http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news GFXartist.com the best place to be a digital artist and to become one. Digital art resource. Digital art community Copyright 2000-2008 GFXartist network / Brothersinart http://www.gfxartist.com http://images.gfxartist.com/gfx/GFXartist_64.png support@gfxartist.com en-us GFXartist Engine 1.0 60 Fri, 16 May 2008 00:49:12 EST http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/166719 RayFire Tool gives You ability to shoot, destroy, demolish, ruin, break down, make havoc, blow up, burst, detonate, explode and do other similar things You have always dreamed of to do in Max. Check the site here... Software TheNeverman.members@gfxartist.com http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/166719#comments http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/166719 Sat, 10 May 2008 18:47:18 EST http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/165972 Brought to you by 3DTotal.com. View all of our Photoshop tutorials in 1 easy to view page - definately one to bookmark! More categories to follow soon. Digital art and design Tom-3DT.members@gfxartist.com http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/165972#comments http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/165972 Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:31:55 EST http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/165445 Spiral Graphics Inc. has announced Genetica 3.0, a powerful new version of its popular seamless texture and graphics application. A video showcasing the major features to be introduced in Genetica 3.0 is available at http://www.spiralgraphics.biz/genetica/gen3announce.htm The new version will add powerful vector drawing tools, making it the first application to offer industry-strength drawing capability that has been tailored to the needs of texture artists. Drawings are automatically seamless, and will influence important effect maps such as height and normal maps. With Genetica 3.0 artists won't be limited to standard fills, but will be able to draw with sophisticated styles including glass, water, metal, cracks, and rust. Genetica 3.0 will include a deep new editor for creating and manipulating High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI) environment maps. This editor will allow artists to use both photographic and procedural sources for the construction of realistic spherical lighting environments. The environment maps will not only be used to light texture surfaces within Genetica, but will also be exportable for use in 3D environments. Game artists will appreciate the processor-intensive surface effects that can be baked directly into the exported environment maps, including diffusion and other light-scattering filters. A Studio Edition has also been announced that will bring powerful animation capabilities to the product line. Genetica 3.0 Studio will open new creative doors for animators, including animated seamless texture and effect maps, animated image filters, sophisticated transitions, and other special effects. Genetica 3.0 is anticipated for release in the summer of 2008. Spiral Graphics Inc. is a software development firm focused on creating innovative software tools for the computer graphics community. Software CJO.members@gfxartist.com http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/165445#comments http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/165445 Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:22:54 EST http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/165391 Adobe Systems is launching a new site called Adobe TV. Adobe TV features four channels of original series programming and content created and produced by xTrain and Splash Media. These channels provide entertaining and expert instructional videos for photographers, designers, video professionals and developers. xTrain is proud to announce its new featured partnership on Adobe Systems’ new Adobe TV site. The new site features over 100 training segments from xTrain that include topics such as photography, graphic design, video, web developing and design, business and more. We are honored to be teaming up with such a significant leader in the software and technology industry, as we believe it will enable both our companies to deliver high-end education to a broad spectrum of Adobe software users. xTrain is geared towards the aspiring as well as the established designer. They provide amazing design courses that can offer you amazing tips and new ideas for your artwork. Whether you're interested in Adobe, Corel, or other programs, xTrain is your one-stop learning center for all your tutorial needs. For any inquires contact press relations or jvest Go to http://news.xtrain.com for the full press release. Miscellaneous xtrainguru.members@gfxartist.com http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/165391#comments http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/165391 Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:18:59 EST http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/165437 Xara has announced the release of Xara Xtreme 4, a new version of their fast and affordable graphics program. Here are some of the new features, straight from the press release: Ultra-fast non-destructive photo editing features, 10 times faster and resulting in files 10 times smaller, than other graphics tools Real-time, fully shaded, 3D extrude Multi-core support. An average of 40% faster and up to 80% faster on dual-core processors (Xtreme Pro only) WYSIWYG website creation. Supports free-form web page design, 'anything anywhere' and advanced features such as text flow around shapes, mouse-over effects, pop-ups and more Real-time 'flow around' text repelling more than a dozen other new features and improvements - get the whole list here... Software TheNeverman.members@gfxartist.com http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/165437#comments http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/165437 Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:12:33 EST http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/165338 Too often artists get stuck in a comfort zone. This contest is all about making changes in yourself to become a better artist. The Task: There will be 2 different categories to this contest, you can choose one or the other, or both, but these aren't combined in anyway, and each part will be judged separately. Category 1 - Changing Mediums Your task is to create an original piece that incorporates the theme that is a medium that you have never posted in before. Example: Byonder has never posted a 3d work, or posted a traditionally painted work. Category 2 - Changing Styles Your task is to post an artwork in a medium that incorporates a theme that you have normally post in, except try a new stylistic approach that you normally wouldn't do. * One post per contestant per category Example: ThruMyEyez would do a portrait photograph shot since he normally does nature photography, so he would be expanding his horizons to a new style of photography he has never tried/posted before. The Theme : No theme, no constraints, nothing, go nuts with any idea and have fun. It is important to have the freedom to come up with absolutely anything you desire when trying something for the first time. Judging The judges will be judging based upon: - Originality (in comparison to your own