Get Excited about stuff

something I came across that has motivated me though the cold winter afternoons.

This is a Matt Jones Creation and you can get a vector version from his blog

im off to make something

The best VFX Breakdowns, Cinemotion and Science

This is the first of what I believe will be post's purely based on what I have come across recently that has caught my eye, made me chuckle, or made me think "I should write a blog post about that".

Breakdowns

To start with AEtuts+ have posted a brilliant list of some of the best VFX breakdowns out there. I could watch them all night long. Especially the "Salty" a spot by Axyz, they reveal their secret to getting such great hdri solutions. Using "far-field" reference photos from the set as well as the usual HDR acquisition blended together to create great high detail lighting solutions for that super shiny ceramic look. I will certainly be experimenting with this, hell I might even post my experiments on here.

HQueue - the future of rendering and render farms

I am currently finding my way around SifeFX's Houdini. Everyday I sit down and learn something mind blowing about this piece of software. Working procedurally has totally changed the way I think about developing my projects and a whole new world of dynamics and particles is unfolding as I go. I thought this software was pretty cutting edge, then I had a look in sidefx.com today and realised these guys are way beyond cutting edge.

Side FX Have just released a public beta release of their new tool HQueue. This tool allows artists to essentially add an extra node into their network and submit their renders and simulations to the cloud computer that is Amazon EC2.