The Suite Spot

Autodesk, Pixar and The OpenSubdiv Project

Bellsey — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:31:02 UTC

Hi all

You might of seen Lee's posts here about a webinar we hosted (for EMEA, by yours truly) yesterday with Pixar, discussing their OpenSubdiv technology.

If any of you are thinking 'what is this OpenSubdiv stuff?', well it's a set of open source libraries that implement high-performance subdivision surface (subdiv) evaluation on massively parallel CPU and GPU architectures. The code embodies decades of research and experience by Pixar. Autodesk has been working extensively with Pixar and yesterday we were very fortunate to be joined by Dirk Van Gelder, Manuel Kraemer, Takahito Tejima, David G. Yu of Pixars GPU team, to show some of the tech and have a live Q&A with the guys.

Well if you missed yesterdays webinar's (which was awesome), then don't despair, because you can now see some of the examples and demos the guys showed. Check it out....

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFZazwvYc5o&feature=share&list=FL5unOvOZVk3nUGPmp8gg8KA[/video]

Big shout out to Shawn Hendriks for putting the video together, not to mention a big thanks to guys at Pixar for doing the video and the webinar yesterday.

If anyone wants to take a closer look at the OpenSubdiv project, then you can go the to the main site here, and there's a GitHub as well here

When Milo met Kate

Bellsey — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 18:49:37 UTC

Hi All

I've gotten a tad behind on my blog posts, so its about time to get back into it.

With GDC next week, all eyes turn to San Francisco for the latest and greatest on all things gaming. Autodesk will be there of course and to check out what we'll be doing go to our dedicated GDC site here on the AREA here: http://area.autodesk.com/gdc2013

GDC is often a place where developers and people unveil stuff and I saw this great article last week about something that when first shown, had people really talking about it's possibilities. The project I'm talking about was called Dimitri, although many will better know it as Milo & Kate, Peter Molyneux's ambitious for the Kinect.

Sadly Milo & Kate never quite made it to a finished game, but the story behind its conception, development and unveiling is fascinating. Polygon.com posted this great article about how the project started back in 2001 to its first announcement in 2009. It's a great read....

How Milo met Kate: The story behind Lionhead's virtual boy

Incidently the Autodesk software Lionhead used for Milo & Kate was Softimage and Motionbuilder. :-)

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uieh3RfkCng[/video]

2012: Games retrospective

Bellsey — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 10:20:05 UTC

So here we are in 2013. Last year, at roughly this time, I did retrospective of 2011 games so I thought I'd do another one for 2012. As before, this is not a full recap of the last year, there are lots of lists that cover that better then me. These choices here are not conclusive and are just my choices based on what I like, so I'm probably going to miss alot of popular games, that just aren't my thing.

First up, and in no particular order....

Get your motor running, head out on the highway - Forza Horizon.

In last years list I named Forza 4 as one of my picks and considering what an accomplished game that is, following on from that wasn't going to be easy. But Horizon really does offer something different, taking all the traits from Forza and putting them into an open world and slightly more fun and festival based context. Horizon was developed here in the UK by Playground Games, and considering the pedigree of some of the people there, I never really had any doubt that they would deliver something good.

[video]http://youtu.be/18SiLyFbcZw[/video]

We're all going on a summer holiday - Far Cry 3

I have to say the previous Far Cry games have kinda passed me by really, and I wasn't initially interested in Far Cry 3, until I saw Ubisoft present at our GDC booth. I really liked the change in direction and the narrative introduced, not to mention that visually the game looks very good with some excellent use of mocap and cutscenes. Everything about Far Cry 3 looks well crafted, with Ubisoft nailing it from the whole island environment and gameplay, to the characters and their personalities.

[video]http://youtu.be/i2c1f_RDgGg[/video]

Also check out this great Far Cry 3 presentation from Ubisoft at our GDC booth

[video]http://youtu.be/jzkSNCeHuSA[/video]

The return of the King - Halo 4.

With Bungie moving on and leaving behind the franchise they had so lovingly created (I still remember watching Steve Jobs introduce 'one of the coolest games I've ever seen' at Macworld '99), it came down to 343 Industries to pick up the baton and continue. No easy feat, and many were sceptical, but 343 proved they were worthy of the task. Not meddling with the gameplay and controls too much, but introducing a bold new narrative, Halo 4 is a fine example of high end AAA blockbuster gaming at it's best. With some even suggesting that Halo 4 is perhaps the best Halo yet, I'm inclined to agree.

