News from CGW.com

Walt Disney Animation Studios Launches Open Source, Technical Publications Web site

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Burbank, Calif. - Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS) launched an open technology site (http://www.disneyanimation.com/technology) where users will, for the first time, be able to access innovative technologies developed in house. The first software available is WDAS's texture mapping system, Ptex, which was made available on January 15, 2010 at http://ptex.us/. Ptex was developed by WDAS principal software engineer Brent Burley for use in production-quality rendering, and is being driven to become adopted widely in the community by WDAS director of technology Dan Candela. WDAS has also compiled a set of papers available on the site for sharing additional technical innovations that will benefit the industry.

Wanted: Your Images and Videos in The CGW Online Gallery!

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Windham, N.H. – The staff of Computer Graphics World, published by COP Communications in Glendale, Calif., invite you to submit your unique and original videos for the CGW Online Gallery. Take this opportunity to show off your talent, hard work, and recent project in Computer Graphics World’s eye-catching, attention-grabbing Online Gallery.

Gnomon School of Visual Effects Introduces Full-time, Three-year Program in Entertainment Design, Digital Production

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Hollywood, Calif. - Gnomon School of Visual Effects, provider of professional training for artists in the entertainment and design field, announced its first, full-time, three-year curriculum for aspiring artists wanting to work in production for movies, games, and television.

Oscar Winners Avatar, The Hurt Locker, and Logorama Employ Autodesk Technology

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

San Rafael, Calif. - For the 15th consecutive year, every Oscar-winning movie for Best Visual Effects was created with the help of filmmaking tools from Autodesk Inc. Autodesk Digital Entertainment Creation software was also used to help shape this year's nominees and winners for Achievement in Cinematography, Best Animated Feature Film, and Best Animated Short Film.

Emergent Game Technologies Updates Gamebryo Lightspeed

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

San Francisco, Calif. - Emergent Game Technologies, a provider of 3D game development solutions, has revealed the latest updates for its development engine Gamebryo LightSpeed at the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The new features include the launch of LightSpeed’s “Kickstart” program, as well as whiteboxing capabilities, additive animation blending, and full support for D3D11.

Poser Pro 2010 Debuts at GDC 2010

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Aliso Viejo, Calif. - Smith Micro Software Inc.’s Productivity and Graphics Group has launched Poser Pro 2010, the fastest way for professional artists and production teams to add 3D characters to their projects. Poser Pro 2010--with more than 2.5 gigabytes of ready-to-use content, such as pre-rigged, textured 3D characters--saves users time and development resources to turn complex ideas into three-dimensional reality.

Khronos Unleashes Graphics Acceleration with OpenGL 4.0

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

San Francisco, Calif. - The Khronos Group has released the OpenGL 4.0 specification, an update to the most widely adopted 2D and 3D graphics API (application programming interface) that is deployed on major desktop operating systems. OpenGL 4.0 brings the latest in cross-platform graphics acceleration and functionality to personal computers and workstations, and the OpenGL standard serves as the basis for OpenGL ES, the graphics standard on virtually every shipping smart phone.

Autodesk and Epic Games Team to Streamline Autodesk-to-Unreal Workflow with FBX

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

San Francisco, Calif. - Autodesk Inc. and Epic Games Inc. have collaborated to provide greater connectivity between Autodesk's art creation and animation tools and Epic's Unreal Engine 3, using Autodesk FBX data interchange technology. Autodesk FBX 2011 is designed to offer a faster, more streamlined workflow for transferring content created in Autodesk Maya 2011 and Autodesk 3ds Max 2011 software into Unreal Engine 3--helping boost production efficiency and preserve creative intent.

Direct2Drive Honors Max and the Magic Marker with Award at 2010 Independent Games Festival

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

San Francisco, Calif. - Direct2Drive announced the winner of the second-annual Direct2Drive Vision Award during the Independent Games Festival (IGF) Awards. The developers of 2010 Vision Award winner Max and the Magic Marker are leaving the Game Developers Conference (GDC) with a $10,000 prize courtesy of Direct2Drive.

Twelfth Annual Independent Games Fesitval Announces Winners

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

San Francisco, Calif. - Pocketwatch Game's stylish co-op caper, Monaco, was the big winner at the Twelfth Annual Independent Games Festival, which was hosted by the Game Developers Conference (GDC) at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. Monaco received the top award at the ceremony, earning the $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Best Independent Game, as well as the award for Excellence In Design.

Crytek Shows CryEngine3 in Stereoscopic 3D

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

San Francisco, Calif. - Crytek GmbH is presenting CryEngine3 in stereoscopic 3D (S-3D) at this year’s GDC expo in San Francisco. Developers in attendance at GDC10 can experience the topical S-3D trend built with Crytek’s latest development solution.

Evolver Launches Evolver Pro for 3D Professionals

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

San Francisco, Calif. - Darwin Dimensions, maker of Web tools that turn Internet consumers into 3D artists, launched Evolver Proto deliver superior-quality 3D character models to 3D professionals. During this week's Game Developer Conference, Evolver Pro is extending a special offer of 50 percent off the purchase price of a single model to first-time site visitors using the code GDC50.

Image Metrics Launches Faceware Facial Animation Software for Game Developers

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

San Francisco, Calif. - Image Metrics, a provider of facial animation technology and services for the entertainment industry, has launched Faceware, the company's facial animation technology platform. Bungie, developer of the blockbuster Halo franchise, plans to incorporate Image Metrics' Faceware facial animation software into its in-house production pipeline.

Silicon Studio Creates an Umbrella Brand, Demonstrates Technology at GDC

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

San Francisco, Calif. - Silicon Studio Corporation, a provider of digital content creation tools for the entertainment industry, is creating an umbrella brand for its proprietary series of real-time graphics middleware for game developers, which Silicon Studio is exhibiting at the Game Developers Conference 2010 (GDC10).

