12-6 Art Brush then drag them both back into the Brushes Panel. Now stroke the segment using the new brush and this time it fits perfectly.

Step 6
Double click on Stroke in the Appearance Panel to open the Stroke Options window. Here you can change the Size value if you think the hours are too big and if they are flipped or upside down check the Flip Along and Flip Across options. Also check Proportional. Continue to stroke the other segments all the way and use the 12 or 6 hours from the previous segment as reference to adjust the Size value as you go. After expanding you can delete the duplicated hours.

Step 7
To create the Divisions Art Brush first draw a triangle shape and the four lines having a 1.5 pt black Stroke. Copy and Paste them five times and arrange them in a row then place one more triangle at the end. Scale each one of them from 100% up to 70% for the last triangle. Also use again the same method from the step 4 to make sure all the divisions are perfectly aligned and at equal distance. Keep the same Y value for each division and to the X value this time add only 10 px starting from the first triangle. This step will take some time but otherwise the divisions won’t fit with the hours.

When you are done take the Delete Anchor Point Tool and delete the points from the left side of the first triangle and the points from the right side of the last triangle. This is another trick to know otherwise after you define the brush you will have to drag it back into your working area to move the sides of the rectangle in the middle of the first and the last triangle, like you did for the 6-12 and 12-6 Art Brushes at the step 5. Now you don’t need to because you already obtained the halves.

Step 8
Stroke the first segment of the blue spiral using this Divisions Art Brush defined earlier. I changed the Width value to 70% because I thought the divisions were too big but in your case it’s up to you. Continue to stroke the rest of the segments and use the last half triangle from the previous segment as reference to scale the next segment as much as needed so they fit perfectly like shown in the close up. For example, in my case a 75% Width value was just right for the second segment then 80% for the third one, 85% for the fourth one and so on. As long as you zoom enough to see each pair of halves and you set the right Size value all the Divisions stroked segments will fit properly. You can also make further adjustments using the Direct Selection Tool (A) after expanding.

Step 9

Next select the pink spiral, go to the Object menu and Expand Appearance. The colors used for the gradient are: blue (R=84,G=159,B=215), dark blue (R=0,G=86,B=120), orange (R=208,G=155,B=39), yellow (R=243,G=232,B=92), brown (R=122,G=117,B=99), green (R=98,G=138,B=102), again dark blue (R=0,G=86,B=120), again blue (R=84,G=159,B=215) and light blue (R=188,G=217,B=242). Set the angle value to 10 degrees. Copy and Paste in front this spiral shape, keep the same gradient just change the angle value to 90 degrees and set the Blending mode to Color Burn.

Step 10
Let’s add some shadows. Select the first group of hours (the 12 is missing because I said you need to delete the 12 and 6 hours that are duplicates) then go to Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow and set the values like in the image. Do the same for the next four hour groups not for all of them because the rest of the hours are too small and there is no need.

Step 11

Fill the 500×400 px rectangle in back from the beginning with a linear gradient called Purple, Yellow that you can find in the Swatch Libraries menu under Gradients > Color Combinations. Change the angle value to 180 degrees. Duplicate this rectangle, delete the fill and use it to mask the clock. To do that select all the clock shapes made so far and also the empty rectangle, that must be in front of them and go to Object > Clipping Mask > Make.

Step 12
All that is left to do is to select the spiral shape in back (there are two) and go to Effect > Stylize > Outer Glow. Set the values like in the image and the color used is black (R=0,G=0,B=0).

Final Image
Here is the final image of the infinite clock, play around with the settings to see what you can come up with. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

Tutorial by, Diana Toma

ROUGH WOOD PLANKS TUTORIAL

2011-10-18T21:27:00.000+03:00

ROUGH WOOD PLANKS TUTORIAL

A tutorial for,How you can create a rough wood texture using Zbrush, 3DS Max and Photoshop. This can be interesting if you want to make a totally handpainted texture as well. There are just a couple of layers you can make differently to create a more stylized handpainted texture.All that is included in the .PSD at the bottom of this page.

INTRODUCTION

This is a very rough type of wood and I would usually not bother going into Zbrush to create a smoother type of wood surface.

As with all material types there are a lot of different types of wood, for instance you could have a painted wood with thick layers of paint where the normal and specular/glossiness is very important, or you can have a very smooth polished type of wood where you almost have a glass like surface. In this tutorial I did not even bother to create a separate glossiness map as it would have been very matte (dark) anyhow I though I would not gain too much on using that. I also used some color in my specular map, only some engines have support for this but it can definitely help making your material more interesting.