One thing I noticed about Halo 4, was the amount of viral content available, from live action trailers to various CG rendered sequences. My pick of which is below from Polynoid in Germany, and created with Softimage. :-)

[video]https://vimeo.com/54446743[/video]

Also check out our Halo 4 video here: The Making of Halo 4 - A Hero Awakens

Journey

Every now and then a game will appear that seems to look, feel, and play differently to anything else. Last year I mentioned about ICO, the stunning game PS2 game re-released for PS3. ICO was an example of when applied in good measure, good art direction, production and solid game design, can deliver a stunning and enjoyable experience. And Journey is another example of that. Some argue and debate on whether games can be considered art, well Journey is certainly a good example that they can be, if done right.

[video]http://youtu.be/61DZC-60x20[/video]

Fight the dead, fear the living - The Walking Dead

Video games and zombies have a long history, perhaps the perfect match some might say. But whilst drawing from the inspiration of the tv show and comic books, this game (like the other mediums) kinda isn't really about zombies. The zombies just provide the setting and environment, it's the characters and their relationships that really suck you into this game. Walking Dead wasn't without its problems with many reported problems and crucials bugs, and we've been here before (Quantic Dream, LA Noire) with story driven games.

But Walking Deads strength is how it brings the various mechanics together, it just works. The narrative and how it weaves itself into the game, is just brilliant. In many ways (and perhaps overlooked), Walking Dead is a landmark game. Apart from the usual PC and console offerings, iPhone and iPad were also available. But perhaps more importantly was how Walking Dead dealt with DLC - Downloadable Content. Downloadable content and expansion packs for games is nothing new, but in most cases they just feel bolted on. Walking Dead appears to be the first game to truly capitalise on the advantages of DLC with its downloadable 'episodes'. Each of the five episodes available weren't just simple addons, they were paced with their own story whilst at the same time continuing to push the games main narrative forward. The model and implementation just works and I can see many people imitating it. It's no surprise that The Walking Dead tops many of the current Game of 2012 lists.

[video]http://youtu.be/xAHyOKJyzSY[/video]

Dr Freeman, I pressume - Black Mesa

Ok, not a fully made comercial game and more of a mod, but worth an honorable mention because it's simply brilliant.

Back in 1998, a company called Valve launched its first game - Half-Life, and the rest is history. Half-Life was frankly a landmark game, the first 5 minutes alone probably rank as one of the best openings to a game - ever. But with PC technology and graphics moving at such a rapid pace, it did like many games of the time, start to look dated very quickly. Various improvements and packs were added and the sublime Half-Life 2 appeared in 2004. With Half-Life 2 came a new version of Valves Source Engine, including several previous games ported to the new engine including the original Half-Life, renamed Half-Life: Source. The new version used all the nice things of the new engine, but the art assets remained the same, disappointing many, who were expecting a major graphical upgrade. And so, Black Mesa was born.

Black Mesa was created to give the original Half-Life, the upgrade it deserved. Consisting entirely of volunteers (40+), they didn't just want to simply port the assets over, but instead rebuild everything from the ground up and recreate the original game, with as much new stuff as possible.

After a long slog, last year the guys made it and the mod was even released in Steam, after some campaigning. What has been impressive about this project is the willingness and drive to get the project made and out there. And whilst they've made an impressive remake, the team has also managed to put their own stamp on the game, wth something for people coming to Half-Life for the first time, and old fans like myself spotting changes and in-jokes.

Black Mesa is a great example of what the right fans can do with enough motivation. The team delivered a game that easily matches (and even betters) the quality of some more established and experienced game development studios currently operating today. What's more they did it without the need of Kickstarter. :-)

[video]http://youtu.be/4_SmxkW33ZM[/video]

Happy New Year

Its been a long time, General.

Bellsey — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 17:12:51 UTC

Well, it's been a while since my last blog post, so I thought I would finally get around to posting something. No real specific subject but a recap; medley if you will, of what's been happening.

First up, back in October we had Escape Studios (with some help from Autodesk), launch the VFX festival - the UK's first VFX Festival. The aim was to showcase the excellence in the industry, especially here in the UK, and provide a bigger platform and around eductation, showing people the possibilities. There were lots of talks, workshops (including one from me), classes and recruitment advice for people wanting to get into the industry. To say it was a success is perhaps an understatement, as the event fully sold out in 72 hours!!! But the good news is that it's gonna return and you can even register here for next years event.

The VFX Festivals launch panel - Paul Franklin, Oscar winning VFX supervisor at Double Negative, Sir William Sargent, CEO of Framestore, Hector Macleod, CEO of Glassworks, Courtney Vanderslice, Head of Production at Cinesite, and Pat Joseph, COO at The Mill as well as UK Culture Minister, Ed Vaizey MP (not pictured), and Samantha Perahia, from the British Film Commission, and was chaired Dominic Davenport, CEO and founder of Escape Studios.

