DIGIPENDENCE - declare yours!

Ars Technica has published An introduction to 3D on the Mac, Part I: models & textures:

“If you’re just getting into 3D rendering on the Mac and are overwhelmed by the number of packages and approaches, Ars is here to help. We take you step-by-step through rendering and texturing a 3D model, with videos and advice on tools and techniques.”

The landscape of CG applications is vast and very confusing to 3D graphics newbies. These apps span the gamut from free modelers to beefy, Python-scriptable animation packages, standalone renderers and a lot of little programs that glue them all together into a complex and intimidating workflow. People looking to get into game development know that ZBrush is popular, but Mudbox looks good, too, so they’re at a loss over which to learn. Program X looks like it does everything, but does it? What’s “ambient occlusion” and why would I ever need it? These questions and more will complicate life for the aspiring 3D newb.

3D magazines provide helpful tutorials, but since every application is also a potential advertiser, they tend to avoid saying that one package is best for a particular task, or that program X really sucks at particle animation, and so on. This two-part series will cover these differences while discussing specific workflows where these packages are used in areas like character modeling, motion graphics for TV or photorealistic rendering for architectural visualization. By the end of this first article, you should have an idea of how to approach modeling, sculpting, and texturing to achieve professional-looking results; the second article will focus on animation and rendering. You will still have lots of questions at the end, but 3D is inherently complex so there’s not much getting around that. Think of this article as an introduction to the very basics.

Read the full eleven page tutorial (there are also videos). Ars Premier Subscribers can view it all on one page or download it as a PDF. The second (and final) part is to be: Rendering and Animation.

By now, most people have heard of Google Chrome, the new browser from the giant internet company which promises to revolutionize web browsing and using applications via a browser. It utilizes the WebKit layout engine and application framework. According to Wikipedia, Chrome - which derives its name from the graphical user interface frame, or “chrome”, of web browsers - is “as of December 2009, the third most widely used browser, with 4.4% of worldwide usage share of web browsers.” Google released the entire source code in September 2008 as an open source project entitled Chromium.

Considered one of the best business schools in France and Europe, top-ranked ESCP Europe is the world’s oldest institution dedicated to business education and its Executive MBA program ranks 25th in the world. Over ESCP Europe students participated in the creation of this interesting stop-motion animation video.

Remember Matt Harding who danced his way around the world? Well, Matt recently spent some time showing kids at Orphans of Rwanda all about internet video, including how to make their own. While he was there, he directed a fun little stop-motion animatin video called Rwandan Grand Prix:

About Orphans of Rwanda

Founded in 2004, Orphans of Rwanda, Inc. (ORI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting orphans and vulnerable young people in Rwanda who have been affected by the 1994 genocide and diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria. ORI’s principal mission is financing university education and related training for young people who, against tremendous odds, have completed secondary school and scored highly on university entrance examinations.

Learn more here.