Evolver Pro for 3D Professionals- 50% GDC Discount Offer (Read more...)

Darwin Dimensions, the leader in web tools which turn internet consumers into 3D artists, announced today the launch of Evolver Pro designed to deliver superior quality 3D character models to 3D professionals.

During this week’s Game Developer Conference, March 8-12, Evolver Pro is extending a special offer of 50% off of the purchase price of a single model to first time site visitors using the code GDC50.

At EvolverPro.com, users are guided through the creation of a completely unique and high quality 3D character.



The user can start with either a photograph or by choosing a reference model from a library of over 1000 characters, then modify and manipulate facial features, body type and size, texture (skin tone), makeup, hair style and color and clothing and accessories.

Models can be exported in a variety of formats, and/or with specular maps, normal maps, texture maps, blendshapes and full body and facial rigs for detailed body and face animation.

Evolver’s proprietary technology automatically produces a custom animation rig for the face and body of each character born at Evolver Pro. This ensures that it is both ready to animate with motion capture and keyframe animation in any off-the-shelf 3D animation package including Autodesk Maya, Softimage and 3ds Max, and also produces the highest visual quality, artifact free final animation.

"Enabling the world’s 3D professionals and animation students with a dedicated website became on obvious choice for us. At EvolverPro.com, we deliver an optimized experience to a very large group of 3D savvy individuals. Most users have told us that they can barely believe that a web service can enable them to create and rig a character in just minutes – an effort which normally takes professionals weeks or sometimes even months. EvolverPro also positions us to roll out a great deal of advanced functionality targeted exclusively to our professional user base."
-Brian Nilles, CEO of Evolver’s creator – Darwin Dimensions.

In addition to purchasing models for animation, users can select from a range of “pre-tuned” formats including readymade characters for Animeeple™, Mixamo™, Worldviz™, Torque™ by Garage Games™, Gamebryo™ from Emergent™, FaceFX™ from OC3 Entertainment, Blender™ Vastpark™, RealXtend™ and more on the way.

Renderosity Coupon: 10$ Off for $5 Till March 9th (Read more...)

Apply coupon code 20100309B10P5 to your order at the time of checkout, and you'll get 10% off of your purchase of $5.00 or more.

This coupon expires March 9th, 2010 at 11:59pm (CST) Renderosity system time, so take advantage of these sweet savings today.
During checkout, be sure to enter the coupon code above in the box marked "COUPON" and hit the apply button to see your savings.  Coupon discount CANNOT be applied after checkout.

In addition, be sure to check out which items are now on sale in the Wish Bowl! And also see what made it into Monday's semi-final round

And now, for aviation model lovers for Poser and DAZ Studio, this is another suggestion, that of course includes my model Ace Of The Skies, is only $15.15 with a 15% Off, and the fantastic product of our partners Renap, SWAM and Ace of Hearts, that consists in clothes, goggles and aviation hat for Victoria 4, Aiko 4 and G4, boots, many different clothes... too many to mention, check the product page: (it's also 15% Off)

SteamPunk Series Vol.1 AeroplaneCom-V4,A4,G4

Ace Of The Skies

Reallusion: Create Machinima With iClone And Evolver (Read more...)

Reallusion, the award-winning leader of 3D Cinematic tools for consumers, students and professionals, announced today that it has licensed Evolver, the world’s first web-based app which puts high fidelity 3D character creation in the hands of consumers.

Now iClone 4 moviemakers can access an optimized version of Evolver directly from Reallusion's iClone Product Page in order to build their very own custom 3D characters – in just a matter of minutes – and have it drop seamlessly into the iClone pipeline.

This combination of technologies enables novice content creators the ability to create fully animated avatars in a fast and easy way. Combined with the power and ease of use of iClone 4, and the production of high quality 3D animation, computer generated movies no longer require expensive software or extensive training. It’s fast, it's easy and it's fun, with professional tools made simple for the everyday user.

“Since the release of iClone 4 our customers have continued to surprise audiences with absolutely stunning projects,” said Charles Chen, CEO of Reallusion. “We can’t wait to see what will be accomplished now that every iClone user has access to creating high fidelity custom characters – even starting with just a photograph. The options for iClone users are now clearly limitless.”

Brian Nilles, CEO of Evolver, added, “iClone and its extensive and talented user base is a great forum for Evolver technology, and we are pleased to support this pipeline with an embedded Evolver application. The tools that Reallusion has delivered to this community of artists are incredibly fast and enabling, and I believe that Evolver will open up very interesting creative opportunities with this brand new level of customization.”

