design for Palouse Habitat for Humanity

Palouse Habitat for Humanity staff and members of the Board of Directors worked with students on development of new home designs for Uniontown. Thanks to Jennifer Wallace, Ken Hall, Brent Bradberry, Donna Bradberry and Jodie Tooley for their insights and challenges to the students.

Pixologic update: Zbrush 4R2b introduced.

In October Pixologic announced Zbrush 4 R2, an improved and upgraded version of their 3D sculpting software Zbrush 4, featuring new tools like DynaMesh, Mesh Insert, Curve Mode and Clay Polish, before moving on to a major new release. Yesterday however, Pixologic introduced another early upgrade to their flagship software: Zbrush 4 R2b.

Pixologic states that Z4R2 has been put to the test by ZBrush users on many different system configurations and workflows and that they found some ‘rough corners’ which they would like to polish. Therefore, they released an update patch allowing you to take full advantage of the powerful features in Z4R2 now, without having to wait until Z5 is released.
This version again brings new features like FiberMesh to create true 3D fibers, fur and hair which may be sculpted, painted, UV mapped and even exported to other applications.

Here's a complete list of all the new cool stuff:

• FiberMesh to create real 3d fiber, fur and hair geometry with export capabilities.
• New set of dedicated FiberMesh "Groom" brushes and corresponding Brush settings.
• MicroMesh support to render fibers or single polygons as separate 3D objects.
• New set of BPR filters and operators to greatly improve your final ZBrush renders
• BPR Global Shadow and Ambient Occlusion settings simplifying shadow management.
• New Cavity Mixer: define different material shaders based on the mesh cavities.
• Improved small details creation through Alpha and Mask. Alphas may be placed using TransPose.
• Surface Smoothness feature detects mesh curvature for Mask creation.
• New global deformation with Transpose Curve deformation and UnClip.
• Improved Mask operations with Shrink and Extend.
• Topology editing additions: Group Mask and Edgeloop Mask Border.
• New JPEG Exporter with Crop, Preview and adjustment settings.

Pixologic also has information about the two new plugins 'NoiseMaker' and 'QRemesher', which they are developing in collaboration with Verold so head over to ZBC for more details and videos.

Oscar nominations without 'Tintin'.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences officially revealed the nominees for the 84th Academy Awards which will be presented Februari 24th. It was a big surprise to see that Steven Spielberg's 'The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn' wasn't even nominated in the category 'Animated Feature Film' while it had just won the Golden Globe on January 15th ('Best Animated Feature Film') and is nominated for a BAFTA award in the category 'Animated Film' along with 'Arthur Christmas' and 'Rango'. The Golden Globes are awarded each year by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and are usually on par with the outcome of the Oscars.

So, no 'Tintin' but five other animated features will be eligible to receive the Academy award, two of which were also nominated for the Globes:

'A Cat in Paris' directed by Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli.
'Chico & Rita' by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal.
'Kung Fu Panda 2' directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson.
'Puss in Boots' directed by Chris Miller.
'Rango' directed by Gore Verbinski.

It is the first time that Pixar isn't part of the nominated since the category was adopted in 2001. apparently the voters decided 'Cars 2' wasn't really what they expected from Pixar but instead favored the 2D 'tradigitally' animated 'Chico & Rita' and the French 'A Cat in Paris'. 'Tintin', created with motion capture of the actors (just like in 'Avatar') had a tough time. In 2010 the Academy changed the game by stipulating that "motion capture by itself is not an animation technique. In addition, a significant number of the major characters must be animated, and animation must figure in no less than 75% of the picture's running time." Check out the BAFFA rules here.

However, Tintin isn't completely out of the picture, as Spielbergs favorite composer John Williams was nominated for 'Orginal Score' (he is actually nominated twice, also for Spielberg's live action film 'War Horse'). The category Animated shorts also holds five nominations:

'Dimanche/Sunday' directed by Patrick Doyon.
'The Fantastic Flying books of Mr. Morris Lessmore' by William Joyce and B. Oldenburg.
'La Luna' directed by Enrico Casarosa.
'A Morning Stroll' directed by Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe.
'Wild Life' directed by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby.