Then, to wrap up October, two trips in quick succession, first up to Glasgow to talk at Glasgow Caladonian University (thx to Stevie Anderson for the invite) about the impact of previs is having in the media & entertainment. Dan Gregoire from HALON Entertainment was also there to talk about previs and some of the work HALON have done. Then it was over to Warsaw, Poland for the Autodesk Forum event, but also to pop in and see the Warsaw based studios People Can Fly, City Interactive, and CD Projekt Red. Big thanks to the guys for taking the time to see us. If you're ever in Warsaw, do check out this resturant - Oberża Pod Czerwonym Wieprzem (which translates as “the Inn Under The Red Hog”), great history with an interesting history.

November has also been a busy month starting with another event from the Softimage Creatives. If you have read previous blog posts then you will know about the rebirth of the Softimage London User Group. Hard to belief that it all happened this year and now has been 3 events. The most recent one had some show & tell from Studio AKA and The Mill, and there was also the first UK visit from Fabric Engine, showing the latest interation of their new creation platform. Check out the video below showing the intergration with Maya and Softimage....

[video]http://vimeo.com/54522529[/video]

Then last week, BlueGFX one of our leading channel partners hosted their 3rd Bluegfx Expo. This year’s expo moved to the Southbank and the London Film Museum, with nearly 300 people attending to see presentations from MPC, Framestore, Passion Pictures, Blue Zoo, and technology providers such as Nvidia, Wacom and Workstation Specialists. Jamie Gwilliam, Stuart Holloway and I were on hand for Autodesk presenting the latest bits and pieces for Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Smoke and Autodesk Softimage. Big thanks for everyone who attended my Softimage presentation, I wasn't able to fit everything in, so I will hopefully be uploading some videos to my Youtube channel soon.

We're near the end of the year and Xmas will soon be with us, but there's mroe stuff from us to come. Next Friday (7th Dec) at 1pm GMT, 2pm CET, Jamie Gwilliam will be joined by CrystalCG for another of our Meet The Experts webinars. In session we'll be looking at some of the work CrystalCG produced for the London 2012 Olympics.

Click here to Register for the webinar

And if thats not enough, we another webinar next Wednesday (5th) 2pm ET/11 am PT US time. Together with Gamustra we'll be talking with Jamie Gotch, CEO and co-founder of Subatomic Studios, showing how his studio leveraged the power of Autodesk 3ds Max to achieve huge success with their 2D tower defense games, Fieldrunners and Fieldrunners 2.

Register here for the webinar

You might know the studio and game already, but if you haven't check out this cool video over on the Autodesk YouTube Channel

[video]http://youtu.be/cDqDWsdGzeE[/video]

And that brings us pretty much up to date....phew. I'll try not to leave it so long between blog posts next time. :-)

BAFTA Annual Games Lecture 2012: Hideo Kojima

Bellsey — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 12:51:33 UTC

Last week I was fortunate to attend BAFTA's Annual Games Lecture, here at BAFTA in London. As an organisation that supports the film, tv and games industries on many levels, Autodesk partners with BAFTA to enhance many of their activities, and this year we were only too happy to sponser the annual games lecture.

Each year these lectures provide a great opportinity for people see individuals talk about and share their personal vision for the future of their industry and their career to date. Previous speakers at the Annual Games Lecture include Will Wright, Peter Molyneux, and co-founders of Bioware, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk.

This years guest again, was another well renowned industry figure, creator of the METAL GEAR franchise - Hideo Kojima. Kojima has received numerous accolades over the years, and is widely recognised as one of the games industry’s most influential and innovative game directors and writers. He has been heavily influenced by film throughout his career, and is known for spectacular cinematic games featuring a stunning cast of characters.

Now celebrating its 25th year, the METAL GEAR series has been one of the most successful video game franchises and famous for pioneering the stealth game genre. Other notable traits to the METAL GEAR games, come directly from Kojima's love for for film - cinematic cut scenes, intricate stories and plotlines, offbeat humour and even politcal and philsophical themes.

Having played many METAL GEAR games myself (and being a big movie fan), you can spot the many references and influences, the most notoble perhaps being the main character himself - Solid Snake. Named after Snake Plissken, Kurt Russells character in Escape from New York. In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, when asked his name Snake says "Call me Plissken", an example of the off beat humour and movie influence, as well as respectful nod to his namesake.

