Studies have shown (yes, there have been studies on this) that the keyboard and mouse control setup employed by PC gamers is better for first person shooters than a console controller. Fortunately, there's a nifty peripheral for the Xbox 360 called the XFPS Sniper that allows you to connect a keyboard and mouse to the console and use them to control your characters in Call of Duty, Halo, Gears of War, or whatever other of the dozens of shooters on the XBox 360 you play. This will give you a p...
If you've ever wanted to make an even slightly fantasy-flavored film, you've probably wanted to make one of your characters fly. Unless you're working with a bird or some really crazy rigging, you're going to need to make this special effect happen in After Effects, or whatever compositing software you use. This video will show you how to create a flying effect with a sonic boom on takeoff in After Effects, and following it's instructions will help you learn a lot about how to use After Effec...
So you're mastered the basics of modeling 3D characters in 3D Studio MAX. Good for you. Where to now? This video perhaps? It will teach you how to use plane modeling to create a model of a human head. This technique requires some skill and experience at using 3ds Max, but if you've got that and need to move on to the next level, watch this video.
Ragdoll physics are all the rage in 3D shooter games, causing characters to die in glorious realism before glitching as soon as they get anywhere near a wall. This two-part video will teach you how to create a basic ragdoll for a biped model using the Reactor engine within 3D Studio MAX. This is a very basic discussion of ragdolls, but will get you started in the right direction perfectly.
Creating a good 3D model in 3D Studio MAX is hard enough. Now I've got to model clothes onto them too? Why can't all 3D game characters be naked?
There are a lot of videos out there that offer instructions for creating all sorts of fake wounds. Most of them, however, focus on cuts and gashes rather than that other devious and action-packed type of wound: the burn. This three-part video features detailed instructions for making a burn wound on your face or other body part using makeup and other household products. Now your characters get lit on fire and you can render the results accurately.
In this video, Brian from Trutricks shows us how to create a new Twitter account. First, go to Twitter and click on the "sign up now" button. You will now be brought to a new page where you can choose your user name and enter your email, password and full name into the information boxes. Once finished, click "create account". After this, you will be able to follow people you want as well as have other people follow you. Once you are ready to tweet you can type whatever is on your mind in 140 ...
Brian explains us how to use Twitter, one of the best social media networks out there. One thing to notice is that Twitter allows you to send text messages up to 140 characters. In the right corner you can see you account name and your avatar which can be changed from the settings menu. Twitter allows you to follow people and be followed by people. Basically when you follow people you will be able to see messages they post and when people follow you, they will see what you post. Twitter is a ...
This is a LEGO Indiana Jones walkthrough on how to unlock the secret level. What you basically need are most of the characters and at least one level in each chapter having 10/10 artifacts. You might not need all of the artifacts to play the Young Indy and Ancient City level, but you will definitely need them to play the last level though.
Unlocking all of the 40+ playable characters in Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 is the most challenging and rewarding part of the game for hardcore fans of the series. If you've been wondering how to unlock Killer Bee, it's quite a process, but this video will get you most of the way there by teaching you where to find and retrieve all of the Cursed Dolls that you have to find to unlock the quest that in turn unlocks Killer Bee. Fight on.
Working with particle flow in 3DS MAX allows you to create all sorts of awesome effects, including swarms of small characters or, in this case, realistic liquids. Specifically, this video series will show you how to use pflow to create a liquid splatter effect, which can be used to make rain, explosions, and all sorts of other things. Watch this video and hone your skills.
Do you work with 3D graphics? Have you ever wanted to have one character that you've modeled destroy hordes of tiny other characters you've made? Well want no more. This video series will show you how to model and animate a small army of little models that will walk around and have basic interactions with each other. Really cool and really educational.
MK vs DC. Sounds like the perfect game, doesn't it. Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe is a great two-player game for the Xbox 360, but what's even better is the fatalities from the Mortal Kombat characters. Maybe even the heroic brutalities from the DC guys.
Right out of the box, iPhone is incredibly easy to use. If you want to get the most out of every feature, you’ve come to the right place. This video tutorial straight from Apple will teach you how to use the keyboard on the Apple iPhone 3G. The iPhone redefines what a mobile phone can do.
You can create basic 2D games with Objective C and the frameworks that the Apple iPhone already has, but the cocos2d framework allows developers to make their games much better, with animations, sprites, cool menus, special effects and more! Most game developers for the iPhone start out using cocos2d because it's a powerful tool, and best of all— it's free.
First off, don't be frustrated. YOU CAN DO IT! Contrary to the message in the image above, it's NOT over. It's just beginning. And when it comes to solving the New York Times crossword puzzle, the old cliche does apply: practice makes perfect.
Batman is one of the most iconic comic characters in history, so no wonder the video game Batman: Arkham Asylum is more than a hit. If you want to see the whole game to learn some tips and tricks to gameplay, this playthrough video series from VIP2GAMING gives you everything, from start to finish, on the Xbox 360.
Chinese chess is the world’s most popular board game. Chinese chess, also known as xiangqi, has been played throughout East Asia for over 1000 years. The playing pieces have traditionally been identified using Chinese characters, so only those who could read Chinese characters could play. Now, Chinese chess is available in a set in which the pieces are identified by symbols on one side and Chinese characters on the reverse side so that anyone can enjoy this challenging strategy game.
