Paul Bourke web site

The personal web site of Paul Bourke (Research Associate Professor) offer many tutorials and resources (textures, 2D/3D maths, articles, ...).

The first 3D Porn break "Avatar" record

Haha... some things never changed :)
The news in Bulgarian or in English (Google translated).

View Aligned Node

Nice MaxScript idea by Denis Trofimov on how to make View Aligned (billboard) Node. Read at CGTalk.

Domino Rigger

Procedural domino animation scripted tool for 3ds Max 2009 and above by Arda Kutlu. More details at ScriptSpot or in the official web site.

Christ is Risen!

Христос Воскресе!

Enable Two-Sided Map in Max 2011 and 2012

Nice quick tip for mentalray users by Ramy Hanna on how to make visible the Two-Sided Map that is hidden in Max 2011 and 2012.

Super Poly Bridge

New script for modelers by Kostadin Kotev. More details at ScriptSpot.

TurboReduce

TurboReduce will recreate the subdividion levels of an already subdivided mesh. The script require 3ds Max 2010 and up. More details at ScriptSpot.

Camera Mixer

Scripted real-time sequence editing tool for 3ds Max 2008+. Require Python, Pywin32, wxWidgets for Python. More details at ScriptSpot.

UVW Unwrap Tutorial for hard-edged Objects

Step-by-step UVW Unwrapping tutorial by Tudor Nita, that cover overlapped and flipped UVs and some basic UV stitching techniques.

Batch convert mesh files to .max scenes

A very simplified script for batch convert mesh files (as .3DS, .OBJ, ...and so on) to .MAX scene files. I wrote it as quick help 'cause recently its asked twice (here and here). Note that FBX objects are not selected after import, so s'd modify a little bit the code if you like to import FBX files. Have a nice weekend!

Glowing Material

Tutorial by Mario Malagrino (Florence Design Academy) explains how to create a glowing material using architectural and standard materials, plus how to use the Glare shader to improve glow effects.

3ds Max 2012 Documentation

A list of links to the new 3ds Max 2012 documentation online I found at CGTalk:

http://www.autodesk.com/3dsmax-help-2012-enu http://www.autodesk.com/3dsmax-tutorials-2012-enu http://www.autodesk.com/3dsmaxdesign-tutorials-2012-enu http://www.autodesk.com/3dsmax-help-2012-whatsnew http://www.autodesk.com/mentalray-help-2012-enu http://www.autodesk.com/3dsmax-autodesk-civil-view-help-2012 http://www.autodesk.com/3dsmax-autodesk-civil-view-tutorials-2012 http://www.autodesk.com/3dsmax-maxscript-2012-enu http://www.autodesk.com/3dsmax-sdkdoc-2012-enu

Also downloadable SDK docs are now available (in HTML format) at Autodesk Developer Center.

Remove missing maps

All we know that clean up a scene with a lot of missing maps without automation is a hell task. That feature in Max still missing and requested, this time in Autodesk UserVoice section. So what we can do for now is to solve this by scripting, and the good news is that a fresh topic about appear at CGTalk.

Blender 2.57

The Blender Foundation release Blender 2.57, the first stable release of the Blender 2.5 series. Personally I lose an interest of Blender about 2 years ago, but now I see impressive progress that bring back my attention. Well, to be honest, some warning notes still sounds unattractive, like this one: "The Python API in Blender is UNSTABLE, It should only be used for testing, any script written now may break in future releases.".

3ds Max 2012 trial

Autodesk 3ds Max 2012 trial available (Canada & US).

Vue 9.5 Pre-Release

Verion 9.5 of Vue xStream and Infinite was announced by E-on Software. The Vue 9.5 would be free for all users under maintenance. More details will come in the release date, but here is a short list of the new features in Vue 9.5:

• Advanced Cloud Control


• Interactive Texture Placement


• Localized Cloud Layers


• GPU Anti-Aliasing


• FastHybrid Depth of Field


• Matte Shadow


• MDD File Format


• Atmosphere Relighting


• Improved EcoPainting


• Velocity Pass


• World-Browser Accessibility

3ds Max 2012 released

3ds Max 2012 has been released and at the moment is available for download only from the Autodesk Subscription Center.

Merge By Layer 0.5

Another quick update (requested about an hour ago) of my Merge By Layer script. Now the list of layers and objects can be diplayed sorted in alphabetic order. More details at ScriptSpot. Cheers!

Visual Pivot Placer

New scripted tool for modelers is published by Kostadin Kotev. More details at ScripSpot.

Multi Camera Preview 1.1

Finally I found a little time to fit user request and add new feature to this script. What's new and more details at ScriptSpot. Cheers!

Tackling unrealistic materials

Jamie Cardoso tips. Quote: "It is worth noting that the following is a full version of an article I have recently contributed to. Please have a look at the 3D World magazine(i.e. issue 141)for more in-depth tips."

TurboSquid rising

TurboSquid announced that will acquires Falling Pixel and Exchange 3D. Read more at MaxUnderground.

Mouse Wheel Grow/Shrink Selection

New scripted tool for modelers is published by Kostadin Kotev. More details at ScripSpot.

Viewport Maxscript Editor

Garrick Campsey announce at ScriptSpot his scripted rollout builder - Viewport Maxscript Editor. His idea is to replace the Max's Visual Maxscript Editor. The script require 3ds Max 2011 or above.