SuperSteve3D

“You must relax to play better tennis. Experts explain the secret lies in the way we breathe; therefore, learn how to breathe and perform at a higher level.

Holding one’s breath causes our muscles to tighten and prevents the best performance; therefore, never hold your breath. Breathe in through your nose and exhale through your month. This is much more efficient.

The reason to breath in this manner is:

* the nose heats up the air and prepares it for the body
* the nose hairs filter the air of pollution and create a turbine effect causing the air to circulate and go deeper into the lungs.
* By exhaling through your mouth, you empty the lungs more completely which allows more oxygen to enter.

So relax, have fun, play better, and blow away the competition with good breathing habits.

Have you ever noticed how swimmers will “shake out” their arms and legs before they compete? These athletes know the importance of being relaxed when they perform.

Good tennis players relax by holding the racquet in their non-hitting hand between points and “shake out” their hitting arm.

Also, trainers tell us another way to relax prior serving is to relax your wrist and hand by resting your racquet on your tossing arm before you start your motion. Finally, in between shots, relax your grip, letting the opposite hand support the racquet.

Having developed your ground strokes, it is now time to begin stroking the ball with purpose. You should be able to direct all of your shots so that you can exploit the weaknesses of your opponent.

By getting your racquet back early, finding an ideal point of contact, and using your follow through to direct the ball, you apply pressure to your opponent. Try slowing down a bit.

Develop consistency by trying to hit more than one or two shots in a row. In practice, rally with you partner for four or five shots before you are allowed to go for a winner. Try to always be one shot better than your opponent.

Depth is the name of the game. By hitting higher over the net, you will minimize your net errors. You will apply a lot of pressure to your opponent who will be faced with a high forehand or a high backhand. We all know how difficult these shots are.”

 

Nadal has not lost on clay for over two years…



Clay king Rafael Nadal won the Monte Carlo Masters title for the third straight year by beating top seed and big rival Roger Federer in the final.

The Spaniard won 6-4 6-4 to register his 67th straight victory on clay and make it five wins out of five against Federer on that surface.

Nadal, who broke once in each set, fended off three break points in the first set but faced none thereafter.

Federer has now lost in three events in a row for the first time since 2003.

It is 20-year-old Nadal’s eighth Masters Series title and he has not been beaten on clay since April 2005.

The left-handed Spaniard, who did not drop a set in the tournament, is the first man since Ilie Nastase (1971-1973) to win the Monte Carlo title for the third year in a row.

 

Next Limit Technologies, the leader in unbiased, photorealistic rendering solutions, is pleased to announce the upcoming release of Maxwell Render™ 1.5. This is a significant upgrade to Maxwell Render™ 1.1 on many levels and this release deserves to be positioned accordingly. “1.2” just doesn’t underline the importance of this release. However, Maxwell Render™ 1.5 is a FREE upgrade for existing users to reward them for their support and loyalty.

Many parts of Maxwell Renderâ„¢ have been improved and re-written. The core Render Engine has seen key enhancements in some of the most important parts. Maxwell Studio and the Maxwell Material Editor have been re-written from scratch. The feature list has been extended and improved, including more innovative features for realism and render quality, and new plug-ins. Huge optimizations have been made in memory handling, and the performance, stability and usability have all been enhanced. Pricing has been maintained but we have radically changed the licensing policy to embrace current and future hardware trends. Collectively, these result in a significant upgrade from 1.1 and we are proud to name this version Maxwell Renderâ„¢ 1.5.


The release, scheduled for mid-May, will bring a great number of improvements, new features and enhancements for new and existing customers, including:

- Core enhancements: Key parts of the engine have been rewritten, resulting in many fantastic improvements, bringing the quality of rendered images to a completely new level. Memory handling has been greatly enhanced. This version uses much less memory than version 1.1, making it possible to render at very high resolutions (for example at 8000×6000 with less than 2 GB of Ram) without losing quality. As a consequence of the core enhancements, memory-intensive tasks such as glare, Multilightâ„¢ with a lot of emitters, large geometries and a lot of heavy textures are improved. Additionally, MXI files can always be re-rendered/ resumed and the size of the MXI files is around 3,5 times smaller in the new version.

- Maxwell Studio and the Maxwell Material Editor have been rewritten, resulting in great improvements in usability and performance and better “look and feel” and workflow for the users.

- 32 bits output: It is now possible to set the output image format to HDR directly inside Maxwell Renderâ„¢.

- Network: Maxwell Render’s networking option has been vastly improved and optimized, making it more stable and faster, with the possibility for users to see a coop preview image, a preview image of each node and to select machines by name or IP.

- Linux version: A Linux version will be available with 1.5.

- Plug-ins: All our current plug-ins are compatible with Maxwell Renderâ„¢ 1.5, and many of them have been further improved. Especially the Lightwave plug-in has seen major optimizations.

Powered by ScribeFire.