'The Fantastic Flying books of Mr. Morris Lessmore' is based on William Joyce's digital childrens book for the I-pad. In 2007 Disney released the computer animated 'Meet the Robinsons' which was also based on one of Joyce's childrens books ('A day with Wilbur Robinson'). Joyce also worked as character designer and concept artist on 'Toy Story' (1995), 'A Bug's Life' (1998) and 'Robots' (2005).

'A Morning stroll' (left) was created by London based animation Studio AKA. Grant Orchard's short is also nominated for a BAFTA award in the category 'Short Animation'. The BAFTA's will be presented on Sunday February 12th.

'La Luna' is created by Enrico Casarosa, who is head story at Pixar and also worked on 'Cars', 'Cars 2', 'Ratatouille' and Up'. The theatrical short has been in production for two years and will be released on June 22nd along with Pixar's 'Brave'. La Luna is based on Italo Calvino's story 'The distance to the moon' and features a young boy, his father and his grand father on a fishing trip, unaware they are to embark on an exciting lunar adventure.

Like Patrick Doyon's ' Dimanche', 'Wild Life' is also a Canadian animated short.  It is created by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, who already received an Oscar in this category in 1999 for their work on the short 'When the Day Breaks'.  Watch 'Wildlife' and Dimanche/Sunday at Cartoonbrew.

Althought I think it's a real honor for 'Chico & Rita' to receive an Academy Award nomination, I still think a CGI feature will hawk the prize. I'm putting my money on Paramount's first CGI animated feature 'Rango' (all animation is done without motion capture by George Lucas' ILM). Rango was completely awesome. I mean come on, check out this guy, isn't he great ?

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Krimsonia.

Studio Vandersteen has published the cover for their new Suske & Wiske ('Spike & Suzy') comic book issue 316 titled 'Krimsonia'. The book will be released February 15.

Jak and Daxter in HD.

It's exactly ten years ago that the first Jak and Daxter game came out, and if you like 'Uncharted' and are looking out for Naughty Dog's 'The Last Of Us' you will definately like this: Next month Naughty Dog's Jak and Daxter trilogy will be released in HD on Blu-ray for the PS3. The three games they made previously before entering the Uncharted frachise were my personal favorites on the PS2 for years and if you've never played them you must definately get this one.

'The Precursor Legacy' and it's two sequels were fighting for attention along with Insomniac's 'Ratchet & Clank' franchise, which had really similar gameplay but was even a bit more sci-fi. (Naughty Dog and Insomniac even shared the same building at the time). Although the graphics may seem somewhat outdated today, the game play will definately make up for that. the three games have been completely remastered in HD and include trophys. If you like action, strange fantasy creatures and funny gags mixed with some mind boggling puzzles this one is certainly for you. Release date: Februari 24.

Napoleon Dynamite is back!

Some characters are just so far out, they just get stuck there in your brain and no matter what you do, you just can't seem to get rid of them! Napoleon Dynamite is one of those guys, and to make matters worse... he's back!

Based on the ridiculously funny movie from 2004 starring Jon Heder, FOX aired the first two episodes of the brand new animation show 'Napoleon Dynamite' Monday. The animation looked great and the overal look of the show resembles 'The Simpsons', which is no wonder with Mike Scully on board, who was executive producer on 'The Simpsons' between 1997 and 2001. What amazed me the most was the incredible speed of the show, it just goes on and on and the gags just keep coming. there wasn't really any time catch a breath.

The show is created by Jared and Jerusha Hess, who are also responsible for the original movie. They also created 'Nacho Libre' with Jack Black in 2006 and 'Gentlemen Broncos' in 2009, which starred Sam Rockwell. The original cast is also back, with Heder voicing Napoleon. In the first episode, Napoleon uses an anti-acne cream that was banned by the various health departments and has some pretty nasty side effects. When he loses the ability to feel pain he suddenly becomes the ideal candidate for the local underground fight club. In the second Napoleon and his girlfriend Deb are mismatched by Scantronica 3000, an outdated computer used in his highschool science class, who pairs him with a Japansese girl with a huge Katana sword while Deb apparently is perfect for the local bully. Thirteen episodes have been ordered by FOX so far! Official site.



