Arion is the hybrid-accelerated and physically-based light simulator developed by RandomControl. It inherits all our expertise in light simulation and makes it run on steroids, thanks to our very unique approach to massive CPU+GPU+LAN computation.

Arion is:
an interactive WYSIWYG editing application.
a super-high performance production renderer.

Arion’s unique approach

Arion’s uses all the GPUs -and- all the CPUs in your system simultaneously, not wasting a single flop available. Additionally, Arion can use all the CPUs and all the CPUs in all the other computers in your network forming a cluster for massive computation.

In that regard, Arion is a grid-computing solution to the problem of light physics simulation. Simultaneous GPU+CPU+LAN, combined with our exhaustively optimized code, is what we call hybrid acceleration.

Some facts about Arion

Uses all the GPUs -and- CPUs in your system simultaneously.
Plugging an extra GPU delivers an immediate performance boost.
Can use network slaves to help the master framebuffer.
20x to 100x speed up per machine (hardware-dependent).
Strictly physically-based.
Fully unbiased (no cheats, no shortcuts).
Does not need any kind of precomputations.
Easy-to-use interactive WYSIWYG editing app.
The real-time viewport -is- final quality.
Production render engine features (commandline renderer, compositing channels, etc…)
Compatible with NetWarrior for hyper-fast cooperative still frame and animation rendering.

Related Links

Arion Website

Ideal for quick design work, Project Cooper* sketching software enables you to draw accurate, detailed plans and layouts to scale using simple 2D drawing tools, predrawn symbols, and sample drawings. Because the software produces files in one of the most widely used design formats, it’s easy to share your drawings with clients, architects, and other project partners.

Specialty Contractors: Make a Good Impression

Instead of delivering hand sketches, use Project Cooper to present your ideas in a clear, professional way. See how in these videos:

• Create precise drawings—Draw to scale using simple drawing tools and icons.
• Get noticed—Share drawings with nearly everyone.
• Get started—No training required.

Architects: Cut Down on Rework

Ask your colleagues to use Project Cooper so you can include their drawings in your designs and cut down on rework. See how in these videos:

• Import Project Cooper DWG files—Compatible with AutoCAD and Revit® software.
• Recommend Project Cooper—For when AutoCAD is too much.
• Start sketching right away—No training required.

Related Links:

Project Cooper

There were many drawbacks to traditional texture mapping methods that led to the development of Ptex:

• UV assignment was a tedious task, and making good UVs on complex models was difficult.
• Texture seams could produce visible artifacts especially with displacement maps.
• Large numbers of texture files were required creating a significant I/O bottleneck.

Ptex addresses all these issues by eliminating UV assignment, providing seamless filtering, and allowing any number of textures to be stored in a single file.

Ptex was used on virtually every surface in the feature film Bolt, and is now the primary texture mapping method for all productions at Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Major Features

• Supports Catmull-Clark subdivision surfaces (including quad and non-quad faces), Loop subdivision surfaces, and polymeshes (either all-quad or all-triangle).
• Several data types are supported including 8 or 16-bit integer, float, and half-precision float.
• An arbitrary number of channels can be stored in a Ptex file.
• Arbitrary meta data can be stored in the Ptex file and accessed through the memory-managed cache.

Related Links

http://ptex.us/

http://www.amazon.com/How-Cheat-May…64101586&sr=8-1

A brief outline of the chapters are:

Workflow Foundations
The fundamentals of setting up Maya for animation, creating an efficient workflow, and tips for increasing productivity and performance.

Splines
An in-depth look at the lifeblood of computer animation: spline curves. How to read and understand them, and how they represent spacing and timing visually.

Graph Editor
Master the advanced features of the Graph Editor for refining your work and thinking like an artist, rather than a technician.

Techniques
The bread and butter techniques of computer animation, including IK/FK switching, using the timeline, figure 8 motion, tracking arcs, using multiple pivot points, character sets, making changes to in-progress work, and much more.

Constraints
Everything you need to know about constraints as an animator, explained without the technical jargon. Using props, switching constraints between characters, animating constrained objects, when to use parenting, and more.

Gimbal Lock
Techniques and methods from preventing and combating gimbal lock, discussed for an animator’s perspective. A compilation of tips never before assembled, guaranteeing you’ll never deal with gimbal lock again.

Blocking
A complete walkthrough of pose-to-pose blocking, from conception of the idea through splining. The project is animating a ninja landing and doing flips to avoid an attack! Covers planning, key poses, breakdowns, copied pairs, and more.

Walk Cycles
Total workthrough of creating a walk cycle from scratch. Start from blocking all the way to a finished in-place cycle, which we then translate through world space. Covers refining, fixing knee pops, overlap, and much more.

