Maya mini-tip: Snap Together Tool

Recently I've discovered a tool that I havn't looked into before. It's called the Snap Together Tool, and can be found under the Modify Menu.

Basically, it's a tool for placing objects in a scene. It works like this:

• Activate the tool
• Click on the object you want to move. Be careful to click at the surface that you want fix to the other object. For instance, if you want to place an object on the floor, click on the underside of the object.
  
• Click on the object where you want to place the object.
  
• The first object will jump to where you clicked, making the first point/surface connect to the second point.

This is very handy when placing things on surfaces, and is very fast. See the included video for a quick demo:

Subscription based models

A few months ago, Digital Tutors introduced their subscription based model. Instead of buying individual tutorials, you pay a fee to get access to all their material.

Not long ago, Gnomon Workshop followed suit. They have three tiers, Visual Effects only, Design only , or all tutorials. Pay a yearly fee and get access to all Visual Effects-tutorials, all Design-tutorials or all tutorials whatsoever.

The advantage with this that I can see is that you don't have to choose. As long as you are a subscriber, you have access to all tutorials and can take a look at them as the need arises.

The disadvantage is just that, it's only as long as you are a subscriber. Stop your subscription, and you lose all the tutorials again. Basically, you are paying for something that you can't keep.

(Of course, nothing is stopping you from taking notes etc, but sometimes it's just not the same thing).

One difference I can see between Digital Tutors and Gnomon is that you can get montly subscriptions for DT, while Gnomon only let's you subscribe on a yearly basis. This makes the step into DT a bit smoother, you can try it out for a month before commiting several 100 USD to the service for a yearly subscription.

What's happening with Maya?

Today, on my workplace, I finally got to install Maya2010 and see what new things it contained.

The answer: Basically nothing! All the changes are external from the actual software (Complete-version dead, Toxic and Matchmover included etc), but within Maya, almost nothing has changed.

So, what is happening? Is maya going the way of the Dodo?

I don't think so. I do think 2010 is a dissapointment, but I also think there is a reason for it. From what I've gathered on forums like CGTalk etc, it seems that a major overhaul of Maya is underway. For instance, the GUI-handler will be replaced by something that will be a bit faster, a lot more cross-plattform-able.

My own guess is that the Maya-developers are busy working on the new version, rather than adding things to the "old" platform. So, let's keep our fingers crossed for a nice and impressive release of Maya 2011.

Just some pictures.. and a secret!!!

Today I went out to a nearby path that runs along a river (just a few minutes drive from where I live) and took some pictures.
The equipment is my Nikon D90 with the stock objective that comes with it (which I know isn't the best there is)

However, I'm quite pleased with how the photos turned out, and I owe it all to one secret:

I was there at the right time!

When it comes to landscape photography like this, the time of day is crucial. The fact that I left my warm and cosy bed at 7.20 on a saturday resulted in me getting a fair amount of decent pictures with nice light and greath atmosphere (including a couple of pictures of our new Subaru Legacy as well).

When I was at the place, it was just a matter of taking as many pictures as possible.
Another small tip I can give is to use a tele-objective with as much zoom as possible. This enhances the influence of any fog or mist in the air and gives more depth to the images.

Fusion 6 is on it's way

One of my favorite packages is Fusion from Eyeon. About two months ago I was at an early demo of the upcoming version, 6.0 and it looked impressive (well, Fusion looks impressive as it is, so that was no surprise there). However, at that time the release was quite far away. Fortunately, it isn't anymore. It seems like they have an open release candidate for their current subscribers.

For more on the new version, read on this link on Fusion 6.0

Blender 2.5 - a preview

The next major version of Blender, 2.5, is slowly maturing. All around the net, previews are leaking out. This video is one preview that shows a little bit about the interface.

Blender 2.5, - Got flexible? from Pablo Vazquez on Vimeo.

You can read more about blender on blender.org

Free image editors

Adobe Photoshop is a great tool, but it's also an expensive one. Six Revisions have put together a summary of 10 good open-source/free Image Editing tools to try out if Photoshop is out of your reach economically.

10 Excellent Open Source and Free Alternatives to Photoshop

Photo tips

This post in the blog Prophotolife contains a number of interesting links with resources for digital photography.

atn 36: links from creativity to photo instruction

Interesting thread on matte painting

This thread shows an interesting workflow when it comes to matte painting. It's a nice read if you are interested in finding new workflows/ getting new ideas for painting sceneries in Photoshop (for instance).