Tuesday the 1st of July brings the 1st ever issue of DS Creative, The magazine for Daz Studio fans, packed with news, Interviews, galleries, competitions, tutorials and Yes you guessed it Freebies.
Sunday, 29 June 2014
Saturday, 28 June 2014
DS Creative Magazine - We are almost there!
Only a few days to go until the release of the first issue of DS Creative Magazine.
The team have been working hard putting together all the art and article submissions we've received along with talking to vendors and content creators.
We have a fantastic first issue lined up for everyone with a great variety of content along with a couple of special surprises.
So keep your eyes peeled, or better yet, head over to the DS Creative facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/dazcreative/ to keep up with the release and what else is going on.
The team have been working hard putting together all the art and article submissions we've received along with talking to vendors and content creators.
We have a fantastic first issue lined up for everyone with a great variety of content along with a couple of special surprises.
So keep your eyes peeled, or better yet, head over to the DS Creative facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/dazcreative/ to keep up with the release and what else is going on.
Tuesday, 10 June 2014
Welcome to Ds Creative - The Magazine for Daz Studio fans.
Recently I've become involved in a "little" project with a number of other Daz Studio users. Check below for the details. It's all come together very quickly and everyone has great passion for this project. I'm just really chuffed to be a part of it.
Our aim with this new magazine is to have a place where Daz
Studio users, either new or long standing, can find interesting articles and
features that help them improve their skills.
Alongside the Daz Studio tutorials there will also be post working
tutorials to help further enhance artist’s skill sets, as well as quick tips
and tricks, product reviews and news of upcoming products. We also wish to
showcase the amazingly beautiful artwork created by Daz users, whether they are
new to the program or have been using it for years, our magazine aims to demonstrate
the skill and talent that that the Daz community has to offer.
Each month a new artist from the Daz community will be
featured on the cover as well as a several page artist spotlight, where the
chosen artist gets to show off more of their artwork along with a chance to
talk about their art. We will also shine a spotlight on a Vendor, which is
similar to the artist spotlight page, where they get to tell us why & how
they got into 3d content creation and can talk about current and future projects
as well as share their passion for creating 3D content. Each Issue will also include a free downloadable
product.
There will also be regular competitions with lots of prizes
to be won!
Our magazine is totally independent and has no ties with any
on-line store. That means we will
feature the best items for Daz Studio regardless of where they are and we will
happily feature any product so long as it is fully functional in Daz Studio.
So if you want to have your product featured or reviewed, a
store you wish to promote, have an article about Daz Studio or simply want to
showcase your art, this is the Magazine for you!
All IMAGE submissions are to be sent to imagesdazfanmagazine@gmail.com
All ARTICLES (reviews, tutorials, general articles etc.)
submissions are to be sent to articlesdazfanmagazine@gmail.com
All VENDORS & STORE submissions are to be sent to vendorsdazfanmagazine@gmail.com
Please note, submissions close for each issue on the 22nd of each month.
Please note, submissions close for each issue on the 22nd of each month.
Friday, 16 May 2014
Uni Life
Well, it's been a very busy couple of months since I last updated.
We've had an assessment for each class so far and at the moment I'm waiting on getting the results back for a couple of them that were submitted recently.
The biggest challenges to date have been the board game we had to make - from scratch, and the first modelling assignment. We had to model a house, then UV and texture it.
The board game assignment was a blast. It was really interesting to actually build something like that from the ground up, to play test it, tweak it, test it some more, tweak it again, change it back when the tweak didn't work and then find a new one. We also had to do the art direction on the game which was great fun. I really enjoyed putting all that together and having a unified theme that ran through the entire game along with (almost) all the game pieces. The final result is one I'm really happy with, now I just hope that it gets a good mark.
The house modelling I really enjoyed. Given that is what I want to do once I complete my degree that should come as no real shock. Learning Maya has been a bit of a learning curve as it isn't the most user friendly piece of software I've ever used, but once you get your head around it, it isn't too bad. UVing on the other hand is a painful process, BUT, I now have a much better understanding of it. Creating the texture once the UV map was done wasn't too hard but there were a few little things you had to keep an eye out for.
I was really happy with the model I made (an Urzua Cofre house) which had a few tricky little sections in it to model and texture, but I'm quite pleased with the result as it looks pretty close the images I based it on.
Current projects include a couple of groups, one creating a text adventure using Quest which is ticking along quite nicely and the other where we have to create a short video/animatic. My group has gone with a bit of a mashup taking Noir and Urban Fantasy, smooshing (technical term) them together and subverting some of the tropes. Been working on putting the finishing touches on the character concepts tonight with input from my group partner as well as start to put together the panels that will be used to make the animatic - though ours will be slightly different in that we won't be animating it but putting audio to it instead - dialogue, sound effects, all that stuff. Should be a bit of fun once it's done.