Polishing
Methods for giving your animation that extra special care to really make it look amazing. Moving holds, cushioning, add texture, using the Animation principles, and making the finishing touches.

Facial Animation
Another complete, step-by-step walkthrough of a full lip sync animation. Includes mouth shapes, posing, jaw movement, blinks, eye darts, and more.

Animation Layers
Master the most amazing feature for animation in Maya since version 4! Animation layer techniques for doing unlimited versions, experimentation, adding texture, simplifying curves, and augmenting existing motion are some of the topics covered.

Lighting and Rendering
Foolproof lighting and rendering, without losing the animation focus. Simple, clean techniques to get colorful, appealing looks perfect for animation tests and demo reels.

Eric Luhta is a professional animator whose recent credits include “Bioshock 2″, the feature films “Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs” and “Horton Hears A Who!”, and numerous television commercials. Eric’s animated short film “Prospective Student” was featured in the 2008 Siggraph Computer Animation Festival, one of the highest honors for an independent film. Eric has extensive experience with Autodesk’s Maya, including teaching it, as an instructor for the Maya Training Program at AnimationMentor.com. He currently lives in Los Angeles, CA with his wife and 3 computers.

Watch it here >>>

Introduce yourself. I see that most of your work comes from Cartoon Networks. How did you guys got in touch with CN? How did your companyoriginate.

My name is Michael Bengtsson and I am CEO, Co founder and shading supervisor at Meindbender, lots of titles:-) The original partners of Meindbender met about five years ago when we were studying 3D animation at the university in Trollhättan, which lies on the west coast of Sweden. We are a small but dedicated team of artists. For us, fun projects always come before big budgets, so we are trying not to grow too fast in order to avoid having to take on projects just for the money. Every member of our team is highly specialized in their own area of expertise. We very much believe in specializing in one or two things instead of knowing a little bit about everything. We came in contact with Cartoon network when we a couple of years ago released a test movie on the net. They saw it, contacted us and from there on we have had a great co operation with them.

You have really unique style to all your animations. Do you draw your inspiration from some source, or it just took some time to establish this style?

There are many sources of inspiration. Tim Burton is one for example. We have always wanted to go our own way style wise. Especially since Pixar already has perfected the traditional CG look:-)

How big is your team? Do you have more generalists, or so you have strictstaff positions for each step in production?

Even though we are a very dynamic company that co operates with other people from around the world we have a small core of only five people. We have one generalist and everyone else is specialized on more specific parts of the pipeline.

Studio Desk

This desk by Blue Lounge offers many amazing features to anyone with a passion for their technology. It provides a clutter free envrioment with many neat features such as a power strip inside the back portion of the desk to help consolidate wires. This desk retails for $599.95

IDesk

The IDesk is created by Marius Bauger at sublevel.us. Check out more of this desk at idesk.sublevel.us.

OneLessOffice

The OneLessOffice Series showcases not only a desk but much more. This metal work of art can be found at Heckler Design.

Milk

What desk collection would be complete without Milk? Of couse I had to include this desk. If you haven’t seen it before then be sure to head over to Milk.dk to see more of the Milk awesomeness.

MUJI

For those minimalistic fans out there this desk is for you! The MUJI at MoMa is a beautiful aluminum desk.

iMac Table

Ok, so this one may look a little too much like elementary school. It is still interesting to see different desks made for Macs and PCs alike that take on new ideas. This one is by SmartDesks.com.

Also

This is an interesting concept for a desk! If you rotate it then it turns into a chair. More details here, at Behance.

Domestic Workstation

Laser cut and bent sheet metal put together cause perfect harmony? In this desk they do. Mike Devereaux designed the Domestic Workstation.

Rainbow

The Rainbow Desk designed and made by the furniture artist Allan Lake.

VU.VU.VU

This desk is just jaw dropping. So what if I don’t have a desktop? This modern computer desk is called VU.VU.VU.

White

This beautiful white desk is completely from plexiglass and is crafted by Bastian Greim.

LUNA

This desk is a little heavier in compairson to our others. LUNA Office Desk is from LUNA office collection designed by Pininfarina.

Fredrick

This beautiful desk from Ikea offers a cable shelf in the back to keep cords organized.

Glass Galant

This Galant line desk from Ikea showcases a beautiful glass top desk with metal legs. I’d be tempted to turn my desk into a whiteboard!

Mungle

The Mungle Office Desk is designed by the Greek designer Dimitrios Tsigos.

Hacked Ikea iMac Computer Desk

Gérard from The Netherlands developed his own unique solution to a problem he had with his desk space by hacking together a few pieces from Ikea into a clever spot for his iMac.

