Nature, Published online: 28 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00216-xResearchers are investigating who or what cut ancient tunnels in sandstone in Brazil and nearby nations.

How did woolly mammoths survive the last ice age? And how thick was the ice over New York City? Test your knowledge by taking our quiz.

People with aphantasia still generate brain activity when attempting to visualize, but that image may be getting lost in translation, a new study suggests.

Ubisoft has shut down its studio in Leamington, UK, and fired 185 employees across several of its offices.The Leamington office worked on Star Wars Outlaws, Skull and Bones, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora: https://80.lv/articles/ubisoft-shuts-down-its-studio-in-leamington-fires-185-employees/#ubisoft #gamenews #gaming #layoffs

Check out @Sploingus412's fully hand-keyed Unreal Engine 5 FPS animation showcase, perfectly synced with music.Details: https://80.lv/articles/awesome-fully-hand-keyed-unreal-engine-5-fps-animation-showcase/#ue5 #unrealengine5 #3danimation #animation

Woah, I thought the first image was a reference! That was the reaction of 80 Level when we saw the incredibly photorealistic 3D recreation of Charles Dance in his iconic role of Game of Thrones Tywin Lannister, showcased recently by a 3D Character Artist specializing in realistic portraits, Ivailo Ivanov.Described as the first work of mine that, to me, resembles some photorealism by Ivailo, the model was set up using Maya and ZBrush following the workflows outlined by another legendary Character Artist, efki Ibrahim, in his course on creating lifelike3D characters. Unlike all of the artists previous works, this digital version of Tywin was rendered in Arnold, making it Ivailos first finished portrait set up in Autodesks ray tracing renderer.I will come back to Unreal Engine eventually, but I feel like I need to explore more from Arnold and offline rendering as it provides me the opportunity to really focus on small details and train my eye going further, the creator explained.Interestingly, this project marks Ivailos second attempt at capturing Charles Dances likeness, with the first shared over four years ago. According to the artist, thats exactly why he chose Tywin for the latest portrait he wanted to revisit a familiar face to assess how much his artistic skills have improved over the years. Heres Ivailos first take on Game of Thrones greatest villain, made using ZBrush, Blender, Substance 3D Painter, 3ds Max, and Marmoset Toolbag:Also, check out these amazing 3D versions of Tywins golden son Jamie Lannister and Aegon Targaryen showcased around the same time the first version of the Lannister patriarch was revealed:If youd like to learn more about Ivailos production workflows from back in the day, we highly recommend checking outour 2020 interview with the artist, where he talked about the production process behind his Vikings-inspired Tognatale project and shared his character creation techniques.Earlier, the artist also unveiled Oi!, alifelike 3D take on Billy Butcher, an iconic character from the comic book and TV series The Boys, made with ZBrush, TexturingXYZs materials, XGen, and Unreal Engine 5:And prior to that, Ivailo publisheda fantastic 3D portrait of MyAnna Buring, who played the role of Tissaia de Vries in Netflixs The Witcher, offering a new take on the artistsprevious MyAnna Buring project:Click here to check out Ivailos full portfolio and dont forget to join our80 Level Talent platformand ournew Discord server, follow us onInstagram,Twitter,LinkedIn,Telegram,TikTok, andThreads,where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.Source link The post Photorealistic 3D Recreation of Game of Thrones Tywin Lannister appeared first on CG SHARES.

Making a robot as flexible and precise as an octopus arm is a tough challenge thats obvious even if youre that much into robotics. Not impossible, though. A group of researchers has recently developed a new class of soft robots inspired by natures design: the logarithmic spiral. These SpiRobs use a super simple mechanism just a couple of cables, to pull off lifelike movements and strong, stable grips. The best part is that, according to the team, theyre cheap and quick to make using 3D printing.Zhanchi Wang, Nikolaos M. Freris, and Xi WeiThe team built numerous prototypes, from tiny grippers to 1-meter-long robots mounted on drones and even multi-robot arrays that can wrap around and grab stuff. Octopus arms and elephant trunks inspired the designs. Currently, the robots can adapt their grip to different objects, handling things over 100 times their size and lifting up to 260 times their weight. The whole project is another excellent example: if you cant find inspiration, nature can always help you.Zhanchi Wang, Nikolaos M. Freris, and Xi WeiThe research was conducted by Zhanchi Wang, Nikolaos M. Freris, and Xi Wei. You can find the paper here. Previously, we shared a story onHOVER, a versatile neural whole-body controller for humanoid robots. Learn how the team trained the neural network with 1.5 million parameters.Dont forget to join our80 Level Talent platformand ournew Discord server, follow us onInstagram,Twitter,LinkedIn,Telegram,TikTok, andThreads,where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.Source link The post You Have To See These Robots That Move Like Octopus Arms appeared first on CG SHARES.

Dying Light developer Techland has ambitious plans for its zombie-apocalypse series, as the studio is looking to expand the franchise in the future. As part of its 10th-anniversary celebration of the original Dying Light's launch on console and PC, Techland says it'll grow Dying Light across "multiple unannounced projects" and into other forms of media."We'll continue the series with multiple unannounced projects and will also go beyond video games with new board games, exclusive merchandise, original webcomic series, and more on the horizon. Our goal is to bring the world of Dying Light to even more people," Techland said in a press statement. Fans of the open-world zombie-survival games won't have long to wait for the next entry in the series either, as Dying Light: The Beast is scheduled to arrive in Summer 2025. Meanwhile, Techland says that both Dying Light and Dying Light 2 players can expect free updates to those games soon. Dying Light will receive new events and rewards, as well as a visual upgrade and a remastered soundtrack with new music from the game's original composer Pawe Baszczak.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Microsoft is one of multiple companies looking to strike a deal to take ownership of the popular social media app TikTok, according to United States president Donald Trump. Asked on Monday aboard Air Force One if Microsoft was in the mix to make a deal, Trump told reporters, including the AP, "I would say yes."In 2020, Microsoft officially announced plans to buy TikTok, which sent the company's share price surging. Microsoft later abandoned its buyout attempt, with CEO Satya Nadella saying the deal was the "strangest thing I've ever worked on." Now, Microsoft may be back at the negotiating table.Trump said other companies are in the mix to buy TikTok as well, but he didn't name them outright. It was previously reported that Activision founder Bobby Kotick was assembling an investment group to buy TikTok. The AI company Perplexity has also discussed a potential deal that would give the US government a 50% ownership stake in TikTok.Continue Reading at GameSpot