HIGHPOLY

So I decided to create two different planks where I go through each side in Zbrush, I will then place them out in 3DS Max one by one and rotate them so I get a unique side for each plank.

It is important to try and have an even tesselation on this to make the details come out as good as possible in the sculpting process. This was really easy on these two planks, I could just split them up in perfectly square faces.

Then I tesselated them a fair bit, around 70000 triangles for each plank. You can of course do this in Zbrush if you prefer.

I exported both planks to the .OBJ format and imported into Zbrush.

I did tesselate them a bit more in Zbrush as I noticed they would need more detail, so here I am working with about 2 million triangles, which is really pretty overkill for the end resolution I am going to use.

There is a great feature in Zbrush that lets you hide selections you make. You can hide whole objects or even just parts you select. Press "shift+ctrl" and drag a selection over whichever part you want to hide, if you release shift you will hide everything BUT your selection. To unhide everything again just hold down "ctrl" and click outside the canvas.

If you have read any of my other Zbrush material tutorials you will be pretty familiar with the "Mallet Fast Brush" probably. I use this brush for almost everything since it is a really quick way to deforme some edges.

So here I start draging a few brush strokes on the edges. Imagine a very old wood beam here, perhaps something used on an old wooden ship or similar. Try to use a pretty high intensity and a low focal shift while sculpting this.

Repeat this step on all sides of your planks.

Next up is to get some actual wood grain cracks in here. I find the easiest way of doing this is to use the "Projection Master". I then use a "Free Hand Brush" and while using a low focal shift I mix using ZAdd and ZSub settings on my brush strokes.

I drag out long brush strokes over the whole plank pretty slowly while trying to go a bit up or down when close to the edges, if you are a bit careful here you will start getting some nice cracks out naturally when draging brush stroke on top on brush stroke and repeating that.

Once you feel happy with the previous step we will need some finer wood grain as well (this is of course if you are going for that style, some more soft handmade wood style would probably benefit from just moving on from the previous step and import that right into 3DS Max). I use the same technique here as above, just using smaller brushes with a lower intensity. Remember you can exit the Projection Master any time and add as many layers as you want with it (but be a bit careful, sometimes it can "damage" your previous details if you go on too strong in the Projection Master).

After the above steps I import the exported file from Zbrush into 3DS Max (you may want to optimize it before importing it to 3DS Max tho, a great tool I usually use for this is Meshlab, Then, I make duplicates of my two planks using "Instance" and rotate them so no two planks are the same. After that I rotate and offset each plank a bit to help add some more depth.

TEXTURE MAPSI start off with a very simple base where I just draw out the edges of the planks and vary up each plank a bit.

I rendered out an ambient occlusion map from the highpoly in 3DS Max at the same time as I baked out the normal map.

I also used xNormal's "Normals2Cavity" function on a copy of my baked out normal map, OR you can use the "Cavity from normal" action in my Photoshop actions pack (big thanks to Teddy Bergsman for creating that particular action), it will give you a very similar result. Just run the action on a copy of your baked out normal map.

I did blur and edit my result a little bit by hand as well, just making certain areas a bit stronger and some more subtle. When done put your ambient occlusion map to multiply blending and the cavity map to overlay blending.

Here I made a mask out of my ambient occlusion map, however I inverted it so I basically masked out the egdes a bit. As you can see I used a photo overlay here but on the next step I show that you could just replace this step with a handpainted base.

I surface blurred the photo and edited it quite a bit painting over some weird things and tweaking the hue.

Here is an alternative way, I simply picked a few different colors and painted some long brush strokes using a fairly sharp brush with a pretty low opacity. Of course you can take this really far if you want to add some knots and details like that in your diffuse.

When the other layers (except any photo layers) are applied the end result feel pretty stylized.

Moving over to the specular I did decide to use some color in this specular and I find some subtle blue green can work for a rough and weathered type of planks.

I am using very subtle colors here, and usually I find that if you do not have support for specular color in your engine, perhaps there is support for tinting the whole black and white specular, and you can get really far with that.

Where it really makes a difference is on materials such as bronze and gold tho, but for general metal it can be a very welcome addition as well.

The biggest downside is that you will need all your RGB channels for a color specular, while if you were going for black and white specular maps you can add a glossiness map in one of the channels and have the specular in one and then even have one channel free for other funky stuff you can think of.

So as an example you could have the specular intensity in the green channel, the glossiness in the red channel and a cube reflection map, emissive map, detail map or anything else you may need for this particular material in the blue channel.

