AAUGA

The August meeting of AAUGA in Austin will be at El Mercado in downtown Austin on August 25th.

Michele Berg of 3Form will be presenting lighting and textures in real world environments.

She will talk about how to light translucent textures to get an even glow and other interesting tricks of the materiel trade..

We will also have a review from Dan McFarland, our Austin ACM SIGGRAPH Chair on the recent SigGraph convention in San Diego.
Also see: SIGGRAPH papers on the Web. You should all look at this list to see the wide array of papers that were presented. Wow!

This month’s meeting will be SAME PLACE, DIFFERENT NIGHT! 3D Austin meets this month on Thursday, July 29th, at our usual meeting place, El Mercado on LaVaca. See June’s 3D Austin announcement for location.

The program will be “Acting Lessons for Animated Characters,” Taught by Trent Moore. Trent teaches on Wednesday evenings and we have changed our meeting night to accommodate his schedule.

About the event:
THE DYNAMIC ANIMATOR
Training your characters to act!

Trent Moore has been a professional stage and film actor for more than twenty years, and he has been an acting coach for over a decade. He teaches intensive acting courses for beginners and does private coaching for working professionals. His most recent Dynamic Animator workshop was held for the “Epic Mickey” team at Disney Interactive Studios.
Trent has always taken an “outside-in” approach to acting, He was one of the founders of Liminal Performance Group, a collective that was dedicated to the intensive study of physical techniques aimed at creating gripping performances. Liminal’s emphasis on precision and repeatability made their approach similar to that of an animator, and Trent continues to use this approach in his current work.
Trent has appeared in more than one hundred plays, films, television shows, and commercials. His most visible roles have been in the film No Country For Old Men, which won the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast, and on the critically acclaimed television show Friday Night Lights.

If you’d like to learn about Trent’s coaching for live actors, visit his contact page or go to  thedynamicactor.com.

Superior Energy Services in Houston is looking for a 3D Animator. Software skills include 3dsmax, Photoshop, and AfterEffects.
See the listing on our Jobs Page

Austin Siggraph - LA or Bust

The Austin SIGGRAPH chapter is putting on an event on Wednesday, July 21… L.A. or Bust! Join the Austin chapter of SIGGRAPH as they serve food and drinks at the Highball in Downtown Austin and preview the 2010 SIGGRAPH convention, coming up on July 25-29 in Los Angeles.

RSVP on Facebook

More Information:
http://siggraphaustin.org/

Our Next 3D Austin Meeting will be Wednesday, June 30, 2010, 7:30 at El Mercado, 1702 Lavaca.

Presentations:
1. Larry Kleinkemper will present “What’s New” in 3ds Max 2011
2. Tom Guthery will thrill us with his animations of the new “Flexible Surgery” technology being developed by Austin company Apollo Endosurgery. See laparoscopic surgery performed through any and every natural orifice of the body.
3. Wes Howe will show clips from his cartoon “Little Ludwig”, which is now in production.

Update: Steven Roselle will be presenting on Mudbox 2011, not Maya.

3d Austin Users Group Meeting
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 6:30 pm at
Sony Online Entertainment
8310-2 North Capital of Texas Hwy, Austin, TX
{3ds Max, Maya, MotionBuilder, Mudbox, SoftImage, etc.} 2011 are shipping.

The next meeting of our 3d Austin Users Group (AAUGA) is May 26th at 6:30 pm at Sony On-line Entertainment at 8301-2 North 360, Austin, TX..
1. Steven Roselle, Applications Engineer from Autodesk will present Tips and Tricks of the new release of Mudbox 2011.
2. Our own Brad Clark will present some his new discoveries with the 2011 releases of Maya and MotionBuilder.
3. Who know what our host, Mick Daubert of SOE might disclose to us?

Don’t come late – the door will be locked at 6:45. See Directions below.