It goes without saying that I'm a big fan of the METAL GEAR games, as I'm often drawn to games that try for, and evoke a cinematic experience. The first game of the franchise I played was Metal Gear Solid for Playstation in 1998. This was a huge game at the time and is often seen as one of the key titles in popularizing the stealth game genre and influencing many future games of that type. Hard to believe now but YouTube didn't exist back in 1998 and in fact the internet itself was kinda still in its early stages of becoming what it is today. The trailer for Metal Gear Solid appeared on a cover disc of a games maagzine. Here it is:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HMoMRAPico[/video]

For their time, the graphics for Metal Gear Solid were right up there and in fact since then, the METAL GEAR games have always maintained a high benchmark in graphic quality and innovation. And whilst many think it's only Maya and Max that get used in game development, in this case it's Softimage that rules the roost. :-) In fact many Japanese developers have Softimage at the heart of their pipelines. The AREA Japan has some good customer stories and examples.

The best example in respect to the METAL GEAR games, is a customer story that was created for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots prior to Autodesk acquiring Softimage. One of my colleagues in Japan, Yoshiyuki Watanabe created this excellent article explaining how Softimage (XSI at the time) had been used in the production of MGS4. This article is on the main Softimage product page here but it's not quite the same as it first appeared, with much of pics and media missing, and many people still ask me for a link to the original. Well, CGSociety has the original article, with all its pictures still available here: SoftimageXSI: MGS4. Things to look out for are the use of GATOR for transferring data and properties and the facial animation setup, in fact the whole article is brilliant.

After the BAFTA lecture, I was fortunate to meet with Hideo Kojima and briefly talk with him, and of course he was instantly aware of Softimage and its long standing relationship with the METAL GEAR games.

For anyone wanting more details of the lecture, it was recorded and should appear soon on the BAFTA Guru site here: http://guru.bafta.org/. In the meantime Gamesindustry.biz have published a full transcript of the lectuure here: Hideo Kojima: 25 years of Metal Gear Solid. I'd really encourage you to check out the links, as the lecture was very informative.

And finally to cap things off, just like we did on the night, here's the latest and frankly stunning trailer for Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5IVOs5Pxh8&feature=youtu.be&hd=1[/video]

Creating Motion Graphics in Softimage

Bellsey — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:10:44 UTC

Ok, so many of you out there will be doing motion graphics work, and it's very probable that you might be using Cinema4D for that. It's ok, you can admit it, I don't mind. :-) So you might be thinking, what's the big deal.

However, it's worth pointing out that with Softimage and ICE you can actually accomplish some very cool motion graphics and effects work as well, and in many ways more complicated and procedural based as well. Users of Softimage will probably be already familer with the free ICE compounds Motion Tools, but if you're not, then where have you been? lol. And if you're Maya or Max user, then check this out.

Motion Tools is a collection of tools made from ICE compounds, by Gustavo Eggert Boehs. These tools have been geared towards creating motion graphics type of work in Softimage using ICE. But because they're built with ICE, it makes them very powerful at creating simulations and procedural based effects and animations, whilst keeping the setup very simple. It's also makes them very flexible in being able to create things quickly, whilst still allowing you to made changes as well.

And what's even better is that these tools are free for Softimage 2012 and 2013 and you can get them, including documentation and sample scenes, from Gustavo's site here: Motion Tools for Softimage

Before you grab them though, check out this cool video and tutorial from Angel Negron. Make sure you watch all of the tutorial as he shows how to create the effect from the trial of General Zod from Superman I, its very cool.

oh, I should point out that the tutorial video does have some swearing, it's not intentional, Angel is probably over excited, lol. Apologies if anyone is offended.

Here the tutorial...

Audi Hummingbird

Bellsey — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 16:58:32 UTC

Check out this simple behind the scenes video of how The Mill in London produced this great Audi commercial.

Autodesk Softimage was the main 3D software used; Arnold for rendering; Nuke for compositing.

[video]http://vimeo.com/48895063[/video]

Farewell Psygnosis

Bellsey — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 20:03:00 UTC

Last week Sony sadly announced it was closing its development studio in Liverpool, UK. To some this was probably just seen as Sony closing a normal dev studio. But to anyone old enough (like me) then it was alot more than just the end of a studio, it was the end of a UK development legacy, an end of a bloodline if you will. In fact it was the closure of the UK's longest running games studio, with 28 years and 168 games under its belt. Because scratch away the name on the door and look under the foundations and you'd find that Sony was was in fact the home of Pygnosis, the once great developer and publisher for the Sony Playstation.

