AOI has finally released it’s newest version. The new release has revamped UI. The biggest attraction is the completely redesigned materials and textures section. For me this is an absolute blessing.
Besides some UI and updates to the renderer, AOI 2.9 doesn’t have much else to offer. However this little gem of an 3d animation tool still offers some value to artists moving in to 3d. Do consider checking it out.
Modelling a cartoon style head. Useful lessons in character creation with Blender3d by Paul Caggegi
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I dont know how I missed this. AOI has released ver 2.8 of it’s nifty little 3d app on 12 dec. It has a couple of useful new features:
Wings 3d has come a long way from when it first took up the Nendo / Mirai baton. Nendo used to be a really sweet 3d modelling program and was especially fantastic for organic polygonal modelling back when software like 3dsmax and lighwave were clunky sledgehammers. Perhaps a stand alone modeller was ahead of it’s time and eventually Mirai and Nendo seems to have died out. Somewhere in between Wings 3d surfaced. Inspired by the nendo system of a minimal U.I, wings is a great tool for beginners. (Not as easy as Gsculpt, but still damn good!)
Wings took it’s own sweet time to hit release 1.0 and now it’s here. Wings has just released Ver 1.2 RC2 and it looks really good. Download here…
Here are some Wings tutorials to get you started…
http://www.brilliant-creations.com/ghoulconstruct.htm: Model a Ghoul
http://medlem.spray.se/nuvilljaghahemsida/twodescphotos5.html: Model an Eye
http://www21.brinkster.com/jrcsurvey/tutorials/alana/Index.html: High Heeled ladies Shoe
Inkscape 0.47 was released on Nov 27. Inkscape is my favourite vector graphics app and 0.47 has features that are absolutely mind blowing. Here’s what their release news had to say.
“This version of the SVG-based vector graphics editor brings improved performance and tons of new features, some of which are as follows: timed autosave, Spiro splines, auto-smooth nodes, Eraser tool, new modes in Tweak tool, snapping options toolbar & greater snapping abilities, new live path effects (including Envelope), over 200 preset SVG filters, new Cairo-based PS and EPS export, spell checker, many new extensions, optimized SVG code options, and much more…”
Inkscape’s new Spiro splines concept…
One of my favourite new features is a new effect that simulates hand drawn lines…
There’s loads of new stuff for me to explore. I’m especially excited about Spiro splines. Will keep you posted about my experiments with this banging new version.
Openclipart.org is a pretty cool community initiative. It’s a repository of public domain clip art that is free to use by anyone, forever. It already seems to have close to 20,000 free clip art images.
So, I’ve been contributing to the collection, through my studio Pencil Sauce. I’ve also been logging my collection on a blog. Take a look.
It’s pretty amazing that lawyers have somehow gotten their clients this far on matters such as IP rights. IP rights are treated as a criminal offense so far as to actually give the police suo moto rights to raid a place, minus a warrant.
There’s a really nice chess engine called GNU Chess which I’ve been fooling around with recently. First started in 1984, it’s one of the more popular and revered software programs that open source has helped create. Download and try it. Windows users, should download Winboard which allows you to play the GNU Chess engine.
Late last night Cats Jellicle sent me a link to shapeways, on whose blog I discovered the Klein bottle. From what I understand, the Klein Bottle is a non-orientable surface. Imagine a surface that does not have a clear ‘inside’ or ‘outside’. Googling the trail of this fascinating object led me to ACME Klein Bottles.
I came across this wonderful little chess story by Karah Pino. Her observations on spontaneity are beautifully written and are an ideal to pursue. Her writing also exposes a clarity of thought that cuts right through the bull. Here’s an excerpt.
“One of my most valuable lessons from that time was the discovery that trained reflexes could create a weakness as detrimental as a complete lack of knowledge or skill. There was a certain incalculable advantage in maintaining a pure level of spontaneity. The joy was in riding the edge of the fractal equation in its shifts through sets of variables. The challenge was to pull back just as the pattern turned from Complexity into Chaos…”
PDF link: Download the pdf from Godess Chess
Goddesschess is a really cool resource. I also found a nice article on GO, the chinese game of strategy and why it’s far more difficult for a computer to compute GO moves.
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