Above: Napoleon daydreams of playing volleyball against aliens and accidentally beheads a member of the opposing team. Below: Jon Heder with Tina Majorino ('Deb') and Efren Raimrez ('Pedro').

If you want to catch even more new animation shows, watch for FX's new series 'Unsupervised' which will premiere tomorrow, featuring the voices of Justin Long, Kristen Bell and David Hornsby, who also created the show with Scott Marder and Rob Rosell. Hornsby is also known for his voices on Nickelodeon's 'Fanboy and Chum Chum'.

More news on 'The Last Of Us'.

Johnny Minkley of EG was rushed away by Sony to meet the team of Naughty Dog in Santa Monica and talk about their next title 'The Last Of Us'. Exclusive interview with Creative Director Neil Druckmann and Game Director Bruce Straley with some nice concept art from Maciej Kuciara. Check it out below. Cool!

Devils, Angels & Dating finally done!

After 5 Years of Development, 3 Years of Online Production by a Global Online Team, 2 Years of Animation, with a 0 dollar budget, 'Devils, Angels & Dating' is finally completed and released online! Michael Cawood has been working on this film since 2006, collaborating with a worldwide team of artists and animators. Entirely developed in public online, his short has become a fantastic resource for Animation students and professionals alike. Along the way, Michael has done almost everything imaginable to get his project funded (I said 'almost'!) and you can still pre-order the artbook to help him with that.

Watch 'Devils Angels & Dating' below or go to Michael's official site.You can also go behind the scenes and check out all kinds of videos on different stages of the development process on his Youtube Channel. Congrats Michael!

Happy New Year!

Okay, so who was it that hit me on the head with a huge hammer and got away with it? I feel like I've used pepper spray on myself and have a vague recollection of trying to convince people I really did see a dwarf in my living room. I guess when Aliens visit our planet the most questionable thing they will never understand is the concept of 'partying'! Haha! Happy New Year!

Okay, 'nuff said. Just wanted to remind you that today Eddy Russell of Digital Tutors uploaded several new Photoshop video series on their site, including one showing the complete workflow for doing conceptual artwork and digital character designs in 2D, which can later be used to turn out a completely rigged stylised 3D character for games and animation.

Being part of one of the greatest sources for up-to-date training in CGI, Eddy frequently brings new stuff to D.T. that focusses on previsualisation and doing conceptual work in 2D, an important part in the creation of CGI. Certainly if you're working in a team, you want to make sure everybody is on the same page and understands what needs to be done. Especially, when there's a way of stylisation or branding is involved, that is typical for the product you're working on, being it a game, animation or regular 3D stills, used in ads and stuff. 'Creating Stylised Female Character Concepts in Photoshop CS5' as the series is called, is therefore really interesting as it focusses on doing characters that deviate in some form from the typical anatomical contruct (hence the title 'stylised').

In the 4 hour training series Eddie focusses on doing Comic influenced designs and manga or Anime resembling characters. He talks about creating a background or biography for your character and working with reference images while doing different sketches, varying your apporach, redefining the model up to the point that is reflects your original vision, in this case, an attractive voloptuous corporate secretary (Well, wouldn't you know!).

Lot's of interesting tips here, like using Photoshop's Liquify filter for quickly altering your character's features and creating completely different looks. He also talks about the importance of keeping your character dynamically balanced when doing non-orthographic poses, enabeling the rigger/animator to stress test the model after the character has been sculpted. He also touches on digital inking and goes into coloring using cell shading to differentiate the highlights and shadows. His other series 'Using Texture to Enhance Digital Paintings in Photoshop CS5' is also available as of today and deals with integrating different types of textures in your 2D artwork. Check that out here.