So, enough chit-chat, time to get back to the grind stone.
We've had an assessment for each class so far and at the moment I'm waiting on getting the results back for a couple of them that were submitted recently.
The biggest challenges to date have been the board game we had to make - from scratch, and the first modelling assignment. We had to model a house, then UV and texture it.
The board game assignment was a blast. It was really interesting to actually build something like that from the ground up, to play test it, tweak it, test it some more, tweak it again, change it back when the tweak didn't work and then find a new one. We also had to do the art direction on the game which was great fun. I really enjoyed putting all that together and having a unified theme that ran through the entire game along with (almost) all the game pieces. The final result is one I'm really happy with, now I just hope that it gets a good mark.
The house modelling I really enjoyed. Given that is what I want to do once I complete my degree that should come as no real shock. Learning Maya has been a bit of a learning curve as it isn't the most user friendly piece of software I've ever used, but once you get your head around it, it isn't too bad. UVing on the other hand is a painful process, BUT, I now have a much better understanding of it. Creating the texture once the UV map was done wasn't too hard but there were a few little things you had to keep an eye out for.
I was really happy with the model I made (an Urzua Cofre house) which had a few tricky little sections in it to model and texture, but I'm quite pleased with the result as it looks pretty close the images I based it on.
Current projects include a couple of groups, one creating a text adventure using Quest which is ticking along quite nicely and the other where we have to create a short video/animatic. My group has gone with a bit of a mashup taking Noir and Urban Fantasy, smooshing (technical term) them together and subverting some of the tropes. Been working on putting the finishing touches on the character concepts tonight with input from my group partner as well as start to put together the panels that will be used to make the animatic - though ours will be slightly different in that we won't be animating it but putting audio to it instead - dialogue, sound effects, all that stuff. Should be a bit of fun once it's done.
So, enough chit-chat, time to get back to the grind stone.
Sunday, 23 March 2014
The Power of The Tale
As a family, we play games. Some of them we play together and some we play as individuals. We play games on our computers, our phones, our tablets, our TV and on our table. My wife and I have been gamers since we were kids and it was one of the things that has been a constant in our relationship right from the start. Because of this our son has been introduced to games from a very young age as well, both tabletop and digital varieties.
I'd been playing GuildWars 2 for almost 12 months when Warhammer: Age of Reckoning announced it was closing down. My wife (along with her mother and grandmother) then needed something else to play. Given I was already in GW2 and it has a good population density along with plenty of PvE and PvP options they decided to come across. We also purchased a copy for our son - he'd spent the last couple of years playing DDO and LOTRO with me and we thought it would be nice for him to be able to play with all of us - and it's been great!
He's picked it up like a duck takes to water (which is no surprise), and he's switched from using the arrow keys to WASD which has even given his grandmother the impetus to switch that that as well. He's learned his class (he's playing a Ranger as his main - just like daddy) and he does very well with it. He can quite happily wander around the world, doing quests, participating in world events and finding the vista's and skill challenges dotted around the place. We also introduced him to the "story quests" that begin when you first create your character and continue through until you reach the level cap.
Jump forward to a few weeks ago. It's a Saturday afternoon and we are all playing, the boy and I have been grouped up for a bit to do some events and then he goes off to do his story quests while I go and do some crafting. He's up to the level 71 quest (Liberating Apatia), so he travels to Mount Maelstrom to help rescue an NPC that you group up with a few times in previous quests. Unfortunately the rescue doesn't quite go as planned as Apatia has been corrupted by the evil you are fighting and instead you have to release her from her suffering (at the end of your blade). Once done you then go back to her home town and proclaim the legend of Crusader Apatia.
We didn't realise the impact these actions had until later that night.
My wife and I were sitting watching some TV when we realised we could hear someone crying. We went into the boys room and there he was, sitting up on his bed, tears streaming down his face. We calmed him down and asked him what was wrong. It took a while but he was finally able to tell us that he hadn't wanted to kill Apatia, he wanted to save her but he couldn't. As you can imagine this tugged on the heartstrings in a major way. We had a long discussion about the game and the decisions that they have to make to tell the story. We also decided that it would be a good idea to for him to have a break from GW2 for a little while.
