Here’s a resource you may know about already, but still definitely worth a mention! The Blender Open Material Repository is a site with over 200 native Blender materials available for download. Subjects range from typical (Car Paint) to the downright bizarre (Brains).
Anyone who’s programmed in Python will tell you that it’s often easy to write a script, but it’s always hard to write an efficient script. This resource from the main Python wiki will teach you how to program for speed and performance.
NASA has started an intriguing contest which should be of interest to some of you. The contest encourages art & design students to work with engineering students to depict a scene of “life and work on the Moon.” Most of you have wide-ranging interests of course, so chances are that a few of you are well-qualified to try this out.
Whether you make games, play games, or even if you don’t like games, you should find this article useful. Eric Gooch, a game lighting artist working for Insomniac Games, has put together this interesting article about how he lit the recent game Resistance: Fall of Man. You’ll learn about the difference lighting makes both in realism and in mood, and a bit about the artist’s workflow.
If you enjoyed Roland “Harkyman” Hess’ video interview, don’t miss this write-up about SIGGRAPH that comes straight from the man himself! Harkyman talks about the city of San Diego, experiences from the Expo floor, and even more.
Motion capture is a special animation technique that allows human actors to define the movements of an animated character. Special cameras track the actor’s movements and can then transfer them onto a CG character. The result is a simple yet realistic method of animating. Unfortunately, however, motion capture systems are very expensive, far too expensive for the hobbyist. That’s where this great resource comes in!