Acquired by Sony in 1993, Psygnosis had become a very successful developer and publisher in the 8 & 16bit gaming era, since being formed in 1984 from the ashes of the defunct developer Imagine Software. Psygnosis had built up a reputation of producing quality games, such as Shadow of the Beast, Lemmings and Barbarian. Psygnosis had been able to find a good balance between producing games internally and externally whilst maintaining a very high graphical standard across the board, something for which the company would become famous for.

Psygnosis was to become a massive influence and development powerhouse for the Sony Playstation, with at one point 7 seperate studios all developing for the Playstation. And during this time the Liverpool studio and office was responsible for producing some of the biggest hits for the platform - Wipeout, Wipeout 2097, and Colony Wars. But as it had before, for the Playstation, Psygnosis continued to get that balance just right with not only internal developed games but also a string of external hits as well with titles such as Formula 1, Destruction Derby and Discworld.

It was Wipeout though, that perhaps really started things off for Psygnosis on the Playstation. Though intially seen by some has just a futuristic racer, it had (imo) a big impact. Apart from being well designed and executed, its also broke new ground in visuals and audio. Sheffield based graphic design studio The Designers Republic, already well known in the music and club seen, were brought in to produce visuals, packaging and manual fro Wipeout, giving it a look that just stood out. Psygnosis musician Tim Wright (aka CoLD SToRAGE) having already produced music and audio for a number of previous Psygnosis games, introduced a fresh electronica soundtrack complimented by well known artists Leftfield, The Chemical Brothers, and Orbital. Combining these two elements with launch activities for the game included installation of PlayStation consoles running Wipeout in popular night clubs, the release of an accompanying soundtrack music CD, and the sale of a range of Wipeout clubwear, meant that Sony were able to tap into a while new audience for the Playstation and the game was a hit. Proving that not all sequels are bad Wipeout 2097 followed and was just simply better and more polished overall and even now it remains one of my favourite games for the Playstation.

Sadly though by the end of '99, Sony dropped the Psygnosis brand and any of the studios that hadn't been closed were merged into existing Sony locations. And now the Liverpool studio has gone as well.

Now, you might be thinking what has this got to do with Autodesk etc....well not much really if I'm really honest. But the reason for this blog post and my effection for Psygnosis was that on the 14th August 1996, they gave me my first job in games development. Having never working in games dev before, Psygnosis was where I cut my teeth and where I was introduced to a 3D software that I would come to love - Softimage 3D. No PC workstations back then, we used Softimage on Unix based Silicon Graphics machines.

Of course I wasn't the only one to work and start their careers at Psygnosis, it's fair to say that a large number of the UK’s top developers have either worked at or with the company in some capacity, including Oscar winning VFX supervisor and Double Negative co-founder Paul Franklin

Searching through some old bits and bobs I managed to find these old Psygnosis videos. In its day, apart from the games Psygnosis were kings of the FMV intro sequences. It became like trademark for them. Here's my picks including a 1996 promo video.....

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6y3ol8hWXs&feature=plcp[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EJgeSFO354&feature=plcp[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkzOB-TuNxg&feature=plcp[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2D8zhGIR8g&feature=plcp[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSuHJLflBEY&feature=plcp[/video]

So long Psygnosis, they were great days.

Come see the Booth

Bellsey — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:10:27 UTC

Completely overdoesed on sport? At a loose end, when the Olympics is over?

Well next week is the Games Developers Conference Europe - GDCEurope, the largest professionals only game industry event in Europe, and we'll be there showing the latest and greatest from our offerings for games.

Firs we have our Autodesk® Entertainment Creation Suites offering an array of specialised creative toolsets integrated into a cohesive solution through single-step interoperability worfkflows. At the show we'll have my two colleagues Roland Reyer and Alex Horst, who'll be able to show you the Maya and Max suites, respectively.

Secondly we'll have our latest Gameware offerings from Autodesk. Autodesk Gameware is our game development and middleware soluions, designed to streamline the game development process, so developers can focus on design and gameplay. If you were at GDC earlier in the year in San Francisco, then you would of seen all our middleware solutions, all together, under our Gameware banner, for the first time: AI pathfinding with Kynapse, artificial intelligence behaviour with Cognition, global illumination with Beast, enhanced animation with HumanIK and UI design and mobile solutions with Scaleform.

For all things gameware, my colleague and EMEA Business Lead for Gameware Kevin Booth, he'll be delivering a sponsered session called Autodesk Gameware: Production-Proven, Future-Ready Middleware. If you can't make that, then he'll be on hand at our booth to explain about Gameware including the recently announced Scaleform for Unity & Mobile Game Development.