This also got me to thinking about the nature of narrative in games, be it single player or multi-player games, and the impact that it can have on the player. One of the best examples of this in my opinion would be Bioware's Mass Effect series. The decisions you make through that game have a direct and long lasting impact not only on the characters but also on the world. This goes some way to explain the furor at the end of the ME3. Players invest very heavily in their character and the stories they create with it. We are more aware of it in single player games but it's there, just below the surface in MMO's as well. The attachment people feel to their characters in things like WoW, Everquest or even DAoC is there. These characters have evolved over years in most cases and while people won't talk about it, they care about them deeply - keeping folders of screenshots, writing fan fiction about their exploits or commissioning artists to create artworks depicting them.
Bioware was also at the forefront of making the narrative an integral part of Star Wars: The Old Republic. I played this when it first came out and while there were teething issues (like pretty much any MMO release) the narrative structure was there and worked I feel, very well. This brings us to GW2 and the way the developers have created an engaging story through their "Living World" content and the story quests. The Living World concept is not new, but the extent to what GW2 has gone is. Whole content arcs built around a developing story that keeps players engaged rather than an annual expansion pack that gets players back for a few months until they have completed the new content is, in my view, the way forward.
I have no doubt that in the future, we will see more and more games that have deep and engaging narratives that are just as important if not more so than the combat mechanics or flashy graphics. And when developers get all these things together, that's when the magic really happens.
I'd been playing GuildWars 2 for almost 12 months when Warhammer: Age of Reckoning announced it was closing down. My wife (along with her mother and grandmother) then needed something else to play. Given I was already in GW2 and it has a good population density along with plenty of PvE and PvP options they decided to come across. We also purchased a copy for our son - he'd spent the last couple of years playing DDO and LOTRO with me and we thought it would be nice for him to be able to play with all of us - and it's been great!
He's picked it up like a duck takes to water (which is no surprise), and he's switched from using the arrow keys to WASD which has even given his grandmother the impetus to switch that that as well. He's learned his class (he's playing a Ranger as his main - just like daddy) and he does very well with it. He can quite happily wander around the world, doing quests, participating in world events and finding the vista's and skill challenges dotted around the place. We also introduced him to the "story quests" that begin when you first create your character and continue through until you reach the level cap.
Jump forward to a few weeks ago. It's a Saturday afternoon and we are all playing, the boy and I have been grouped up for a bit to do some events and then he goes off to do his story quests while I go and do some crafting. He's up to the level 71 quest (Liberating Apatia), so he travels to Mount Maelstrom to help rescue an NPC that you group up with a few times in previous quests. Unfortunately the rescue doesn't quite go as planned as Apatia has been corrupted by the evil you are fighting and instead you have to release her from her suffering (at the end of your blade). Once done you then go back to her home town and proclaim the legend of Crusader Apatia.
We didn't realise the impact these actions had until later that night.
My wife and I were sitting watching some TV when we realised we could hear someone crying. We went into the boys room and there he was, sitting up on his bed, tears streaming down his face. We calmed him down and asked him what was wrong. It took a while but he was finally able to tell us that he hadn't wanted to kill Apatia, he wanted to save her but he couldn't. As you can imagine this tugged on the heartstrings in a major way. We had a long discussion about the game and the decisions that they have to make to tell the story. We also decided that it would be a good idea to for him to have a break from GW2 for a little while.
This also got me to thinking about the nature of narrative in games, be it single player or multi-player games, and the impact that it can have on the player. One of the best examples of this in my opinion would be Bioware's Mass Effect series. The decisions you make through that game have a direct and long lasting impact not only on the characters but also on the world. This goes some way to explain the furor at the end of the ME3. Players invest very heavily in their character and the stories they create with it. We are more aware of it in single player games but it's there, just below the surface in MMO's as well. The attachment people feel to their characters in things like WoW, Everquest or even DAoC is there. These characters have evolved over years in most cases and while people won't talk about it, they care about them deeply - keeping folders of screenshots, writing fan fiction about their exploits or commissioning artists to create artworks depicting them.
Bioware was also at the forefront of making the narrative an integral part of Star Wars: The Old Republic. I played this when it first came out and while there were teething issues (like pretty much any MMO release) the narrative structure was there and worked I feel, very well. This brings us to GW2 and the way the developers have created an engaging story through their "Living World" content and the story quests. The Living World concept is not new, but the extent to what GW2 has gone is. Whole content arcs built around a developing story that keeps players engaged rather than an annual expansion pack that gets players back for a few months until they have completed the new content is, in my view, the way forward.
I have no doubt that in the future, we will see more and more games that have deep and engaging narratives that are just as important if not more so than the combat mechanics or flashy graphics. And when developers get all these things together, that's when the magic really happens.
