SuperSteve3D

Leading visual effects software developer The Foundry is delighted to announce the next major release of its powerful compositing application, Nuke. Nuke 5 features a brand new user interface, the addition of Python for scripting, support for stereoscopic workflow, and with the ability to read, process and write over 1,000 channels per stream, it now features the industry’s broadest support for EXR images.

Since taking on the development of Nuke The Foundry’s goal has been to remain true to the original concept of developing a comprehensive compositing solution that is ‘designed by artists for artists’. With user requirements as the driver, The Foundry has concentrated on enriching and refining the product, building on its already strong foundations and focussing development efforts on areas that required renovation. Nuke 5 is the first major step towards this goal.

Quote:
“Nuke is a complete pipeline tool. We created a pipeline for a job within days that would not have been possible with any other software. Within three days of getting our license we generated over 85,000 frames of data that equalled 350 variations for the client. Nuke 5’s support for OpenEXR is so effortless that our renders come in and we just work.” Robert Nederhorst, VFX Supervisor at SpeedShape’s Los Angeles studio.
Applying over a decade of software development experience and close collaboration with the growing Nuke community, The Foundry has reworked Nuke’s UI to improve the user experience and make it more approachable for a broader range of artists. In addition to augmenting the existing floating window layouts with a flexible panes and panels system, Nuke 5 features per-node mask inputs, and expanded LUT support for file I/O colourspace conversion.

Since its inception, Nuke’s extensive scripting capabilities have been a key feature for many of its adopters, and The Foundry has taken this to the next level by adding support for the Python scripting language for the version 5 release.

The Foundry’s product development has long-benefited from close working relationships with some of the industry’s leading post production facilities. The latest challenge facing these cutting edge artists is the dramatic increase in volumes of stereoscopic projects. The Foundry has responded by laying the groundwork for efficient multi-view compositing in Nuke 5.

Quote:
“With the latest Nuke developments we are reinforcing our commitment to deliver first-class products that assist creativity, workflow and productivity, no matter how demanding the pipeline,” said Dr Bill Collis, CEO, The Foundry. “Close relationships with our Nuke and plug-in customers are fundamental to our work – we listen to what they say they need for their pipelines today and tomorrow and this drives our R&D.”
Available on Linux, Windows, and Mac platforms Nuke delivers unparalleled speed, an efficient multi-channel scanline rendering engine, and powerful feature set unrivalled in the desktop market.

Availability and Pricing
Now shipping, Nuke 5 is priced at $3,500 / £1,750 with render nodes priced at: $250 / £125, with the annual maintenance and support contract prices at $1,000 / £500 per GUI license. Nuke 5 is available for existing customers with valid maintenance at no extra cost, customers can download now from The Foundry website www.thefoundry.co.uk

About The Foundry
The Foundry is a world-leading innovator of visual effects and image processing technologies that boost productivity in motion picture and video post production. On February 10th 2007, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded a Sci-Tech Award® to The Foundry’s development team for the Furnace image processing suite. The company now holds a trio of Academy Award® winning products including the high-end compositing system Nuke, and keying application Keylight.

 

Maya 2008 Extension 2 New Feature Highlights

New Weight Maps

Fourteen
new weight maps have been added to Maya Muscle—giving you a faster,
more intuitive way to assign, paint, adjust, and blend new types of
weighted attributes (through maps) for various muscle and skin
parameters.

 

Forehand –

    Grip

• Grip strength about a 6 out of 10
• Last 3 finger do all the work relax your thumb and index finger
• Index finger should spread up the grip like a trigger hold

• Possible powerstep on the run
• Open stance is ok if ball is coming nearby / towards
  

• if there is time, dont just wait for the ball – Step in with your left leg. (semi-closed)
• forehand run around – don’t just keep open stance, again step in
  and around the ball if there is time (usually there is time – forehand
  run around)

• for the whole loop the racket stays in the same zone (the right half of your body)
• Start with racket up and do and small loop. Let gravity do the work
• DON’T brush your hair on the takeback pull back to the upper-right not upwards
  

• Follow through across your body
• End with the butt facing the net
• DON’T follow through upwards

• Straighten the hitting arm
• I need to try abit more spin, less flat (can hear the difference)
• Relax the head more (not so rigid)
• Feel free to follow through with the left leg to return to a neutral stance ready to pushoff
  

• ( Left  – Topspin / Center – Flat / Right – Slice )
• I should practice the flat serve first – Center toss
• Start learning the serve in 2 parts , for now start without any jumping etc.