At last we have the normal map left. I did generate some high frequency details using the nVidia Photoshop filter from the photo overlay I was using before. Again, if you are going for a more soft handpainted look you may want to skip this one all together.

The last thing I add to get some more interesting depth when the material is lit is to add a subtle roundness to the planks. You can vary this a lot, but I find having an outgoing bevel like this work for most type of planks, you just make it more or less subtle. I generated this using the nVidia filter again on a base that looks like the black and white part in the image below, where I just made a small selection of a black and white gradient and copied it up 8 times and use a pretty high filter type in the nVidia filter (something like 7x7 or 9x9).

Finally, the finished texture maps. As I mentioned earlier I did not make a per pixel glossiness map for this one, instead I used a low value for the overall glossiness. Some engines support this type of value based input for surface slots. Like in the Unreal Engine you can add a constant to any slot you want.

This is the result with the maps applied.

Download the .PSD

Tutorial by Philip Klevestav

Glu3D v1.3.36 & Pwrapper v1.016 for 3DsMax 2012 32Bit/64Bit

2011-10-18T14:14:00.000+03:00

Glu3D v1.3.36 & Pwrapper v1.016

Glu3D is a complete system that makes easy making liquids in Autodesk's 3dsMax, Maya and XSI. glu3D uses particles to simulate the liquid behavior, and a multi-resolution polygonal surface is also generated to display the liquid surface.

Main Features

Particle based dynamic engine that automatically animates liquids that interact with surrounding geometry
Poly surface mesh surface sequence is generated to visualize liquid surface
Fully integrated in 3dsMax and Maya
File cache system to store pre-calculated dynamics results
Wet maps ( 3dsMax only)
Texture mapping ( 3dsMax only)
Arbitrary planar shapes as sources ( 3dsMax only)
Fill objects function to speed up scene initial condition setup
Friendly customizable UI full of shortcuts, menus and toolbar buttons
Integration with Particle Flow ( 3dsMax only)

Download

http://www.filesonic.com/file/1301935484/3...3DsMax_2012.rar

or

http://www.wupload.com/folder/113564

or

http://www.fileserve.com/file/CbrDkgH/3Dal...3DsMax_2012.rar

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UV-Packer has been released in version 1.11 for Autodesk 3ds Max

2011-10-18T13:48:00.001+03:00

UV-Packer v-1.11 for Autodesk 3ds Max

With version 1.11 UV-Packer now offers full support for 3ds Max 2012 and 3ds Max Design 2012 (each in 32 bit and 64 bit versions). Added support for Autodesk 3ds Max 2012 and Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2012 (each in 32 bit and 64 bit versions).Minor technical issues fixed.

UV-Packer automatically redistributes all UV charts in a UV map for optimal fit. Do you often find yourself spending a lot of time to rearrange charts generated by pelting or do you need to modify UV maps because the proportions of the UV space or the size of the required padding have changed?

UV-Packer does it with a single click of a button.

It can also rescale the separate UV charts depending on the mesh surface area to even out the pixel distribution across different parts of the mesh.

UV-Packer 1.11 is compatible with:

* 3ds MAX 2012 32 bit
* 3ds MAX 2012 64 bit
* 3ds MAX 2011 32 bit
* 3ds MAX 2011 64 bit
* 3ds MAX 2010 32 bit
* 3ds MAX 2010 64 bit

Requirements

* Microsoft .NET 2.0 installed
* Microsoft DirectX 9.0c

Download:

http://www.filesonic.com/file/890915174/_U...&_64Bit.rar

http://www.fileserve.com/file/QXcsfdk/_UVPacker Ver 1.11 For 3DsMax2012 32Bit & 64Bit.rar

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Unwrella v2.13 For 3DsMax 2012 32Bit & 64Bit

2011-10-18T13:22:00.000+03:00

Unwrella v2.13 For 3DsMax 2012 32Bit & 64Bit

Unwrella is an exact unwrapping plug-in for Autodesk 3Ds Max and Autodesk Maya. It is a single click solution which allows you to automatically unfold your 3D models with exact pixel to model surface aspect ratio, speeding up texture baking UV map production significantly.Automatic one-click solution,Just apply the Unwrella modifier.