portfolio) - How you challenged yourself - As a piece of art alone, in how it interprets your vision, and the overall success/impact of the image. Judges: daykan Byonder BaronImpossible twistoflime Wysiwyg Prizes Because of the fact that we are trying to make a change with ourselves, why not try to change the world while we are at it? When the winner of each area is decided, I will donate $50 USD on behalf of each category winner's name to the charity of their choice. In addition, the winner of each category will also receive a ‘plus’ membership, in the event of the winner already having a plus membership, the runner up shall receive a plus membership, while the top winner still gets charity choice. How to Enter : 1. When you upload to your gallery, the title of your work must say one of the following. For Category 1 - Make a Change 2008 - Medium For Category 2 - Make a Change 2008 - Style 2. Make yourself a banner size around 500x80, then post in the Official Thread with your link to your post. Thread: http://www.gfxartist.com/community/forum/165342 Deadline: The contest ends on May 31st GOOD LUCK! FAQs about M.AC.2006: Last time we had 27 Entries Last time winners were Category 1 - Diane Category 2 - the -real-Kamui Contests and events Wysiwyg.members@gfxartist.com http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/165338#comments http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/165338 Mon, 07 Apr 2008 22:12:26 EST http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/163823 Joost (Millink) Mellink is very much into Pinhole photography, and would like to share his passion with fellow artists interested in this method of taking photos. In short, a pinhole camera is a camera without a lens. A regular camera (with lens) spreads the light equally on the film, this way you get a nice sharp image within 1/30th of a second. A pinhole camera does this in slow motion… Instead of using a lens, the pinhole camera use a very tiny hole to bundle the light, and spread it on your film. This way, all the false light gets excluded, and your film won’t get overexposed. Because the hole is so incredibly small (1 millimetre at max), not a lot of light ‘burns’ the film: about 20 times less than a normal camera. This requires a much longer shutter speed. A converted pinhole DSLR has a shutter speed of 30 seconds, instead of 1/60th of a second. There is an advantage to this tiny hole: Diaphragm is the keyword in pinhole photography. Where your standard DSLR has a diaphragm of 4-36, a large pinhole camera has a whooping 480! Diaphragm is nothing more then the relation between focus length and the diameter of a lens. And the ‘lens’ of a pinhole camera is amazingly small! No wonder the diaphragm is so high. Don’t underestimate this: with a diaphragm of 200, the photo is completely in focus! With pinhole photography, focusing is never an issue; the image is always focused. An important downside however, is that pinhole photo’s can never be as sharp as regular photo’s. Precise pinholes are hard or expensive to make, even in a perfect world; a lens just bundles the light a lot better. However, with a laser burned hole, and a good tripod, incredibly sharp photos have been made. Most pinhole photographers use plain photo paper. This a lot cheaper then negatives, easy to develop and generally easy to handle. On the contrary, RC photo paper have an ISO of around 8 or 9. So your shutter speed increases even more. But every developable surface can be used to take photos with. So using negatives is always an option. With the coming of Digital single-lens reflex cameras, a lot of people are even experimenting with digital pinhole cameras. Or Digital Pinhole Single Lens Reflex cameras in short. Awesome word for hangman… As for myself: I've built five cameras. Most of them are made out of tea boxes or simple cans. My biggest (focus length: 350 mm) is made out of wood and has a diaphragm of 480, and is by far the sharpest. Since it weighs around 7 kilogram, it’s not very easy to walk around with. This can be a downside for a lot of people. A solution is to build smaller cameras thus making them lighter. Using negatives or making your pinhole slightly bigger (but your losing sharpness), I for myself prefer heavier camera’s: it forces me to THINK about my photos. I even go as far as sketching photos and taking test-photos with a digital camera. Then I’m setting everything up, checking everything again, and THEN I take my photo and wait 60 minutes or so. It just takes too much time and effort to take 5 photos of one subject. But, this way every photo is special and unique. Pinhole photography is a peculiar way of looking at photography. On one hand its clumsy, takes a lot of time and the result can be de-motivating. On the other hand it forces you to think about photography, what you want to say or show with your photo’s and forces you to be creative. I love taking simple shots, and to have a quick result with my digital camera. But working hard, and building up expectations can be very, very satisfying on a different level. In my opinion, photography is all about controlling as many things as possible. I try to control the light, camera settings and the final product by post-editing it. Pinhole photography does just that, in the most extreme way, and with the most exciting results! Joost Mellink (Millink) Interviews and discussions Millink.members@gfxartist.com http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/163823#comments http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/163823 Sat, 05 Apr 2008 23:29:48 EST http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/164998 You shot it — now do something to it. Make it pop. Make it impossible to ignore. Upload, sort, polish, and store up to 2GB of photos. All for free. Resize, tint, distort, and more — add your mark to all your images. Then show them off on Adobe® Photoshop® Express or your Facebook page. Join the 24/7 photo party. No cover charge. Software TheNeverman.members@gfxartist.com http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/164998#comments http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/164998 Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:49:30 EST http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/164796 A new beta of CrazyBump is released for public testing. Visit the CrazyBump website here... Software TheNeverman.members@gfxartist.com http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/164796#comments http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/164796 Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:45:49 EST http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/163243 This image was created specifically for the January 2008 Image Challenge over at the Gnomon Workshop. The theme was, unsurprisingly, "Sea Creature". I try to participate in such contests whenever I can, as they help you get started by providing you with a subject or theme, and most importantly, a deadline. As these things go, regardless of how tight that deadline is, one always tends postpone the work until it's almost too late... and this painting was no exception. Read on for details... Interviews and discussions Stryker.members@gfxartist.com http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/163243#comments http://www.gfxartist.com/general/general_news/163243 Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:43:16 EST