Thursday, 20 March 2014
Interesting Game Mechanics
As you can imagine things have been pretty hectic over the past few weeks what with Uni starting and all that. I haven't done much more than read the things I need to read, learn to use my Wacom tablet and do my best to start drawing stuff.
The assessment for one subject is to prototype a board game. This can be any number of different things as long as it fits within one of four themes we've been given. Gotta love working within constraints so make you think outside the box - pun intended. Part of this is looking into the inner workings of games to see what makes them tick, be it a table top game or a video game. One of the games mentioned in one of the readings was Mirrors Edge which was released back in 2012 I believe.
Recently I picked up a copy on Steam so I could have a look at the setting, the story line, and one specific aspect of the game play - parkour. Mirrors Edge is all about running around a near future city that has a definite dystopian touch (just read the "news reports" that appear on screens around the place), but this running isn't down down on street level. Oh no, you run and jump and climb around the rooftops - leaping from building to building, grabbing pipes to shimmy up or down, balancing on beams that span yawning chasms between buildings, sliding under low hanging air con ducts or using the cranes constructing new buildings as your personal freeway.
All of this is done in first person view, but with a twist. Unlike most first person views, in all of this running, jumping and sliding, your hands an feet come into view. And making a jump from the side of a building to a narrow ledge above you can really get the heart racing. Miss and you plummet numerous floors to your rather crunching demise. It's not a pleasant way to go.
Below is short bit of footage I captured showing you making your way across the rooftops.
The assessment for one subject is to prototype a board game. This can be any number of different things as long as it fits within one of four themes we've been given. Gotta love working within constraints so make you think outside the box - pun intended. Part of this is looking into the inner workings of games to see what makes them tick, be it a table top game or a video game. One of the games mentioned in one of the readings was Mirrors Edge which was released back in 2012 I believe.
Recently I picked up a copy on Steam so I could have a look at the setting, the story line, and one specific aspect of the game play - parkour. Mirrors Edge is all about running around a near future city that has a definite dystopian touch (just read the "news reports" that appear on screens around the place), but this running isn't down down on street level. Oh no, you run and jump and climb around the rooftops - leaping from building to building, grabbing pipes to shimmy up or down, balancing on beams that span yawning chasms between buildings, sliding under low hanging air con ducts or using the cranes constructing new buildings as your personal freeway.
All of this is done in first person view, but with a twist. Unlike most first person views, in all of this running, jumping and sliding, your hands an feet come into view. And making a jump from the side of a building to a narrow ledge above you can really get the heart racing. Miss and you plummet numerous floors to your rather crunching demise. It's not a pleasant way to go.
Below is short bit of footage I captured showing you making your way across the rooftops.
I also came across another title - Remember Me - that also uses elements of parkour in it's play. Like Mirrors Edge, Remember Me is also set in a dystopian universe, and like all good cyberpunk stories it is you against the faceless corporations. What made me want to check this title out though was something else. In Remember Me you have the ability to reorganise people's memories, allowing you to change what they remember as true and thus manipulate them in order to achieve your goals. A really interesting concept, like the use of parkour, and one that works quite well.
What this shows is that there are plenty of under utilized ideas out there ripe for the picking, it just takes someone willing to take a punt on it.
Monday, 24 February 2014
Rider Review: Shark Speed R MXV, Dainese Carbon, Axo 9 to 5.
Thought I'd revisit something from the dim, dark 00's.
Back when I got my Buell, I was a member of Netrider.org, an online motorcycle group and forum. One of my roles within the group was I edited the newsletter that was emailed out to every member. We would include "rider reviews" on just about anything to do with motorcycling - gear and equipment, locations and of course, bikes.
Given that my bike is currently having some work done on it today, I was given a loaner and thought it might be a nice way to revisit old times by doing a quick review on the new gear I got recently.
So, let's begin with the new gear.
First up is the Shark Speed R MXV Sauer helmet. It is considerably lighter than the old Shark I had (a Carl Foggarty replica) but due to new rules the clip mechanism on the chin strap has now been replaced by the Double D ring system. This is a little bit of a pity as the clip system worked wonderfully and meant you could do up your lid without having to remove your gloves, but the powers that be have deemed this a safer alternative. The Speed R has a very wide viewing angle (the widest of any helmet so they say) and with the few I compared it to I'd have to agree. The visor uses an allen bolt to adjust the stiffness of the visor - no ratchets or anything here, just a very smooth action. The visor is held closed by a small pin on the left hand side that the visor clicks over. It seems to hold it very tightly closed and there is no movement at high speed. When the visor is left open this is very noticable wind noise and a high pitched whistling. I tend to ride with my visor up a lot and so this can be very annoying. Like a lot of new helmets the Speed R also has the retractable sun shield built in (think of it like the dark visor that slides down into place on a fighter pilots helmet). This works really well and I've stopped wearing sunglasses under my lid.
