Creating Fibonacci Patterns with Geometry Nodes By Richard van der Oost on November 18, 2024 Videotutorials Fibonacci sequences and patterns are everywhere in nature, and they can create fascinatingly complex images. Richard van der Oost shows how to generate them with Blender.Today we're making Fibonacci patterns in Geometry Nodes. (using the Golden Ratio)This is what we're aiming for:It's a pattern that emerges in nature quite often. The most common example is the arrangement of seeds in sunflowers :)I've created 3 screencasts where I show you how to do this. In the spirit of Nodevember it will be very Geometry Nodes heavy.Part 1: https://youtu.be/BZUGrVTQE64Part 2: https://youtu.be/lNvq-NEgPUwPart 3: https://youtu.be/8Dy0-dcitS0There is also a fully written version, with downloads to the .blend files at every stage.I hope you enjoy the videos and make something awesome yourself!

Sir David Attenborough does not approve of AI being used to replicate his voice.In a BBC News segment on Sunday, an AI recreation of the famous British broadcasters voice speaking about his new series Asia was played next to a real recording, with little to no difference between the two. BBC researchers had found the AI-generated Attenborough on a website, and said there were several that claimed to clone his voice.In response, the 98-year-old sent the following statement to BBC News: Having spent a lifetime trying to speak what I believe to be the truth, I am profoundly disturbed to find that these days, my identity is being stolen by others and greatly object to them using it to say whatever they wish. Related StoriesAI-generated Attenborough then crafted a reply, which BBC News played. Lets set the record straight. Unless Mr. Attenborough has been moonlighting for us in secret and under an assumed name with work authorization in the United States, he is not on our payroll, it said. I am not David Attenborough. We are both male, British voices for sure. However, I am not David Attenborough, for anyone out there who may be confused.Popular on VarietyDr. Jennifer Williams, an AI audio researcher at the University of Southampton, then offered her opinion on the matter after BBC News played another clip of the cloned voice speaking about Donald Trumps nomination of Matt Gaetz and the war in Ukraine. Im a little disgusted, she said. This is very serious when you have a trusted voice like Sir David Attenborough, who all around the world people recognize him as an authority, as a voice of truth. And then to have words put in his mouth about war, politics and things that he has never said or may not eve endorse, its very concerning.Watch the full BBC News segment below.

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Modding OnDragon Age: The Veilguard modding finally looks to be moving beyond purple deletion and ridiculously attractive Rooks, thanks to some experimental new toolsIt's still early days though, so you might want to make sure you know hat you're doing if you're after more than just a facelift.Image credit: BioWare/VG247 News by Mark Warren Senior Staff Writer Published on Nov. 18, 2024 It's been a bit quiet on the Dragon Age: The Veilguard modding front so far, unless you've been in the market for works that make the game look a bit darker or save you some character creation time. However, it now looks like that's starting to change, with a bunch of new mods using a new tool to help them do stuff beyond that.If you head onto the game's Nexus Mods page today, you'll find a number of works have begun to pop up which use an alpha version of the 'Frosty Mod Manager', which appears to be an early toolset which a group of modders from FrostyToolsuite Discord server have put together into order to facilitate some more in-depth modding of Veilguard.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. So far, the tool looks to mainly be useful for stuff like switching up textures in the game, with those early examples of works made using it including modder LexTypeC swapping in Dragon Age Origins' font, Izzli having made some edits to clothing, and sajere1 using it to change Davrin's party assembling menu image for a snap where he's not screaming.That said, it's also seemigly useful for some traditional removing of limits the game places on the player, with modder Tellah9 having gotten rid of the specialization limits for each class, and Yeulia having made it easy to max out your faction rep.Padme4000's also used the tool to mute the little noises the dialogue wheel makes as you desperately search for something to day, before inevitably deciding on the sarky option.Now, there is a hangup to all of this - using the Frosty Mod Manager looks to require you to enter an encryption key for the game. This is a very risky proposition modding-wise, as the manager's developers could potentially be in for legal trouble if they're seen to be provably distributing stuff that may allow folks to get around from EA/BioWare's software encryption, which is seemingly why the manager's GitHub page and a lot of the comments on these new mods discourage folks from asking modders to provide the key required directly.So, it's well worth being aware that - as with all mods - you're using this tool at your own risk. If you want to be safe, it's definitely worth waiting to see if Veilguard modders develop tools that don't depend on stuff like this. There's no guarantee that'll happen, but we have recently seen it with the likes of tools that unlock features in Baldur's Gate 3's modding toolkit.Make sure to check out our array of handy guides for Veilguard, which can help you create the best character build and get your hands on some nice loot.

