Autodesk has announced three free webcasts on Project Excalibur, the under-the-hood redesign of 3ds Max designed to roll out across three updates to the software.

The 3ds Max 2012 release is due to address “UI, dynamics and viewport changes”.

All three webcasts take place on Tuesday 8 February between 9am and 9.30pm EST.

Join us for a special webcast where we’ll update you on Project Excalibur (XBR). XBR is a restructuring of 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design that is intended to occur over three phases. It addresses fundamental improvements in workflow, UI, and performance. This update will provide more detail about UI, dynamics and viewport changes. You’ll be able to post questions for the development team.

There will be three opportunities to attend identical sessions held at different times on February 8th, 2011 . These webinar sessions will be recorded and those that register will be provided with a link to view the recordings.

Date: Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Time: 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM EST     REGISTER

Time: 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM EST       REGISTER

Time: 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM EST       REGISTER

 If you are timezone challenged, use this: http://www.timezoneconverter.com/cgi-bin/tzc.tzc

The Revit Activity Stream app connects Revit to Bluestreak cloud services to help distributed teams more effectively collaborate as they work on one model. This Bluestreak app combines automated notifications of Revit worksharing events with informal team comments so team members can communicate when models are saved to central to ensure efficient hand-offs. The Revit Activity Stream app is compatible with the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Revit Architecture 2011, Revit Structure 2011, and Revit MEP 2011 software, as well as the Revit Server environment. Note: In order to use Autodesk Revit Activity Stream, you must also install Bluestreak Desktop.
Author: Autodesk, Inc

Bluestreak Desktop is a compact window that works alongside any Autodesk or other desktop application you so can stay connected to your distributed AEC project team with real-time communication and automated application notifications. Bluestreak Desktop captures informal team communication in a design stream so team members in any location can quickly resolve open issues and make informed decisions. Bluestreak consolidates automated notifications from design applications, starting with Revit Worksharing. Bluestreak Desktop securely connects to the Bluestreak cloud so you can communicate with team members in any location or across companies.
Author: Autodesk, Inc

Carbon Scatter is the most simple and straightforward solution for creating complex and detailed populations using the native instancing technologies of 3ds Max, Maya, Cinema4D, Softimage or LightWave*.

The Carbon Scatter plug-ins integrate e-on’s patented EcoSystem™ algorithms directly inside leading CG applications, allowing you to populate your scenes with millions of native objects, and render them with your favorite renderer

Free Carbon Scatter Open Beta For 3ds Max

The Carbon Scatter Open Beta is a free, fully functional version of Carbon Scatter for 3ds Max, for the mental ray™ and V-Ray™.

With the Open Beta, you can:

• Use e-on’s patented EcoSystem™ algorithms inside of 3ds Max, using native mesh and proxies,
• Populate your scenes with millions of instances and render them with mental ray or V-Ray,
• Render images with no size limit nor watermarks, and
• Save your work for future use.

The Open Beta of Carbon Scatter is a free, non limited version of Carbon Scatter that you can use as much as you like for the duration of the beta period. You may not use the Open Beta after the product is released commercially.

You are welcome to use the Open Beta for commercial work.

Compatibility

Carbon Scatter currently works with the mental ray™ and V-Ray™ renderers for 3ds Max 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Autodesk Subscription Customers Gain Competitive Edge with Additional Product Features, Integrated Web Services and New Design Content

 

 SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Sep 30, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Autodesk, Inc. /quotes/comstock/15*!adsk/quotes/nls/adsk (ADSK 32.10, +0.13, +0.41%) , a world leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software, announced the availability of Subscription Advantage Packs for Autodesk 2011 software releases. Subscription Advantage Packs provide exclusive and early access to product enhancements to Autodesk Subscription customers at no additional cost.

 Available for select products, Subscription Advantage Packs include new product features, integrated web services and design content. These enhancements expand software capabilities, make it easier to practice sustainable design and help streamline the design process.

“Subscription Advantage Packs provide Autodesk Subscription customers with tools that help them to work more efficiently,” said Callan Carpenter, vice president, Global Subscription and Support, Autodesk. “Customers who use these new features and functionality can save time, make better design decisions and ultimately focus on the most important aspects of their projects.”

