Tomasz Strzałkowski – CG Artist

Tomasz Strzałkowski – CG Artist
Website: tomstrzal.com/
Galleries: http://tomstrzal.deviantart.com/  http://tomstrzal.cgsociety.org/

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Interview with me on Evermotion

14th february 2013

Interview with me on Evermotion :-)))
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3DArtist Magazine Issue 51

1st February 2013

This is great! I'm absolutely proud and happy because my work is in latest issue 3DArtist Magazine! Here is cover and page with my work.
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3DWorld magazine March 2013

30th January 2013

Cover 3DWorld magazine March 2013 and page from this issue with my work
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<<    More Strzałkowski Interviews    >>

CGArena: Dec - Jan 13, FREE Digital Magazine

CG Arena is a free downloadable CG Magazine with great articles and tutorials.

• Interview with Tomasz Strzalkowski
• Photoshop: Making of Maru Chui Wei
• Maya: Making of Little Honey
• 3ds Max: Making of Old Man in the Dark
• Maya: Making of The Green Redemption
• Gallery - Showcase of latest Impressive art

Link to Magazine

Sebastian Sylwan - New Lenses to View Reality: Art, Science and Visual Effects

At the end of a semester of an intro class, I always have at least one student approach me and tell me that ‘I ruined going to the movies for them’.  What they mean is that they can’t watch a film without thinking about the technology behind it.  I always laugh because If I can, I will watch a film twice, once for the film itself and and another to really look at the FX and Animation. 

The first time I watched Avatar, I wasn’t really even aware of FX and animation, I was able to just enjoyed the film.  I can say that was the first time that had ever happened; there were a few times in Avatar, but generally I just got lost in the film.  Well, thinking back, I guess I didn’t think about the waves in The Perfect Storm and I am sure there were others.  

Sebastian Sylwan of Weta studios gives a TEDx talk exactly about this.  And states that, “through out history we have searched for and constructed more and more sophisticated tools to produce better more convincing representations for our stories.” and that even though today we are using cutting edge technologies, the next generation will just “push the boundaries of story telling even further.”  I can’t wait.

Check out Sebastian’s talk. 
~Cornell

Future of Museums?

Link to Virtual Model: http://3d.si.edu/explorer?modelid=55

Will all Museums have virtual exhibits in the future?  If students have access to these virtual exhibits with super detail, up close, and with virtual tool access, how will this change education?  How will it change all fields from medicine to archeology?  I have been telling my students for years that what ever your future career they end up in, 3D will be somehow be involved particularly in the STEM career paths.  Check out these videos on the Smithsonian’s X3d Project.  Super Cool!  ~Cornell

 

Virtual Models

 

Videos

Smithsonian X 3D – Overview - Meet the team and learn more about the Smithsonian x 3D project.

 

Smithsonian X 3D - What is 3D Digitization?

 

Smithsonian X 3D - Digitizing Collections

 

3D Scanning at the Smithsonian

What can you do to bring some of the Smithsonian's 137 million objects to life? Put them in 3D!
This is a full-time job for two of the Smithsonian's very own "laser cowboys," Vince Rossi and Adam Metallo, who work in the Smithsonian's 3D Digitization Program Office. They work hard to document, in very high three-dimensional detail, many of our priceless and important collections so that the objects are available for research, education and general interest.

 

Smithsonian X 3D – Conservation

 

Smithsonian X 3D - Education

International Robotic Olympiad–IROC 2013 Denver

This week I volunteered at the IROC 2013 and spent majority of the time as a referee. It was a blast; here are some of the shots I was able to get in between events.  I took hundreds of photos and will upload more when I can.  Here is a link to some of my photos:  http://www.3dteachers.com/2013/12/international-robotic-olympiadiroc-2013.html

So what does this have to do with 3D?  My students have been doing some really cool experimenting  . . . I will be sharing it soon.  ~Cornell

We Won’t Even Have to Dig Anymore

Anyone who has watched Jurassic Park should remember the scene where we were introduced to Dr. Alan Grants dig site, which included that really annoying kid. Grant’s assistant introduces a ‘shotgun’ radar scanner, or something like that. “A few more years’ development, and we won’t even have to dig anymore.”  So do archeologists actually use digital techniques in the field today?  Jurassic Park was released in 1993 over 20 years ago. so is this even practical today? 

How Do You 3-D Scan a Dinosaur?

