Web3D Project by Eyes, JAPAN

Artist Mario Baldi has just released a free script for converting polygonal FiberMesh hair to Maya curves for rendering.

He has updated it with a GUI, and it now allows users to specify the amount of curves to be generated.

Source

NI Mate imports Kinect motion capture data in real-time into 3D apps. Blender is the first application that it supports, with plans for a second application to be supported soon.

NI mate is currently in beta (until Feb 2012) and is available for Windows 7 64-bit and OS X 10.6+, with 32-bit Windows 7 and Linux to come.

NI mate

Two plug-ins for converting Zbrush’s new FiberMesh into Splines for rendering in other 3D packages have been released: One a commercial plug-in for export to Maya and 3ds Max costing $25 created by Marius Silaghi, and the other a free script for 3ds Max created by digital sculptor Wayne Robson.

Commercial plug-in
Free plug-in

GIGAZINEによると

スタンフォード大学やオックスフォード大学、MIT、東京大学などなど、世界中の主要な大学やその他の学校のすべての講座や無料教育コンテンツを見られるアプリ「iTunes U」をアップルがリリースしました。当然ながらアプリは無料です。

詳しくはこちら

MassiveImporter Beta plug-in has been released, allowing users to import 100 agents from Massive to 3ds Max.

Beta Features:
-Automatically Import Skeleton, Geometry and Weight (auto skin geometry)
Final Features:
-Unlimited number of Agents, Textures, Shader Management, Geometry Cache will be added
Download MassiveImporter Beta for 3ds Max 2012 x64

Versions for importing into Maya and Houdini in the development.

Source
Massive Importer Tool

Ginger HDR, previously Natural HDR, is a HDR tonemapping plug-in for After Effects CS3.0+ and Premiere 5.0+, and is available in open beta until January 8, 2012.

Ginger HDR

Maxon has released a free plug-in enabling After Effects users to import projects directly into Cinema 4D R13. (Previous versions of the plug-in offer support for earlier releases of the two applications, but only permit export from Cinema 4D to After Effects, not vice versa.)

The tool works with After Effects CS3 and above, and is immediately available as a free download from the MAXON website.

Source

Miyarmy is a Maya plug-in that seems to offer Massive-like AI-driven crowd simulations, with a fairly extensive range of fuzzy logic features.

The software also includes a PhysX-based physics system, which can be used to drive ragdoll animations or to enable actors to be affected by forces or by Maya Fluids systems. The system is compliant with MotionBuilder and HumanIK-based pipelines, while rendering is RenderMan-compliant, via a dedicated 3Delight plug-in or the option to export RIB files.

Best of all, the Express editon of the software – there are rendering limitations, apparently, although we couldn’t see what they are from the product website – is “free to download forever”.

Source
Miyarmy Express

AK3D is a new scattering script for 3ds Max that enables artists to use bitmap images to control the distribution of objects across a surface – or even the animation states of a crowd.
ScatterFX costs €49.90

Newton interprets each 2D layer as a rigid body in a real environment. Once simulation is completed, animation is recreated in After Effects with standard keyframes.
Main Features:
. robust and fast
. simple and intuitive user interface with OpenGL preview
. gravity, collisions, friction, etc.
. support of masks and shapes
. handles different sorts of bodies: static, dynamic, kinematic, etc.
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Golaem Crowd, a new crowd plug-in for Maya has been announced, and is due for release on 2 May.
Features:
- Fully integrated with Autodesk Maya workflow
- Believable character animations
* Reuse existing motion choreographies on any ground and any character;
* Replace cumbersome fluid fields with our pathfinding and collision avoidance algorithms;
* Easily add variety to your crowds taking full advantage of individual character behaviors.
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e-on software has called for Maya and Cinema 4D artists interesting in acting as beta testers for the upcoming ports of its Carbon Scatter instancing plug-in.
Carbon Scatter for Maya will initially work with the mental ray™ and V-Ray™ renderers.
Carbon Scatter for Cinema 4D will work with the native renderer.
Carbon Scatter will operate inside of Maya 2009 to 2012 and Cinema 4D R11.5 and R12, for 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows and Macintosh OS.
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Pixologic has updated its GoZ import/export plug-in.
Updates:
- Bug fixes for minor issues reported by users of various applications
- Support for Photoshop Extended so that users can paint directly onto a model’s texture in Photohop, rather than having to use ZBrush’s PolyPaint tools
- support expanded to modo 501 and Cinema 4D R12
Recommended for all Zbrush 4 users who wish to take advantage of GoZ.
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CoreMelt, the leading provider of advanced video plug-in effects, today announced CoreMeltFREE, a compelling new collection of 33 visual effects plug-ins based on CoreMelt Complete V2.
The CoreMeltFREE bundle includes an assortment of plug-ins from soft organic glows and blurs to advanced color correction tools and instant photo montages, to audio reactive animations to give motion graphics artists and editors working in Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Express, Motion and After Effects (Editions: CS3, CS4 and CS5 64 bit) an effortless way to sample the highest quality visual effects tools without any restrictions.
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Joe Alter has released a beta of the new Maya version of LipService, his sculpting and animation toolset.
LipService is a powerful multi-resolution subdivision surface sculpting, rigging and animation system built into a Maya plugin.
The beta is available for free for Maya 2008 and above (and not for commercial use).
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OCULA 2.2 addresses stability issues and sees many workflow improvements particularly to O_Solver and O_Vertical Aligner. Overall, it is markedly more user friendly.
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Digital Film Tools has released PhotoCopy: a new plug-in that creates a photographic reproduction of a printed or graphic work made with a process in which a new image is formed by the action of proprietary image analysis, color, texture and light. Whether it’s still or moving images, the key attributes are copied from one image and applied to another.
Host packages include Photoshop, After Effects and Final Cut Pro, etc.
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Autodesk 3dsMax 2011用のスクリプト「ghostTown」では、都市の街並みを自動で生成することができます。

デモムービーを見てもらうとわかるように、かなり自由度が高く、また細かいディテールも作ることができるので、多くの場面で活用できるスクリプトです。

映画「インセプション」のタイトルロゴのようなものを作るときには是非活用したいですね。


Vimeoリンク

jQuery のプラグインです。点をドラッグしてやると画像がスライドするというもので、一定時間経つとランダムでスライドするということも出来るようです。
あまり中身が多くなってしまうと使えないように思いますが、使いどころはありそうです。好みの問題な気もしますが。

詳細はこちら

digitalRaster has released a new plug-in to enable users to navigate ZBrush via Maya shorctuts. ZSwitcher is currently in free public beta, and is available for Windows versions of ZBrush 3.5 and above.
The plug-in should also help artists familiar with Mudbox keyboard shortcuts to adjust to workflow in ZBrush.
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