While this video is aimed at the writer of a crime novel or thriller, you can use this advice to strengthen any fiction writing. Avoid stereotypical characters and create believable conflict between all the characters. And above all - make sure you have a good motive!
Fun tutorial on japanese anime drawing. "Chibi" is a Japanese term for "short person" or "child". All the chibis in this video are based on characters from Miki Falls, a book by Mark Crilley, the creator of this video. The music was created in Garageband 2.0.2. Learn how to draw different emotions for manga characters.
Alpha channels are powerful tools for creating low-space 3D images, but 3DS Max cannot work with them properly. This is a major problem if you are working with World of Warcraft characters since they are largely constructed of alphas. This video will teach you how to work with alpha channel textures in 3DS Max and Photoshop in tandem. This will improve the look of your characters immensely, especially their hair.
Causing World of Warcraft characters to do what you want them to do in your machinima film can be a major challenge. Motion capture is one useful tool that you can use to solve the problem. This video will teach you the basics of using the Biped plugin for 3DS Max to animate WoW characters with motion capture data. Give your models the realistic stride that they've deserved all along.
In this super cool tutorial, learn how to create your very own episode of South Park using Flash CS4 and a couple of images you can download on the web. This tutorial is for any super fans who wish to spend some extra quality time with their characters, or for anyone interested in animation. These famous, foul mouthed, 2D characters are fun to move around and will do anything you need them to do once you get started! Get your fan fiction minds turning with this video!
The Video On Demand highlights how amazing backgrounds are inserted behind characters and will show you how to composite video so your characters can seamlessly move in front of these images. Computer generated video objects may be superimposed over a background video image so as to create the illusion of a single composite scene. The leading edge of an object is detected and for a period of time the object and background video signals are mixed. After that period, only the object video is tr...
Bethany, oh Bethany. What would we do without you? Bethany's makeup tutorials are completely inspired. She covers everything from cartoon characters to action figures to tv show characters and manages to make totally cute eye makeup based on al of them! All of her pretty eye makeup looks are nostalgic of childhood memories and favorite bands. Be sure to check out the rest of Bethany's tutorials on WonderHowTo.
In this detailed three part tutorial, learn exactly how to draw a scene from the cartoon "Three Delivery", using Flash. This expert how-to is hosted by Loogaroo, the animators responsible for this popular series. The series was created over a period of two years with more than 100 artists because every second of this kung-fu action was hand drawn in Flash. Check out this clip, and you too can share in this labor of love.
If you've ever watched "The Nutcracker" before, then you know that one of the most whimsical and (physically) memorable characters of the ballet production is the King himself, the Nutcracker.
If you've ever watched "The Nutcracker" before, then you know that one of the most whimsical and (physically) memorable characters of the ballet production is the King himself, the Nutcracker.
"Tron: Legacy" may have not been the most plot-driven movie out there, nor will it be an Oscar contender, but cinematography-wise it was truly a feast for the eyes. One of our favorite video game characters from the movie was Gem, one of the sirens who suit Sam up for the games.
Is your little boy or a girl a big fan of "Sesame Street"? Then your kid will have a blast tearing into one of these specially decorated cupcakes.
Give your animated characters realistic looking hair by using MoGraph Physics with Cinema 4D! You can use the same principles to animate fur, grass or anything similar. This is a pretty simple technique that anyone reasonably familiar with Cinema 4D can pick up.
Despite a lack of native kerning tools for typesetting in Cinema 4D, it is possible with a little bit of effort. Letters and characters can be spaced individually using Mograph and the plane effector. Another solution is to first kern the entire block of text externally using Illustrator and Photoshop, and then import into Cinema 4D.
Time Remapping is a feature of Adobe After Effects used for rigging your animated characters, which can be most useful when trying to make your lip syncing look realistic. This is a quick tutorial on how to use this feature for your next project.
Edward Scissorhands is one of the most instantly recognizable characters in all of film, which of course makes him an ideal Halloween costume choice. Watch this video to learn how to do perfect hair and makeup to go along with a store bought Edward Scissorhands costume bought online.
Out of all the funky characters on "Glee," Tina still manages to be the funkiest. Whether it's her midnight black hair, sometimes highlighted with blue and other bright colors, or her eye makeup, which is unfailingly some electric neon hue, Tina loves taking risks when it comes to dressing up.
Make your characters and objects move the way you want them to by mastering these basic animation techniques to display motion. This shows you how you can animate a character walking while also swinging their arms, and maybe even talk, all separate from each other.
This tutorial takes one small piece of a cityscape and shows you how to replicate it. It focuses on recreating a light marquee featuring anime characters in motion. This tutorial walks you through the entire process of creating the image.
Spraycans filled with paint have been the graffiti artist's chosen medium of artistic creation since the street/urban art form began. Graffiti artists utilize spray cans daily to create sociopolitical commentary and to animate their work, so why not give these important tools a chance to shine on their own for once?
Inserting computer generated images, like logos and CG characters like the one in this video, into video clips is difficult but highly desirable. This video will teach you how to use motions to do just that in Adobe Premiere Pro.
In this tutorial, learn how to create a makeup look inspired by Bella Swan from "Twilight". Bella is played by Kristen Stewart and is currently one of the most popular characters in young adult literature.