 

Here is and short BBC film showing one of the techniques used today . . .

BBC News Digital dig The Scanning Technology Revolutionizing Archaeology

 

Next-Gen Paleontology: 3D Printed Dinosaurs

Next-Gen Paleontology: 3D Printed Dinosaurs from Linda Hall Library on Vimeo.

About this lecture:

September 12, 2013, in the Linda Hal Library Main Reading Room.

Dr. Kenneth Lacovara, Associate Professor, Department of Biodiversity, Earth & Environmental Science, Drexel University

According to Dr. Kenneth Lacovara, “technology in paleontology hasn’t changed in about 150 years. We use shovels and pickaxes and burlap and plaster. It hasn't changed—until right now.” Dr. Lacovara will share his pioneering work in using laser scans and 3D printing technology to create and test scale models of fossil bones for educational use, museum display, and for testing hypotheses about how dinosaurs moved and behaved.

Check out this Blender Demo Reel

Now I have been using Maya for over 10 years and I am still a hardcore Maya junkie and have no plan of switching.  With that, every few years I give Blender a try and haven’t really been impressed, maybe because of my comfort level with Maya; I can navigate the interface with my eyes closed – literally.  If you are not familiar with Blender . . . It is a free open source 3d modeling and animation application. 

Check it out: http://www.blender.org/

Check out this Blender demo Reel, pretty impressive for an open source application.

Rapid Prototyping Tutorial with Maya

I just came across this cool tutorial which walks you through how to prep models in Maya for 3D printing. ~Specular 

What is Rapid Prototyping?

Think of a Rapid Prototyping machine (known as Printers,) as a hot glue gun attached to a printer's head! As the head of the printer goes back and forth, the hot glue gun - using a variety of very sophisticated materials, will shoot (jet) a bit of the material on a surface, layer upon layer, until a wall is "grown." The head of the printer stays at one level, moving left-to-right, and the base where the sculpture is build (know as the tray,) drops down! Because of this, printers have their limitations, and their eccentricities…

Find the tutorial here: http://www.710films.com/TutorialsTips/CG/RapidPrototyping/Chapter1/Chapter1.html

The Creative Process: TED Radio Hour

"Is it an original idea? Or is it something where you're literally a creative collagist? You're taking pieces of the world that you see around you and that are inside of you and put them together in a way that you see fit." — Abigail Washburn

How are we inspired? How do we get from an initial inkling of idea to a fully formed work of art? It's often challenging to describe the creative process. In this hour we'll hear from some TED speakers — a poet, a novelist and a singer/songwriter — who explore their craft and the daily challenge of nurturing creativity.

http://www.npr.org/2012/06/01/153885491/the-creative-process

Imagination Meets Inspiration: Star Trek: Secrets of the Universe

Where do ideas come  from?  Do Sci-fi writers influence future technologies?  I just watched ‘Star Trek: Secrets of the Universe’  . . . VERY COOL!!! 

Star Trek: Secrets of the Universe

Premiere Date:May 15, 2013 - 10:00-12:01AM ET

Is building our own starship Enterprise possible? Will we ever travel between the stars as easily as they do in Star Trek? JJ Abrams' new feature, Star Trek Into Darkness, hits the screen in a golden age of scientific discoveries. HISTORY is there, giving viewers a deep look behind the scenes, on the set, and into the science–amazing new exoplanets, the physics of Warp drive, and the ideas behind how we might one day live in a Star Trek Universe.

Upcoming Airings:

• May 16, 2013 - 02:01-04:02AM ET
• May 19, 2013 - 01:00-03:01PM ET
• May 22, 2013 - 09:00-11:00PM ET
• May 23, 2013 - 01:00-03:00AM ET

http://www.history.com/shows/star-trek-secrets-of-the-universe

Check Out WeaveSilk.com

It is a very simple, interactive, algorithmic, geometric web-based painting program.  Enough said . . . Check it out.  

http://weavesilk.com/

My fun attempt . . .

Ford GT-40: The Spirit of Speed

Check out this Industrial Design concept video:  This is a demo reel showing the Ford GT-40, entirely created by Luis E. Nieves, a digital artist based in Northern California. Software used include Autodesk Maya, Mental Ray and Adobe After Effects. Special thanks to Ivan Panqueva for doing the music. In addition is the making-of tutorial: Making of Ford GT-40 In Vegas

http://area.autodesk.com/showcase/movies/ford_gt_40_the_spirit_of_speed_trapped_in_a_machine

A Day Made of Glass 2

FIND YOUR INSPIRATION!

