Category: Education and Training

The Oregon3D Center for Visualization Technologies has added instruction of Alias|Wavefront Maya software to its core curriculum. Starting August 26, 2002, Portland-based Oregon3D will offer its first Maya class, a five-day Maya Basics course. Taught by 3D guru Jason Busby of the tutorial Website 3D Buzz, this course is designed to provide a solid foundation to those new to Maya, and allows beginners to explore more challenging concepts such as modeling, animating, texturing, lighting and rendering.

dvGarage has released THE COMPOSITE TOOLKIT, a disk dedicated to teaching production level keying and compositing techniques using Adobe After Effects. The package includes 14 tutorials that cover nearly every aspect of keying and compositing live-action actors into computer graphics scenes. Using a pseudo light saber scene to serve as the basis of the tutorials, three behind-the-scenes movies take viewers through the entire process of shooting a blue-screen scene, while the step-by-step tutorials explain how to composite effectively the entire scene, light sabers and all.

Anzovin Studio has released a new title in its training video series for Hash Inc.'s Animation:Master 3D animation software. SECRETS OF A:M 2002 provides more than 100 minutes of instruction for the newest version of Animation:Master. The training video covers topics including: getting familiar with the new interface; applying nonlinear animation tools to characters; creating and working with relationships; constraint tricks using delay and lag; animating with deformation cages; and building an explosion with spriticles.

Magnet Media's latest training title in its Digital Media Training Series (DMTS), INSIDE FLASH MX PRODUCTION ESSENTIALS, is now available in both its Limited and Complete Versions on CD-ROM format. The 40-minute Limited Version CD-ROM is available free through the company's Website. The 3-hour Complete Version, also available from the Website, instructs viewers on the essential topics that need to be mastered in order to get up and running quickly with Macromedia Flash.

The Gnomon Workshop has released new titles in their training video series and cut prices on existing video titles. Video titles previously priced at US $69 are now US $59 and many of the Workshop's titles are available for purchase in discounted bundles. In addition, the Workshop is scheduled to release four new titles on April 30, 2002 in response to customer demand. "We've gotten so many requests for tapes on Character Skinning. It was time," said Alex Alvarez, director of the Gnomon Workshop, who also developed and teaches the material on the new videos.

New Riders Publishing has released a new series of books for CG professionals. The "digital" series features DIGITAL CHARACTER ANIMATION 2, VOLUME II: ADVANCED TECHNIQUES by George Maestri, a follow up to Maestri's classic, DIGITAL CHARACTER ANIMATION. The new volume is written directly for CG professionals, with more non-software-specific approaches to character animation. According to its creator, DIGITAL CHARACTER ANIMATION 2, VOLUME II is a book on how to really think like an animator.