NEWS:JOE'S RANTS

Joe Gunn is the on-staff 3d animation and visual effects specialist at Digital Pictures in Minneapolis.
Joe has been certified by Discreet to train individuals, groups and entire companies on 3DS Max
and Combustion. Joe is not only a technician but an artist as well. Some of his industry experience
includes commercial and print design, post production and design/visulaization projects here in the
Twin Cities.

Past email 1/5/04

Greetings max junkies! It's a new year and good things to come! For those of you who did not attend the last meeting you missed out it was a good time. This year we are going to re-design the website and get more people registered and using the forum which has started to take off.

Here is a little bit of Max news:

In 2003, 3ds max 6 continued major expansion in the game development market. Already used as a primary 3D application for 80 percent of the top-selling game titles, 3ds max software was a core 3D application used by 2003’s top 10 developers including: Rockstar, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Konami, and Microsoft for video, console and mobile games. Headlining games include Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Prince Of Persia: The Sands of Time, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, Deus Ex II: Invisible War, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, and Need for Speed: Underground, as well as much-anticipated 2004 releases Halo 2, The Warriors, Far cry, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, Syberia 2.

3ds max software purchases also grew in the motion picture and broadcast visual effects market, as major studio and animation houses discovered and utilized the strong new features in 3ds max 6, including Particle Flow and improved complementary workflow with other 3D applications such as Kaydara, Alias® Maya® and Softimage® XSI®. Visual effects created for motion pictures with 3ds max in 2003 include: The Last Samurai, Elf, The Matrix Reloaded, X2: X-Men United, The League of the Extraordinary Gentlemen, Freddy Vs, Jason, The Italian Job, Catch Me If You Can, The Core and Final Destination II.

http://www.discreet.com/3dsmax/showcase/lastsamurai.html

Also, if you have not found this already make sure you take the time to download and try out this beta for Fluids in Max! A very cool plugin called Glue3D from 3dAliens. These were a little buggy in max5 and I haven't tried 6 yet but overall very, very impressed! Some of those effects in the gallery can be achieved with PFlow and blobmesh but man is it easy with Glue3D and fast.

http://www.3daliens.com

Are next meeting will be schedule soon so stand by...

Until we meet again, 3ds max rocks!

If you don't know you better ask somebody!