Autodesk Debuts Maya 2011

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

San Rafael, Calif. - Autodesk Inc. has announced Autodesk Maya 2011 software, the latest version of its 3D animation software. A new user interface (UI), 3D editorial capability and enhanced skinning workflow help provide computer graphics (CG) artists with an end-to-end creative workflow at an exceptional value. Autodesk Maya software has been used on countless games as well as every Oscar-winning movie for Best Visual Effects since 2001.

Dassault Systemes Unveils Social 3D Authoring Solutions for Game Developers and Creative Professionals at GDC 2010

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

San Francisco, Calif. - Dassault Systèmes (DS) announced the public beta of 3DVIA Studio and 3DVIA Scenes, two applications that enable new communities of Web users to create, publish, and share realistic 3D experiences online. The new 3DVIA offerings combine the power of social media with content creation apps and reusable 3D content assets to simplify the 3D content creation process. Both applications are being made available on www.3DVIA.com, and are free to all users during the public beta period.

AMD Foundation to Sponsor Video Game Design Category for The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Sunnyvale, Calif. - AMD announced the AMD Foundation, in support of AMD Changing the Game, has awarded a grant to the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. The $65,000 grant will be used to help fund the Alliance’s new video game design category for the 2010 and 2011 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

StudioGPU Ships MachStudio Pro 1.4

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

San Francisco, Calif. - StudioGPU has unveiled MachStudio Pro 1.4 software, offering new features and functionality for real-time, 3D workflow and rendering performance. Available now, MachStudio Pro Version 1.4 boasts dozens of new features and enhancements, such as physically-based cameras, the ability to export directly into layered Adobe Photoshop files, a materials ID renderer, procedural ramp texture generation on projected lights, added Python programming functionality, and more. The company also announced the immediate availability of a Softimage exporter for MachStudio Pro, a software-only
version of MachStudio Pro, and support for most leading workstation graphics accelerators.

Autodesk Introduces Interactive Curriculum for Game Development

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

San Rafael, Calif. - Autodesk Inc. has introduced its "Vehicle for Games" curriculum for post-secondary students. The 16-week curriculum provides hands-on training for the entire game development pipeline, from concept art to creating an engine-ready asset. This free* Web-based curriculum (terms and conditions available at http://students.autodesk.com/?nd=legal) is designed to be used with Autodesk Maya modeling, animation, rendering, and visual effects software, and Autodesk Mudbox digital sculpting and texture painting software. A six-month student trial version of Maya and a 30-day student trial version of Mudbox can be downloaded for use with the curriculum.

U.S. Chief Technology Officer Delivers First Lady’s Message to Nation’s Top Game Developers

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

San Francisco, Calif. - U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra addressed the 10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards by video to deliver a letter from First Lady Michelle Obama to the 17,000 attendees of the Game Developers Conference 2010, being held in San Francisco.

The Next Frontier: Female Gaming Demographics

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

By Wanda Meloni
As an analyst I am drawn to trends that shift markets. I see nothing shifting the gaming market more significantly right now than the impact that girls and women are having on the industry. The growth and market dynamics related to female players are utterly fascinating. As a female I am drawn to the personal impact this growth means to me. At M2 Research we have several female analysts now. So yes, it is a personal topic for us here. One of our analysts is extremely versed in MMOs, both casual and core. Her World of Warcraft rogue character made the US top 50 Guild. So besides being a hardcore gamer and an analyst for M2 Research, she is also over 35, and a mom of three small children. The reality is games are not just for one particular type of player any more.

Unity 3.0 Adds New Features, Support for Android, iPad, and PlayStation 3

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

San Francisco, Calif. - Unity Technologies, provider of the Unity development platform for 3D interactive content on the Web, PC, Mac, Wii, and iPhone platforms, introduces Unity 3.0 at the Game Developers Conference (GDC). In addition, Unity Technologies announces that it will expand its list of supported platforms to include Android, iPad, and PlayStation 3.

Georgia Got Game

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

San Francisco, Calif. – Attendees at GDC10 find out why Georgia Got Game on Thursday, March 11, from 9 – 10am in the North Hall, Room 123. Georgia offers the aggressive incentives in the nation for video game development under the Georgia Entertainment Industry Investment Act. The legislation grants an income tax credit of 20 percent to qualified productions. An additional 10 percent tax credit is awarded to approved projects that embed a Georgia promotional logo in the titles or credits of a production.

NewTek LightWave 3D Artists Receive Coveted VES Awards

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

San Antonio, Texas - NewTek, manufacturer of 3D animation and video products, extends congratulations to all the 2010 Visual Effects Society (VES) Award winners who pushed the limits of technology to deliver outstanding visual effects in film, animation, television, commercials, and video games. Of the many prestigious VES Awards winners, more than 10 are distinguished LightWave artists and technical directors whose artistic contributions helped make “Hollywood magic” for broadcast and cinema, reveals a NewTek representative.

AMD Open Physics Initiative Expands Ecosystem with Free DMM for Game Production

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT

Sunnyvale, Calif. - AMD announced that, along with partners Pixelux Entertainment and Bullet Physics, it has added significant support to the Open Physics ecosystem by providing game developers with access to the newest version of the Pixelux Digital Molecular Matter (DMM), a tool for physics simulation. In addition to enabling a superior development experience and helping to reduce time to market, Pixelux has tightly integrated its technology, DMM with Bullet Physics, enabling developers to integrate physics simulation into game titles that run on both OpenCL- and DirectCompute-capable platforms. Both DMM and Bullet work with Trinigy’s Vision Engine to create and visualize physics offerings in-game.