MN Maya User Group

We’re all home from Siggraph. I don’t know about the rest of the Minnesota attendees but I was exhausted by the end of the week. Way to much to do and see. We should have lots to show off at the next meeting. I know that I have a few Masterclass tips to share. A big round of applause goes out to the guys from Flurry Studio (Clayton Miller,Troy McCormick, Bryan Larson) that took home a honorable mention at the Siggraph Fjord contest. Awesome job guys, you did Minnesota proud.

If you haven’t done so please RSVP for next weeks meeting. We need a head count for pizza and the  workstations for the Mental Ray demo. We have 21 people already but we can double up on computers. But doubling up on pizza will be a problem. :- ) The RSVPs I have so far are at the bottom of the email.
———————————————————-
Tuesday, August 26:
Art Institutes International of Minnesota
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=15+South+9th+Street+Minneapolis,+MN+554…
6-7 pizza and soda provided by Autodesk
7-9 main meeting.
Topics will include:
-realistic shading and rendering with mental ray’s mia_material (hands-
on class)
-highlights from SIGGRAPH 2008
As before we will meet in the Gourmet Gallery on the first floor for pizza/pop/social and then we’ll head to Room 227 for the hands-on stuff. We need everyone to RSVP so that we order enough and have a computer for everyone. We have room for 26 people in the lab but we can double up as well. Go ahead and reply to this message or send an
email to me at robbie.halvorson(at)gmail.com
Thanks much to Shannon Gilley and the Art Institute for hosting!

It’s Spring and time for the first Maya meeting of 2008. Sorry it’s
been a while. I’m looking for anyone that might have something to
present. One idea I have is the broad subject of ‘Lighting’. Bring
your tips, setups, questions, HDR lighting, photography examples (how
to copy the real deal), whatever…. You don’t even have to get in
front of everyone if you don’t want to. As usual it will be an open
forum instead of a lecture - unless you WANT to lecture in which case
we’ll be more then happy to give you the computer. We’ll have Maya
available to look at scenes or footage.
We will have some Autodesk swag of t-shirts and DVDs to give away.
Monday March 31, 2008
6:30 Social
7:00PM-9:00 Meeting
Boston Scientific Auditorium
map here;
http://www.mnmaya.com/mndir.htm
The building is secured so I will need to let you in. See the map for
details. We try to monitor the door till 7:15 so if you are really
late you might not get in. Be prompt!

12-06-07
6pm-12am.

Theatre de la Jeune Lune
105 North First Street
Minneapolis, MN 55401

Please join us for a demonstration of 3ds max and Maya in the design visualization environment. We will be covering speed enhancements, tips and tricks, and new features for both products. Food and beverages will follow the demonstration along with the music of Spirit of ‘76.
Presenters: Lee Fraser, Joe Gunn
Sponsored by: Digital Pictures and Autodesk
Please remember, in order to enter the drawing for the ipods and receive your 2 free drinks, you MUST RSVP by signing up below.
Click here to RSVP!

In addition to the MET show, Industrial Light and Magic effects artist Paul Churchill will present a lecture at 1:00PM on November 29th from 1:00PM-3:00PM in Room 201 of Opus Hall on the Downtown Minneapolis Campus of the University of St. Thomas at 1000 LaSalle Avenue. The lecture is free and open to all.

Directions and parking information can be found at here.

The Twin Cities Chapter of ACM’s SIGGRAPH and The Arts Institutes International Minnesota are proud to present ILM effects artist  Paul Churchill as he discusses visual effects shots from recent ILM feature film projects.

Paul is a pioneer in Minnesota computer animation, having worked at Bajus Jones, and Lamb & Company, in the 80’s and the 90’s. Since 1998 he has been an artist for ILM, creating effects for several feature films, including Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, and Star Wars.

Paul Churchill will also be speaking at the 2007 Minnesota Electronic Theater at 6:30 that same evening. The 2007 MET is taking place at the Lodge Bar in Downtown Minneapolis.
Please see MET for more information.

Thursday, November 29th
5PM to 10PM
Downtown Minneapolis in the Party Room of The Lodge Bar.

For 17 years, the Minnesota Electronic Theater has been the annual meeting place for the state’s computer graphics community. It has served as the premiere showcase for locally-produced award-winning animation and a unique venue for computer graphics professionals, educators, and students to socialize.

This year’s guest speaker will be Paul Churchill of Industrial Light and Magic. Paul is a pioneer of Minnesota computer animation having worked at Bajus Jones and Lamb & Company in the 80’s and the 90’s. Since 1998 he has worked at ILM creating effects for several feature films including Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Pirates of the Caribbean.

If you have any questions feel free to contact us at:

info@met2007.org

Tuesday, November 13th
6pm-9pm

Art Institute International
15 South 9th St.
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402
We will meet in R321
competition will be held in R227

The MN Max User Group will be holding the 2nd speed competition. You can use 3ds Max or Maya, so Maya users are welcome! The character and rig will be provided, just bring your creativity!
They will have pizza and soda from 6pm to 6:45pm and start the competition at 7pm. Details for the animation will be given at the start of the event along with the assets for the project. The competition will be judged by 3 individuals working in the animation field. There will be prizes for the top three animations.

A documentary all about Pixar will be shown at the Lagoon Theater in Minneapolis. It will be there Nov 6-8th. You’ll have to check screen times.

The Pixar Story

From their press release;

The first in-depth look at the most influential animation studio of its time, The Pixar Story goes behind the scenes of the groundbreaking company that pioneered a new generation of animated feature films. Iwerks uses never-before-seen footage from the Pixar library, along with historic archival animation and first hand accounts by animators, studio executives, directors, producers and voice performers to chronicle the remarkable company that revolutionized an industry. The Pixar Story includes exclusive interviews with some of the key players in the Pixar story including John Lasseter, Ed Catmull, Steve Jobs, George Lucas, Michael Eisner, Bob Iger, Tom Hanks, Billy Crystal, Tim Allen, Brad Bird and more.

A companion book will be released in November. ‘To Infinity and Beyond - The Story of Pixar Animation Studios’.

Hey Everyone, Hot on the heels of the October meeting, we are coming back fast with another meeting. This time it’s all Maya goodness and it will be hosted by our friends at Ghost Productions. Sam Gannaway, Technical Director at Ghost, will be showing off his work flow tool he wrote and I’m sure the gang there will show off the studio and some of their amazing work. Refreshments and prizes.

Monday, November 5th
7 - 9 pm
Ghost Productions
2233 Hamline Avenue North
Studio #600
Roseville, MN, 55113

Ghost is one of the areas premier animation studio. They specialize in animation for medical companies but they have also produced their own 3d show called ‘Frivolous Fairytales’. Checkout their work; at http://www.ghostproductions.com/

SIGGRAPH 07
A review of masterclasses and other stuff.

• Max and Maya Masterclass tips.
• Siggraph review.
• A look at Maya 2008.

Where & When

Wednesday August 26, 2007
6:30 Social
7:00PM-9:00 Meeting

Boston Scientific Auditorium
map
The building is secured so I will need to let you in. See the map for details. We try to monitor the door till 7:15 so if you are really late you might not get in. Be prompt!

The Siggraph review meeting will have to wait till next month. When it rains it pours! I have to move my cubicle this week so it will now be difficult to get my workstation to the auditorium - but not impossible. Secondly, I’ve been asked by Shannon Gilley at the Arts Institute to help jury a student film show. Over the years Shannon has been very helpful to the UG so I wanted to help him out. Plus it will just be fun! And lastly it gives us as chance to bring in the Max users for an all encompassing Siggraph review. Stay tuned for the new date and time.