Precise – Preserves user created UV Seams

Smart – Reduces texture mapping seams almost completely and minimizes surface stretching

Efficient – Chunks are kept large and are arranged on the UV surface with maximal use of available space

User-friendly – User defined pixel based padding between UV chunks

Excellent for all kinds of models (organic, human, industrial)

Unwrella 2 is compatible with:

3D Studio MAX 2012 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 2012 64 bit
3D Studio MAX 2011 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 2011 64 bit
3D Studio MAX 2010 32 bit
3D Studio MAX 2010 64 bit

Download :

http://www.filesonic.com/file/890915154/_U...&_64Bit.rar

http://www.fileserve.com/file/zGnzefH/_Unwrella_v2.13 For 3DsMax 2012 32Bit & 64Bit.rar

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Vray 2.00.03 for 3Ds Max 2012

2011-10-18T12:12:00.001+03:00

Vray 2.00.03 for 3Ds Max 2012

V-Ray is a rendering engine that is used as an extension of 3Ds Max 2012.It is a rendering engine that uses advanced techniques, for example global illumination algorithms such as path tracing, photon mapping, irradiance maps and directly computed global illumination. The use of these techniques often makes it preferable to conventional rendering which are provided as standard with 3d software, and generally renders using these technique can appear more photo-realistic, as actual lighting effects are more realistically emulated.

Build 2.00.03

Modified features:
(*) The V-Ray RT render server prints out some more information in GPU mode (useful for troubleshooting);
(*) Added access to the V-Ray material override exclude list from MaxScript;
(*) Support for the four FumeFX render elements;

Bug fixes:
(*) Noise with "Clamp output" option enabled;
(*) Hilights from the base reflection layer of VRayCarPaintMtl material were darker than they should be;
(*) Slow rendering with many overlapping VRayProxy primitives;
(*) Randomly missing gizmos when rendering VRayEnvironmentFog;
(*) VRayLights that exclude an object could still affect that object through GI;
(*) Rendering with GI may use more detailed texture mip-map levels than necessary;
(*) VRayHDRI may not respect the specified memory limit for tiled textures;
(*) V-Ray RT: Objects could disappear in animation;
(*) V-Ray RT: When used as production renderer, animation of deforming objects is ignored;

Download Links
File Sonic:

http://www.filesonic.com/file/1050617881

Fileserve:
http://www.fileserve.com/file/KPNCaAc/Vray 2.00.03 for Max 2012 x64.rar

Fast Download
Vray 2.00.03 for 3Ds Max 2012

Ddag Ephere Hairtrix V1.7.0.82 For 3DsMAX 2012 and Win32/Win64

2011-10-18T10:38:00.002+03:00

Ddag Ephere Hairtrix V1.7.0.82 For 3DsMAX 2012, Win32/Win64

Hairtrix consists of two formerly independent plug-ins, hairfx and Ornatrix that can now be used in concert to create amazing hair and fur effects. Both Ornatrix and hairfx are production-proven hair creation and simulation tools for 3ds Max and they provide users with a multitude of advanced tools for creating realistic hair and fur, and simulating its movement.

With hair creation and simulation, it has always been difficult to achieve good results in a reasonable time frame. Getting hair to look believable is a hard task on its own. Having that hair animate believably can be even harder. The basic idea behind Hairtrix has been to make a combined generalized framework of tools that allow creation, manipulation, and rendering of sub-pixel objects such as hair. This is no easy task because of the complexity level of structures that have to be dealt with. However, Hairtrix makes creating and animating realistic hair and fur quickly and efficiently a reality.

You can easily these plugins here:

Download Filesonic
http://www.filesonic.com/file/1701669764/D...IN32-XFORCE.rar
http://www.filesonic.com/file/1701669874/D...IN64-XFORCE.rar

Download Wupload
http://www.wupload.com/file/110585725/D...IN32-XFORCE.rar
http://www.wupload.com/file/110586152/D...IN64-XFORCE.rar

Download Uploadstation
http://www.uploadstation.com/file/dXq2tea/D...IN32-XFORCE.rar

BonesPro 4.51 for 3dsMax 2012 released

2011-10-18T10:37:00.002+03:00

BonesPro 4.51 – Autodesk 3dsMax 2012 support

With version 4.51 BonesPro now offers full support for 3ds Max 2012 and 3ds Max Design 2012 (each in 32 bit and 64 bit versions).

List of changes and new features of BonesPro 4.51

BonesPro now supports 3ds Max 2012 and 3ds Max Design 2012
Incorrect MetaBone display in the Track View editor has been fixed.
Corrected errors which occasionally caused disproportional slowdown of 3ds Max when realtime view of MetaBones was enabled.