Also, I hope that the guys will be showing Hyperspace Madness, which we unveiled at GDC back in San Francisco. This was our own game that we made, using the Autodesk® Entertainment Creation Suites and also our Gameware. Here's a taster:

We look forward to showing you the powerful features at the GDC/Gamescom conference in Cologne from 13 to 17 August 2012.

Your Software Needs You!

Bellsey — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 10:40:37 UTC

Many people ask me about how they can get more involved in in our product development or providing feedback to our development. Well now you can.

Any Max users out there will probably already be familier with the Small Annoying Things feedback, well we now also have similar forums for Maya and also Mudbox.

These feedback forums break down into 2 sections:

Small Annoying Things - This is for suggesting annoying little quirks or problems in the software that you want us to fix.

and...

Ideas & Feature Requests - For issues that are bigger that you think will improve things and feature requests, then use this forum.

Simple eh, however, we don't want loads of random stuff, so we've kinda clipped your wings a little. You can only have 20 votes per forum (40 in total) - so 20 votes for Small Annoying Things and 20 for Ideas and Feature requests. You might be thinking that's abit mean, but it's hard for us to literally do everything, so this actually helps you really focus on the stuff that you want, which in turn helps us get focused feedback.

So does this voting thing work?

If you suggest an idea or fix, it will cost you one vote, but you might want to check on forum in case someone has already suggested it. In that case you can vote for it, and more than once too. But you can have no more than 3 votes for single idea, so use them wisely.

You can change your votes at any time, so you may have used 3 votes on one idea because you really want it, but if you wanted one of them back to use on something else, then you can do that.

When an idea is implemented (or declined), or taken offline, your votes are returned to you.

We will flag ideas and suggestions as "under review", which means that it has our attention and we're looking at it for possible implementation or gathering more data. However because we have limits on what we can say publicly, this is as far as we can go with commenting on a particular idea. There is no commitment from us to do it.

There is an FAQ about how the voting works, so be sure and check it out.

Also think about which forum to place you vote or suggestions. For issues that you think are easier to fix, then use Small Annoying things as these are more like to be fixed sooner. Don't post small things into the Ideas & Feature Requests.

When entering ideas, please try to be precise (avoid using words like etc.) and make sure that each idea is separate - do not put two or more ideas into the same entry. If you do, we'll need to send it back to you for clarification. The more precise and detailed a description you give, the more likely your idea will be considered.

So here's the links you need...

Maya

Ideas for Maya Forum

Small Annoying Things for Maya

Mudbox

Ideas for Mudbox Forum

Small Annoying Things for Mudbox

Get Voting!

Bellsey

p.s. ok, so the more astute ones will no doubt notice that these forums are all very well, but what about Softimage? Where the Softimage Ideas and Small Annoying Things? And yes, you're right, we don't have one......yet. Ideally we would like to have Softimage versions of these sites, but the guys are busy on stuff at the moment, so we've decided to hold off for now.

However, anyone reading my blog, will be aware that I posted here about a feedback survery that the Softimage Creatives usergroup were hosting. That survey has now closed and the high level results can be seen here. We're now hoping to liase with the guys so we can break things down and hopefully put together a more deeper and specific survey. So we haven't forgotton about Soft, we're just doing it differently for now. :-)

You can make a difference!

Bellsey — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 18:25:06 UTC

After the fabulous success of the first Softimage Creatives usergroup, I have been in contact with the guys about how we can better engage with Softimage customers, so next week (again in London) there's going to be simple drinks meet up to meet/chat and focus on Softimage itself.

No need to register this time, just turn up. Details of the meet can be found here: Softimage Creatives - The Next Event

If you can't make this drinks meet up but still want to have a say, then the guys have also put together an online survey to get your feedback. Basically they want your top 5 things that you would add, fix or change in Softimage. The guys will get that data together and pass it to us at Autodesk. This survey hasn't come from us at Autodesk, it's all down to the guys at Softimage Creatives, but we're always keen to get feedback from customers.

So don't delay, get your list of stuff and fill in the survey here - Softimage Survey

More people that to do this, the better

EMEA Meet the Experts: Live Webinars Series

Bellsey — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 21:12:00 UTC

I've been so busy recently, that this webinar on Friday has kinda crept up on me.

This hour-long live webinar will see myself and my colleague Jamie Gwilliam being joined by Saddington Baynes a leading light in the Digital Agency space here in London, providing creative services for iconic ad campaigns.

