If you use Maya 2009, here is the service pack 1 released from autodesk website.?Autodesk Maya 2009 Service Pack 1 includes over 100 fixes for Autodesk Maya 2009 across several functional areas, including: Rendering, Assets, Animation and Rigging, Dynamics and Effects, Modeling, Python scripting and API.
Posted from 3dworld magazine website. “Late last year, Autodesk released a 30-day trial version of Maya 2009 and removed the free Personal Learning Edition, which enables you to use Maya without a time limit while imposing other restrictions, including adding a watermark to renders, from its website.
Maya PLE?s disappearance has been a hot potato since then: 3D World, among other venues, has received emails and forum posts protesting the move.
We?ve now received word via one of Autodesk?s PR reps that the removal of Maya PLE was a mistake made when the 30-day trial was posted, and that it should be re-appearing on the Autodesk website soon. Good news all round.”
i just found this DVDs as? a? good starting point to learn Animation. Especially, if you have already had the book.(titled the same)? These DVDs will help you understand and follow thru the book much easier.
Thanks to Richard Williams, the master who create such a really useful reference for all of us.
16-DVD Box Set Contents:
1. STARTING RIGHT
2. TIMING AND SPACING
3. WORKING METHODS
4. MORE TIMING MORE SPACING
5. BUILDING WALKS
6. FLEXIBILITY IN A WALK
7. SNEAKS, RUNS, and ANIMAL ACTION
8. FLEXIBILITY
9. OVERLAPPING ACTION and WEIGHT
10. TAKES
11. VIBRATES
12. ACCENTS
13. DIALOGUE 1
14. DIALOGUE 2
15. GIVING THE PERFORMANCE
16. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
you can purchase these DVDs from the website.
After the aquisition since the end of last year, 2008, now Autodesk has released the new update to the former Softimage xsi product and renamed it Autodesk Softimage 7.5 which come into 2 versions, Autodesk Softimage and Autodesk Softimage Advanced. They also change the Face Robot to Autodesk Face Robot 2009.
Key New Features in Autodesk Softimage 7.5
UV unfolding technology: Softimage now features UV unfolding technology that enables artists to unwrap polygon models with just a few clicks. This technology works well on complex organic models, which would be difficult to unwrap manually. Softimage 7.5 also provides UV editing tools that help artists quickly create and edit UV maps.
mental ray 3.7+: Version 3.7+ of the mental ray renderer is now integrated into Softimage 7.5. Highlights include improvements to binary space partitioning for faster render times, multiple final gathering refinement passes and new motion-based displacement. These enhancements help users create high-fidelity images faster than ever before.
Multithreaded Syflex cloth simulator: The production-proven cloth simulator in Softimage is now multithreaded, enabling artists to use the cores on their machine to iterate faster.
Scene compatibility with version 7.0: Scenes saved in Softimage 7.5 will load into Softimage 7.0.
For more information about Autodesk Softimage 7.5, visit www.autodesk.com/softimage.