The BonesPro plug-in and associated training materials are now available at http://www.bonespro.com

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3DS MAX to ZBRUSH and ZBRUSH to 3DS MAX

2011-10-17T18:41:00.000+03:00

3DS MAX to ZBRUSH and ZBRUSH to 3DS MAX
This tutorial helps you to understand a bit about mapping procedures of these two useful and powerful 3d softwares.

Introduction

You must already know Creation (modeling), Importing/Exporting within both 3D Studio MAX and ZBRUSH. Also the maps creation in ZBRUSH and UWVs in 3D Studio MAX.If you have your base model made in 3d Studio Max the steps are the followings:

STEP 1

Once the base mesh is done, and you want ZBRUSH only for details such as diffuse and bumps, you have to set up Well the UWVs Coordinates (to set a good UWV map.)

The base model made in 3D max, and its UWV sets.

STEP 2

Once you have the mesh and its UWVs done, you can export a new OBJ from 3D Studio Max. It would be better if you’d export it with the Guru Wave: Exporting Plugin, because, it has a preset that made ZBRUSH OBJs (look for gw::OBJExporter at www.guruware.at/main/ivy/index.html).

STEP 3
Now you are ready to import a new tool into ZBRUSH and create the maps you need.

STEP 4

Apply as many “divisions” into ZBRUSH to your imported OBJ and create the maps you need.

STEP 5

Once you have ready all the maps DIFUSE,CAVITY,DISPLACEMENT and NORMAL, you are ready for the next important step. Before you do that, be sure that your maps(.tiff, .psd, or .bmps) are all the same size, so you can obtain a better result for the rendering process in 3d Studio MAX.

ZBRUSH final Result of the Imported OBJ.

STEP 6

Before applying maps to a 3d Max material, you need to flip them vertically, otherwise they won’t fit to the mesh. Also the Alpha Chanel by ZBRUSH is a bit different than the one of 3D Max and also other 3D software such as MAYA. ZBRUSH, in a displacement map for example, uses the grey color to identify there is no displace at all, while 3d MAX (and others) use the black color. So you need to set up the RGB Offset in Output into Material (in 3d max) so instead of value: 1 you can try the value: -5 that in my case worked.

Take a look at the following maps:

*Note that DISPLACEMENT map has grey as base color, which has to be set to black, as said before.

DISPLACEMENT MAP(not flipped)

DIFFUSE MAP (flipped)

CAVITYY MAP(not flipped)

STEP 7

So you have the maps created within ZBRUSH, you flipped them, and you know that the displacement map’s RGB Offset has to be set to value -0.5 instead of value 1, but you could still have some problems on fitting well the textures. That’s probably because in ZBRUSH when you imported the OBJ created in 3d MAX, and you started applying all the “painting” and shape modification, you didn’t select the Store MT into Morph Target.

That would help you to remember the original shape of your primary exported OBJ from 3d MAX. But there is also a solution and this one is: You re-export the OBJ form ZBRUSH, but this time with no division” (smooth) on it. And this will be your OBJ – mesh that you apply maps to.

STEP 8

Now you are ready to test your images. Do that simply putting the right maps to the right places (where they belong).

Diffuse Map to Diffuse,

Normal Map to Bump Map,

Displacement Map to Displacement (by the way be sure you pick a SHADER(“renderer”) you can

handle it best, because VRAY has different result with different procedures than Mental Ray or

SCANLINE).

Cavity Map to Glossiness or RGlossiness(Vray) Map,

Normal Map to Bump Map

If you do want to render a model you started to create straight into ZBRUSH

Before you need to apply any kind of modifications onto the mesh you create into ZBRUSH, you need, first of all, to export this mesh at a base MODE (not too many divisions) into a OBJ. Once you exported it you import it into 3D Max and set up the UWVs coordinates. From now on you go ahead like said up there.

For the result I couldn't render, is not much to say, except that with these UWV coordinates you will have some texture problems, so the most important part is to set up well, the UWV map of your primary mesh obj, that you will import into Zbrush.

You can improve details and quality but it needs time. So it’s up to you whether you want to make a quick model to be animated or to make a High Quality Still Image (HQSI) ☺..This passage from ZBRUSH to 3d Max and vice versa, helps you avoiding exporting the huge models made in ZBRUSH that have millions of polygons into a software that works with pixels and not pixols (like ZBRUSH). Hope it helps you understand a bit about mapping procedures of these two useful and powerful 3d software.