The user interface is very engaging and straightforward, providing all users with a simple yet robust way to create quality avatars directly online. Avatars can now be created in three easy modes:

• Blank Avatars
• Photo Avatars
• Premade Avatars

Users can now preview the latest addition on Reallusion's website at http://da.reallusion.com/evolver/. To start, just create a free account and you are on your way to making your very own 3D avatar.

There.com Creators Will Get Lifetime Pro Status In Frenzoo (Read more...)

Sad news, There.com, which since 2003 meant a reference place in virtual worlds, is closing this March 9th.
The reason is that they were affected by the economical crisis. The reasons are explained in an announcement they did.
A colleague from The Acorn told me this some days ago. Now There.com joins the sad list of virtual worlds that have disappeared in the last times like Metaplace and others.
I will write an article soon with some thoughts about this and factors that provoke the consolidation or fall of virtual worlds.
In the meantime, There.com worldbuilders have some hope on Frenzoo.com, that will be able to continue creating on Frenzoo.com as explained here:

http://blog.frenzoo.com/frenzoo_blog/2010/03/free-lifetime-vip-for-therecom-creators.html

They'll receive free lifetime VIP and Pro status, as well as their ThereBucks converted into equivalent Frenzoo silver coins.
Non creator users will also gain double starting silver coins when coming onto the world.
So if you had an account in There.com, you can join Frenzoo and be very welcome as a builder. Frenzoo has a similar feeling and great social and building features, and may be a good place to stay now that There.com will close.

Also, Twinity are inviting There users to talk to them via Facebook, Twitter, our blog etc, so that they can understand their needs and transform Twinity for them.

Book: Unity Game Development Essentials (Read more...)

Let me introduce you to a book that can be considered the best and quickest way to start building games and virtual sceneries with Unity, the game engine behind exciting games and the stunning virtual world of Nurien.

As "Unity Game Development Essentials" says, you will:

"Build fully functional, professional 3D games with realistic environments, sound, dynamic effects, and more!"

Will Goldstone is the author of this book. He's a game developer and interactive web designer, and online tutor based in the south of England. He is specialized in many interactive disciplines.

He has been working with Unity from the first versions that were released, and worked in its promotion since that beginning, and developed games for the Apple iPhone platform.

The book has around 300 pages, and is a brilliant intro to building sceneries and games with the Unity engine.

The word "engine" may be discouraging for those without a programming background, but as the book tells, what distinguishes Unity from others is the edition tool that is provided with this engine. In this editor, most of the tasks are achieved through drag & drop.
Sometimes coding is necessary, and the book provides this code and explains every step. You can also download the book examples from Packt Publishing's site.

For this coding, the book uses the simplest language that Unity can use for scripting: JavaScript. Unity can use other computer languages, but this is by far the most accessible for many people. If you are not a programmer it doesn't matter because the book makes scripting very easy for newcomers, explaining everything in simple language.

And if you have never developed a game, it's not a problem, because if you just enjoy playing games you will discover how you already are familiar to many game concepts, and the book introduces you to all you need to know.

The book starts explaining all that you need to know about Unity's interface, basic concepts, and common terms.

An image of an scenery built with Unity

Then, you start building from the very beginning. Reading the book, you will create a graphic adventure game in a desert island, with arcade elements and mini-games inside the general game plot.

You will create an island using the built-in terrain editor, add the player character controls, and learn how to use collision to trigger events inside the game. You will also learn code reuse and object reuse via the prefabs, that are like types of 3D game elements that you define to be used over and over.

You will familiarize yourself with professional game concepts like instantiation (create objects from prefabs and add them dynamically through scripts) for example to make coconuts fall from palm trees.
Particle effects are present in Unity, and with them you will create things like fire and smoke, or comet trails.
And as every game you will need to add 2D elements like menus, or messages for the player. The author tells you the different ways to make this, so you can select and use the best techniques.

Unity is quite cross-platform. There are even Unity versions for Wii and iPhone. You can build a game and then make the executables and files for Windows PC, Mac, or even for a web player that can run your game embedded in a web page.
The book ends telling you how to compile your game, and after that it even tells you how to find beta-testers for it, and where to send your game in case you want to share it with other Unity developers and players.

To summarize: this book is a essential manual for Unity. If you want to start building games or virtual sceneries using this powerful engine, the quickest way is to buy this book, follow the chapters, and get to know everything in the shortest time.

Unity Game Development Essentials