Mega Man | Secret Level trailerRisk. Fight. Discover. This is what you were meant for. Enter Secret Level, the groundbreaking gaming anthology series, debuting next month.https://adapt.one/editorial/link/255/Mega+Man+%7C+Secret+Level+trailer/

Winston Churchill (30November 1874 24January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, during the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955. Apart from 1922 to 1924, he was a member of Parliament from 1900 to 1964, representing five different constituencies. This black-and-white photograph of Churchill, titled The Roaring Lion, was taken on 30December 1941 by the Armenian-Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh in the Centre Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada. The photograph is particularly noted for Churchill's posture and facial expression, which have been compared to the wartime feelings that prevailed in the United Kingdom persistence in the face of an all-conquering enemy.Photograph credit: Yousuf KarshRecently featured: The Rose of PersiaOcellated turkeyMary JacksonArchiveMore featured pictures

November 30: Saint Andrew's Day (Christianity)The Flying Scotsman1700 Great Northern War: Swedish forces led by King CharlesXII defeated the Russian army at the Battle of Narva.1934 Flying Scotsman (pictured) became the first steam locomotive officially to exceed 100 miles per hour (161km/h).1953 Mutesa II, Kabaka of Buganda, was temporarily deposed and exiled to London by Andrew Cohen, the British governor of Uganda.1954 A meteorite crashed through a roof in Sylacauga, Alabama, and hit a sleeping woman in the first verified case of a human being injured by an extraterrestrial object.1999 A series of protests by anti-globalization activists against the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999 in Seattle forced the cancellation of the opening ceremonies.Richard Farrant (d.1580)Jagadish Chandra Bose (b.1858)Eir Aoi (b.1988)Cherry Valentine (b.1993)More anniversaries: November 29November 30December 1ArchiveBy emailList of days of the yearAbout

Friday, November 29th, 2024Posted by Jim ThackerNekki releases Cascadeur 2024.3html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"Nekki has released Cascadeur 2024.3, the new version of the AI-assisted animation app.The release adds a new ragdoll physics system, for creating animations in which characters are killed or knocked unconscious, and a live link to Unreal Engine.Create animations based on real-world physics, aided by AI-based toolsLaunched in 2019, Cascadeur is intended as an artist-friendly alternative to conventional animation software for game development, motion graphics or visual effects work.Although it has standard tools for rigging, posing and animating characters, its unique selling point is a set of AI-assisted, semi-automated toolsets.Key poses can be quickly established for a character via the AutoPosing system, which lets users reposition a small number of joints, and have Cascadeur take care of the rest of the body.For a jumping character, the software can then calculate a physically correct trajectory between the key poses.For other types of motion, a separate AI-trained system, AutoPhysics, converts an existing keyframe animation into a physically accurate version of itself.Once generated, animations may be exported the FBX, Collada or USD format for use in other DCC applications, or game engines like Unity and Unreal Engine.Cascadeur 2024.3: new ragdoll phyics systemThe major new feature in Cascadeur 2024.3 is ragdoll physics.Activating the new Ragdoll option in the Physics Settings panel causes the character to go limp, either crumpling to the ground, or being knocked around like a rag doll.The option makes it possible to create realistic animations in which characters are killed or knocked unconscious, as shown in the video at the top of the story.The resulting motion is influenced by the characters pose on entering the ragdoll state, and ragdoll characters can interact with other characters and with scene objects.Live link to Unreal Engine and updates to key featuresOther new features include a new live link to Unreal Engine.Activating the Live Link option in the Synchronization menu causes changes made in Cascadeur to update automatically in the game engine, without having to export FBX files manually.In addition, the AutoPosing, Auto Interpolation and Secondary Motion features have all been updated to improve performance and quality of output, with Secondary Motion also now taking account of collisions between characters and other objects.Other changes include support for negative frame numbers on the timeline, new camera settings, and UI updates. You can find a full list of changes via the link at the foot of the story.Price, system requirements and release dateCascadeur 2024.3 is compatible with Windows 10+, Ubuntu 20.04+ Linux and macOS 13.3+.For users earning under $100,000/year, Indie subscriptions cost $99/year. Pro subscriptions cost $49/month or $399/year and add advanced features.Both are rent-to-own plans, with users qualifying for a perpetual license after one year.There is also a free edition, which is not licensed for commercial use, and saves animation in its own .casc file format, making it impossible to use in other DCC apps.Read a full list of new features in Cascadeur 2024.3 in the release notesHave your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we dont post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.Latest NewsNekki releases Cascadeur 2024.3Check out the new features in the AI-assisted animation software, including a ragdoll physics system, and a live link to Unreal Engine.Friday, November 29th, 2024Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Holiday 2024 deals for CG artistsUpdated 29 November: Discover over 150 seasonal offers on CG tools and hardware, now including InstaMAT, OctaneRender and Wrap.Friday, November 29th, 2024Exclusive Cyber Weekend offer on The Gnomon Workshop training[Sponsored] Save up to $124 on a new subscription to the leading online CG art training provider - the largest discount it has ever offered.Wednesday, November 27th, 2024Tutorial - Maya for Animators: Body MechanicsDiscover how to create more believable character animation with The Gnomon Workshop's new intermediate-level Maya tutorial.Tuesday, November 26th, 20243DGS Render 2.0 now lets you edit 3D Gaussian Splats in Blender3D scanning firm Kiri Innovations' free add-on lets you edit 3DGS scan data inside Blender, and apply simple animated effects.Tuesday, November 26th, 2024Nevercenter releases Silo 2025 and Milo 2025Check out the new features in the lightweight 3D modeling software, and its Unreal Engine-based real-time renderer.Monday, November 25th, 2024More NewsBoris FX releases Sapphire 2025Epic Games releases RealityCapture 1.5KeenTools releases FaceTracker for BlenderCheck out Blender crowd animation add-on Population 2Download SideFX's free Project Greylight toolkit for HoudiniAdobe releases Photoshop 26.1Chaos ships Corona 12 Update 1 for 3ds Max and Cinema 4D5 key features in Blender 4.3BiteTheBytes releases World Creator 2024.3Free tool: Reallusion's Blender Auto Setup pluginDownload VFX Assets' free 2D Cloud Textures PackCreate perfect topology for animated charactersOlder Posts

