Lukas Tönne is bringing the node system to the next level, by representing almost everything as nodes. From his previous work, his goal seems to be the improvement of the particle system but this new improvement won’t limit itself to that as it is going to be very useful in the other areas.
What i am trying to do is to bring up the Blender node system to the next level by adding a few core features. The goal is to have nodes that can not only calculate a few values (like a texture color), but which can actually modify the data in a scene, be it objects, mesh vertices or particles. I will explain the details of these changes in future blog posts. The videos below should give you an idea of how this looks (they are already a little outdated, so expect more interesting stuff in a few days!)
This video was from one of his blog post and it demonstrated a possible use of his node system to generate some waves and another one showing the attracting node for some particles.
I asked him if this could lead to construction history system or something like tree of modifiers and he kindly replied:
I guess the question is not “if” but “how” Basically the get/set system could be used to access a more “protected” type of mesh data like the derived mesh. With each successive “get” you’d access the derived mesh information updated in the previous “set” node execution. Pack these into group nodes and plug them into a “program” sequence and you basically get current modifiers
Reynante Martinez has published 4 very impressive detailed particle tutorials that cover if not everything you need to know about particle system. From getting start with basic parameters for both hair and emitter, into creating advance effect like fire and disintegration of mesh object. He also gave the blend files!
EEG (Electroencephalography) is the process of recording brain activity. From the video, they use Emotiv 14-electrode headset with a software called EmoRate. Robert Oschler shows us he could index and catalog his emotions while watching Sintel trailer and then seek for the hot spots within the Sintel clips.
What could be the future use of this technology for Blender community? Gathering users’ emotions when Blender crashed, when autosave folder is being browsed and then when the file was found and opened? How about your ideas?
Blendm3 is a Blender plugin to work with StarCraft 2′s m3 files being developed by Alexander Stante. While animation and exporting aren’t yet supported, they are already in their development goals.
From Stante’s comment on Blendm3′s asset page:
Animation is currently not supported, but will be the next big goal. In a first step I plan to correctly support the importing of bones. About export, I think it you have to wait till the functionality is implemented. As I said, feedback especially if something does not import correctly, is very welcome.
Paul Caggegi released 2 video tutorials of his character modeling using Blender 2.49b this month. The first one released on August 10th is about the boot tongue and laces, adding more details with extrusion, edge-loops, altering crease weight, and modeling with Bézier curves. The second one from August 22nd is said to be focusing on getting the hair and teeth. Visit the links to his site for the direct downloads of these videos and more.
Paul Caggegi writes:
August videos for the process diary are now up. The modeling series is almost complete, with just one left to release.
Big news: Siggraph Asia has selected Sintel for their Animation Festival. This is the first time a Blender Institute movie will be shown at the renowned Animation Festival!
Ton Roosendaal writes:
With a pre-screening copy we are already submitting to festivals, the first approval now is in, for Siggraph! Here’s a snippet of their email:
We are very pleased to inform you that your submission “Sintel” has been accepted to Animation Theater of the SIGGRAPH Asia 2010 Computer Animation Festival.
Our International jury, a diverse group of leading animation experts, selected your piece from among the hundreds of entries for the festival due to its high quality, interest, and impact on the SIGGRAPH Asia Community. Congratulations!
Siggraph Asia will be in Seoul, South Korea, from 14-18 december. I probably will have to go then!
‘Data set processing’ is about to change the way you can manipulate object date with nodes. Lukas Tönne [phonybone] is working on this new experimental feature. Check out this demo and remember to close your mouth while you’re watching:
Introducing a new data processing system that can handle larger sets of elements from all kinds of context. Also showing how groups work with adaptable socket types.
ColorCube is an interesting original puzzle game done with Blender Game Engine. A playable demo with 8 levels is available for Windows, Mac OS X and GNU/Linux. You can purchase the full version which will come with 48 levels, level editor and more on-line levels.
Quentin Bolsee writes:
Here’s the first commercial game exclusively done with Blender Game Engine.
Mixamo.com supplies motion-capture data, What makes it unique is their workflow: you upload your own (rigged) character, map the rig to theirs and choose an animation. Using their on-line editor, you can then tweak the animation before you download and use it. As of today, Mixamo actively supports Blender.
I’m looking for an experienced character animator to test-drive and review this service for us. Mixamo will provide download credits for your use. If you’re interested, please tell me why we need to choose you!
From their press-release:
Mixamo Unveils Unparalleled Blender Character Animation Support
New Mixamo-Blender Workflow Integration Can Save Blender Artists Up To 75% In Production Time
SAN FRANCISCO – August 24, 2010 – Mixamo Inc. today announced new support for Blender users looking to create high-quality character animations for their 3D projects. The new end-to- end workflow provides the Blender community with a seamless process to add animations to characters created in Blender or from Mixamo’s Character Creator Suite directly. The entire collection of Mixamo motions is now accessible to Blender users, which can be found at www.mixamo.com.
Luc Barthelet, CEO of virtual world Tirnua, has already had great success using the Mixamo-Blender workflow. “We were able to integrate Mixamo with our Blender production pipeline quite easily; it has enabled us to add realistic motions to Tirnua five-times faster than if we were to animate by hand,“ says Barthelet. “Having access to the entire Mixamo collection of animations will be a huge benefit to us as we continue to build up the rich simulation world of Tirnua.”
“Mixamo is the first service to offer Blender users easy access to high-quality animations that can be customized and retargeted to any character in real-time,” says Mixamo Co-founder and CTO, Stefano Corazza. “With Mixamo, the Blender community can easily apply animations to any character in their 3D scenes by following a simple end-to-end workflow process that we developed.”
Blender users can bring Mixamo animations into their projects in several ways depending on their needs, using Collada or BVH format based workflows. Whether importing their Blender- created character models into Mixamo or creating rigged models on Mixamo with the Character Creator Suite, Blender users can customize their animations on characters of their choosing and then easily bring them back into their Blender project. Because Mixamo’s sophisticated service simplifies the character animation process through automated, real-time controls, Blender users save up to 75% in production times and 80% in costs.
We are keeping track of SmallLuxGPU, a demo to use GPU rendering for Luxrender done by David Bucciarelli. SmallLuxGPU is a part of LuxRays, a module of Luxrender for accelerating the ray intersection processes using GPUs. Here are some recent demos. The first one is from David himself. There are also 2 nice videos from Phymec plus a newbie’s guide to SmallLuxGPU for OSX from Sebastian König.
The video above is from David Bucciarelli, showing interactive material editing and also its almost real-time camera changing of Andrew Price’s Audi R8 scene.
Here are 2 videos from Phymec’s youtube channel rendered with SmallLuxGPU v1.5, using Bullet Physics engine.
And the last video, “A newbie’s guide to SmallLuxGPU for OSX” from Sebastian König, is a very introduction to start playing around with SmallLuxGPU on Mac OSX
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Basically the get/set system could be used to access a more “protected” type of mesh data like the derived mesh. With each successive “get” you’d access the derived mesh information updated in the previous “set” node execution. Pack these into group nodes and plug them into a “program” sequence and you basically get current modifiers