All ClearA year after Payday 3's rocky launch, Starbreeze downsizes the game's team, but thankfully it doesn't sound like any layoffs are on the way just yetLet's hope it stays that way. News by Oisin Kuhnke Contributor Published on Nov. 18, 2024 In perhaps a not particularly surprising move, Starbreeze is reducing the size of the team working on Payday 3.Everyone knows that Payday 3 had a pretty bad launch. Even Starbreeze knows it! And while the developer is hoping it can regain its players' trust, it'll be doing so with a smaller team working on the game, as outlined in a recent interim report from acting Starbreeze CEO Mats Juhl. In the report Juhl explained that "in the coming months, investment will be lower as we round off 'Operation Medic Bag' for Payday and therefore enter Year 2 with a smaller team focused on continuously updating the game with new content."To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Juhl didn't clarify how exactly that will affect the game, and whether players can expect less frequent or smaller updates, though the "continuously" does suggest at least semi-regular updates. The report does note that Starbreeze "remains financially strong", and there are no mentions of layoffs anywhere, so despite acknowledging that Payday 3 sales still have "great potential to improve", for now hopefully that smaller team is a result of staff being repositioned elsewhere as opposed to losing their jobs outright. Later on Juhl also shared that the game's most recent DLCs have also been well received, so maybe Starbreeze can turn things around.Funnily enough, "relatively stable sales of Payday 2" are helping to support Payday 3's comparatively weaker sales, which isn't surprising considering a lot of players actually went back to the second game.The report also talks of Project Baxter, a Dungeons & Dragons project that apparently "continues at full speed", sharing that internally playtests are taking place, and that there are "active discussions with a number of industry-leading players regarding potential collaborations around Baxter's development and launch."For now, let's hope everyone gets to keep their jobs so the number of layoffs over the past year doesn't increase further still.

Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)You may not have heard of Little Big Adventure, but if you have, its likely you remember it fondly. It popped up on PC in the last months of 1994, then found its way to PlayStation and other platforms. It didnt shift millions, but it gained cult status for its unique atmosphere, inventive controls, and memorable story of a despot, a rebellion, and a chosen one. Understanding Twinsens Quest really means understanding its origins, so its worth a recap.Little Big Adventure was the first game from French studio Adeline Software, followed a few years later by a sequel. Developer [2.21] has brought back some of the original team for this remake including composer Philippe Vachey, revisiting a memorable theme tune as well as new creatives drawn from the LBA fan community. Designer Didier Chanfray has said that the Little Big Adventure series was always intended to be a trilogy: now the goal is to remake both of the original games in a modern style, before finally completing the set. Exciting stuff for long-time fans.Twinsens Quest mostly follows the story of the original game, adding on a little prologue and switching a couple of characters around to modernise the damsel-in-distress narrative of 1994. The hero Twinsen starts the story proper incarcerated in an asylum by the evil Dr. Funfrock (seriously). His crime: having prophetic dreams about the end of the world. Twinsen must break free and discover his own role in the prophecy while setting out to rescue his little sister, travelling the planet across a colourful range of biomes, from the streets of Citadel Island to the icy Hamalayi Mountains via the sands of White Leaf Desert.Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)But what was so magical about this game back in 1994? The first thing to strike you were the graphics. High-resolution (640x480 pixels) 2D isometric backdrops were populated by characterful, low-poly 3D figures. Twinsen was beautifully animated, skipping sportily, tiptoeing about, and throwing weighty punches. The second thing to note was the controls: Twinsen was able to change his mood, enabling different actions. When normal he would walk around and chat to people, when athletic he would run and jump, an aggressive mood enabled fighting, and being discreet meant sneaking about, with each footstep sounding out a curious note on a double bass. Ingenious and now kind of awful.You see, Adeline originally went with tank controls. Partnered with some fairly tight spaces to navigate, an unwieldy running mode, a dangerously slow walk, and the need to stop play briefly while changing moods not to mention the loads between separate, non-scrolling screens the experience was terribly stilted. At the time, it was inventive and new; unfortunately, it now seems like a dead end in the evolution of control schemes. If youre still clinging onto the nostalgia, have a quick look at a video of the original game and it wont take long for the rose-tinted glasses to slip off your nose.All of this is to say that [2.21] had quite a challenge on its hands in revisiting a cult favourite after all this time. Some big design decisions were needed, and they have been made. Tank controls are gone, and it might sound like sacrilege, but the whole mood system is gone, too.Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)Now, you might expect, you could push the stick a little bit to sneak, a medium amount to walk, and the whole way to run, covering three of your moods instantly. But expect all you like: thats not how it works. However much you move the stick, Twinsen always runs. Clicking the stick will toggle a walk, but its completely useless, and now were back to moods anyway! We sought all over the controller for a way to tiptoe about and hear that double bass, but it seems the discreet mood has simply vanished. It feels like a missed opportunity, but it must be said that the big call here was allowing jumping and punching without having to switch between special states and that alone justifies saying goodbye to the eccentric control system of the original.In the end, then, we have a fairly normal means of navigating the world and the game has to stand or fall on the charm of its exploration and story. Fortunately, these are mostly intact. The new visuals 3D backgrounds rather than isometric pixels are all a bit jaunty and jokey compared to 1994. The sound effects were always in exactly that style, full of boings and squeaks, so the visual revamp works. Popping anthropomorphic robot elephants with your magic ball or dodging soldiers rifle shots as you charge past is more fun than it ever was. Sadly, it does feel like there are some gaps in the animation especially how Twinsen just stops dead when you release the stick, jolting back to a standing position.Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)Progress through the game is mostly a long trail of fetch quests and passing messages from one humanoid rabbit or talking ball-person to another. Finding the last bit of dialogue that will unlock the next section can be infuriating when it involves travelling between multiple locations, and we had our fair share of just-try-everything moments. But the story that eventually unravels is somehow compelling. Combat is not the games forte so its just as well there isnt too much of it until later stages. Throwing your magic ball is clunky and unreliable and throwing punches is the same. Platforming is equally poor but equally rare, with jumps being unwieldy and certainly not feeling in any way satisfying.But the real bad news on this one is that Twinsens Quest is severely lacking polish. We hit multiple bugs where we had to reload; various NPCs prompted dialogue then didnt say anything; Twinsen spent hours of the game asking everyone he met about the Pirate LeBorgne, even after we had solved that part and moved on; critical progress points were easily missable it was tough going at times.

