The Undeclared Variable

Since settling in here at Lucasfilm Animation I have been buried in both my day job and with Fracture and TD College that personal time is next to non-existent. Currently the Blender Art magazine bundle is NOT up to date. I know this so please keep any shity emails to yourself. At Fracture we are feverishly trying to get some new demo material ready for SIGGRAPH 2010 as Kevin will be there trying to spread the word a bit more about latest additions and improvements.

Michael Fox (Blender LabRat) has released his 12th installment of the Blender 2.5 tour series.

2.5 tour #12 

While reading CNN today I learned of Cupidtino, a new dating site for Apple users.

Peter Quint has been contributing quite the vast library of Houdini video tutorials. His videos focus on some of the most practical applications and use of Houdini's tools that I have ever seen. Check out his Vimeo profile for more information.

Example - Wet maps in Houdini:

Interesting simulation of a SICK laser sensor done in the BGE.

We recently implemented an early bomb feature into Fracture. This is very exciting for us and we are thrilled to see what our dedicated community of testers do with this!

In the past couple of years there has been a surge in 3D (stereoscopic) movies. Many times it seems that directors simply try to add what is missing to a film by making it 3D. I have seen way too many movies in 3D that could have been easily enjoyed just the same in 2D. Even Alice in Wonderland failed to really justify the extra ticket price.

It looks like it. Late last year it was announced that a deal to set up Wonderstruck Animations in the old MGM Grand casino fell through (full story). Since then everything was quiet and the fate of Wondestruck Studios seemed unsure. A few days ago there has been a buzz of news that Wonderstruck Studios is working on a deal to now use Ford Field.

With the release of Maya 2011 on the horizon (though my stubborn ass skipped 2010) comes with many much needed improvements which includes PyMEL, fluids updates, updated script editor (that took WAY too long), and QT UI support which brings up an important questions I should be asking:

Should the future of 'Array for Maya' (AfM) become a community effort?

Just moments ago Chad Dombrova announced that the PyMEL module will now be shipped with Maya starting with the 2011 release. The module itself will not be replacing the default Maya Python package. This is really great news and what makes it even better is that PyMEL will stay open source with the actual maintenance being handled by the same developers who have brought it this far. A small step in the right direction.