Reference: 3D Graphix

Import/Export between ZBrush and 3Ds Max

2011-10-17T16:17:00.001+03:00

Import/Export between ZBrush and 3Ds Max

This small but significant topic is so important that it deserves it’s own post. Importing and exporting in ZBrush from other programs has many problems that must be solved to make the importing and exporting seamless between both programs. ZBrush’s Import export tab in Preferences controls the parameters and functions ZBrush applies to importing and exporting. The settings are set up to account for almost every possible arrangement to make your workflow seamless.

When importing and exporting between ZBrush and 3Ds Max with default settings, you will always find that the models are in the wrong orientation, in one of the programs. This is due to that ZBrush and 3Ds Max uses the XYZ axis in a different order, like Maya differs from 3Ds Max’s XYZ. I’ve found that the the iFlipY, iFlipZ, eFlipY and eFlipZ must be on in order to accommodate the XYZ arrangement between ZBrush and 3Ds Max.

iFlipX,Y,Z means that on model import; X, Y and/or Z axis will be flipped.eFlipX,Y,Z means that on model import; X, Y and/or Z axis will be flipped. There are a ton of other buttons in the Import export tab that changes other things like flipping normal on import or export and so on.

By Alexander Edvard Fusdahl

Exporting Quicktime video for YouTube out of Final Cut Pro

2011-10-17T11:29:00.000+03:00

Exporting Quicktime video for YouTube out of Final Cut Pro

As the Internet continues to dominate an increasing percent of our media consumption, it’s no surprise that clients almost always want a version of their video project created for web playback. In this post we’ll explore a simple way to create video optimized for YouTube using Final Cut Pro.

There are countless software and hardware options that can be used to create video for web, and an equally large number of video format, file type and codec choices. Luckily, Final Cut Pro includes simple tools to create video in one of the most common web formats, QuickTime. Quicktime video can easily be uploaded to video sharing sites like YouTube or Vimeo.

Setting Up A Final Cut Pro Project for Export
Open up your active timeline.As good practice, it’s almost always a smart idea to place in and out points at the start and end of the media you intend to export. This can be done by scrolling the play-head to the in point-and using the shortcut “I”. Now scroll to your out point and use the shortcut “O”. You will now see the In and Out points marked above the timeline. Now, the only portion that will be exported is the media that falls between these points.

Render the area between the in and out points by using the shortcut COMMAND+R.

Once rendered, navigate to the Menu Bar and choose File > Export > Quicktime Conversion.

Choose a file name for your exported video and a destination where it will be saved.

Default settings give us a jumping off point, but we will want to make a few tweaks to the encoding variables…

Exporting for YouTube from Final Cut Pro
With the development of consumer HD video cameras, the support of HD on YouTube has also improved greatly over the last few years. YouTube now supports a wide range of video resolutions and file formats. This export method from Final Cut Pro will insure your video is taken into YouTube at a high resolution and frame size.

In the Save dialogue box (step 6 from above) set the Format to” Quicktime Movie” and Use to “Default Settings” (these are the standard settings in FCP). Click “Options”

The Movie Settings dialogue box will appear. Click Video Settings and set the compression to H.264. The H.264 codec delivers a high quality looking image with a relatively small file size… it’s also very YouTube friendly.

The goal here is to keep your encoded video as close to the original settings as possible. With this in mind you will set the Video settings as follows:

• Set the Frame Rate to Current

• Set the Data Rate to Automatic

• Set the Compressor Quality to Best

• Set the Encoding to Best Quality

Click “OK” and then click on the Size button.

Set the size to “Current”. We should note that YouTube prefers either 1280 x 720 or 1920 x 1080for HD video and 640 x 480 for SD video. However, setting to “Current” will insure the video will be exported at it’s highest available resolution.

Check the “De-interlace Source Video” box then click “OK”.

FCP’s default settings for Sound comply with YouTube requirements, so no need to tweak that.

Click “OK” and when you return to the Save dialogue box hit “OK” again to export!

Hope you people like this useful information:)

Tutorial By: Danny Greer

Create A Realistic Candle & Flame In 3D Studio Max

2011-10-16T20:30:00.000+03:00

Create A Realistic Candle & Flame In 3D Studio Max

In this tutorial, regular author of cg tuts Chandan Kumar will show you how to create a realistic candle and flame in 3d Studio Max. The candle’s flame will be made entirely in 3dsmax using built-in tools, rather then expensive third-party plugins!

Final Product What You'll Be Creating..

Let’s take a look!

