International LightWave 3D User Group

Coming soon we will have interviews with the following artists:

Daniel L. Smith – Stereoscopic 3D and his move to the DAVE school

Leigh Bamforth – Sculpting Packages and their place in your pipeline

Timothy Albee – Independent Film Making and LightWave 3D’s Place in his production work flow

Dates and registration details coming soon, watch this site for more details.

Here are the video files for the Rob Powers interview. We have them broken up into three parts. Please comment and let us know what you think of the interview and the final video renders so that we can improve future interviews.

Thank you!

Rob Powers Interview – Part 01 Rob Powers Interview – Part02 Rob Powers Interview Part 03

First meeting Video.  This meeting was with Daniel L. Smith, Rob Powers and Larry Shultz.

The meeting covered Stereoscopic Media and Jobs in the LightWave Industry.

ILWUG-Meeting-0001

Want to win a copy of LWCAD from W-Tools, a $299.00 value?  Simply register for the interview with Rob Powers and not only win LWCAD but Rob may even demonstrate the application as well.

Thank you to the team over at W-Tools.  For more information on LWCAD, please visit http://www.wtools3d.com.

You must be present to win.

Interview with Rob Powers

Rob Powers has been flexing his CG muscles for years now on feature films or for TV.  You may have seen Rob in 2005 as he worked closely with Microsoft, AMD, and NewTek to produce the first all 64-bit Windows animation in history for Bill Gates’ Keynote for the Windows 64-bit OS launch.

In June 2005, Robert was asked by James Cameron to be the first 3D artist hired for the “Avatar” feature film project.  Working closely with James Cameron and the core design team Robert provided 3D concept and motion studies of key character, creature, and environmental assets for the film.  Later Robert’s role evolved and he created and supervised the first ever “Virtual Art Department” for the film.   As Supervisor of the Avatar Virtual Art Department he and his team developed all real-time environmental assets for the production, and developed numerous innovative “Virtual” workflow techniques and tools that defined the process.

Robert continued his efforts as Virtual Art Department Supervisor on the Peter Jackson  / Steven Spielberg animated feature film “TinTin”  where he organized and built a team in Los Angeles and worked in New Zealand with the Weta Digital Team.

These days, as you can imagine, Rob is a hard guy to get a hold of but we have secured two hours of his time for a interview about his work on Avatar.

This is a interactive interview as we will have time to allow you to ask Rob questions.

PRICE / SPACE:
Space is limited to 900 people and this Interview is presented FREE

PRIZES: – ADDED 02-04-10
One lucky person attending this interview will win a copy of W-Tools LWCAD.  This is a $299.00 value!  To win all you have to do is be present for the interview.

For more information on LWCAD, please see the W-Tools web site here – http://www.wtools3d.com

REGISTRATION:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/737831387

Welcome to the first International LightWave 3D User Group Meeting sponsored by  KURV studios.

Media file at the bottom of this post -

In this first International LightWave 3D User Group meeting, we will discuss the following topics:

Stereoscopic 3-D and where LightWave 3D Fits in the pipeline &
The state of 3D today and finding a job in this deflated economy

Our panelists in this meeting will be, (alphabetical) Rob Powers, Larry Shultz and Daniel Smith.  All three of our panelists are very experienced in Stereo cinema with credits including Spy Kids 3D, James Cameron’s Avatar, and Aliens of the Deep (Lightstorm).  With their years of experience and versatile backgrounds in Hollywood and TV these three artists bring a unique discussion to the table for both topics (stereo / jobs).

Your roll in the International LightWave 3D User Group Meetings:

We want to hear from you!  This is an open discussion where we will be fielding questions from you to our panelists (microphone required).

So register today for this free webinar and come see what the buzz is all about!

About our Panelists (alphabetical):

Robert Powers:
Throughout 2004 Robert worked on James Cameron’s “Aliens of the Deep” Stereoscopic IMAX film on which he did creature design, rigging, texturing, animation, and in addition, he did the main title for the movie.  In 2005 Robert worked closely with Microsoft, AMD, and Newtek to produce the first all 64-bit Windows animation in history for Bill Gates’ Keynote for the Windows 64-bit OS launch.

In June 2005, Robert was asked by James Cameron to be the first 3D artist hired for the “Avatar” feature film project.  Working closely with James Cameron and the core design team Robert provided 3D concept and motion studies of key character, creature, and environmental assets for the film.  Later Robert’s role evolved and he created and supervised the first ever “Virtual Art Department” for the film.   As Supervisor of the Avatar Virtual Art Department he and his team developed all real-time environmental assets for the production, and developed numerous innovative “Virtual” workflow techniques and tools that defined the process.

Robert continued his efforts as Virtual Art Department Supervisor on the Peter Jackson  / Steven Spielberg animated feature film “TinTin”  where he organized and built a team in Los Angeles and worked in New Zealand with the Weta Digital Team.

Larry Shultz
Larry Shultz – has been involved with computer graphics since the mid-1980s. He began using LightWave 3D in its early days for TV commercials and other projects at a CGI company he co-founded during the early ’90s called The Animation Factory in Albuquerque.

Since those days Larry has worked for such companies as American Laser Games, Sony Development, Discovery Channel, Netter Digital, Foundation Imaging, Amalgamated Pixels, Squarehouse Entertainment Warner Bros., and Lightstorm, as well as working on a freelance basis for many other companies. Larry is very experienced in almost every aspect of LightWave, working as lead artist, technical director, and in many other positions on a variety of projects.

Daniel L. Smith:
Daniel L. Smith is a VFX supervisor and 3D Stereoscopic expert. He has worked on feature films, television series, commercials, and special venue films.

