Red Giant have published an interesting tutorial showing how to generate normal maps using Trapcode Form. This allows for some pretty cool motion-graphics style effects when used in combination with my free relighting plugin Normality for After Effects, as the tutorial goes on to explain.
Motion 5
Apple’s Motion 5 is now available for $50… very, very intriguing. Did not see that coming at all. Definitely a bold move from Apple.
We may see some of my After Effects plug-ins ported to Motion in the future.
Manly Tears
Today I noticed that “mental ray” is an anagram of “manly tear”. It does seems strangely appropriate as I’ve seen quite a few of those manly tears flow thanks to mental ray.
The ongoing situation in Japan
Due to recent events in Japan my fiancée and I have temporarily left the country. Neither of us were directly affected by the terrible disasters up north. We’re both doing fine, albeit understandably shaken and concerned about the ongoing situation north of our hometown, Tokyo.
As a precautionary safety measure we’ll be staying abroad for the time being until any possible health implications can be reasonably assessed.
Donations
If you were considering donating to me I kindly ask you to instead donate to the victims of the earthquake and tsunami. Any and all donations I receive in the coming weeks will be forwarded in total to a charitable organization to help restore normality for the people in Japan.
Welcome to 3DCG.net
A slightly belated “Welcome” to everyone visiting the new and updated minning.de 3DCG.net!
With last week’s relaunch this website has undergone a major rebranding: Not only has the layout and design been adjusted to be more inviting and clear, most of the information has also been rearranged and reformatted to make things easier to find and read.
And finally, the site now runs under the 3DCG.net banner.
3DCG.net? Whatever happened to minning.de?
For the past few years I’ve been on the lookout for interesting domain names and managed to snatch up a couple of nice ones, but with 3DCG.net I found I’d managed to grab one that’s more valuable than most:
- It’s short.
- It’s meaningful.
- It’s directly related the site’s contents.
- I just like the sound of it.
Compared to the old domain minning.de which carries little meaning unless you happen to know my last name, that’s a lot of good reasons to make something of it.
As I’d been planning to relaunch the site with a new design for a while now anyway, I finally decided to move everything to the new domain.
minning.de will remain active and redirects to 3DCG.net for the time being. It will also continue to be used for my and my family’s email correspondence.
Good comparison of tone mapping operators
Fellow programmer/photographer Frank Dürr has created a nice comparison of tone mapping operators, many of which are available in Atlas.
This is a great resource if you’re just getting started with tone mapping and aren’t familiar with some of the eerie sounding names of the operators and their usage.
Also, here’s a photo taken last night from my balcony – tone mapped using the Ashikhmin and Reinhard ’02 operators in Atlas.
HDR photo of the Tokyo skyline
64-bit Atlas for After Effects CS5 is here
The Good
As it’s been requested by many users and I’ve found a little time to spare, I’m releasing the 64-bit version of Atlas today. I’ve also included a new simple tone mapping operator based on John Hable’s discussion of filmic tone mapping in games.
Atlas is a collection of tone-mapping operators for Adobe After Effects based on the open source PFStmo library. The plug-in is free software licensed under the GPL.
The Bad
Now before everyone gets all excited I also have some bad news: The tables have turned. Since the initial release of Atlas (which was Windows-only) I’ve gotten rid of all my Windows systems. That unfortunately means that I cannot develop for the platform and I can’t release any Windows software at the moment.
So this time around Atlas is available in binary form for Mac OS X only.
(At this point I could go on about how it’s free, open source, yadda yadda, and how someone else should step up and compile it for Windows, but it’s become rather clear that there is no real interest in open-source software in the AE community.)
… and the Ugly
With that said, I really do wish there was a better way to handle cross-platform development. I simply can’t be bothered to keep around and maintain multiple development environments just to compile and test free software on platforms I have no personal use for.
Sure, I could use Parallels/BootCamp on my Mac but even then it’s an inordinate amount of work for what at the end of the day results in the very little personal reward.
It looks like Adobe’s Pixel Bender might be a step in the right direction, but unfortunately the technology comes with its own set of issues… I’ll probably post about that another time.
Download
Anyway. Go ahead and grab the latest version of Atlas for CS5 on Mac OS X! Oh, and please donate if you do.
Normality in Ars Technica article
Wahey! Normality got a mention in Ars Technica’s brilliant and in-depth article on animation and rendering on the Mac!
As an avid Arsian — I’ve been hanging around their forums for more than 10 years — I feel honored to have my small contribution to the CG world noticed there.
Normality for After Effects CS5 (64-bit)
Right… yes, I know, I said in the past it simply wasn’t going to happen. Well, whatever. Finally here’s what a lot of users have been waiting for ever since Adobe released the latest version of After Effects: Normality for CS5 in its full 64-bit glory.
Thanks to a kind and very generous donation from the Troika Design Group I was able to compile the plug-in for the latest version of After Effects.
Download the new version and enjoy… and please donate if you do.
Goodbye, Sydney. Hello, Tokyo!
After nearly a year in Australia the time has come for me to pack my stuff and head off again.
Goodbye, Sydney. I'll miss ya!
I had a brilliant time working with some amazing people at Animal Logic in Sydney and I hope to get another chance to work in this great country again soon.
But I’m also very happy and proud to say that I’ve accepted a position in Tokyo, Japan.
I’ve always been a fan of their work and have been playing their games since I was a child so it’s a very exciting prospect for me to get a chance to work on their projects.
Hello, Tokyo!
Of course I’m also thrilled to get to return to Tokyo where I spent a couple of years of my youth. Every time I visit I see so many new and exciting things and I’m sure this time will be no different.
And now… back to freshening up my Japanese skills!