View 3D Austin Meeting in a larger map

Off of 360 where Spicewood springs crosses 360 and becomes Bluffstone Ln
Take the second entrance on your Left. SOE is the first building on your right.
Park in the 1st garage on your Right on the 5th floor. Take the walkway on the 5th level from the garage into the building.
Follow the hallway to the elevators in the main lobby.
SOE’s floor is locked, so you must be accompanied by a SOE employee. They will be at the elevators until 6:45pm. You will not be able to get into the building after 6:45pm.
SOE employees will walk your to their movie theater. Please do not wander around the studio, SOE is in full production and has graciously offered us their theater. Let’s not disturb their production team

Next week, Wednesday, April 28th, is our next 3d Austin Users Group (AAUGA affiliate)
We will meet at El Mercado, 1702 Lavaca at 6:30.
The program will be:

Jason Hughes of Steel Penny Games
Jason started with Origin Systems, after graduating from UT with a degree in Computer Science. He has since worked with Retro Studios, News Stand, Acclaim and Naughty Dog. He and his partners formed Steel Penny Games after working at Naughty Dog. Jason has continued his pipeline development consulting with companies such as Red Fly Studio and Disney Interactive.
But he has also become a wizened entrepreneur in the game development business. He will tell us what he expected starting up to be like with his years of experience and what it really was. And he will tell us about his decisions, both good and bad and how Steel Penny managed to get its feet under it after a self funded start.
About Steel Penny Games

Luke Gustafson of Datahouse Studios
Luke also grew up in the game business. He was an environmental artist, the guy who designs the worlds in which the game is played. He now has his own operation, Datahouse Studio, and he and his guys are take industrial graphic art in a totally new direction, the interactive animated graphic art has become the umbrella that covers the entire product development process in an industry. You have to see this to understand what is becoming possible.
http://datahousestudios.com/

Randy Polk of Metaman Productions.
Randy has been doing interactive productions for many years and teaching his techniques at ACC. This month he will show how to really speed up your texture map work with Mudbox. We have all seen the wonderfully detailed characters that Mudbox can create quickly. Randy will show you how it can really speed up your work in painting your characters and putting pictures on the walls of your house. Randy will show how your can save a lot of time on your next project. Simple tricks to speed up a tedious process.
http://meta3dstudios.com/

We also have people looking for talent, talent looking for jobs and everyone looking for opportunities. Get your life organized and come to the meeting.
3d Austin Users Group meets the last Wednesday of each month with some exceptions.
Sponsored by Austin Business Computers, Inc.

The 3D Austin Group will be meeting at our usual time and place on March 31, at 6:30 at El Mercado Uptown.

The Following Presenters will be speaking:

Gregg Hargrove – Owner, Art Director at Renegade Kid

Tan Tran – Director of Web Development at Gendai Games

AMODA Digital Showcase - Click for Full Poster

AMODA, the Austin Museum of Digital Art, is putting on a “Digital Showcase” event – a crazy combo of live music and digital art. The event is at Club Deville, 9th and Red River, from 9pm to 2am on Saturday, March 13. Featured events will be a musical “Laptop Battle,” Live video performance, and interactive installations.

VFX Masters Siggraph - click for full poster

Austin ACM Siggraph is hosting a free event at SXSW at the Texas State Capitol in Austin. It will be held on Monday, March 15, from 5:30 to 9:30.

The following distinguished speakers will be presenting:

Rob Bredow, Chief Technology Officer and Visual Effects Supervisor, Sony Pictures Imageworks.

Dan Abrams, CG Supervisor

Rodney Brunet, VFX Supervisor, Troublemaker Studios

Chris Olivia, VFX Supervisor, Troublemaker Studios

Kurt Volk, Digital Lead Graphic Designer, Troublemaker Studios

Barton Gawboy, Director of Training and Special Projects, NVIDIA

Dave Aronson, Technical Evangelist, NVIDIA

Jarrod Davis, Supervisor of Content Development, NewTek

VFX Masters Series – Austin ACM SIGGRAPH