"A Day Made of Glass 2," Corning's expanded vision for the future of glass technologies. This video continues the story of how highly engineered glass, with companion technologies, will help shape our world.  It is very cool!

GET INSPIRED! A Day Made of Glass... Made possible by Corning.

FIND YOUR INSPIRATION!

Watch "A Day Made of Glass" and take a look at Corning's vision for the future with specialty glass.  It is very cool!

 

GET INSPIRED! Hankook Tire: The Future of Tire Design

GET INSPIRED!

OMG! Check out this Industrial Design concept video:  Hankook Tire: The Future of Tire Design. VERY COOL!

2013 Spring GOT GAME? Competition–STEM FUSE

Encourage your students to compete!

GOT GAME? Contest Details

Middle and high school students are invited to compete in our 2013 Spring

GOT GAME? competition.

• This competition is open to students from 5th - 12th grades, competing in two divisions.
  • Junior Division:  5th - 8th Grades
  • Senior Division:  9th - 12th Grades

     

• Games must be completely original and created using

  Game Maker or Game Maker Lite on Windows or Mac.  (The Lite version is available as a FREE download!)

http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker/windows

or  

http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker/mac

• Only one game submission per student 

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE RULES

Prize Information:

The following prizes will be awarded for each division:

1st Place

• Student(s) - $250 Best Buy Gift Card   
• School - FREE GAME:IT curriculum subscription (a $499 value!)

2nd Place

• Student(s) - $200 Best Buy Gift Card  
• School - FREE GAME:IT curriculum subscription (a $499 value!)

3rd Place

• Student(s) - $150 Best Buy Gift Card  
• School - FREE GAME:IT curriculum subscription  (a $499 value!)  

Submission Deadline:

11:59pm on

May 31, 2013

NO LATE SUBMISSIONS!

Winners will be announced

June 17, 2013

and the winning games will be posted on our website!

Students who have completed our GAME:IT course in school will have the skills they need to design a great game!

Check out our website for information on how you can offer GAME:IT in your high school!

www.stemfuse.com

Questions? E-mail

customerservice@stemfuse.com

vHelix - Free-form DNA-nanostructure Design

Check out this cool Scientific Plugin for Maya . . .

~3DTeacher

Download the vHelix plugin for Autodesk Maya http://www.vhelix.net/

The plugin is available for the 64-bit versions of Autodesk Maya 2011, 2012 and 2013 under Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. It is currently not available for other versions of Maya and not for the 32-bit versions. The plugin might work with other versions of Maya but that has not been tested. If you are interested in using the plugin with another version of Autodesk Maya, you will need to download the source and compile the module for your system.

The plugin is hosted https://github.com/gardell/vHelix The files hosted there are updated regularly with fixes and new features, but might also suffer from regression.

Installation instructions at the github repository are given in the given on the first page of the repository at https://github.com/gardell/vHelix or directly at https://github.com/gardell/vHelix/blob/master/README.md. The instructions contain a brief description of the organization of the files and how to enable Autodesk Maya to use the plugin. The links below point directly to the binaries required. Along with the binary versions below are some brief installation instructions as well.

 

 

1st Unity plug-in for augmented reality on physical devices

The makers of Sphero – the smartphone controlled robotic ball, have announced new ways developers can make the ball more appealing to consumers with augmented reality based gaming applications.

Orbotix have created a new Sphero augmented reality plug-in for Unity, as well as making a new Sphero AR SDK available on Github – the world’s largest open source code sharing community.

This means that developers can simply insert their 3D models and create games/apps around them – all using the Sphero ball as a physical moving AR marker.  There are already augmented reality games/apps available, such as Shaky the Beaver, launched in November 2012.   <<  More  >>

 

Activision R&D Real-time Character Demo

OMG! Very Cool, you need to check this out . . . keep in mind it is real-time rendering. It still hasn’t reached the other side of the Uncanny Valley yet, but this is real-time, but man they are getting closer. Man look at the eyes. It is better if you turn the voice off . . . Watch the Uncanny Valley, if you are not familiar.

Enter video caption here

WEB BASED? 3D Modeler?

OK, it is no Maya, but very cool . . . where is this technology going to go?  This is a web based 3d modeling engine. 

http://mrdoob.github.com/three.js/editor/