LIVE NOW on #CreateWithMaxon Dive into the basic principles of animation, such as keyframing and #Cinema4Ds timeline, to start moving objects and cameras around your scene. Learn how to create and adjust keyframes for dynamic movement and discover the powerful #MoGraph tools to begin exploring the possibilities within animation. DOWNLOAD FREE PROJECT FILES HERE! https://maxonvfx.com/files_c4d_fundamentals In this episode youll dive into the basic principles of animation, s...

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The Foods Humanity Forgot and How Were Bringing Them Back | Helianti Hilman | TED

John J. Egan's massive 24-panelPanorama of the Monumental Grandeur of the French Colonial Mississippi Valleydepictsthe Natchez revolt. Created in 1850, the panorama features scenes from across the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons Natchez warriors arrived at Fort Rosalie on the Mississippi River on the morning of November 29, 1729, with a false peace offering of barrels of corn and a calumet pipeand the hidden, premeditated intention to commit a massacre that would either wipe out the French colonists in the region altogether or scare them away from ancestral Natchez lands for good.Before the Natchez Revolt, as the event would become known, around 450 French and 280 enslaved Africans lived in the area. By the end of that November day, the Natchez would kill some 230 settlers.French colonists established Fort Rosalie near present-day Natchez, Mississippi, in 1716 as a trading post and seat of government. For a while, relations with the Natchez were relatively calm, but skirmishes increasedas the settler population grew and turned to agriculture, a more land- and labor-intensive system.Relations deteriorated even further by 1729 after Etienne de Prier, the governor of French Louisiana, appointed a man known as Commandant de Chpart to lead Fort Rosalie.Chpart was naturally of a haughty and tyrannical disposition, Horatio Bardwell Cushman wrote in his 1899 History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez Indians. He even rubbed his own subjects the wrong way, prompting complaints to the French governor in New Orleans. Chpart would have been removed from his post and punished but for the interference of influential friends, Cushman later argued.The pardoned tyrant returned, of course, to his colony, Cushman continued, and went on to oppress and abuse the Indians who had no higher power to which they could appeal.With little notice, Chpart demanded that the Natchez depart from White Apple, a village that hosted their high temple and the bones of their ancestors, to make room for a French plantation.In a meeting with the Great Sun, as the Natchez chief was known, Chpart denigrated the Natchez, reportedly calling their leader an insolent barbarian whom he would soon force off the land. Sketch of "The Great Sun, Paramount Chief of the Natchez People" by French settler, ethnographer and naturalist Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons For the Natchez, Chparts aggressions, demands and insults, to say nothing of years of French encroachment, justified resistance. The Great Sun gatheredother Natchez leaders and contiguous tribes to construct a plan for revenge. other Natchez leaders and contiguous tribes to construct a plan for revenge.On the morning of the revolt, a young French soldier ran intoa Natchez woman who tipped him off about the impending attack. The soldier went hastily to Chpart, but the commandant was recovering from a night of drunken debauchery and dismissed the warnings.As the Great Sun and a contingent of warriors approached the fort, bearing false gifts to signal acquiescence to the commandants demand to take over White Apple, they fired a round of rifle shots as a signal for the revolt to begin.The details of the attack itself are murky. Few who made it out alive were willing to discuss scenes that were too horrific to recount in detail, accordingto Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz, a former resident of Fort Rosalie who spoke to survivors in New Orleans.By Cushmans account, however, Chpart was the last to receive his just reward. Though he fled to his garden, he was found, dragged forth and handed over to the lowest class of the Natchez warriors, who beat him to death with their war clubs. The highest class of Natchez would not deign to touch the blood of so contemptible a wretch.As news and rumors of the brutal attack spread, French Louisiana was beset by fear and loathing. Colonists abandoned once promising agricultural settlements, and, in an act of cruel, retaliatory bloodletting, Prier ordered the massacre of the Chaouacha, an innocent tribe uninvolved in the revolt. The massacre was neither the start nor the end of a protracted power struggle between white colonists and Indigenous people.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Colonialism, France, Louisiana, Mississippi, Native American History, On This Day in History, Warfare