Image: Nintendo LifeThe Pokmon Company has revealed a new range of merch based on Pokmon Gold And Silver in celebration of Gen 2's 25th anniversary.We're going to be honest, we're quite jealous. A lot of merch can look pretty grim and tacky, but the selection on offer here is really quite nice. You've got bomber jackets, heat-changing mugs, keyrings, stickers, chocolate, slide puzzles, pens, plushies, backpacks all sorts! It's a neat way to commemorate such a momentous milestone for Gold and Silver. Well, outside of releasing the games on Nintendo Switch Online, that is. Grumble...Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube785kWatch on YouTube The range will become available via Pokmon Center stores in Japan from 23rd November 2025, with online outlets such as Amazon Japan no doubt offering international shipping if you're desperate to pick something up.We're particularly enamoured with the trash can. It's based on the Vermillion Gym from Gold and Silver in which you search a bunch of trash cans to find two hidden switches. There's even some text at the bottom of the can that roughly translates to "Nope, there's only trash here". Delightful stuff.Let's take a look at some of the goodies on offer:Images: The Pokmon CompanyImages: The Pokmon CompanyImages: The Pokmon Company Now, how about those mainline classics?But the leakers intend to share more "at a later date"Is there anything here that catches your fancy? Will you he heading to Japan anytime soon? Let us know with a comment down in the usual place.[source pokemon.co.jp, via nintendosoup.com]Related GamesSee AlsoShare:83 Nintendo Lifes resident horror fanatic, when hes not knee-deep in Resident Evil and Silent Hill lore, Ollie likes to dive into a good horror book while nursing a lovely cup of tea. He also enjoys long walks and listens to everything from TOOL to Chuck Berry. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related ArticlesZelda: Echoes Of Wisdom Devs Explain The Method Behind The Menu MadnessIt even took Aonuma a while to 'get it'Video: New Switch Online Trailer Highlights Classic Pokmon GamesNow, how about those mainline classics?Nintendo Has Seemingly Taken Possession Of The Ryujinx Switch Emulator WebsiteAfter being taken offline last monthNintendo's Lawsuit Against Palworld Is "A Clear Case Of Bullying", Says AnalystThe drama continues