With the visor closed the is very little wind noise and the ventilation with the chin vent open is much better than what I was used to with my old helmet. All in all, I'm very pleased with the Shark Speed R MXV Sauer helmet. Retail price is around $450 to $500.
Second on the list are the Dainese Carbon Cover gloves, so named I expect for the carbon fibre knuckle guards and inserts. Very comfortable to wear, good ventilation and typical Dainese quality. Retail price is around $130 to $140.
Lastly, the Axo Striker 9 to 5 Boots. These low cut boots wear just like a pair of shoes. My last pair of boots were Alpine Star boots that were brilliant but have finally come to the end of their life. These Axo's are quite comfortable but have taken a little getting used to. The ratchet spool and stainless steel laces system works really well (it's been used for a long time on mountain bike shoes I was told) and has now made it's way into motorcycle boots. The main reason I went with these was that I don't want to have to carry a spare pair of shoes to Uni (if I can help it), and a full boot can be quite uncomfortable to wear all day if you aren't on the bike. The fit is a little wider than I'm used to (I have quite a narrow but long foot) but this hasn't proven to be an issue - a thicker pair of socks seems to have done the trick. Retail price is around $160 to $170.
I also have an Ogio Stealth Mark 3 backpack but I've only used this once for a very short ride so far so I won't try to review that just yet, maybe in the next couple weeks once I've had a chance to give it a good going over.
And there you have it, a quick review of some new gear.
Back when I got my Buell, I was a member of Netrider.org, an online motorcycle group and forum. One of my roles within the group was I edited the newsletter that was emailed out to every member. We would include "rider reviews" on just about anything to do with motorcycling - gear and equipment, locations and of course, bikes.
Given that my bike is currently having some work done on it today, I was given a loaner and thought it might be a nice way to revisit old times by doing a quick review on the new gear I got recently.
So, let's begin with the new gear.
First up is the Shark Speed R MXV Sauer helmet. It is considerably lighter than the old Shark I had (a Carl Foggarty replica) but due to new rules the clip mechanism on the chin strap has now been replaced by the Double D ring system. This is a little bit of a pity as the clip system worked wonderfully and meant you could do up your lid without having to remove your gloves, but the powers that be have deemed this a safer alternative. The Speed R has a very wide viewing angle (the widest of any helmet so they say) and with the few I compared it to I'd have to agree. The visor uses an allen bolt to adjust the stiffness of the visor - no ratchets or anything here, just a very smooth action. The visor is held closed by a small pin on the left hand side that the visor clicks over. It seems to hold it very tightly closed and there is no movement at high speed. When the visor is left open this is very noticable wind noise and a high pitched whistling. I tend to ride with my visor up a lot and so this can be very annoying. Like a lot of new helmets the Speed R also has the retractable sun shield built in (think of it like the dark visor that slides down into place on a fighter pilots helmet). This works really well and I've stopped wearing sunglasses under my lid.
With the visor closed the is very little wind noise and the ventilation with the chin vent open is much better than what I was used to with my old helmet. All in all, I'm very pleased with the Shark Speed R MXV Sauer helmet. Retail price is around $450 to $500.
Second on the list are the Dainese Carbon Cover gloves, so named I expect for the carbon fibre knuckle guards and inserts. Very comfortable to wear, good ventilation and typical Dainese quality. Retail price is around $130 to $140.
Lastly, the Axo Striker 9 to 5 Boots. These low cut boots wear just like a pair of shoes. My last pair of boots were Alpine Star boots that were brilliant but have finally come to the end of their life. These Axo's are quite comfortable but have taken a little getting used to. The ratchet spool and stainless steel laces system works really well (it's been used for a long time on mountain bike shoes I was told) and has now made it's way into motorcycle boots. The main reason I went with these was that I don't want to have to carry a spare pair of shoes to Uni (if I can help it), and a full boot can be quite uncomfortable to wear all day if you aren't on the bike. The fit is a little wider than I'm used to (I have quite a narrow but long foot) but this hasn't proven to be an issue - a thicker pair of socks seems to have done the trick. Retail price is around $160 to $170.
I also have an Ogio Stealth Mark 3 backpack but I've only used this once for a very short ride so far so I won't try to review that just yet, maybe in the next couple weeks once I've had a chance to give it a good going over.
And there you have it, a quick review of some new gear.
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