Maya 2014 LT is out!

Really great news coming from Maya these days. Now for indie game companies who want to make great assets for their games but can't afford Maya comes Maya 2014 LT. This is pretty much a stripped down version of Maya that left all of the new and old game related tools like the Directx11 viewport and HumanIK rig. There is one bonus however that comes with this version. The new big thing from Maya is the node based DX11 shader editor (seen above). Rather than write out your code, you can set up the logic via nodes like a polished shader editor in a top engine. The great thing is that at the end, Maya will optimize and export out your node setup as a shader file so you can apply it to your respective game engine now!

This is huge to hear from Autodesk and I'm really excited to use it. The shader editor is currently the only feature that you can only get with the LT package so it's worth a shot to give it a quick look to see how it all works. Unfortunately, you loose big stuff like Maya scripting with this version of Maya which I think is a huge loss. A big draw to this program is that to get a license, you just need to pay 50 bucks a month for it like a rental. I'm assuming this also means that when a new version of Maya comes out, you can switch over.

Hit the jump for a trailer video and the feature set comparison between Maya 2014 and Maya 2014 LT.

Check out P3D.in!

(Really cool warcraft fan art by ravenslayer) 

When I work on my site or my portfolio, I always want to try to figure out the best way to utilize the web browser as a platform to show off my work. I always wanted to find a great way to display my 3D work in an interactive way. I also wanted to find a way to present interactive 3D models on my mobile devices. It seemed like a big ask and I was willing to write a test bed in unity to do it but then I was recently introduced to this website called p3d.in.

I was floored by the things that could be done with this service! You can upload any obj under 100 mb and apply all sorts of built in webgl shaders with texture maps, specular maps, and normal maps! You can also use advanced shaders like reflective chrome, rubber, and plastic. The best part is that it's free and easy to use and once you publish your work, anyone can view it on their browser in their pc's, macs, linux machines, and smart devices! Awesome if you want to show off your stuff on your phone.

I wanted to make a post just dedicated to this service because it's a serious gem in the internet right now for CG artists and hobbyists. Hit the jump to see some of my work!

#MyFootballFantasy Julio Jones Visa NFL Commercial

This was a fun mini project that I was involved with while we were working on Madden 25. We got some mocap together, cleaned it up, and sent off the video clip to VISA for their new commercial! I was helping with MOCAP along with Amanda Beaver and Seto Van Boxtel. I also helped clean up the animation with Tim Keon who wrapped everything up in a nice bow. We got the new animation in our game in almost no time. The turnaround from start to finish was so fast, it was almost baffling.

Hit the jump to see the commercial first hand.

Madden 25 about to come out for Playstation 4 and Xbox One

I haven't had a chance to post much about my professional work so I'd love to start on this note. I'm currently working on the latest Madden NFL title that's about to release with the new consoles this year. We shipped the Gen3 version for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 and it did pretty well.

I'm in the graphics team and I was lucky enough to contribute to the look of the game as you can see from the image above. I focused more on the animation and secondary movement of the characters so you can see my work more clearly in the video demos like this E3 Trailer. I was focusing on facial animation, body animation, cloth, overall presentation, and other miscellaneous stuff. I was really proud to work done on this game and everyone who worked on it. I'm really stoked to ship the Gen4 title!

Hit the jump for more videos of Madden 25 graphics and visuals.

Yoda Alert!: PRINT ME YODA ONE MORE TIME

In Yoda news, Here's a montage of time lapse yoda prints. The first one that I found was from none other than Gizmodo!

Hit the jump to see videos AND to to interact with a 3D yoda model! (Fun fact: Interactive model is also on my portfolio site. Gotta love P3D!)

Yoda Alert!: Yoda is ranked by CB as "20 great examples of print in 3D"

Looks like Yoda is recognized as one of 20 great examples of print in 3D by Creative Bloq. I'm not a fan of Jonathon Wong getting the credit for this one unfortunately but what can you do...


Hit the jump to interact with a 3D yoda model directly from the sculpt! (Fun fact: Interactive model is also on my portfolio site. Gotta love P3D!)

Yoda Alert!: Yoda is taking over the 3D printing world! (I think)

After getting a few updates from friends and colleagues about more Yoda articles, I've found a lot of really cool 3D printing progress with Yoda leading the charge! This little guy is still going strong, getting printed all over the world.

“For some reason, the Yoda head is kind of the symbol of what your 3D printer can do,” said Braydon Moreno, CEO of the crowdfunded startup RoBo 3D. “Everyone across the board is saying ‘Let me see your Yoda.’”

Hit the jump for links and an article on Yoda's influence in the country of Israel!?