trueSpace affected my Microsoft's reduced investment

Former trueSpace developer Caligari has announced via founder Roman Ormandy, that due to ‘difficult business conditions‘, users of the 3D application will see a ‘reduction or elimination of services offered for trueSpace‘.

The announcement was made through a ‘letter from the founder‘ on the Caligari website.

View full announcement.

Death is no laughing matter... but killing off your lead actor over and over again is pure comedy gold, as French short Dans La Tête proves

This well executed short sees a soldier sent into a warzone, where he dies, ascends to heaven, and is… sent back. According to heaven‘s rules, the soldier hasn‘t died quite to its requirements and is returned to the battle over and over again in a Groundhog Day meets Saving Private Ryan style.

You can read more about the making of ‘Dans La Tête‘ in issue 118 of 3D World.

Download 'Dans La Tête'
In most browsers, right-click on the link and select Save As to download the movie (31 MB)

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Visit the Dans La Tête website

Post-production studio ZOO created 3D skeletons and landscapes for BBC show The Link: Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor

Project name: The Link: Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor

Production Company: Atlantic Productions

Post production: ZOO

Post Producer: James Prosser

Watch it: 26 May 2009 at 9pm on BBC ONE

The brief was to create scientifically accurate 3D skeletons for a 47 million year-old creature, based on an early primate fossil named Ida.

Starting by commissioning a 3D scan of a ring-tailed lemur skeleton, ZOO used the base model to rebuild the Ida skeleton model with scientific accuracy.

ZOO were also tasked with creating a landscape of the Messel pit site in Germany were the Ida fossil was preserved.

The team used the Vue environment software to form a dynamic landscape and Particle Flow for the explosion, dust and debris.

Compositing and grading on all 3D images was done using After Effects and rendered using mental ray.

The work will be shown in The Link: Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor on BBC1 on 26 May at 9pm.

Download the videos to accompany issue 118's tutorials

In issue 118 of 3D World, Kyle Balda concludes his animation masterclass for Maya; Christopher Plush looks at rigging for animation in Blender; and our expert artists tackle a selection of your questions. The videos here complement these tutorials, providing extra detail and insight. The scene files for all of these tutorials are on issue 118‘s disc: to order your copy, visit My Favourite Magazines.

Animate the Hollywood way
Character animation in Maya with Kyle Balda

Download Video 7.1 (94.1MB)

Download Video 7.2 (45.1MB)

Download Video 8 (117.4MB)

Download Video 9 (170.9MB)

Download Video 10.1 (312.2MB)

Download Video 10.2 (127.6MB)

The tale of the rat's tail
The art of rigging in Blender with Christopher Plush

Download Stage 1 video (13.6MB)

Download Stage 2 video (12.1MB)

Download Stage 3 video (42.6MB)

Download Stage 4 video (57.1MB)

Questions and Answers
This issue‘s selection of reader questions

Download 3ds Max video (25.6MB)

Download After Effects video (3.1MB)

Download Cinema 4D video (5.4MB)

Download Fusion video (8.6MB)

Download LightWave 3D video (22.7MB)

Download Maya video (48.9MB) and final animation (37.2MB)

Download Photoshop video (15.3MB)

Download SketchUp video (3MB)