Key features of the 2011 Subscription Advantage Packs include:

Conceptual Energy Analysis (CEA)*, available for Autodesk Revit Architecture and Autodesk Revit MEP 2011, is an application enabling users to automatically convert conceptual designs into analytical energy models using an integrated web service. Users can compare different designs to make more informed decisions during the conceptual design phase, when making changes is least expensive. The AutoCAD WS plug-in+, available for AutoCAD 2011 and all AutoCAD products, allows users to upload their DWG files directly to their AutoCAD WS online workspace for easier collaboration through web and mobile platforms. It also provides improved support for importing and exporting IGES files and a new DWG conversion tool. New functionality for Autodesk Inventor 2011 further accelerates the design process for manufacturers by extending the capabilities of Digital Prototyping with ease-of-use tools, better data interoperability, and new design tools. The Autodesk Maya 2011 Subscription Advantage Pack incorporates technology from renowned industry partners and Autodesk developers to provide higher-level access to animation, shading and effects feature sets, enabling artists to focus on creativity.

Subscription Advantage Packs are available exclusively for Autodesk Subscription customers. English versions are available now, and Autodesk plans to release additional languages later this Fall.

Autodesk Subscription Advantage Packs are available for the following Autodesk 2011 products:

Architecture, Engineering and Construction

AutoCAD 2011 AutoCAD Architecture 2011 AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 AutoCAD Map 3D 2011 AutoCAD MEP 2011 Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2011 Autodesk Navisworks 2011 Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011 Autodesk Revit MEP 2011 Autodesk Revit Structure 2011

Manufacturing

AutoCAD 2011 Autodesk Inventor 2011 AutoCAD Electrical 2011 AutoCAD Mechanical 2011

Media and Entertainment

Autodesk 3ds Max 2011 Autodesk Maya 2011 Autodesk MotionBuilder 2011 Autodesk Mudbox 2011 Autodesk Smoke 2011 for Mac OS X Autodesk Softimage 2011

Subscription customers may download Subscription Advantage Packs from the Subscription Center at www.autodesk.com/subscriptionlogin. In-product access to Subscription Advantage Packs is also available for most products.

More information, including video demonstrations of the available Subscription Advantage Packs, may be viewed at www.autodesk.com/advantagepacks.

*The Conceptual Energy Analysis web service requires an active subscription to use.

+ The AutoCAD WS plug-in for AutoCAD software is available to all AutoCAD customers and is not exclusive to AutoCAD Subscription customers.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc., is a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. Customers across the manufacturing, architecture, building, construction, and media and entertainment industries — including the last 15 Academy Award(TM) winners for Best Visual Effects — use Autodesk software to design, visualize and simulate their ideas. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk continues to develop the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art software for global markets. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.

Autodesk, AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, Civil 3D, DWG, Inventor, Maya, MotionBuilder, Mudbox, Navisworks, Revit, Smoke, Softimage and 3ds Max are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. Academy Award is a registered trademark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.

(C) 2010 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6449743&lang=en

SOURCE: Autodesk, Inc.

Autodesk, Inc.
Angela Costa Simoes, 415-547-2388
angela.simoes@autodesk.com

 

If you go to your  Adobe® Photoshop® preferences (ctrl+k) and pick the Units and Rulers tab you’ll see a box that reads Screen Resolution. You’ll more than likely, unless someone has changed it, see a 72 in the box.  You need to change the setting, one time, on each of your production monitors.

measure your screen real estate

Take out a tape measure and measure your screen, but don’t include your monitor frame. When measuring don’t measure diagonally; measure either horizontally or vertically. In my case my screen measures 20.5 inches horizontally.

Windows Screen Resolution Setting

Go to your computers display settings and choose Screen Resolution. When you choose Screen Resolution from your desktop you’ll see a box labeled Resolution. In my case my screen resolution is 1920.

Divide screen resolution by screen dimension

Divide Screen Resolution by screen dimension, in my case I get 93.658.

Paste my new Screen Resolution in

Paste the number you get by dividing your screen resolution by your horizontal viewable space, in my case I get 93.658.

The render was accomplished using V-Ray 1.50.SP5 for Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design. Post production was done using Adobe® Photoshop® CS5.

In V-Ray you have hundreds of little toggles and spinners that control your render. V-Ray uses a very advanced algorithm and I would suggest, to help maintain your sanity, to learn what all the settings do.

Below you’ll find some screen grabs of my workflow:

3ds max preference - gamma settings

V-Ray Color Mapping

 Leave “clamp output” unchecked so you can access all that 32-bit floating point pixel information in Photoshop. 

sRGB color space

V-Ray raw image file

More to come!