Daniel has been very involved with Visual Effects and 3D stereoscopy for nearly 18 years. His diverse path has allowed him to work alongside some truly unique, talented, and visionary artists in the Visual FX industry.  Daniel also got to work with Allen Hastings and Stuart Ferguson when implementing stereo rendering capabilities into LightWave 3D back in the late 90’s.  Daniel has worked with Academy award winning supervisors and directors such as Joel Hynek (Predator, What Dreams May Come, Judge Dredd), John Gatea (The Matrix Trilogy, Speed Racer), and Will Vinton( Claymation, California Raisins.)  Daniel has supervised stereoscopic projects for Busch Gardens, Radio City Music Hall, and Santa’s Village.  He was also the stereoscopic supervisor on the most successful 3D movie of all time, Spy-Kids 3D (according to the 2007 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records).

We are proud to present these sessions free of charge and we are working hard to line up professional artists in the coming meetings for you to interact with.

Video File Below

ILWUG-Meeting-0001

Adam Gibson has made quite a name for himself in the LightWave community and he is continuing his classes with this class on UV unwrapping.

If you have looked at UV unwrapping and had trouble with it in LightWave 3D, look no further.  This two part class on UV unwrapping will not only cover the how-to’s but also cover some trouble spots and show you how to over come the issues.

This class is a two part series presented back to back on Thursday and Friday of the week of December 14th.

Worried you might miss a class, don’t worry.  When the class is done, we will give you access to the edited download, already being processed now.

So don’t just buy a DVD and watch it from home, come and join fellow LightWave artists like yourself LIVE and get to talk and ask questions.

The cost of the class, including the access to the down-loadable DVD afterwords is $12.95.  This class will retail for 24.95 when released.

In this advanced class from Leigh Bamforth we will be covering 3D Coats retopology tools. Leigh has said on many occasions that 3D Coat offers the best retopology tools of any 3D application and now you can see him in action. Join us as Leigh retopologize’s a complete character.

In this 1.5 hour class, Leigh will cover in depth all the tools 3D Coat has to offer for retopology as well as poly flow and the importance of poly placement.

Retopology is essential to any sculptor and 3D Coat is a sculptors dream. Learn how to use these amazing tools from a master, Leigh Bamforth.

This class is 1.5 hours long and costs $14.95. This includes a Questions and Answers session at the end of the class.
Title: Advanced Retopology in 3D Coat by Leigh Bamforth
Date: Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Time: 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM CDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/554746138

About Leigh Bamforth
Leigh Bamforth is an extremely accomplished self taught 2D / 3D artist from the UK. He is proficient in not only Maya, Softimage, ZBrush, 3D Coat and Modo but is also a programmer and web designer to boot! His work has been seen in CG Society, ZBrush Central, 3D Coat’s forums as well as being published in Exotique 3 by Ballistic Media. Leigh, KURV studios and Pilgway are working very closely together on an Advanced series of training videos for the new and extremely successful, Pilgway, 3D Coat application.

You can view more of Leigh’s work on his business web site, Wrake Design – www.wrakedesign.com. For more information about 3D Coat professional live training series from KURV studios, click here.

About 3D Coat and KURV studios Training
Voxel sculpting is only the coolest thing implemented to 3D since NURBS. Voxel sculpting allows you to sculpt any details, unlimited topological flow with out any constraints. That’s right, unlimited artistic control of your objects, creatures, characters or what ever you’re sculpting. No other package gives you this kind of limitless control and freedom. 3D Coat truly unleashes your artistic ability and Leigh Bamforth will help you understand 3D Coats powerful Voxel’s.

Leigh Bamforth is our latest addition to KURV studios and what an addition he is. You might have seen his work in EXOTIQUE 3 (Ballistic Media). Look for a new series of live training webinar’s coming from Leigh on ZBrush, 3D Coat and more.

As a Mac Lightwave user, I’ve been keeping a keen eye on the Newtek Mac Support Discussion Forums  in eager anticipation of 9.6.1 Open Beta.

For those of you who don’t know, it means that us Mac users will finally get the 64-bit functionality that we’ve ever so envied on the Windows platorm.

However, with progress comes pain. The EVE3 dongle is no longer supported with the 9.6.1 upgrade.

The good news is that you’ve got plenty of time to work out a relplacement so you can achieve Open Beta nirvanna come release day.

Folks who have an Eve3 dongle can call or email Customer Services now to request that the replacement dongle be sent out. There will be at most a small charge for the dongle (management is still reviewing the details of the exchange program), the replacement will ship immediately upon request, and the customer can return the Eve3 dongle that is being retired after receiving and getting set up and running with the new Ultrapro dongle and new dongle ID.

NewTek will also provide confirmation of the exchange to any third parties from whom the user has products that key to the dongle, as for example do Worley Labs products. If you round up the necessary fax numbers or email addresses for your third party products, you can provide that information in your first call or email to NewTek CS, and that will enable the CS staff to send out the confirmation notices very quickly after entering the order. 

SpinQuad is running a multi-part challenge to create some fantastic UFO scene files.

Below is the first winner of the modeling challenge. As you can see the quality of work SpinQuad users are producing is amazing.

We will wait to see what SpinQuad has in store for us on the next phase of the challenge.

Here is a link to the challenge thread – click here

Link to the modeling challenge winner – click here

SpinQuad UFO Challenge Winner

:: Mission Statement ::
Dedicated to computer graphics, and the visual effects industry, SpinQuad was created to provide a place where LightWave 3D enthusiast can come and get all the resources they need whether they are professionals or hobbyists alike.

:: About SpinQuad ::
SpinQuad is an online community dedicated to LightWave 3D and the Visual Effects Industry. News, tutorials, product reviews, and artist interviews, SpinQuad has something for every artist.