Fall TV coming back

Well, if you are a TV junkie like me, you should be gearing up for the new fall season. This September we have a few new shows starting that I am hoping will be really good.

The first one that has piqued my interest is Heroes on NBC. Premiering September 25th, it outlines several people who, after an eclipse, begin to exhibit superhero-like abilities. From teleportation and flying, to psycics and tissue regeneration, the show hits on several of the staples of typical comic book fare and puts them into a more realistic setting.

The second one is also on NBC and is called Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. This is being made by the people who were involved with the West Wing, and they even got Bradley Whitford, formerly Josh Lyman from the same show. It is about what goes on behind the scenes of a sketch comedy program.

Besides the new shows, some shows are also returning this fall. Lost premiers on October 4th, Bones premiered tonight, and Smallville is coming up soon.

Enjoy.

Ernesto? Hello?

Wow. They cancel classes, I get a day off, and nothing happens. We got a little rain, barely any wind, and now our schedule is jammed for the remainder of the month to makeup the class time we missed today. Weeeee....

Ernesto on its way

Whoa, been a while since I posted an entry here.

In case you didn't know, I am in the Central Florida area, and Ernesto, the first tropical storm of the season, is heading our way. It isn't supposed to reach hurricane status, so I am not very worried. Hurricane Charlie was the first hurricane I had to live through and it turned out not to affect me too much personally. As a matter of fact, with the way our building is situated, I was able to stand on my deck in the middle of the storm and watch everything blow by. That was one of the most powerful storms to reach this far inland, with winds around 100+ mph, and producing some crazy damage to trees, buildings and billboards all over the state. Ernesto is not supposed to hit hurricane status, which is 74 mph winds, but we are in the cone of 50 to 70% probability of having winds greater that 39 mph, but less than 74 mph. I think they are figuring on around 40 to 50mph sustained winds.

Anyway, I had been trying to think of something to post, and this is the most significant thing going on right now. So, I will wait it out here at home, then post an update after it passes by. With winds of only around 40 to 50mph, I am doubting anything goes down, so I may post updates as the day wears on. They cancelled school for tomorrow (I am a teacher), so I have the day off. Lets just hope that my internet and power stay up the whole time.

Can Stallone not let sleeping dogs lie?

I have just been informed that in addition to the upcoming Rocky Balboa movie, Rambo IV is currently in pre-production. When I first heard this, I naturally assumed that this was someone's imagination busily at work. But, I checked on IMDB and sure enough, the movie is in pre-production and a majority of the cast is already set. They have a preemptive release date of 2007, so we will have to wait and see how this turns out. I own the original trilogy, so I am interested to see how it turns out. You can get more info here.

New 3D packages and cheap upgrades

An interesting trend I am starting to see with some of the lesser known 3D developers is providing upgrades to their software for free to registered users. The best one that I have found is from Pixologic. If you are a registered user of ZBrush 2.0, you get to upgrade to 2.5 for free when it is released. The new update isn't simply a patch release, but a major upgrade that adds an enormous amount of power to the artist.

The other upgrade that I discovered is from Nevercenter. Anyone who bought a copy of their 3D application, Silo, after July 1, 2004 will be entitled to a free upgrade to version 2.0 due out sometime within the next few months. As with Pixologic, this isn't a run of the mill upgrade, but a major enhancement to the core product. This app probably has the most drastic changes, adding displacement and a multitude of new tools that I didn't think were even in development yet. Check out their site to learn more.

Both of these apps are going to help me personally, as I am a registered user of each and I get my upgrades for free. I think their low price points and occasional deals like those mentioned above are going to do a lot to curb the piracy that really seems to have spread throughout the 3D industry.

Keep watching here to see what I think of these new apps when I get them in.

Character and effects project

Starting this week I will be modeling, rigging and animating a new character for the class that I teach. The final character will incorporate cloth, hair and fur, so this will be quite a challenge for me. I may go ahead and also incorporate a muscle system as well, but we will have to wait and see. The character is based off a design by Tony DiTerlizzi, who illustrates the Spiderwick books, as well as many of the Magic the Gathering cards and AD&D manuals. I will be posting updates here, so check back every so often to see how things are going.

Comments fixed

It was brought to my attention that you had to be a member to post any comments on my blog. That has been remedied, so now you no longer have to sign up to blogspot to post comments. I will try and make sure this doesn't get abused (damn the internet, or at least the losers who abuse it), and if it gets to be a problem, I will turn the restriction back on.

Maya 8 - Let the insanity ensue!!!

Ah yes, it is that time again when Maya (my 3D app of choice) comes out with a new version. This release, however, seems to be sparking a lot more speculation and nit picking than a major release of the program normally would. This is because between version 7 and 8, Alias was bought out by Autodesk, and Maya was integrated into their product line. So, version 8 is the first release with Autodesk's name on it and people are just itching to find a reason to bash this latest iteration. What really tickles me are the people who are basing all of their speculation, concern and hate towards Autodesk on the fact that the initial announcement only listed five or six major changes to the software. It was by no means a comprehensive list of every new little tool or function, but something to get people to take notice of a few of the significant enhancements that had been made.

I have been getting info from people who have gotten the latest version via the Web upgrade, and there is a lot of new and cool stuff for us to use that I feel will make our lives much easier as 3D artists. If what they are saying is true, this release will be a significant improvement over what we have been using and our workflow will be much more streamlined.

While I hope that Maya succeeds in living up to the expectations of the general user community and provides us with a much more stable and reliable tool to creating great 3D art, I really hope it does something to squelch the jabbing posts and comments I am seeing on CGTalk and Highend3d. Stupidity in anonymous online forum posting just irritates the heck out of me, and I hope these jokers get what is coming to them.

80's Remake Songs

I am all for songs from my generation being remade by some of todays popular and upcoming bands. Provided, that is, they are not redone as rap/hip-hop songs. I am pretty much an anti-rap kind of guy.

That being said, there are two that have come out recently that I feel are noteworthy. The first is from Disturbed and is a remake of the Genesis song "Land of Confusion". You can see and hear it on their myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/disturbed . It is a pretty decent metal version that maintains the integrety of the original, but giving it that hard edge that I like so much.

The other is a remake of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence" by Lacuna Coil. You can also see and hear this one on their MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/lacunacoil. This is a goth style band with a female vocalist that does a supreme job belting out this tune.

Both of these renditions are excellent in my opinion and I highly advise you check them out if you get a chance.