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3ds Max – Glass and Water with VRay Tutorial

2011-10-16T18:57:00.000+03:00

3ds Max – Glass and Water with VRay Tutorial
This Tutorial will show you how to create Glass and Water Material in 3ds Max using VRay.

ZBrush 4 Part 2: ZSphere Rigging with Transpose Master

2011-10-16T18:50:00.000+03:00

ZBrush 4 Part 2: ZSphere Rigging with Transpose Master

This video is Part 2 for ZSphere Rigging with ZBrush. In this video, the journey of ZBrush rigging for the purpose of posing a character will continue. In Part 1we discussed how to pose with a single Subtool, now learn to rig with multiple subtools.In this video we will walk through, using Transpose Master’s newest feature to Rig a multiple Subtool Character with a ZSphere.After watching Part 1 and Part 2 you will be able to rig any character that has a single Subtool or multiple Subtools.Everyone must play around with Rigging as much as possible. It is one POWERFUL tool!!!

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ZBrush 4 Part 1: ZBrush Rigging with a Single Subtool

2011-10-16T18:35:00.001+03:00

ZBrush Rigging with a Single Subtool

The rigging tools with in ZBrush are an extremely useful tool that will not only allow you to pose a character but you can also use the rig to make large changes to any mesh.

This video is Part 1 of a multiple part video section on Rigging in ZBrush. This video will walk you through how to create a rig in ZBrush quickly, efficiently, and as easy as it can get. Part 1 will start with rigging a single Subtool with other videos to follow on rigging with multiple Subtools, using layers and using the Timeline feature.

This video also demonstrates how you can capture the highest level of detail from the sculpt onto the rigged version of the sculpt.

This will be an exciting videos that will open up your imagination on how to rig with ZBrush.

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Make a Worm on Illustrator

2011-10-16T15:10:00.000+03:00

Use Illustrator to create a funny Worm!

This easy tutorial will show you some quick tips on how to make a simple but effective vector illustration inspired on the classic video game, Worms. If you are from the 80's or 90's you probably heard of it or had the chance to play it, it is "the predecessor of Angry Birds" in the words of a friend Mike Austin.On this quick tip we have a more traditional illustration approach, focusing less on tools and more on drawing and logic.

The Sketch
You can't make a proportional and equilibrated illustration without movement lines, geometric shapes and croquis and an appropriate sketch of it. So first make rough line of the movement/pose what ever character you want.

Start Photoshop to draw the sketch,divide the body in a circle that would be the head, neck, breast, belly and limbs (or sort of). This allow you to make a more proportional and equilibrated character.

On the following make an outline to have a better Idea of the silhoutte.

Try to place the main characteristics and expression of it.Erased the circles, now it's ready to "ink" using vectors.

The Worm
After placing it on illustrator. the first thing is to create its shadows by using the ellipse tool (L).

Using the pen tool (P), I made a rough trace of the silhouette in beige.

Add a loose stroke over it and expand it's appearance to make things easier when re sizing and adjusting it to look more hand drawn. You can do this by accessing Object > Expand Appearance.

Make a trace on the helmet using again the pen tool (P).

Use the brush tool (B) to make the stroke on it.

Draw the eyes using the pencil tool (N) or if you prefer do it using the pen tool (P).

Same thing for the mouth hole.

And the same fo the strip.

Using the pencil tool (N) let's draw the two lines of teeth, leave a space on the borders of each one, as it was gnashing then in panic.

Add a stroke on the strip fill then expand it's apperance as already showed above.

Add some circles using the ellipse tool (L) to indicate the holes used to adjust the helmet.

Add a stroke around each eye and expand their appearance too.

In order to make the eyes, first make a circle using the ellipse tool, make another one and place on the corner of the previous one.

Select both and now go to the pathfinder panel and choose the option called Minus Front.

Place them inside the eyeballs.

Using the pencil tool (N) create these random shapes over the helmet, use different green shades to look like camouflage.

Select all them, make a trace around the helmet shape and then make a clipping mask (command + 7 / ctrl +7).

Also draw some gray shapes on the border of the helmet, select them and choose the blending mode called Multiply, pretty simple.

Using the brush tool (B) draw the wrinckle on the cheek and the chin of the Worm.

Using the pencil tool (N) draw some shadows on the teeth, then made a clipping mask over it to fit in.

Make the eyebrown by using the pen tool (P), add a white fill on it.

Repeat the same technique of shading used on the teeth on teach eye, it's pretty simple, should no take much time of you.

Let's add some shades on the body, Use a darker beige color for this. As you can see,Be specific about the lightning, as it should make sense. So the eyes, chin and helmet generate shadow on it's body.