High-quality data may be the key to high-quality AI. With studies finding that data set curation, rather than size, is what really affects an AI models performance, its unsurprising that theres a growing emphasis on data set management practices. According to some surveys, AI researchers today spend much of their time on data prep and organization tasks.Brothers Vahan Petrosyan and Tigran Petrosyan felt the pain of having to manage lots of data while training algorithms in college. Vahan went so far as to create a data management tool during his Ph.D. research on image segmentation. A few years later, Vahan realized that developers and even corporations would happily pay for similar tooling. So the brothers founded a company, SuperAnnotate, to build it.During the explosion of innovation in 2023 surrounding models and multimodal AI, the need for high-quality datasets became more stringent, with each organization having multiple use cases requiring specialized data, Vahan said in a statement. We saw an opportunity to build an easy-to-use, low-code platform, like a Swiss Army Knife for modern AI training data.SuperAnnotate, whose clients include Databricks and Canva, helps users create and keep track of large AI training data sets. The startup initially focused on labeling software, but now provides tools for fine-tuning, iterating and evaluating data sets.Image Credits:SuperAnnotateWith SuperAnnotates platform, users can connect data from local sources and the cloud to create data projects on which they can collaborate with teammates. From a dashboard, users can compare the performance of models by the data that was used to train them, and then deploy those models to various environments once theyre ready.SuperAnnotate also provides companies access to a marketplace of crowd-sourced workers for data annotation tasks. Annotations are usually pieces of text labeling the meaning or parts of data that models train on, and serve as guideposts for models, teaching them to distinguish things, places and ideas.To be frank, there are several Reddit threads about SuperAnnotates treatment of the data annotators it uses, and they arent flattering. Annotators complain about communication issues, unclear expectations, and low pay.For its part, SuperAnnotate claims it pays fair market rates and that its demands on annotators arent outside the norm for the industry. Weve asked the company to provide more detailed information about its practices and will update this piece if we hear back.There are several competitors in the AI data management space, including startups like Scale AI, Weka and Dataloop. San Francisco-based SuperAnnotate has managed to hold its own, however, recently raising $36 million in a Series B round led by Socium Ventures, with participation from Nvidia, Databricks Ventures, Play Time Ventures and Defy.vc.The fresh capital, which brings SuperAnnotates total raised to just over $53 million, will be used for augmenting its current team of around 100, for product R&D, and for growing SuperAnnotates customer base of roughly 100 companies.We aim to build a platform capable of fully adapting to enterprises evolving needs and offering extensive customization in data fine-tuning, Vahan said.

U.S. space technology and satellite giant Maxar has confirmed a data breach involving the personal information of its employees, according to a filing with state regulators.The Colorado-headquartered Maxar operates imaging satellites and manufactures spacecraft, and claims to operate one of the largest commercial satellite constellations on orbit. Maxar has long been a significant provider of commercial satellite imagery to the U.S. government, which uses the imagery for mission-critical planning, intelligence gathering, and disaster response.In a required data breach notice filed with Californias attorney general last week, Maxar said a hacker using a Hong Kong-based IP address compromised its network on October 4 to access files containing employees personal data.Its not yet known if the alleged hacker is located in Hong Kong, or used a server in Hong Kong to hide their real location.Maxar said it discovered the breach a week later on October 11 and took immediate action to prevent further unauthorized access to the system. Nevertheless, according to our investigation, the hacker likely had access to the files on the system for approximately one week before this action was taken, Maxar said in the disclosure.The information contained within the compromised files includes employees names, gender, physical addresses, Social Security numbers, business contact information, employment status, employee number, and job information, according to Maxar.According to the companys website, Maxar has 2,600 employees more than half of which attained U.S. security clearances. These are required to perform classified work for the U.S. government, such as national security missions.Maxar, which last year completed its $6.4 billion sale to private equity giant Advent International, hasnt said how many of its employees were impacted by the breach.Maxar spokesperson Kristin Carringer didnt immediately respond to TechCrunchs questions.

Breakdown & ShowreelsThe Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2: VFX Breakdown by MPCBy Vincent Frei - 18/11/2024 Ever wondered what a zombie apocalypse would look like in Paris? Thanks to MPC, the second season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon brings that terrifying vision to life!WANT TO KNOW MORE?MPC: Dedicated page about The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 2 on MPC website.WATCH IT ON Vincent Frei The Art of VFX 2024