Welcome to this week's episode of CGaNews, where we bring you the latest and greatest from the world of architectural visualization! https://youtu.be/lf3BkUd5P7cHere's what you can expect in this episode:- "Viz Pro of the Week" - Real-Time Rendering Webinar by Chaos- New Tutorial: Interior Visualization in 3ds Max & Corona - Spotlight on 3ds Max: Enhanced Color Selector - Procedural Animations in 3ds Max- Design Your Dream Home Office- Enscape 4.2.1: Chaos AI Enhancer- Best of the WeekDon't forget to connect with us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and join our growing community on Discord to stay up to date with all things archviz. We can't wait to see you there!LinkedIn: CGArchitectInstagram: @CGArchitectDiscord: Join our communityDont forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more updates!Enjoyed this episode? Make sure to like, subscribe, and share to help us continue bringing you the latest archviz news.#CGarchitect #CGaNews #ArchViz #3DVisualization #Vray7 #CoronaRenderer #BestOfTheWeek #ArchVizCommunity #ArchitecturalRendering #Enscape #AI #realtime #Vantage

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn MoreChinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has released the latest model in its ever-expanding Qwen family. This one is known as Qwen with Questions (QwQ), and serves as the latest open source competitor to OpenAIs o1 reasoning model. Like other large reasoning models (LRMs), QwQ uses extra compute cycles during inference to review its answers and correct its mistakes, making it more suitable for tasks that require logical reasoning and planning like math and coding.What is Qwen with Questions (OwQ?) and can it be used for commercial purposes?Alibaba has released a 32-billion-parameter version of QwQ with a 32,000-token context. The model is currently in preview, which means a higher-performing version is likely to follow. According to Alibabas tests, QwQ beats o1-preview on the AIME and MATH benchmarks, which evaluate mathematical problem-solving abilities. It also outperforms o1-mini on GPQA, a benchmark for scientific reasoning. QwQ is inferior to o1 on the LiveCodeBench coding benchmarks but still outperforms other frontier models such as GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet.Example output of Qwen with QuestionsQwQ does not come with an accompanying paper that describes the data or the process used to train the model, which makes it difficult to reproduce the models results. However, since the model is open, unlike OpenAI o1, its thinking process is not hidden and can be used to make sense of how the model reasons when solving problems. Alibaba has also released the model under an Apache 2.0 license, which means it can be used for commercial purposes.We discovered something profoundAccording to a blog post that was published along with the models release, Through deep exploration and countless trials, we discovered something profound: when given time to ponder, to question, and to reflect, the models understanding of mathematics and programming blossoms like a flower opening to the sun This process of careful reflection and self-questioning leads to remarkable breakthroughs in solving complex problems.This is very similar to what we know about how reasoning models work. By generating more tokens and reviewing their previous responses, the models are more likely to correct potential mistakes. Marco-o1, another reasoning model recently released by Alibaba might also contain hints of how QwQ might be working. Marco-o1 uses Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) and self-reflection at inference time to create different branches of reasoning and choose the best answers. The model was trained on a mixture of chain-of-thought (CoT) examples and synthetic data generated with MCTS algorithms.Alibaba points out that QwQ still has limitations such as mixing languages or getting stuck in circular reasoning loops. The model is available for download on Hugging Face and an online demo can be found on Hugging Face Spaces.The LLM age gives way to LRMs: Large Reasoning ModelsThe release of o1 has triggered growing interest in creating LRMs, even though not much is known about how the model works under the hood aside from using inference-time scale to improve the models responses.There are now several Chinese competitors to o1. Chinese AI lab DeepSeek recently released R1-Lite-Preview, its o1 competitor, which is currently only available through the companys online chat interface. R1-Lite-Preview reportedly beats o1 on several key benchmarks.Another recently released model is LLaVA-o1, developed by researchers from multiple universities in China, which brings the inference-time reasoning paradigm to open-source vision language models (VLMs).The focus on LRMs comes at a time of uncertainty about the future of model scaling laws. Reports indicate that AI labs such as OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic are getting diminishing returns on training larger models. And creating larger volumes of quality training data is becoming increasingly difficult as models are already being trained on trillions of tokens gathered from the internet.Meanwhile, inference-time scale offers an alternative that might provide the next breakthrough in improving the abilities of the next generation of AI models. There are reports that OpenAI is using o1 to generate synthetic reasoning data to train the next generation of its LLMs. The release of open reasoning models is likely to stimulate progress and make the space more competitive.VB DailyStay in the know! Get the latest news in your inbox dailyBy subscribing, you agree to VentureBeat's Terms of Service.Thanks for subscribing. Check out more VB newsletters here.An error occured.