3D World issue 108

IN THE MAGAZINE

Real faces
A complete practical guide to recreating the human face in 3D, including:

Five killer tips for 3D portraits
Cover artist Francisco A. Cortina reveals the secrets of his workflow: from modelling tips to lighting and shader set-ups

Paint photorealistic skin textures
Create detailed diffuse, bump and specular maps from photo references in Photoshop and 3ds Max. Includes full video walkthrough on the DVD

Set up a shape-based facial rig
Create an expression-driven control interface for a simple but effective facial animation rig in XSI

Masterclass: lip-synching dialogue
Break an audio clip down into phonemes, assign corresponding visemes and tweak keys to create flowing lip-sync in Maya. Includes full video walkthrough

Expert tips: working with facial motion-capture
Facial capture is now within reach of even small studios. Implement it in your own pipeline with these tips from experts in the field

How to survive outsourcing
Outsourcing work overseas is a fact of life in the 3D industry. So why will no one talk about it? We take a look at the realities of such work, and provide five-point plans for freelancers and indie studios aiming to survive outsourcing

Special report: games training in crisis
UK games degrees are failing graduates, claims pressure group Games Up. But is the solution simply government accreditation, we ask developers?

Why Caligari is giving trueSpace away
Last week, Caligari released trueSpace 7.6, formerly sold for $595, for free. Why, we ask company founder and 3D visionary Roman Ormandy?

Your technical questions answered
Applications covered this issue include: 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, Carrara, DAZ Studio, Houdini, LightWave 3D, Maya, modo, Vue, XSI

On test this issue
NextEngine Desktop 3D Scanner HD, Argile, AfterBurn 4.0, Vanilla Pass Manager, Mimic Pro for Carrara

ON THE DVD
Software, models, textures and video training worth $425

XSI 7 Exclusive 60-day demo (Windows only)
An exclusive extended trial edition of Softimage‘s 3D animation software, powered by the revolutionary new ICE visual programming technology

Digital-Tutors training Exclusive to the DVD
Over seven hours of video training to help you get started with XSI 7

aZYZ design character As sold for $65
A fully rigged female figure in MAX format, complete with animation data

Turbo Squid facial models As sold for $234
Assorted models of heads and facial features, plus two texture sets

Ballistic Publishing head model
A detailed, textured model of a female head. MA, MB, OBJ and MAX formats

Runtime DNA Poser assets As sold for $116
Characters, poses, morphs and textures for Poser figures

Animazoo mocap data
15 professional moves, recorded for a commercial game, in BVH format

TextureWorld organic textures As sold for $9.95
A set of 27 tiled textures of skin and hair, with bump maps

3D.sk reference images
20 sets of hi-res images of human faces of all ages and ethnicities

The Gnomon Workshop Shake training
A 26-minute excerpt from a commercial training DVD, with project files