 

    Avoid accidentally screaming in your email to the boss by inadvertently hitting the Caps Lock key. The How-To Geek explains how, using a built-in Windows Accessibility option called ToggleKeys:

    To turn on this option, first go to Control Panel and click on the Accessibility Options icon. In the resulting screen check the box next to “Use Toggle Keys”, click OK and you are done.

 From there on in, a muted beep (by default) will sound when you hit the Caps Lock, Num Lock or Scroll Lock keys. You can also turn this feature on and off by holding down Num Lock for 5 seconds (hit the Settings button to configure that.)

 

Wow.

“Final Cut Studio 2 is a powerful new version of Apple’s industry-leading post-production software. It includes substantial upgrades — Final Cut Pro 6, Motion 3, Soundtrack Pro 2, and Compressor 3 — and introduces Color, a brand-new application for professional color grading. The following are some of the top new features in Final Cut Studio 2.”



Open format Timeline

The new open format Timeline in Final Cut Pro 6 lets you mix and match source material in a wide range of formats and even different frame rates. Freely edit a combination of HD and SD, including NTSC and PAL — all in real time.

Apple ProRes 422

Final Cut Pro 6 introduces ProRes 422, Apple’s new post-production format offering uncompressed HD quality at SD file sizes. Use ProRes 422 when collaborating over an Xsan storage network or working on a portable computer in the field; when working with non-native camera formats; or to preserve maximum quality for composites and demanding color grading work.

Real-time professional color grading

Use Color, Apple’s new color grading application, to create signature looks for projects ranging from short video pieces to full-length theatrical films. Move freely through a set of streamlined workspaces designed for primary and secondary color adjustments, color effects, reference stills, and geometry changes. An easy-to-use toolset helps editors work efficiently, using familiar interfaces and intuitive adjustment tools. Round-trip integration makes Color a seamless extension of your work in Final Cut Pro 6.

3D multiplane compositing environment

Motion 3 makes it easy to create 3D motion graphics by extending the 2D tools you already use into 3D space. Drag and drop camera behaviors to dolly, truck, and orbit around a scene or move from layer to layer. Use multiple viewports to adjust cameras, lights, layers, and motion paths in 3D space. Then go beyond the basics by bringing elements like particles, Replicator patterns, and text behaviors into this comprehensive 3D design environment.

Point tracking and match moving

Set up point tracking or four-corner match moves in just a few clicks using intuitive new tools in Motion 3. Quickly attach text, particles, or any layer to an object in a video clip and follow the movement of the object with pinpoint accuracy. Say good-bye to guessing and repeated trials; Motion identifies the best potential tracking points and dynamically adjusts for common tracking errors.

Image stabilization and SmoothCam

Motion 3 offers two powerful options for correcting shaky shots. Use the image stabilizer to lock down a shot without the time-consuming setup required by most stabilization tools. Or use the SmoothCam feature to retain standard camera moves like pans, tilts, and zooms while eliminating handheld camera jitters or bumps. Both features are based on sophisticated optical flow technology originally developed for Shake.

Professional multitrack editing

Work more efficiently than ever in the new single-window interface in Soundtrack Pro 2, with tools designed to save you time on common tasks such as selecting takes, spotting sound to video, and removing noise from field recordings. Then use a rich palette of audio effect plug-ins, Foley, sound effects, and music to add the perfect creative touch to your soundtrack.

Intuitive surround sound

Soundtrack Pro 2 makes it easy to create professional surround sound mixes. Use an innovative surround panner to view a dynamic visual representation of how sound is panned in the surround field. Choose from more than 1000 royalty-free surround music beds and sound effects; use any of the provided surround audio effect plug-ins, such as the Space Designer convolution reverb, or adapt any mono or stereo effect plug-in for use on surround tracks.

Automatic audio conform process

If you make changes to your sequence in Final Cut Pro, use the powerful new Conform feature in Soundtrack Pro 2 to automatically update your audio project to match the video edit. The Conform feature compares the two versions and highlights the changed audio clips. Confidence ranking, auditioning, and intuitive navigation tools help you choose which changes to accept, reject, or modify. Then Soundtrack Pro repositions your accepted changes to match the audio edit to the video edit.

Multiformat delivery made easy

Compressor 3 has been streamlined to optimize efficiency for any encoding job, including the output of multiple files to multiple formats. With a customizable interface and drag-and-drop batch processing tools, Compressor makes it easy to create files for delivery on iPod, Apple TV, the web, DVD, mobile phones, and next-generation Blu-ray and HD DVD discs. This versatility comes through expanded support for leading industry-standard formats, such as MPEG-2 and H.264, as well as chaptering tools for podcasts and Apple TV.

AutoCluster for distributed encoding

Use the Qmaster application included in Compressor 3 to distribute encoding jobs across a network of Mac systems. The new AutoCluster feature in Qmaster automatically configures a cluster of computers based on available resources. For even faster throughput, you can configure Qmaster to manage individual processors in each computer, turning any Mac Pro into a virtual render farm.