• Racket butt facing the fence behind
• racket head behind your head
• elbow DOWN

• Directly overhead – Right arm may naturally point rightwards, but the wrist compensates to bring the racket head naturally directly overhead.

• Left edge of the frame will start to dip and ends up with the butt facing the net at the left hip level

 

Developer Autodesk has announced that with the forthcoming release of
3ds Max, it will be splitting the release into two products, 3ds Max
2009 Entertainment, for game and movie producers, and 3ds Max Design
2009, for architects, designers and visualization specialists.



Autodesk says both versions will offer new rendering capabilities and
improved interoperability with other products like Revit, as well as
“additional time-saving animation and mapping workflow tools.”



Its entertainment branded version will include a new Reveal rendering
toolset to streamline iterative workflows, a ProMaterials material
library for simulating real-world surfaces, as well as numerous biped
enhancements and new UV editing tools. It will also include Recognize,
a new scene-loading technology which it says will significantly improve
the inter-application workflow with Revit Architecture 2009.



Its design branded version will include all features of the
entertainment branded version, with the exception of an included
software development toolkit, used primarily in game and video markets
to to integrate software into a production pipeline and develop
in-house tools to be used in conjunction with the 3ds Max. The design
version will also include “Exposure technology,” to simulate and
analyze sun, sky, and artificial lighting to assist with LEED 8.1
certification.



Said Autodesk president Marc Petit, “Autodesk 3ds Max now comes in two
distinct flavors to better meet the specific needs of our entertainment
and visualization customers. 3ds Max 2009 and 3ds Max Design 2009
provide users with tailored online experiences, user interface and
application defaults, tutorials, samples, and more. This simplifies the
learning process and makes it easier for users to find the information
that’s most relevant to them.

 

The best swimmer in the world is about to get better.

When Michael Phelps flies off the block in the new Speedo Lzr Racer this weekend at the Missouri Grand Prix meet, he will be racing in a bodysuit he’s spent the last two years helping develop with his coach Bob Bowman.

“It’s true I’ve never worn a faster suit than we’re about to wear,” Phelps said. “It’s definitely going to change a lot of records in the record books.”

The suit will be unveiled today at a news conference in New York City and is expected to be worn by most U.S. swimmers and swimmers from more than 50 countries at the Beijing Olympics in August. Phelps gets a $1 million bonus from Speedo if he wins seven golds, a record held by American Mark Spitz. Phelps left Athens in 2004 with six golds and eight medals overall wearing a Speedo.

He won seven golds en route to setting five world records while wearing yet a different Speedo at worlds last April. Bowman said this suit’s difference is “substantial” in terms of the surface and fitting.

“To know you’re going to be in the best technology out there gives the athletes that little edge,” Bowman said. “And that’s what you need sometimes in the Olympic Games. The margins of victory are small.”

Speedo claims this product has 10% “less passive drag” than the Fastskin launched before the 2004 Olympics. The ultra-lightweight fabric is water repellent. Welding allows a seamless fit. The Lzr is the first suit Speedo developed with NASA.

“It’s like a spacesuit,” Phelps said. “When people are traveling through space, they’re going ridiculously fast. That’s what it feels like to me.”

He has been testing prototypes at Michigan’s pool in Ann Arbor, where he trains with Bowman and where Speedo’s senior vice president of marketing, Stu Isaac, lives.

“I remember the first time Michael dove into our diving well at Michigan with the bodysuit on. It seemed that he went across the pool like a torpedo,” Bowman said.

Isaac, a former Michigan coach, said testing with 20 other elite athletes has advanced to determine the suit’s physiological impact: “We tested to make sure it didn’t have any negative effects, such as raising body temperature or constricting the chest.”

Constriction is so not an issue, said Jason Rance, head of Speedo’s Aqualab, that “athletes are wearing tighter and tighter suits because they want the skintight fit and the hydrodynamic form.”

Phelps laughed and wouldn’t make any predictions about wearing the suit this weekend, although he set a world record there last year.