New Job at Guru Studio
I’ve started a new studio job recently. I am working as the character rigger on a television show being done at Guru Studio in Toronto. I started at the beginning of September, and it has been going great.
This is my first Maya production. I’ve really taken to Maya and am enjoying the rigging workflow very much. Scripting in MEL has also been going well. I’ve found it very easy to pick up and create tools, but I really don’t like the language. I feel limited using it, and also feel it is kind of awkward in how it works. I am already starting to learn Python so I can start writing more generalized functions, using nested arrays again, all that good stuff.
Read MoreNew Wacom Tablet
I just bought a new Wacom Bamboo tablet the other day and am very pleased with it so far. I have never been a heavy tablet user, and I’m not sure that I ever really will be, but following the advice of Paul Neale I started using my old Graphire to do skinning and creating morph targets.
As mentioned above, I used to own old-school Graphire tablets. They were only the smalls sizes, and I only ever used them for creating texture maps. I never thought of using them in Max because I just couldn’t see how navigating 3d space could comfortably work. I’ve had my Graphire4 sitting around since college, collecting dust, and had never even considered trying it for skinning.
Read MoreTools Section Added
I have added the tools section now and I will gradually add tools over time. They are going to be released as individual MZP installer packages.
The macroscript categories for my tools, if you are looking to add them to a quad menu or toolbar, will always start with facerFX.
Read MoreReturn to PEN
I just realized that I have not updated my job situation in a long while! My contract with Prime Focus World wrapped up back in mid-July, and although I was sad to leave the friends I had made there, I was excited to return back home.
About 2 weeks after returning to Ontario, I resumed work with PEN Productions as Senior Technical Director and Production Supervisor. It has been great working with Paul Neale again. We have been very busy since getting back, working with familiar clients as well as a few new ones.
Read MoreProject XBR Webinar
I attended the 9am EST “Project Excalibur Webinar” yesterday. For those who do not know, what has been named “Project Excalibur” is the future of Autodesk’s 3DS Max. It is a major overhaul of Max’s core that is being done in three phases. The first phase was the Max 2010 release.
Some photographs were leaked in recent months from an private conference discussing these future plans. Autodesk came out and confirmed the leaked photos as well as provided the information that could be seen in the blurred photos in text format so things were more clear. Then, they held this webinar yesterday to inform people even further of the plans.
Read MoreIntro C++ Course
I decided, back in July, to take a C++ introduction course during the upcoming semester. I initially registered for an in-class course at Durham College, but I found out the day before the first class that the course had been cancelled due to low-enrollment and instead ended up taking an online course with Ontario Learn, through Durham College.
The semester is now over and I’ve just received my marks. Overall I am happy with the outcome of the course. I feel like I have a good base that I can build on. My reason for taking the course is to gradually learn Max’s SDK. I have been told that the SDK is a beast in itself, so I’m taking things one step at a time. I am going to try to get a slight grasp of the SDK next, and then if I feel like it I might go back for the Intermediate C++ course. That won’t be for a little while though.
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