Planet Blender

Subframe simulations patch
Tinker Code - 2010-04-09 16:15:53

Hi all Stability is one of the most desired feature of a simulation and in particle systems is a must have. The fluid particles exhibit random explosions (which I think could be reduced because in older SVN revisions that does not happen) and in general the particle systems have a leaking trough wall containers behavior [...]

Coders wanted!
Tube - Epic Production Notes - 2010-04-09 16:10:18

What seems like a long time ago I wrote rigarmarule in Blender 2.49. For reference you can check the blog post here and here , or you can check out the project from SVN:
svn co http://projects.freefac.org/rigamarule

Rigamarule is not exactly an auto-rigger (though it can be part of one, or assist one) – it’s rather better thought of as a constraint system that affects rigging instead of animation. To make it easier, we call them ‘rules’ rather than constraints, and it makes sure things in your rig stay aligned and correct no matter how you move the joints around. This allows making fast adjustments to characters, or it allows retargeting a rig to a different proportion character, or it can be used to make templates ‘smart’ for use with etchaton or other template-retargeting system (at which point you do get something like an autorigger)

The problem is that this system was written in Python 2.5 / Blender 2.49. At the time we hadn’t switched the movie to Python 3.1/ Blender 2.5. Our script is now not usable by us! and I do not have enough time budget to do the porting myself.

This is an official cry for help, if we can get some assistance porting we can use the script for the movie, and it will allow future upgrade work to make the script even better, and to further integrate it with other rigging tools to help make the ultimate autorigger for Blender.

Open Businesses
NewVision Animation Studios - 2010-04-09 15:56:12

While on BlenderArtists earlier, I came across a link to a blog that proposed the idea of running your business as an open source project.  It’s an interesting approach, but being an entrepreneur myself, the concept immediately raised some red flags. The biggest of these flags is the difference in ideologies.  Businesses focus on what [...]

Renderfarm.fi stress testing 9.-11.4.2010
Renderfarm.fi - 2010-04-09 13:37:37

This weekend (9.-11. of April 2010) we're trying to run a serious stress test scene on Renderfarm.fi. If you are experiencing problems with this, please place any comments to us as soon as possible. The rendering is a test related to a commercial pilot that is a part of the ORE project.

Dr. Grordbort’s Raygun Shootout Competition
BlenderNation - 2010-04-09 13:30:54

Here’s a real kicker: Win an all-expenses trip to the far off lands of New Zealand to meet the talented Greg Broadmore (creator of Dr. Grordbort’s) and renowned Richard Taylor at Weta Workshop! I won’t spoil it for you – their website is an EXPERIENCE – I had a few good laughs while learning more about [...]

There and back again - a bit of fresh news today
Dalai Felinto - 2010-04-09 09:01:54

English I graduated last year as Architect and Urbanist. There is something about it that still beats me. Since then I’ve been working as I never did before. Some of my work with Blender is easy to connect with my original field - architecture. Nevertheless I keep myself busy going into directions I wouldn’t think I would be taking when I started my graduation. What can I say? It’s time to look at them and try to prepare myself to the new opportunities to come.	Português Desde que me formei muitas coisas aconteceram. É hora de celebrar todas elas e relembrá-las mês a mês. Muitos trabalhos surgiram, e muitos ainda hão de surgir. Mesmo tangência minha área de formação (arquitetura e urbanismo) eu tenho obtido bastante satisfação pessoal/profissional. Acredito que o Blender é uma peça chave desta equação. Me ajudando a conhecer pessoas, saberes e caminhos.
September: We got some budget from a research and started to design and build a dome at my former university (with the full support of my dad - Valdo Felinto, a great architect without whom that project literally wouldn’t even have started)	Setembro: Conseguimos uma verba de pesquisa e começamos a construção de um domo na minha (então) ex-universidade (projeto meu com meu pai, que fez também todo o trabalho de marcenaria e o projeto pra lá de artístico da estrutura - Valdo Felinto.

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BlenderGuru: Camera Mapping in Blender 2.5
BlenderNation - 2010-04-09 07:27:10

Andrew Price writes: Camera mapping is a clever technique that allows you to take a still image and convert it into 3d geometry for use in an animation. This powerful technique is used extensively by visual effects studios for feature films, commercials and television shows. It’s especially useful for faking helicopters flyovers because it costs just [...]

Camera Mapping in Blender 2.5
Blender Guru - 2010-04-09 06:24:44

When I posted my Introduction to Smoke Simulation video, my inbox was flooded with requests for a tutorial on how I achieved the photo realistic fly-through of new york city. So by overwhelming popular demand, I’ve finally decided to reveal my secret: it’s called Camera Mapping.

Camera mapping is a clever technique that allows you to take a still image and convert it into 3d geometry for use in an animation. This powerful technique is used extensively by visual effects studios for feature films, commercials and television shows. It’s especially useful for faking helicopters flyovers because it costs just a fraction of the cost of hiring a real helicopter.

In this tutorial I am going to show you how to make this animation from scratch:

The video tutorial is 28 minutes long.

During the tutorial you will learn:

• What camera mapping is used for
• How to easily project any image onto a 3d object
• How to match the perspective of a photo
• How to overcome a common camera mapping problem
• How to use the very useful ’sticky’ texture function

Plus! At the end of the video I will reveal a bonus trick I learned on how to easily create a hand-held camera shake using a new feature in Blender 2.5!

Ready? Let’s begin…

You can download the photo that is used throughout the tutorial, here.

I originally planned to make the tutorial about how to create the new york city fly-through animation, but it proved to be too complex so I chose a simpler scene.

However I can offer you the source file:

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial! If you have any tips that could be valuable to others, share it in the comments below.

Pixels
Virgilio Vasconcelos - Animation - 2010-04-09 04:00:18

Yeah... I know. You have already watched this video in a gazillion different blogs today. But that's so amazing I think it deserves to be watched one more time:

[read the full article]