December 8, 2009

Aaron F. Ross, webmaster of Digital Arts Guild, has teamed up with lynda.com, the industry leader in online software training. Aaron’s first video training series for lynda.com is 3ds Max 2010 Lighting and Rendering with mental ray. Learn to make photorealistic renderings in 3ds Max!

This series, over five hours in length, explores one of the most powerful toolsets for photorealistic 3D image visualization: the mental ray renderer in 3ds Max. Aaron shows how to use mental ray’s combination of materials, lighting, and rendering to achieve a variety of effects, from glossy surfaces to reflections and transparency. He provides an in-depth review of photometrics and the tools used to adjust lighting in 3ds Max, including intensity, distribution, and color temperature, in a wide variety of lighting scenarios. Aaron also devotes time to getting the most out of mental ray’s powerful rendering engine and improving render efficiency. Exercise files are included with this course.

September 24, 2009

The Digital Arts Guild website has re-launched with exciting new features! We’ve upgraded the site to a database-driven content management system. This enables us to provide all sorts of new services to our members. If you’re looking for high quality learning materials for computer graphics, we’re here to help you.

Now it’s even easier to join the growing community of CG artists. As a Guild Member, you’ll get free access to members-only content, and you’ll be notified when the site is updated. Just click the “Join the Guild” button, and you’ll be taken to a registration page. Once we verify your email address, you’ll be able to log in with your username and get access to premium content. Note: you can change your email address in the future, but your username is permanent.

We’ve added new content to several areas of the site. For example, there’s a new video tutorial on 3ds Max Modeling. In this two-hour video series, we use various polygon tools to construct a restaurant chair. The project is inspired by real-world reference material.

As the site grows, we’ll be rolling out entire course curricula for 3ds Max and Maya. Right now, you can get a taste of that with the Lesson Notes provided with all new video tutorials. Each Lesson Notes article is designed to accompany a specific video series. Students’ learning outcomes are better when they have a written outline of all step-by-step procedures and explanations. The Lesson Notes are a valuable resource provided free to registered members.

Digital Arts Guild also provides software training to individuals and small groups, in person or via webconferencing. Take a look at our course offerings, and contact us to request rates and further information.

We’re excited to be a part of the ongoing revolution in image-making tools. Our mission is to help as many people as possible to learn 3D software and techniques. Every year, the tools become better, faster, cheaper, and easier. More and more people are picking up 3D skills, which means we are seeing more creative visions in entertainment, art and design. We are proud and honored to help spread knowledge and put the means of media production in the hands of the people.

Maya is an incredibly powerful tool for the creation of moving images! If you are interested in character animation or visual effects, then Maya is a top-tier application in your industry.

Maya is a whole world unto itself, so it takes a while to get your bearings. In this two-hour video series, you get to explore the entire production workflow for animation. We use the classic bouncing ball exercise because it clearly illustrates how to achieve convincing animation, including position, rotation, and squash & stretch. Along the way, you also get to learn the basics of cameras, materials, lighting, and rendering. We finish up by converting our Maya image sequence to a movie with Quicktime Pro.

A 3D artist can’t live without keyboard shortcuts, or hotkeys. These quick reference guides will help you remember the hotkeys for 3ds Max, Maya, and other popular programs. Eventually you’ll have “motor memory,” and you won’t have to think... your body will just know which key to press! Until then, we’re here to help you with Cheat Sheets.