News: Write With Light
LIGHTFAKTOR is a Cologne artists collective experimenting with the "possibilities yielded by bulb (long-term) exposure and painting."
LIGHTFAKTOR is a Cologne artists collective experimenting with the "possibilities yielded by bulb (long-term) exposure and painting."
Whether you love Björk or you hate her, her Wanderlust music video is must-not-miss. Created by Encyclopedia Pictura, a California based production company, the video combines live action, puppets, scale models, and computer generated animation.
Learn how to tie a knot, but not just any old knot... a square lashing knot. You'll never have any troubles again tying nautical square lashing knots, thanks to this Marinews knot tie animated tutorial. You can learn by simply watching the knot tying animation at a moderate speed, or if need be, click on "learn by steps" to get step-by-step rope knot instructions for square lashing knots. How to make a knot is not the hard part, choosing the right fishing knots or rope knot is.
Largely self-taught, Ryan John Kothe is an animator working out of Auckland, New Zealand. After picking up some rudimentary After Effects skills, he went on to create an impressive portfolio of beautifully rendered stop-motion animations with a distinctly tactile feel. Curious about the process behind Worn Out—Ryan's depiction of objects disintegrating in fast-forward (shown below)—we contacted him for a brief Q&A on the techniques behind his work.
In this After Effects tutorial you will learn how to use blur, median, and levels to make individual pieces of art blend together to look natural, as well as get pointers for starting character animation. It will help if you already know a bit about After Effects. Blend clips in After Effects.
Popularized in Southern California, the San Diego Jam knot is used primarily by fishermen. It's a great, sturdy knot aimed at success, and is gaining popularity everywhere, even in South America. If you're up for a new fishing knot, give this one a try. Watch the animation to learn how to tie it.
Learn how to use the page turn effect and apply it to an entire sequence or piece of footage to create a flipbook animation in After Effects. Create a flipbook effect in After Effects.
Breaststroke is a traditional stroke popular with people who like to swim for fitness. It is the slowest stroke, but that does not mean it cannot be swum powerfully and at speed. Follow along in this how-to animation to learn the basics of doing the breaststroke.
Most top swimmers use the grab start to get their race under way. This gets you moving off the blocks quickly and into the water smoothly. The starter will not begin the race until everybody is ready and still. This is really important because you can be disqualified if you fall in before the start or if you are slow getting ready. Follow along in this how-to animation to learn the best method to power off the blocks in swimming.
Microsoft's new mobile operating system is officially out on the market, and programmers are hard at work developing new mobile apps for Windows Phone 7 devices. But there's a lot going on in this new platform, which means there's a whole lot to be learned, and the only man in the world with a Windows tattoo is here to help— Charles Petzold.
My name is Noah Hornberger. I'm a former Pixar artist (Wall-E, 2008) and Professor of Animation (DePaul University, Chicago), and I have recently invented a motion-activated musical toy called the Dub Cadet. One Substance TV blogger has called my light-up sphere that transforms motion into music, "Daft Punk [the electronic music duo] meets Simon [the handheld toy] in a ball."
This week, we saw the implementation of collapsed comments, Google+ games were rolled out to everyone, and yesterday, there were several more announcements of enhanced features and tweaks.
The right combination of an appropriately awkward protagonist, a clever script with , and truly remarkable animation (including 3-d flying scenes that trump anything in ), made this flick a blast from start to finish.
Motion trails in Autodesk Maya can be very handy at times when animating your scene. Keying a bone/joint or other object every so many frames can take up quite a bit of time and can sometimes be a big hassle, too. I have found many times when I could have really used one. I also don't like to search the Internet with a question and not find an answer (at least, without paying for it). So in this how-to article, I will demonstrate going about creating a simple (or complex) motion trail to make...
In this 3ds Max video tutorial you will learn how to add background images to your viewports. The background can be either still images or animation. Make sure to hit "play tutorial" in the top left corner of the video to start the video. There is no sound, so you'll need to watch the pop-up directions. Add a background in 3ds Max.
Good lighting can make your animation look more realistic. In this 3ds Max video tutorial you will learn how to add a simple spotlight to your scene. Also, you'll be taught how to edit light range and apply shadows to lit objects. Make sure to hit "play tutorial" in the top left corner of the video to start the video. There is no sound, so you'll need to watch the pop-up directions. Add a simple spotlight to your scene in 3ds Max.
In this 3ds Max video tutorial you will learn how to render a single image or a frame sequence. You learn how to assign the output format, choosing compressor, and render both animations and still images. Make sure to hit "play tutorial" in the top left corner of the video to start the video. There is no sound, so you'll need to watch the pop-up directions. Render in 3ds Max.
In this two-part video tutorial from Adobe Beginner Classes, Join Dennis Radeke as he gives a few of his favorite shortcuts in Adobe Photoshop CS3, an introduction to text animation presets in After Effects and some crucial tips on how to record a better voice over track. All this and more! See how to use Photoshop shortcuts and After Effects presets. Use Photoshop shortcuts and After Effects presets - Part 1 of 2.
Being a cartoon voice actor requires animation in the voice and the ability to act. Learn tips to become a cartoon voice actor from the voice of America's Naruto in this free voice over video. Become a cartoon voice actor - Part 1 of 7.
Shapes in 3ds Max are 2D objects that do not show in the rendered images, but are used as a basis for construction of 3D objects or as animation paths. Shapes have names and a specific color in the viewport. In this 3ds Max 7 & 8 video tutorial you will learn how to make primitive shapes. Make sure to hit "play tutorial" in the top left corner of the video to start the video. There is no sound, so you'll need to watch the pop-up directions. Create simple shapes in 3ds Max.