OK, the worm is done.

The Dynamite
Using the pen tool (P) draw this dynamite body.

Using the ellipse tool (L) make the shadow of it.

Trace the top of it to make a top, then added a darker red.

Using the brush tool (B) you can draw the fuse.

The sparkle can be drawn using the pen tool (P), then just copy it, rotate it, re size it and add a orange fill.

Also added some lights on the right side using the pencil too; (N).

Made the same on the left side to make the shadow, that's it, it's finished.

Conclusion
Hope you guys digged this tutorial and learned some quick tips on making simple illustration.

Tutorial Author: Marcos Torres

Quick and Easy Swooshes and Swirls - Illustrator Tutorial

2011-10-16T14:17:00.000+03:00

Quick and Easy Swooshes, and Swirls in Illustrator

Create a vector swirl, twirl, swoosh, and floral in under 5 minutes in Adobe Illustrator. This easy and straight forward HD Video tutorial shows you the details on effective design techniques.

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Tutorial by: Ryan Quinta

Easy iTunes Icon Tutorial

2011-10-16T13:27:00.001+03:00

Make an Easy iTunes Icon Tutorial

An easy 5/10 minute tutorial to recreate the iTunes icon into vectors using Adobe Illustrator. Download it via box.net if you want to use it/work on it. There are lots of pictures so don’t figure to click them all or you might get lost and skip a step or two.

Lets serve 5/10 minutes :)

Start out by creating a simple box, preferably not exactly square. Color it anything so you can see it.

Go to Effect>Stylize>Round Corners and then a window should pop out. Write anything for “radius” but make sure the corners are very round. Here 53 for my radius has been used.

We recommend, having smart guides on for the next series of steps (Cmd+U). Now, hold option/alt and drag out a perfect circle and color it. Now click Shift+D to switch to the draw-behind mode. Now hold option and drag out another circle that is fairly bigger than the original. As you can see, you’ve drawn behind the original circle.

Select the two circles. Now click Shift+M to activate the Shape Builder tool. Hold option to make a minus appear and hover over the inside of the two circles and click the inner circle to cut out that part.

Now make the circular object have a white color. Now draw inside the empty space, a big music note.

Now draw several small white circles around the edges of the black rounded box.

Select all the white circles or use the magic wand to select all of them easily.MAKE SURE TO GROUP THEM AFTER YOU SELECT THEM OR NOTHING WILL HAPPEN. Now go to Effect>Blur>Radial Blur. A window should pop out. Make the amount 100, set the blur method to zoom, and set the quality to Good. If set to best, it will really slow down your program. Now add the same effect again to make the streak longer.

Click the black rounded box and go to Object>Expand. Copy the box and paste in front and click Shift+Cmd+] to send it to the very front. Make sure the box is selected and click “/” on your keyboard which will make it have no fill/no stroke whatever be the case. Now select the no fill box and click the steaks and right-click then choose Make Clipping Mask.

Draw an elongated ellipse that covers about half of the box. Switch to draw-behind mode and Cmd+F to paste in front the previous black box we had copied before. Make the black box into a blue box. Select the blue box and the ellipse and activate the Shape Builder (Shift+M). Delete the excess area, we only want the box shape. See the picture.

Select the red part and give it a nice gradient that goes from very light-pink to normal light-pink. Now select the bottom part and give it a gradient as well that goes from dark-pink to light-pink. Then send these boxes to the very back so click Shift+Cmd+[.

Make the music note and the circular object a group. You should know by now that groups are important. Now go to Effect>Stylize>Drop Shadow. A window should pop out. Leave the opacity to 75 but you can change it if you want. I set the X and Y offset to zero and left the blur on five.

Make sure the pink gradient segments are a group. Now go to Effect>Blur>Gaussian Blur. A window should pop out. Set the blur to about 15.

Paste in front the very same black box. Select the box and click “/” to make it have no fill. Guess what we’ll do now. You got it? Well, if you guessed a Clipping Mask then you following along nicely. So make sure to select the gradient group and the box(that is in the front) then right-click and choose Make Clipping Mask.

Select all of your vectors then switch to the draw behind mode and Cmd+F two times to paste in front(or same position) two black boxes. In the picture, they are made red so you can see there are two of them whose outlines intersect one another. Make the top box have a highlight-like gradient. make the bottom box have a shadow-like gradient.

Final Product
I hope this tutorial helped you to develop skills in some features you have never utilized or try.

Reference: Fadi G