Saddington Baynes will showcase some of their recent cutting-edge work and discuss the part that Autodesk Maya has played in the creation of such innovative campaigns. Some of their works that we hope to highlight will be campaigns for the new Honda Civic 2012 and Best Friends Animal Society - FixAtFour below.

[video]http://vimeo.com/29366226[/video]

[video]http://vimeo.com/38110097[/video]

So if you haven't seen anything about this, then here's your chance not only to learn about what makes a leading creative production studio tick, but also to ask questions as part of a live discussion.

If you want to register then go here - Meet the Experts, and be quick as spaces are filling up fast.

Graham

Fun in the sun…..and rain (again) at Develop2012

Bellsey — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 10:31:38 UTC

Well, it's been that time of year again and this week we had the Develop Conference here in the UK. Always one fo the main highlights of the games development calender not only the UK but also Europe. Each year, it seems to get bigger and this year was no exception - 103 sessions, 5 keynotes, 1500 developers and 450 companies - all in one place.

Following the success of our stand last year, we were back again showing our full portfolio of Autodesk Gameware products that we relaunched earlier back at GDC in March. Though for Develop we were able to bring something new and that was the announcement of Scaleform for Unity Engine and Mobile Game Development, which is a great addition to our Scaleform Gameware.

Once again we were up for Best Tools Provider at the Develop Awards, but we lost out to Epic/Unreal, which isn't so bad as the category is always tough, each nominee is very strong. Best Engine went to Unity, which imo, was well deserved and good to see an Andy Brammel of Unity (and ex-ADSK colleague) collecting the award their award.

You can see the full list of winners here: Develop2012 Winners

As for the conference itself, there's always lots of interesting talks and stuff going on. I've picked out three items that caught my eye

Passionate developers are willing to crunch..

Concerns over Kickstarter..

David Braben - Poor Games Education

Graham

oh, one last thing - to the young audio guy (wearing the bandana) that I chatted to yesterday and was travelling all the way back to Hull that night!!. Hope you made it back ok and best wishes & good luck for your University of Hull graduation, which is today!. Hope something happens for you and you get a break or foot in somewhere.

McLaren - Tooned

Bellsey — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 16:36:49 UTC

For anyone who watched the British Formula1 GP this yesterday on Sky Sports F1(which wasn't me, I'm watch BBC), then you might have noticed this great animated spot featuring McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

This is from a new company McLaren Animation which is a joint venture between the McLaren Group and Oscar winning visual effects and animation studio Framestore.

'Tooned' as these spots are called, will be broadcast as a series of three-minute episodes coinciding with each F1 Grand Prix, airing in the UK on the Sky Sports F1 channel before each race.

More information here: McLaren Animation

Anyway, here's the short spot which is very good. Looking forward to seeing more. :-)

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW94hHupSjs&feature=plcp[/video]

People will come

Bellsey — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 10:20:11 UTC

Hi All

Have been abit quiet recently doing various bits and bobs, but on my last blog post, I wrote about the rebirth of the Softimage London user group. Well on Tuesday evening this week, the first meeting occurred and what a great night it was.

As you can see from the pic, it was standing room only with an incredible 150+ people attending. Rather then being just a simple get together, the guys arranged for several people to give talks and demos which included guys from The Mill, StudioAKA and The Chaos Group.

Unfortunately it wasn't possible to record any of the talks (not as easy as it sounds), but it might possible that some guys might post their videos, and infact someone has already.

Rob Chapman from StudioAKA has kindly posted some videos on his presentation on Generating and Rendering clouds in ICE. Here's a preview:

[video]http://vimeo.com/43218898[/video]

If you want to see more, just use the Vimeo link in the video.

If you would like to know more about the Softimage Creatives group, contact them, or if you might want to start a local chapter for Softimage studios in your area, then here's their site:

http://www.softimagecreatives.com/siclondon/

So all in all, a great night and big thanks should go to Escape Studios, HP, Eizo and XTFX for giving their support. The guys now will looking at doing another large event like this but later in the year, but there will probably be some smaller get togethers before then. :-)

Graham

It's Alive!!

Bellsey — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 01:00:00 UTC

You remember late last year I posted about that we had hosted first Softimage London User Group in many a year. Well at that meeting a seed was planted about trying to get more regular user meeting to happen and well after just a little bit of time, its happened...The London Softimage User Group has been reborn!!

Andy Nicholas of The Mill posted this to the Softimage mailing list so I'll leave the rest to him..

Hi everyone,

I'm very excited to officially announce to the list the relaunch of the London Softimage user group, now known as the Softimage Creatives, or "SiC" for short. Our website has gone live today at www.softimagecreatives.com, and you can now register for the first event.

