The opinion section has become a particular obsession for Bezos.

Amazon plans to invest $10 billion toward building a campus in North Carolina to expand its cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure, bringing a massive shot in the arm to a region where many textile and apparel jobs dried up a gene

Shuli Neuschwanstein has been creating this amazing tool with Shader Graph.

Shuli Neuschwanstein has been creating this amazing tool with Shader Graph.

Houdini, Maya & Nuke Workflow with Josh HarrisonExplore the entire process of creating electricity and lightning visual effects using Houdini. Using a generalist approach, each chapter focuses on the essential stages of a complete, professional VFX workflow using Maya and Nuke in addition to Houdini. Artists will learn, step by step, how to integrate a custom character animation into a robust Houdini effects setup, covering everything from project organization to final-frame rendering.Beginning with asset prep and animation, Josh first covers how to prepare character models and animation for procedural import into Houdini. The first chapters also offer simple workarounds for rigging in Maya to provide more agency and flexibility to independent artist creators.Transitioning into Houdini, Josh then demonstrates how to set up materials and shaders in Mantra, Houdini's native render engine, to develop the scene further. From there, the workshop focuses primarily on generating lightning effects. After analyzing in-depth the fundamental concepts and approaches to creating electricity, Josh slowly explores more advanced techniques, instructing on how to make both secondary and tertiary elements, in order to add detail and complexity to a scene. He also discusses how to utilize particle and pyro simulations in order to generate dynamic electricity movement. After finalizing and finessing all the lightning elements, the final chapters guide artists in how to convert meshes into renderable light geometry, how to create custom AOVs in Mantra, and then how to use those render passes to create a professional composition in Nuke. Josh’s Anim.character.001.abc file is included as a downloadable project file with this workshop. The Mike Freeman rig by CG Truong and the Spartan Hoplite model by Ryan Reos are also featured in Josh’s workflow.WATCH NOW

Modeling, Texturing & Rendering Techniques with Joshua HaunLearn how to use Blender and Unreal Engine 5 to craft a Victorian-style architectural game environment design using a professional workflow. Environment Artist Joshua Haun shares how to take design elements from Victorian history and bring them into the digital realm, allowing game players to immerse themselves in the game world. As graphics in games have become more realistic over the years, players are also more likely to notice when any aspects of a world feel “off.” This workshop aims to discuss the fundamentals of architectural design theory while explaining how to create art suitable for a real gaming production environment, implementing key techniques commonly used in architectural design. This workshop is geared toward Intermediate artists seeking to create environments with deeper levels of meaning. Beginners will also enjoy this workshop, provided they have a foundational level of modeling and UV-ing in Blender and basic knowledge of the Unreal Engine 5 interface.Modeling, texturing with trim sheets, and UV-ing architecture are covered in Blender, while a focus on shader creation, garden design with foliage, lighting, camera work, and shading are all topics showcased in UE5. The final result of the environment will be rendered in Unreal 5; therefore, the material shown in this workshop is primarily geared towards a real-time game engine. However, much of the explanation on design theory, history, and architecture will be universally applicable to all levels of art. Other software used in this workshop includes Rhinoceros 3D, Affinity Photo, Substance Painter, and Davinci Resolve.WATCH NOW

PlayStation Studios, Arc System Works (Arc), and Marvel Games have joined forces to realize the latest in tag team fighters, MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls! Experience the Marvel Universe like never before with reimagined characters and stages, a heart-pounding soundtrack, intuitive gameplay mechanics, and jaw-dropping visuals that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Whether this is your first fighting game or you are a veteran of the genre, Arc has incorporated gameplay controls and mechanics that are easy to pick up and play, and yet still offer the depth and versatility for high level competition. Play Video “From the beginning, we aimed to make MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls a title that could be enjoyed by a wide variety of players,” explains Game Director and Lead Battle Designer, Kazuto Sekine. ”Generally, a team VS fighting game requires the player to learn multiple characters, but for MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, you only need to master one character in order to play the game. We have designed the mechanics in such a way that you can perform a variety of actions with either traditional fighting game inputs or simple inputs. With the press of a few buttons, multiple characters can appear on screen to provide backup or attack together – creating a new and exciting team VS battle experience.” “Since day one, our long-time and trusted collaborators at PlayStation and the team at Arc System Works have poured incredible amounts of talent and passion into reimagining the Marvel Universe in a way that only they can,” said Michael Francisco, Senior Product Development Manager, Marvel Games. “MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls demonstrates that they are absolute masters of their craft and are true Marvel fans at heart. Players are in for a wild ride.” Characters Enter the fray with iconic Marvel heroes and villains such as Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Doctor Doom, Storm, Ms. Marvel, Star-Lord, and Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes) – each with Arc’s unique twist on their character designs and gameplay styles. Arc Producer, Takeshi Yamanaka, states, “There are so many amazing Marvel characters that it was quite a struggle to choose our roster, but we did have some criteria for the selection process. First and foremost, we wanted to include characters who we feel to be the ‘face’ of Marvel. At the same time, we also needed to select characters that would give us a balance of battle types and styles. Lastly, we wanted to sprinkle in a few surprises and leave room for characters who have never been playable in a fighting game before.” Yamanaka-san continues, “Early on in the project, we experimented with a shader to recreate a more western comic-book visual style, but the Marvel team expressed a desire for us to lean into something more Arc-like. It was then that we switched our approach to the game’s visuals and began to lean more into the Japanimation style Arc is known for.” Gameplay mechanics From short-ranged jabs to the cinematic Ultimate Skills, each character features a bespoke set of Normal, Special, and Unique attacks inspired by their abilities and powers in Marvel lore. Arc have gone to great lengths to ensure that gameplay style, movement, and feel of these legendary characters is fresh, new, and wholly unique to MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls. But it’s not just the individual gameplay of the characters that has been enhanced; significant dedication has gone into reimagining and redefining what it means to be a tag team fighter. “Team VS fighting games have a long tradition of 2v2 or 3v3 team formats, so this is something we discussed in-depth within the development team. We went back and forth many times, from thinking we might be better off making a 1v1 game or sticking to the established 3v3 format.” Sekine-san continues, “At its core, we felt that the appeal of team VS fighting games is the intensity of battles with multiple characters on screen at once. Additionally, one of the appeals of Marvel comics is seeing the vast cast of characters coming together to create all kinds of unique team-ups.” “With these two ideas in mind, we concluded that creating a 4v4 team VS system would be the best way to not only create those over-the-top moments, but to further evolve the tag fighting genre.” Stages The stages come to life in MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, filled with easter eggs for eagle-eyed fans to find. Most stages also feature multiple areas. These transitions between areas are not just action-packed and stunning to witness, but they also play a strategic role. Check out the screenshots from Marvel’s New York City to see what you can find.  More to come Today’s announcement is just the beginning of our journey. From characters and stages to gameplay modes and the online experience. There’s so much more we can’t wait to share with you!

In this video, Martin Klekner talks about why he stepped away from the semi-realistic style of his previous Heroes of Bronze short film, to pursue the NPR (Non-photoreammo listic) style and finally learn Grease Pencil :-) Source

Check to make sure your Nintendo Switch 2 preorder went through, stat.

Native visionOS support, shader baker, Wasm SIMD, and more new features are coming.