PyMobu

April 22nd, 2010

My buddy Scott Englert has been working on getting his PyMoBu wrapper ready for ‘beta’ release. I’ve been pretty excited for him to get time to make this happen. Figured some of you might be as well.

Summary:

“Inspired by PyMEL, I decided to write my own Python wrapper that expands some of the areas that lacks intuitive functions, such as constraints. By doing this, my tools are much stronger and break less due to software updates. The overall goal was to make it easier to work with MotionBuilder by making some higher level functions and seamlessly attach them so you automatically get these extra abilities.”

You can check it out in more detail here and here.

Rigging Dojo: Free Tips and Tricks

February 12th, 2010

If you become a fan of Rigging Dojo on Facebook, you’ll get access to their feeds – several of which have links to solid resources like this and this. They’re just getting started, so expect a lot more content to stream in as they add more mentors and students.

Digital Acting Blog

January 15th, 2010

Found a relatively new mocap blog on the interwebs… digitalacting.com. The person that runs it happens to be a VFX TD. If you’re a fellow mocap nerd, you’ll find his professional site is even more interesting… minchomarinov.com.

Dealing with Bloated .PSDs

June 14th, 2009

One of my fellow IMD’ers passed along a short tutorial regarding file compression: idletogether.com/how-to-reduce-your-psd-files-size-using-photoshop

This was the most interesting part to me:

How is this possible ?

The preview is gone, so the composite information is empty, and the “cache” used by photoshop to know which pixel belongs to which layer as well.

If that trick was used along with the right settings for the .7z format from 7zip, I’m fairly certain that it would yield even better results.

This is yet another example of why I feel it is so important that graphic artists make time to become techincally saavy. Knowing what’s under the hood of your toolset frees you to become more creative and get what you want faster. In this case, it’s more about being able to get those files down to something that’s quick to email, so you are able to get your feedback cycles shortened.

The Moving Hold

June 11th, 2009

Another great article from Animation Mentor…

http://www.animationmentor.com/newsletter/0609/feature_geek.html#tipTrick

Techlifehacks – File Renamers

May 25th, 2009

I just posted an update over at the Techlifehacks blog…

File Renamers – A Quick Update

In a previous post, 1,000’s of Files to Rename – 1 Easy Solution, I recommended the file renamer – Denis Kozlov’s ReNamer.

At first glance, there’s one feature that’s missing – the ability to rename folders.

Well, it IS there. You just have to dig a little to turn the option on. In the divider, between where you drag the rules and the files, you’ll see some drop down menus. Choose Filters and check on Add folders as files. You’ll notice that you can now drag folders into the files area and have ReNamer’s rules apply their changes on the folders, too.

BOOYA! Done.

Additionally, there is another free renaming tool you can use if ReNamer doesn’t do it for ya’ – LupasRename. It’s a favorite at work and for good reason. Give it a try!

MotionBuilder Training Blog

October 19th, 2008

The MotionBuilder Training Blog first started as a support site for The Character Animator Toolkit for Motion Builder class that Brad Clark and Chad Moore put together for SIGGRAPH 07, but has since turned into an all around good resource for MotionBuilder users.

Make sure to thank Brad for keeping it updated!

Animation Mentor Webinar Videos

July 11th, 2008

I’ve been attending Animation Mentor’s webinars. AM just posted the vids of the webinars to their site. Very excellent resources.

My favorites are:

DEMO REEL DOS AND DON’TS WITH CARLOS BAENA

• Great feedback from the HR and animator point of view.

TIPS & TRICKS WITH SHAWN KELLY

• Wonderful supplement to the .pdf.

http://www.animationmentor.com/webinar/past.html