Autodesk and Dassault Compete - Evolver Avatars are now Free

Fully rigged avatar creation is now free from Evolver following its acquisition by Autodesk. Pro Model exports were previously $39 each.

The funny thing is that last year Dassault Systemes announced:

"Create your own online persona on 3dvia.com using Evolver. Once created you can walk through any 3DVIA Scene Virtual World with your new Avatar."

It appears that these two CADD companies are getting close to competing in the space of Virtual Worlds using the Freemium model. Believe it, these two companies have the experience, programmers & budgets to not only serve the high-end of the market but provide free consumer platforms.




Download the latest version of the 3DVIA Studio game engine for free (http://bit.ly/jaO3p4) to build realistic 3D worlds on the fly. Start by generating dynamic terrain with the new terrain editor. Drag and drop customizable skies, water systems and other environmental effects. Finish by populating your world with premium 3D stock content before publishing it online.

Download 3DVIA Studio for Free: http://bit.ly/jaO3p4

BetaVille

Click on the image to view it all

Betaville is an open-source multiplayer environment for real cities, in which ideas for new works of public art, architecture, urban design, and development can be shared, discussed, tweaked, and brought to maturity in context, and with the kind of broad participation people take for granted in open source software development...

The Betaville platform is designed to be deployable by individuals, small groups (say, a project class or a neighborhood association), all the way up to professional design firms and planning offices of major cities: any group that is serious about offering a proposal in the spirit of a programmer's RFC (request for comment). In this case, the proposal takes the form of a 3D model set in a "mirror world" of the local context, with a built-in discussion forum, and provision for multiple iterations... the environment can accept models from authoring tools as simple as Google Sketchup, or as elaborate as Autodesk Maya. Anyone with access to a web browser can contribute, and every contribution remains accessible.

via: http://bxmc.poly.edu/projects

Second Life - Best of The Best

About Second Life - The Best of the Best

Started in October of 2007, The Best of The Best Group is for a very small and selective set of snapshots and now a few machinimas featuring the work of the most talented and creative Artists, Architects, Designers, Builders and, Photographers in Second Life. Over the past four years this set of amazing flickr images has grown to over 2300 images from approximately 1800 people

Machinima is Big

As reported in the WSJ - September 22, 2011 - Top 50 YouTube Channels Revealed

The biggest name you may not have heard of: Machinima, which creates 24 shows about video games and other content of interest to young men. It also produces live-action series with high production values, including sci-fi mystery show “RCVR” and zombie thriller “Bite Me.” The Machinima channel recently feature Warner Bros.’ Mortal Kombat: Legacy, the first episode of which has gotten 14.3 million views.

Machinima’s channel, started in 2006, ranked third in August with 17.7 million viewers, comScore said. More importantly, it kept the average viewer watching videos for more than 70 minutes.

ComScore’s rankings “help with the advertising world,” said Allen Debevoise, chief executive of Machinima, which has 120 employees and is based in West Hollywood. “When advertisers look at numbers that are superior to those of cable TV, it starts to bring attention to it,” he said.

As previously reported in WSJ, YouTube is looking to spawn dozens of Machinimas for different interest areas, such as Hollywood gossip or sports, and it’s willing to pay multimillion-dollar advances to content creators to do so, people familiar with the matter have said.

Mesh in SL

Via: Karro_Lean's works -> http://www.koinup.com/Karro_Lean/works/
SLURL: Mesh Mellows - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mesh Mellows/158/130/1001

A Second Life New User First Experiance

I found this tumblr post today and LL wonders why people don't get it.

what the fuck?

I was really bored just then so I decided to check out that Second Life shit, it was really boring so I deactivated after like…15 minutes, lol. Anyway, I signed up with a free account-the only info I had to give was a username, a password, age and email. When I cancelled thttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhere was this information and it had like ‘cancellation pending’ etc and then this one section had ‘Your Billing Rate-USD 9.95 Basic’

what da fuq?

I used it for 15 minutes, they told me it was free.

i’m so confused as to what this means because they can’t even get monies off me, they have none of my info other than my email. lolwat.

& Later:

wait, dude, nevermind, i got it.
It means if I chose to reactivate that account it’ll cost me 9.95
lol fuq dat. that shit was boring and eh.

via:Tumbr search for Second Life: tay-has-a-tumblr:

State of The Art - Rendering Hardware

View HD & Full screen
Recently RenderStream completed testing one of its VDACTr8 systems, which utilizes eight GTX 580 GPUs, on V-Ray RT, a GPU accelerated renderer. <- Cost $15,000 plus

IBM has Left SL, but is not forgetting Virtual Meetings

Source: http://smarterplanet.tumblr.com/tagged/avatar

The Virtual Center, IBM Global Business Services’ 3D, voice-enabled, and web-based collaboration complex, is open for social business.

IBMers need to meet and work with each other — and with clients, business partners and external contacts — every day. But as the business world becomes more global and travel becomes more constrained, “face to face” collaboration becomes harder to come by. Through the GBS Virtual Center, you can connect and communicate with colleagues in ways that transcend traditional voice or online channels. And you can do real work in an immersive, easy-to-use 3D environment that is voice-enabled and web-based.

Based on IBM partner Avaya’s web.alive platform, the GBS Virtual Center is a 3D, avatar-based venue ideal for a wide range of business gatherings such as team meetings, group brainstorms, client presentations even analyst/press briefings. The GBS Virtual Center offers intuitive controls and wide-ranging capabilities:

Advanced 3D, spatial audio for natural voice conversation
An auditorium for up to 50 attendees, smaller conference rooms for more intimate get-togethers, ample informal gathering areas
State-of-the art presentation tools, document- and desktop-sharing
“Web walls” for sharing any Internet content, including video or animation
The ability to secure rooms to accommodate private discussions.
Easy avatar customization and simple navigation controls

To schedule a tour or inquire about an event or meeting, please leave a comment.

3ds Max - Clouds

Paths of Hate, a ten minute short directed by Damian Nenow of Platige Image, won the Computer Animation Festival Jury Award @ this year’s SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival. The film is a stylized depiction of two dogfighting airplanes, created almost entirely in 3ds Max. The interesting thing I saw was the great clouds.
This video does not do it justice see it here ->
Read More: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/behind-the-scenes-with-the-siggraph-caf-winners/