We're working hard to put together a meeting in about 6 weeks time, on Tuesday 5th June. It will be held at The Jerusalem Bar in Soho, London, right underneath Passion Pictures. There's 7 of us in total helping to put this together: Rob Chapman, Ciaran Moloney, Matt Morris, Ellen Payne, Dave Throssell, Adrian Wyer, and myself, some of whom you may recognise from this list.

Being a user group, it's not about us, it's about you. So we're looking for people to get involved on the evening, and there are three things you can do:

1. This one’s compulsory! If you want to come along on 5th June, make sure you register for the event using the “Register” button here: http://www.softimagecreatives.com/siclondon/?page_id=235

2. Let us know if you want to present something at the meeting. It’ll be quite informal, and you’ll just be talking to people crowding around you, rather than an entire room. It’s more like a show and tell, it wouldn’t have to last more than 15 minutes, and others will be happening simultaneously as you do yours. It’ll be fun, nothing to be scared about!

3. We want to show off some of the work you’ve been doing by putting together a Softimage reel to show at the event. Get in touch if we can use some of your gorgeous graphics in the video.

If you want to help us out on the evening or would like more information, you can get in touch directly with any of us, or through the contact form on the website, here: http://www.softimagecreatives.com/siclondon/?page_id=787

Full details of the event can be found here:

http://www.softimagecreatives.com/siclondon/?page_id=235

Twitter: @SIC_London
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/SoftimageCreatives/356159824418094

One last thing. Tell, Tweet, and Facebook this to everyone. Let's get some positive news about Softimage out there for a change! ;)

Cheers,
Andy

One last thing from me, this is just a single chapter based in London, but the guys are keen to communicate with other Softimage users in other major cities, especially if people are interested in setting up their own chapters. So please go to the site and contact them!

Graham

Quantic Dream's "Kara": Behind the Scenes

Bellsey — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:00:00 UTC

So, a couple or so weeks back at GDC in San Francisco, so of you may have seen the unveiling of the new game engine technology from Heavy Rain studio Quantic Dream. Well now you can see some behind the scenes from this amazing tech preview.

And now the original finished video from GDC 2012

Softimage Animation Technology Preview

Bellsey — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 00:00:00 UTC

This video is a technology preview. Autodesk wishes to caution you that this preview reflects technology research, and that actual events or results could differ materially from the preview. Also, this preview is not intended to be a promise or guarantee of future delivery of products, services or features but merely reflects technology research, which may change. Purchasing decisions should not be made based upon reliance on this preview. Autodesk does not assume any obligation to update any statements we make to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date of this technology preview.

She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts..

Bellsey — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:00 UTC

Anyone who knows me, will know that I'm more of a Maya guy than a Max guy, so most of my posts tend to me be leaned more towards Maya (and Softimage). Now its nothing personal, just the way the cookie crumbled, so to speak. But when I saw this cool sequence, I just had to post and share it.

This guy decided to take the assembly of the Lego set 10179 from Star Wars Ultimate collector series and recreate it in stop motion in 3d. Created using 3ds max and V-ray it took him 3 years, modelling all the pieces by myself and then rendered frame by frame in Vray. It's bonkers but I love it. :-)

Lego Millennium Falcon Stop Motion Assembly 3d from Francisco Prieto on Vimeo.

It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! No...

Bellsey — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 UTC

Many of you will understand the basic idea of reality capture—the process of bringing the real, physical world into the digital, virtual environment, usually through the use of point cloud technology, or even via the easier-to-do process of converting photographs into 3D models, as we do with Photofly and 123D.

Traditionally, it’s always been difficult to use reality capture technology for anything above ground level. But now, do you fancy trying to capture an entire building and surrounding landscapes?
Send in the Drones…

In this situation, someone could send up a drone or MikroKopter, equipped with either a camera or a video camera, circle a building, capturing the dimensions of the building, without ever having to leave the ground. You could also fly it manually, by remote control, eyeballing and controlling the drone’s position until it moved out of the range of his own eyesight.

It’s even possible to program these drones in “automatic” mode, sending it on a specific “mission,” flying to specific GPS locations and heights around the building, at specific speeds and times also. And he could also use “first person view,” which would allow the operator to see what the drone sees, acting as a kind of virtual pilot, who is visually aware of what’s happening up in the clouds, even as he remains safely on the ground.

Check out this video by one our employees, who has used his drone to fly over the Autodesk office in San Rafael and then use that data to create a 3D model.

Think it might be time to raid the piggy bank, lol :-)