MMST 3ds Max Class Blog

Autodesk announced Max 2010 at GDC, purportedly containing 350 new features. It has not shipped, but here are some videos on YouTube to cover the more interesting ones.

CGSociety is hosting videos from two of the Autodesk GDC Master Classes being staged at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The Area has given CGSociety exclusive access to two of the presentations below, one Maya, one 3ds Max.

Next Tuesday Turner Classic Movies will show a short bio on Chuck Jones, and a collection of classic cartoons (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, etc.) These are the blue prints for 3D animation. Look at how the character communicates. Look at the character design. Watch the timing, the posing, the movement. We will talk about this next Friday as we enter the second half of the course, character animation.

Friday, Feb 13 is a holiday, so there will be no class. The following Friday, Feb 20, I must attend a conference, so that class is cancelled. I will schedule a make up for the 2/20 class and let you know.

This class is the second semester of study in 3d Art and Animation. The first 8 weeks will concern building environments -- for games, for CAD, or for animation. The second half will be about building and animating a character to inhabit that space.

Assignments, files and information will be posted to MyCOM and to www.ogle.com, and announcements and news or event items will be posted to this blog. Please check these locations at least weekly.

MyCOM is the best tool to reach the instructor, to post WIP, or to email each other. Please take advantage of this.

So, who's left to compete? Lightwave? Cinema 4D?

Adobe webcast a launch tour and product videos of several applications in the upcoming release of CS4. Clearly it shows progress. How important will depend on how the new features impact your workflow, and whether they've added something you need. Photoshop CS3 has the ability to read a 3DS file. There are other 3D paint tools out there much more mature and effective. Yet Adobe shows interest in expanding capabilities in these areas. I'll need to see it before I comment. But take a look at the videos.