Wall Street Journal article mentions the use of more affordable 3-D tools for small business from SolidWorks, SketchUp and Autodesk:
Historically, small businesses that used 3-D technology were predominantly in the engineering, industrial design and architecture fields. But now, as software costs have dropped, more consumer-product companies like Mr. David’s are finding it cost-effective to purchase sophisticated modeling tools, rather than outsource product development or use rudimentary in-house methods.
After inventing or auto-choosing a name, visitors see their superhero star in a customized trailer along with Kick Ass and other characters from the movie. Visitors are then encouraged to post the custom trailers to Facebook, invite their friends to visit the application and vote for their superhero. The winner will be chosen by Mark Miller and John Romita Jr. from the top ten superheroes with the most votes by April 9th. The winner will be featured in Kick-Ass 2 the comic.
“We also developed a huge 3D wall in Facebook where the created superheroes are gathered,” explained Ralph’s CEO and account director Jay Armitage. “There, you can view all the superheroes, filter and view just your own superheroes, or view just your Facebook friends’ characters on the wall.”
Working with a sophisticated software toolset that included Adobe’s Flash 10, FDT Enterprise and Fireworks for the bulk of the site, and Autodesk’s Maya and 3ds Max as well as Pixologic’s ZBrush for the 3D elements, Ralph’s biggest challenge was in integrating the 3D functionality allowing visitors to scale, rotate, colorize, brighten/darken, blur and erase the wardrobe and weapon objects in 3D space. The solution came in finding a workable balance between the realism of the objects, and making sure that the application runs smoothly and efficiently on all systems.
The interview with Dave Guertin and Greg Baldwin mentions how they flesh out their creative ideas with Sketchbook:
The Area:
In your creative process — how or where do you begin when creating a character?
Greg and Dave:
We banter a lot; a real lot. Any time a design or idea is put in front of us, whether it’s our own or for work, we like to argue and challenge each other’s ideas to the point of exhaustion. Sometimes the first idea is great, but with us, it rarely comes that easily. We usually need to think past our initial thoughts and prove to one another that the idea we settle on has a unique hook. If we can get there, we move on to a sketch. Usually that starts in Sketchbook as a series of silhouettes, thumbnails and scribbles. We’ve found that creating strong silhouettes is essential to getting a character design to read clearly on screen from any distance or angle. From there, we start thinking about inner details and color. The color is usually determined by the environment the character lives within, so that we can insure that it reads well and feels integrated. Then we move on to the final ink and paint.
Greg also uses 3ds Max and Maya for modeling:
The Area:
Greg, you mentioned that you spent time not only doing concepts but modeling as well – what application do you use for modeling? Do you find that 3D helps you visualize characters or is it the other way around?
Greg:
I’ve used both 3ds Max and Maya. When I started at Insomniac Games, I started using Maya exclusively. I also use Zbrush for digital sculpting. I love it. I find a lot of sanity in the ability to move forms in space. I really gravitate towards functionality, so being able to understand a form in the round is really a lot of fun.
Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK), a leader in 2D and 3D design, engineering and entertainment software, and Parallels, a worldwide leader in virtualization and automation software, announced that they have signed an agreement to make Parallels Desktop for Mac Autodesk’s preferred Mac virtualization software.
Autodesk will now support use of AutoCAD software, AutoCAD LT software, Autodesk Inventor Professional software, Autodesk 3ds Max software, Autodesk 3ds Max Design software and the Autodesk Revit software platform for building information modeling (BIM) on Mac OS X via Parallels Desktop. Autodesk added official support for these products on the Mac via Boot Camp earlier this year.
The Autodesk® SketchBook® Mobile painting and drawing application extends your digital sketchpad to your Apple® iPhone® or Apple iPod touch®. With the same paint engine as Autodesk® SketchBook® Pro software, SketchBook Mobile offers professional-grade painting and drawing tools in a streamlined and intuitive user interface. Use it to digitally capture your ideas as napkin sketches or produce artwork on-the-go.
According to the SketchBook Mobile FAQ:
Q: Does SketchBook Mobile work with SketchBook Pro?
A: Content that is created in Autodesk SketchBook Mobile can be saved as a picture and opened in SketchBook Pro. As a result, artists, designers and anyone who likes to sketch or create artwork can create a drawing at any time with SketchBook Mobile, and continue building on their idea in SketchBook Pro.
The key to SketchBook Mobile is that it uses the same engine as SketchBook Pro. This means you get the same look and results from brush strokes. Currently, you can share flattened images with SketchBook Pro and continue building on the image. The results are seamless.
SketchBook Pro 2010 for Windows is included in the Autodesk Education Suite for Entertainment Creation 2010 Student Bundle
Once the images are on the ground, scientists can look at them in the FITS (”Flexible Image Transport System”) file format, a standard protocol used among astronomers. For analysis, most scientists use the data in this form—as grey-scale images representing light at different wavelengths.
To create an image suitable for public viewing, the scientists send the FITS files over to a public outreach team. Specialists on the team—who tend to be astronomers with graduate degrees and a passion for graphics and photography—begin the process of converting the information into the images sent out in press releases.
Finally, the colorized images are cropped, rotated to the most dramatic orientation, and cleaned of instrument errors and other unsightly blemishes. Most of this work is done in Photoshop, using a freely downloaded plug-in that allows users to convert from the FITS format. (The original telescope images are also available, so you can create your own color gas cloud picture at home.)
If you have an Apple Intel Mac, 3ds Max 2010 is now a officially supported application on Boot Camp:
Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2010 and Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design 2010 is supported running on a Windows partition of an Apple computer using Boot Camp to manage a dual OS configuration.
The Mac hardware requirements are as follows:
Operating System
Apple OS X 10.5.2 Leopard or higher.
Processor
Intel based Mac.
(64-bit Windows Vista requires an Intel Core 2 duo or Xeon processor).
RAM
3GB minimum.
Recommend 4GB for 32-bit guest OS, 8GB or more for 64-bit guest OS.
Disk Space
Minimum 20GB for the Apple OS partition, minimum 20GB for the guest OS partition.
The newest version of Autodesk’s 3D suite contains some major interface changes. On opening 3DS Max 2010, you’ll immediately be aware of the new Graphite Modelling toolset. This allows you to directly select and manipulate polygon objects.
Now fitted out in understated black and white, Autodesk’s venerable 3D suite has received more than just a facelift. The workflow and tool enhancements are welcome, while the focus on audio and collaborative toolsets makes this a far more rounded package than before.
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