Friday, October 21, 2011

coupon from Render Jump











Gary Gibich over a RenderJump has generously provided the Maya User Group with a discount on rendering!

He has created a RenderJump Promo code that is good for 35% more credits at the time of purchase ($100.00 minimum purchase) good through the entire month of October. Free sign up is necessary to access the Dashboard/Add Credits area to enter the Promo Code. Of course, 750 free credits will also be funded into the account at the time of sign up.

Use the Promo Code: OCT2011 (enter the case sensitive code at the time of purchase in the Dashboard/Add Credits area. Use this code multiple times during the month of October.)


http://www.renderjump.com/

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Blue Sky Studios To Hire 70

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-blue-sky-studios-20111018,0,2722680.story



The computer animation company that produced the feature film "Rio" is getting state help to add 70 jobs and expand office space in Greenwich by 43,000 square feet, the Department of Economic and Community Development announced Tuesday.

Blue Sky Studios will receive a tax credit on 20 percent of spending past the first $3 million in real estate and equipment costs. In addition, the state is loaning the company $3 million at 3 percent interest over 10 years for the project.

The additional space will allow the company to produce movies in less time, and to do more work in house, the economic development department said in a statement announcing the project.


The studio is a repeat customer with the department. Blue Sky received an $8 million low-interest loan in 2009 to lure it from White Plains, N.Y., to Greenwich, though $6 million will be converted into a grant if requirements are met. That year, it a


lso received $3.6 million in infrastructure tax credits and $750,000 in sales tax exemptions.



It received $18 million in film tax credits in 2009 and $15 million in 2010.

The company, which is owned by 20th Century Fox, moved 290 workers to Connecticut two years ago, and added about 110 by this spring. The state said Tuesday that Blue Sky plans to add 70 workers, though the announcement did not say when.

In April, Brian Keane, Blue Sky Studios' chief operating officer, said the company wanted to hire 30 to 40 people, but the head count has not grown in the six months since that announcement.

The average salary is $110,000 a year, and 20 percent of employees live in Connecticut, Keane said.

A state economic development analysis based on the size of the studio to this point said the state is getting a benefit of about a half a million dollars a year, even after the tax giveaways.

"State support for Blue Sky will ensure the industry will grow and other film production companies see Connecticut as a great location and an important partner in their plans," said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, as quoted in the release announcing the new loan and tax break.

"Growing jobs is the number one priority and the film tax credit is one of our best tools that will help us do that," said Catherine Smith, commissioner of the state economic development department. "Digital media is an emerging sector, one that requires smart, innovative workers. This is the workforce Connecticut can provide and production companies know it. That's why they're coming here and it's why they're investing here."

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Breaking Pillars with DMM


this is the breaking pillars with dynamics plug-ins I mentioned at the meeting....






http://area.autodesk.com/tutorials/breaking_pillars

webinar - Entertainment Webcast Series: Character Development with Autodesk Maya Part 2













Here is a link to the atdsk webinar Lee Fraser will be hosting for Character Development using all of autodesks tools!

Description:

The Autodesk® Maya® Entertainment Creation Suite 2012 offers numerous tools and workflows for efficient creation of characters for film, broadcast and game design. The second installment of this webcast series continues by focusing on the variety of tools available in the Maya Entertainment Creation Suite for skinning and rigging characters for motion and facial expression. Autodesk Technical Specialist Lee Fraser will show you some of the basics of rigging and skinning in Maya 2012 plus ways of working with the characterization tools in Maya as well as Autodesk® MotionBuilder® 2012. Lee will also cover some of the basics in Autodesk® Softimage® Face Robot® Toolset, providing a quick and interactive way of creating a face rig using Softimage.




http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/oc/offer/form?siteID=123112&id=17855089&validate=no


MAYA bullet in Maya 2012 Service advantage Pack

Autodesk just posted Docs and Sample Scenes for Bullet in Maya 2012 SAP


get em here !

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=17944685&linkID=10809894

Oct 11 meeting recap

Great to see everyone last night!
Thanks again to Lee Fraser for showing us some new mudbox and maya highlights.
I highly recommend everyone get the subscription advantage pack upgrade. Not just for the node editor, the bullet plugin, but also for some of the fixes, its well worth it!

also big thanks to Joe Burrascano of Nathan Love. That was an awesome presentation of what goes into the creativity in their spots!


and an ongoing thanks to Steve Strong and Ari Klingman of Oceana for lending us the space, beer, pizza , and audio visual. It would have been a lot different if we had to huddle around a laptop in a seedy bar!

Stay tuned, I'm planning for a early November/December meeting and I'm going to post more on this Blog. And as always, comments crits, suggestions, help, bribes are welcome!

I posted some (albeit poor blackberry) photos from the night...









Also be Sure to check out "Klop Drop" which is what Joe was alluding to, but I don't think ever showed!




Klop Drop from Mothership on Vimeo.

Monday, October 3, 2011

NEXT MEETING TUESDAY OCTOBER 11th !!!!

Sorry about the late notice, but come one come all, and tell your Friends.

Come to check out some new maya features, some behind the scenes from Nathan Love, and meet up with Other Maya artists in the NY area. ( ps. the more of you show up this time, the larger budget we get for next!!)

MEETING 7:30 to 10:00 OCTOBER 11th
NYC OCEANA

Lee Fraser of Autodesk will show off new stuff for Maya, including some SAP tools

and

Nathan Love will be showing some behind the scenes from some of their awesome projects....


if you aren't already familiar with Nathan Love's incredible work, be sure to take a look here:
www.nathanlove.com


Oceana

50 Eldridge Street

6th Floor

New York, New York



please RSVP:

nycmayausersgroup@gmail.com


-=s