Poser is a 3D rendering and animation software program optimized for models that depict the human figure in three-dimensional form. In this Poser 6 video tutorial you will learn how to add new figures. Learn how to change the default character to the "Ben" figure, and add "Katie" figure to the same scene. Make sure to hit "play tutorial" in the top left corner of the video to start the video. There is no sound, so you'll need to watch the pop-up directions. Add new figures in Poser 6.
If you have a Samsung device, you probably know the hassle of dealing with both the Galaxy Store and the Google Play Store at the same time for apps. Samsung's offering is forced onto you whether you like it or not; however, it's the only way to officially receive essential updates for your Samsung apps. The good news? You can keep on top of these updates with a super simple trick.
It's that time of year again, filmmakers... time to make your new year's resolutions. And no, I don't mean quit smoking or stop drinking - smoke and drink all you want SO LONG AS YOU FINALLY GET THAT FILM FINISHED AND SUBMIT IT TO A FESTIVAL OR TEN. Rajo has signed up for a withoutabox.com account and scoured the internet for the latest film festival submission deadlines just so he can clue you in to which ones are coming up soon - whatta guy. And just for fun (a.k.a. future reference), here'...
Welcome to Minecraft World! Check out our advanced tutorials and come play on our free server. UPDATE: Minecraft 1.9.6 has been leaked!
Four years ago Mind Candy was a pretty small game company. They were best known for their revolutionary but short lived ARG Perplex City, and had no other successful franchises to fall back on when that ended. Their plan to save it? Start a free online social game for children ages 7-12 called Moshi Monsters, where kids can create monster pets, raise them, and socialize with one another in a controlled, safe environment.
Blizzard Entertainment is considered one of the most successful game developers in the world. Ever since the release of Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (their debut Warcraft game) in 1994, they've set sales records and created genre-defining games with remarkable consistency. But the company wasn't founded in 1994—it all started back in 1991 when they were called Silicon & Synapse.
The aging and maturity of video games as a medium has lead to some unfortunate consequences. One of these, perhaps drawn from the film industry, is the spate of remakes that has overtaken the game market over the last few years. It hasn't been as bad as the remakeorama trend in cinema, but developers have recognized the value in releasing the same thing they already made and making more money off it. Below, a roundup of some remakes of classic games released for XBLA recently, some fantastic,...
Do you have an awesome rig that is able to run anything you throw at it at 60 fps with maximum settings? Prepare to be humbled. The Witcher 2 is the first game in quite some time to tax your system the same way Crysis did when it first came out.
Setting up shadows takes just as much time and attention as setting up lights. You can think of all of your illumination as one half of your lighting design, and shadows as the other, equally important half. Shadows can add richness to the tones and shading of your image, tie elements together, and improve your composition. Besides their artistic importance, rendering shadows is a key technical area to master. This chapter will explore both the visual and the technical sides of shadows and oc...
There are several ways you can go about creating your NURBS helix curve in Maya; I will demonstrate the two easiest ones.
Introduction Halo: Reach is Bungie's latest and final addition to the franchise. Microsoft has claimed the title and from now on 343 Industries will be working on the Halo franchise. In my opinion, Bungie's last game is the best out of all of them. These are some tactics and bits of advice that I've picked up.
Since its launch in 2001, Wikipedia has become the number one reference site on the web, used by anyone and everyone, written by anyone and everyone. With over 18 million collaboratively written articles, there's backgrounds and descriptions on practically everything—if it exists, there's probably a Wikipedia page for it.
The first day of Hanukkah is here, the day you start lighting the candles of the menorah. So, why not ditch the wax and light the "lights" this year?
Think you have what it takes to amputate your own arm? What about somebody else's foot? Now, thanks to the wide array of mobile apps available from the iTunes App Store, you might not need to attend medical school to perform a tracheostomy.
A few days ago, CloudOn released their free mobile app that brought Microsoft Office directly to your Apple iPad. The cloud-based service effectively runs Office on their end, allowing you to use apps like Word and PowerPoint to edit your documents, which you would house in Dropbox. But after overwhelming demand, they removed the free app yesterday from the iTunes App Store.
The developing team Techland gets a free pass. Having thoroughly enjoyed their previous title, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, this sequel was bought on day one by good ol' fashion blind faith. After playing for most of today, it's still to early to tell if the game is a mess or a fun romp. Here are some first impressions.
A woman from space that who has been dead hundreds of years has been resurrected on the internet and you're the IT assigned to fight the viruses attacking her. Child of Eden is a mesmerizing musical game, with fluid animations, great game play, and lots of replay ability.
These impressions are coming from a person completely new to the Final Fantasy Online world. Never played FF 11 or the FF 14 Beta. This game is not friendly to new people. The account creation is a Kafka like experience in things that don't make sense. For the game itself, the beginning tutorial is awful and does not really teach you the basics of combat. Here is a small breakdown of my opinions, with the good points first so that they don't get overshadowed by the negatives.
Chicago Sun Times movie critic Roger Ebert hates 3-D. And when I say hate, I really mean hate. Check out Ebert's excerpted nine points below via Newsweek.
Thanks to online music services like eMusic and iTunes, compact discs are becoming a far distant memory, turning local music shops around the country into desolate wastelands. The once mighty movie rental store Blockbuster is now bankrupt because of online streaming services like Hulu and Netflix. And Borders and Barnes & Noble are closing stores left and right thanks to eBooks available on eReaders, like the Amazon Kindle. Everything is moving to the digital world, and everything is finding ...