Tutorial: Advanced Lighting and Caustics with Mental Ray and Maya

From CG Tuts+: "In this tutorial you will learn how to use the 3 indirect lighting systems in Maya (Global Illumination, Final Gathering, and Irradiance Particles) and caustics. You will learn how to solve common problems and reduce rendering times while creating hi-quality images. At the end of this tutorial, you will have gained enough experience to decide which of the 3 indirect lighting systems is the most convenient for any situation."

Featured Project: Viva La Vida

This week's featured project is Ryan Loveland's awesome effects-laden music video for Coldplay's "Viva La Vida," produced for last semester's DFVA254 Motion Graphics class. Look for appearances by some of UAT's best and brightest - Mr. Loveland himself as the singer, Jusin Gagen on violin, Kalki Khaira on acoustic guitar, Ryan Andrews on drums, Kenny Rayl on keyboards and Justin Savino on electic guitar.



YouTube Link

Call for Volunteers: International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival

Call for Festival Zombies! (EXTRA CREDIT FOR CURRENT STUDENTS!)

The 2009 International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival is creeping up on us! The festival takes place at the MADCAP Theatres (Formerly Harkins Centerpoint) from October 15th -- October 18th. We can’t capture our audience without the help of our amazing Festival Zombies. In exchange for a commitment of at least Sixteen (16) hours, Festival Zombies will receive a festival t-shirt and a full festival pass (excludes the opening night screening). In addition to the various positions you can help out with during the festival, there will also be pre-festival volunteer opportunities.

We’re putting a shift schedule together now and will be starting our Festival Zombie Orientations soon. Those of you who have volunteered with us before will not be required to attend an Orientation (Online Scheduling will be available), however if you will be transforming yourself into a Festival Zombie for the first time this year, you will need to attend an orientation. The One (1) hour spent at orientation will be credited to your Festival Commitment.

We've scheduled a FINAL Festival Zombie Orientation to go over the specifics and answer any questions you may have. This is also an opportunity to sign up for the shifts you'd like to work.

* October 3, 2009 at 1:00pm

Orientation will last about an hour and will take place at the Phoenix Film Foundation offices located in the Metro Arts Institute, 1700 N. 7th Ave Suite 250. The building is on the NW corner of 7th Avenue and McDowell.

Please email volunteer@phxfilm.com to reserve a space or if you have any questions.

We look forward to seeing your ... Blood and guts, spewed all over the place. Looked like spaghetti and meat sauce ... at the upcoming Festival!

Please email mailto:volunteer@phxfilm.com with any questions; visit the Volunteer Schedule at: http://PFFVolunteer.com

David A. Lucas -- Volunteer Director
Phoenix Film Foundation
1700 N. 7th Ave, Suite #250 Phoenix, AZ 85007
-- David@PhxFilm.com
-- (480) 236-0782 (c)

Tutorial: DVD Authoring

Here's another great tutorial from one of our favorite After Effects tutorial sites, Video Copilot. In this one Andrew Kramer shows you how to use After Effects in conjunction with Adobe Encore to build a looping DVD menu animation and add all the functionality you need to make your DVD's look professional. Watch it here!

44 Free Texture Sites

Topher Welsh over at AE Tuts+ posted this one a few weeks back and I thought I'd share it with you. For those of you working in 3D, motion graphics, or visual effects, good textures are a MUST.

Check out Topher's list of the 44 best FREE texture sites out there!

25+ Best Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 Tutorials

Now even though I put an emphasis on teaching Avid Media Composer - IMHO the undisputed "big dog" of nonlinear editing - a lot of my students also work in Adobe Premiere and Apple's Final Cut Pro. So here's a post for you Premiere folks - Tutorial Lounge has compiled their list of the "25+ Best Movie Editing in Adobe Premiere CS4 Tutorials." Good stuff, definitely worth a look if you've been doing any cutting in Premiere lately!

Final Cut Pro or Avid Media Composer?

Here's an interesting perspective on the age-old Avid vs. FCP debate, from Guardian Studios, an Avid-equipped production and post house in Columbus, OH. Naturally each system has its pros and cons, its supporters and detractors.

For students figuring out which system to learn and why, this blog post is definitely worth a read - and so are the comments!

Everything is About to Change: Arri's New Digital Camera System

Arri has released early specs for its new family of digital cinema cameras, featuring 35mm-sized sensors and light sensitivity equivalent to 800 ISO filmstock. Coupled with the ability to use a vast array of cinema prime lenses, high-resolution electronic viewfinders, or traditional optical viewfinders, these new cameras reflect Arri's longtime commitment to providing filmmakers with the tools they really want.

Arri has also provided a searchable, indexed HTML version of Quantel's "Digital Fact Book" - an incredibly inclusive glossary and reference guide to digital video technology. The Digital Fact Book is also available as a PDF.

New DV Equipment Reservation System

New for this semester! The DV Reservation Book in the Library has been replaced with a new online spreadsheet. Check it out here, and watch this tutorial video:

DV Equipment Reservation System Tutorial from UAT Digital Video on Vimeo.

Free Concrete Textures

Here's another collection from Best Design Options - 110 Free Concrete Textures, Volume I. This one is PERFECT for all you 3D modelers in need of some photorealistic textures to wrap around your models. Bookmark this one or just download 'em all.