Academy Award-winning visual effects studio Sony Pictures Imageworks has integrated CINEMA 4D and BodyPaint 3D into the production pipeline for the past eight years playing a central role in controlling the look and quality of such films as Monster House, Open Season, Surfs Up, Spider Man 3, Beowulf, Watchmen and others. For the recent release of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs the matte painting team at Sony Pictures Imageworks used MAXON software to create every exterior environment in the film, including 360° skies, hillsides and town extensions.

Using CINEMA 4D and BodyPaint 3D the team reviewed sequences that at times had roughly 50-75 matte painting shots in order to evaluate color keys and placement in 3D space. The “Burger Rain” sequence in particular, in which CG burgers fall out of the sky, necessitated creating three 360° sky environment maps (env. maps) that were UV-mapped in CINEMA 4D to accurately place the sequence color key for lighting and reflection purposes. Because the color of the sky changes from a grey to peach/pink/bubble gum purple to turquoise with pink clouds, often two or more maps were needed, depending on the sequence. In addition, the 360° skies were then broken up into an array of several separate connecting camera projections using CINEMA 4D’s ProjectionMan matte painting system to simplify and streamline the workflow for further development and for rendering for final shots.

“Once the env maps were approved, we further developed them as matte paintings for the entire sequence. Not only did we paint three different skies, but we also extended the FX cloud, animated them and then projected those rendered frames onto geometry that matched it to the FX Clouds in 3D space for stereo,” commented Dave Bleich, matte paint lead, Sony Pictures Imageworks. “Thankfully we had CINEMA 4D to help us get through a challenging sequence that required a lot of planning and much needed flexibility. CINEMA 4D is a ‘must have’ app in the matte painter’s toolkit.” Nori Kaneko, texture lead at Sony Pictures Imageworks on Cloudy added, “BodyPaint 3D was used throughout the film to texture every sequence, each of them equally complex, ranging from the tasty-looking foods to the weathered environments. The software enhances our workflow and lets us work without limitation.”

Related Links

Maxon

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Gothenburg, Sweden – January 12th, 2010 – Illuminate Labs™, creators of world leading lighting solutions for the games industry, today announced the release of the new Turtle™ 5.1 version for Autodesk Maya 2010.

Based on the same core lighting technology, LiquidLight®, as the world’s leading game lighting middleware, Beast™, the brand new Turtle 5.1 includes several new features boosting productivity as well as visual quality.

“Titles like Dante’s Inferno, Dragon Age: Origins, EVE Online and God of War III prove Turtle to be a lighting tool that any Maya game studio should consider.” says Magnus Wennerholm, CEO.

To test drive the new Turtle 5.1, contact support or visit our website to set up your free trial version.

For more information about Illuminate Labs and its products, please contact sales@illuminatelabs.com or visit www.illuminatelabs.com

About Illuminate Labs

Illuminate Labs’ lighting solutions, based on the proprietary LiquidLight® technology, are used in many of the most exciting game titles like Dante’s Inferno (EA), Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare), EVE Online (CCP Games), God of War III (SCEA), Gran Turismo (Polyphony Digital), Killzone 2 (Guerrilla) and Tomb Raider Underworld (Crystal Dynamics). The solutions combine state of the art global illumination with an efficient workflow to shorten production time and to reduce cost.

About the products

Turtle™ is a sophisticated rendering and baking plug-in for Autodesk Maya used for lighting and content creation in next-gen game development. With Turtle you can easily bake stunning global illumination for your game levels into texture maps, vertex maps or point clouds. Other features include the baking of occlusion and normal maps from highly detailed models to low polygon models. The combination of great global illumination and a comprehensive set of baking tools make Turtle the perfect fit for game developers using Maya.

Beast™ is a content pipeline tool used for advanced global illumination and dynamic character relighting. Beast has been integrated with numerous in-house game engines as well as commercial game engines like Unreal Engine 3, Gamebryo LightSpeed, and Evolution Engine.

Illuminate Labs, LiquidLight, Beast and Turtle are trademarks or registered trademarks of Illuminate Labs AB, in Sweden and elsewhere. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Related Links

Illuminate Labs

Not only is Octane Render the fastest un-biased renderer available, it is also fully interactive. Settings can be left at a moderate level while adjusting the parameters of the scene such as materials, lighting options, and camera parameters IN REAL TIME. This puts an end to the tedium of constantly rendering just to make minor adjustments and greatly increases a user’s productivity. When the scene is complete, simply increase the render parameters and set a final image resolution to produce an extremely high quality final image in minutes instead of hours as with traditional, cpu based render engines.