TSB The Story

By Studio AKA

Bones Pro For 3D Studio Max

Skinning is probably one of the most annoying and invidious task you can face in 3D graphics. It usually takes a whole lot of time, it requires a great deal of patience and - in most cases - never works well after the first try.

Max offers a standard skin modifier as well as a physique modifier, however these options can be rather time consuming and inflexible.

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SHORT - Shave It - by 3Dar

3Dar studio have just released their latest short. with a great eye for detail and a wonderful pace and fluidity.

I love this piece.

"In the wilderness of the forests where giant bulldozers are tearing apart the woods there is a monkey that accidentally finds a shaving machine and decides to use it. Spontaneously disguised as a human being, he moves out to the city and starts a career. After a stunning success in business, he understands the need of gaining political power. Not too long after, he becomes the president. Now he is ready to make a change."

click through to view

BALADA - ISAT - collection of Spots

A lovely collection of spots, created by InJaus Design

FMX 2013 Trailers

A few of great little trailers for the 2013 FMX conference. Showing a keen eye for creative detail and visual animation.

A fun, short, creative collection.

G Star Advert - by Glassworks

Beautiful Macro animation by Glassworks for G Star. Its a fluid dance through the manufacture of a unique pair of jeans. I like the randomness of the end reveal!

God of War - Imaginary Forces

Live action game trailer for "God of War" - beautiful, a real Gladiator feel to it, in story and look.

Paperman - Walt Disney Short (UPDATE)

Introducing a groundbreaking technique that seamlessly merges computer-generated and hand-drawn animation techniques, first-time director John Kahrs takes the art of animation in a bold new direction with the Oscar®-nominated short, "Paperman." 

Uses a minimalist black-and-white style, the short follows the story of a lonely young man in mid-century New York City, whose destiny takes an unexpected turn after a chance meeting with a beautiful woman on his morning commute. Convinced the girl of his dreams is gone forever, he gets a second chance when he spots her in a skyscraper window across the avenue from his office. With only his heart, imagination and a stack of papers to get her attention, his efforts are no match for what the fates have in store for him.

click through to view...

UPDATE - This won "Best Animated Short Film 2013" at the Oscars. Congratulations to Disney!

Live Action Cinematic Game trailers

There has been a huge collection of Live Action trailers in recent years, probably due to the increased market traction of video games within mainstream consumer spending.

These trailers have ranged from short 1 minute blasts filmed entirely on green screen and crudely shaped using VFX into a plausible storyline to the 20 min epic films released, simply to generate buzz around the latest Ghost Recon.

Macro Christmas - Neon

An interesting piece and making of, by Neon

It's nice to see a unique take on the traditional Christmas short.

Definately worth a watch, click through to view the making of section.

3d Max 2013 - Media Sync Workflow

Don't let the image fool you, this video is gold dust to people like us!

Finally after years of being stood out in the cold to composition tools like Combustion and Smoke/Flame, After effects users are finally getting the interaction we have so sorely needed.

I have been using Max-to-AE for a number of years prior to this as my main interoperability tool between Max and After Effects, and I have to say that when I first saw this functionality I  was reluctant to switch our pipeline, however this video is a great "walk through" of the new features available in 3D max 2013, and goes a long way to helping old and new 'hands' get used to using their bidirectional workflow.

Sorry Max-to-AE I fear your days are numbered.

Sneek Peek - PIXAR'S Monsters University - The Advert

Its a University promotion video for MU (Monster University). Really nicely done little teaser for the up 'n' coming 2013 Pixar release.

TUTORIAL - Adding Face tessellation to imported Geometry

I few months ago I posted a tutorial for importing text into 3D max in the most efficient and fluid manner, this has been one of my most popular posts and thought I would follow it up with a little work around for adding face geometry to that imported spline.

Now, I know there are a few plugins out there that can help with this; for example Marius Silaghi's Quad Cap Pro which adds dynamic tessellation to any capped poly object, but if you are working on a shoestring, or you are a simple hobbyist then it may not be feasible for you to purchase these.

This is a slightly tricky but affective workaround to this great plugin.

Let's start by explaining the problem.

MTV Summer by MIRARI & CO.

It's extremely cold outside, lets think warmer with this smooth summery spot for MTV.

Produced by Mirari & Co

I love the colour grade on this!

I think its also worth posting their 2012 Reel here too, a good use of colour and visual simplicity throughout.

Would'nt it be cool - Nissan by Framestore

This is a beautiful collection of breakdowns uploaded by Tim Borgmann, from his work with Framestore NY in creating these wonderful series of adverts for Nissan.

This fluid and particle effect has a real character and originality (which I'm sure will be repeated to death over the coming year). I love the shear detail in every movement and the lighting and DOF is just fantastic.

I must admit, I had not hear of Tim before seeing this, however I do remember seeing his 2010 reel which had some of his early particle work in it, reminisent of some early R&D of this style.

I think for me, the breakdowns are often vastly more interesting than the actual output to the client, but I think this is one of the rare occasions where I think the breakdowns are more interesting to everyone than the final outputs to Nissan, the breakdowns show this work as what it is, Art.

To watch the Videos, and those fantastic breakdowns click through.

A Beautiful GE commerical from ACNE

ACNE and TBWA have come together to create this latest advert for GE.

A beautiful example of paper animation done well! This piece travels through time and multiple environments tied together with a singular walking man.

The Gift of Togetherness - Mc Donalds Charity

This is a pretty AO 3d animation, I love the use of pace and fluidity throughout the advert, and the symbolic use of light and movement really brings the piece to life.

Created by Thornberg & Forester  A good digital agency out of LA.


Pretty, but emotional.

10 Great Architectural Viz Tutorials

I came across this list in CG arena last week. Worth keeping though - there is a good list of both young and old in the CG community. There is a good collection of modeling, texturing, rendering and lighting tutorials here which deliver a good step by step process to define good industry standard results.

A good way for any young artist to get their feet wet.

Original list posted here.

SHORT - Shelter

"An epic secret world is revealed within an attic during a rainstorm" 

This 6 minute short sees us flying through corridors of wooden panels, through epic, expansive, environments of darkness and eeriness. This piece is an original take on a Mandelbrot fractal pull, similar to that used on Limitless.

Menno Fokma Showreel 2012

A Beautiful reel from Menno Fokma Studio