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Cool Stuff

Contacts Journal CRM

Powerful relationship management, for your business and professional contacts

Contacts Journal is the leading CRM app for iPhone, iPad and Mac that lets you keep person-by-person records of past conversations, create follow-ups for upcoming meetings, attach important documents and record essential data with customizable fields

Contacts Journal CRM
  • Create Meeting Logs
  • Build your relationship history by keeping notes for future reference
  • Save Documents
  • Attach document files with your contacts; view them on the road or in an important meeting!
  • Syncs with iCloud
  • Automatic, seamless syncing between iPhone, iPad and Mac using iCloud
  • Optimized for Mobility
  • See all your contacts' addresses on Map View; quickly access local clients' information. Also tag Logs and ToDos with Location data
  • Schedule Follow-ups
  • Create a ToDo list for each contact, featuring alerts, links to Calendar app, recurring tasks
  • Customizable User Fields
  • Define your own important Fields; save custom data for each of your contacts
  • Integrated with Address Book
  • Import and sync with existing contacts from your Address Book easily. Save contacts privately as well
  • Cross-vertical
  • Works great for all types of professionals: sales, client management, lawyers, freelancers, teachers, and more

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Five GPUs and over 20 TFLOPS

Boxx’s new workstation packs five GPUs and over 20 TFLOPS of compute horsepower

The liquid-cooled chassis is designed to support Intel’s Xeon E5 v3 processors with up to 18 cores and 36 threads per chip, but front-and-center billing goes to the GPUs. The Apexx 5 can pack up to five high-end graphics cards, four for workstation rendering and a single dedicated viewport GPU.

For those of you keeping track at home, that works out to over 20 TFLOPS of single-precision floating point and nearly ten TFLOPs of double-precision horsepower. That’s more firepower than the number one supercomputer in the world from the year 2000 and would’ve still captured a place on the TOP500 within the last decade, particularly once you toss in another 2.6TFLOPS from the Xeon CPUs (assuming two E5-2699v3.)

All four cards run in full PCIe 3.0 x16 slots with a fifth PCIe 3.0 x8 slot for the dedicated viewport card. Users also have the option of equipping other co-processors, including a Synch card for frame locking, PCI-Express SSDs, or a 10Gbit ethernet card. Boxx also includes liquid cooling as standard on all its CPUs (GPUs remain air-cooled, but the chassis are designed to keep all five graphics cards at acceptable temperatures, even in such aggressive configurations).

The chassis can support up to eight mechanical hard drives or 16 2.5-inch SSDs. Obviously the market for 4-5 GPUs in a single system is going to be relatively rare — even at the high-end, there aren’t many engineers or designers who need that much GPU horsepower in a single system. Boxx’s product marketing manager, Chris Morley, acknowledges that the product is aimed at a very specific type of customer, but notes that the Apexx 5 is offering a level of performance you literally can’t buy elsewhere, since even the highest-end systems from Dell and HP tend to top out below this point.

The company has been deliberately courting disgruntled Mac users since the Mac Pro debuted last year, and its “Mac Pro No” video is funny enough to be worth a watch. It’s also telling — where Apple built a dual-GPU workstation that emphasized the GPU at the expense of CPU performance and focused the system almost entirely on external connectivity, the Boxx Apexx 5 kicks GPU options up to 11 without skimping on dual CPU horsepower or the internal connectivity that most people expect in a modern high-end workstation.

http://mobile.extremetech.com/latest/222730-boxxs-new-workstation-packs-five-gpus-and-over-20-tflops-of-compute-horsepower

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Watch The Designer's Pricing Class Trailer:

This class is a step-by-step guide to help you get paid what you're worth:

  • 50 videos in five entertaining lessons that take you through understanding the market, learning how to price projects, acquiring the negotiating skills you need, and learning how to write a sexy proposal.

  • Five documents and templates such as a checklist for your first call with your client, a proposal template, a step-by-step guide on how to price like a pro and exercises you can do by yourself or with a friend.

  • Online tools to help you calculate your break-even rate and write a great proposal in just a few steps

  • Lifetime access to the class (including any updates) from any device, anywhere in the world

  • Your questions answered by the mentors

  • Bonus: 30% discount for Happy Socks

  • Bonus: Free 3 months of Studio account on Qwilr

The class will launch on January 13th, 2015 with 15% off for the first 72 hours.

Sign up here to learn more.

 

We're giving away a free ticket!

 

If you want to win a free ticket to our awesome class, all you have to do is share our trailer (with the following link) on your Twitter/Facebook account:

http://youtu.be/Rx9uSYP-zL0?ref=info@bobby-parker.com

The winner will be announced tomorrow night on our Twitter and FB page.

Good luck!

- Lior Frenkel

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V-Ray 3.0 for 3ds Max SP1

V-Ray 3.10.01 is now available for download from our website. Before you get too excited, let me say that we will have a patch next week with some minor fixes, so it may be best to wait until then. Nevertheless, if you find any issues, please let us know.

We had a build yesterday that didn't work correctly; if you downloaded that, please get an updated installation from our website. We apologize for this inconvenience.

There is a short video demonstrating some of the new features here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy-tRHExWgU

The full changelog from the previous release is as follows:

Build 3.10.01 (official) (November 2014)
==============

New features:
(*) V-Ray: Further optimizations for render speed;
(*) Updated to OpenEXR 2.2.0 and added new DWA compression options to VRayOptionsRe;
(*) Support for point cloud rendering in 3ds Max 2015;
(*) Built-in DMC samples calculator for VRayLight, VRayMtl and brute force GI;
(*) .vrmesh viewer: Added a .vrmesh viewer tool for previewing .vrmesh and Alembic files in a standalone OpenGL application;
(*) Embree: Update to Embree 2.3;
(*) Embree: Proxies and instances can now be accelerated by Embree;
(*) Embree: Can now accelerate hair rendering for Ornatrix and HairFarm;
(*) V-Ray: Added "GI filter multiplier" option to the Global switches rollout to control texture filtering for GI rays for VRayHDRI;
(*) V-Ray: Secondary matte environment background slot to control the appearance of matte objects in reflections/refractions;
(*) V-Ray: When created, V-Ray will automatically load a preset named "default" if there is one (allows for customized default values);
(*) V-Ray RT: Support for Carbon Scatter;
(*) V-Ray RT: Support for the V-Ray VFB for ActiveShade session;
(*) V-Ray RT CPU: Support for the VRayClipper object;
(*) V-Ray RT CPU: Support for Ornatrix and HairFarm rendering;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Support for using the light cache for GPU rendering;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU: Support for coherent tracing (may improve rendering performance);
(*) V-Ray RT GPU CUDA: Support for the nVidia Maxwell GPU architecture;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU CUDA: Support for the VRayFastSSS2 material;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU CUDA: Initial support for hair rendering for Ornatrix and HairFarm;
(*) V-Ray RT GPU CUDA: On-the-fly recompilation of the GPU kernel to include only features used by the particular scene;
(*) VFB: Ability to dock/undock History window and Color Corrections window to the main VFB window;
(*) VFB: Added highlight burn color correction to the VFB;
(*) VFB: Added "background image" color correction to the VFB;
(*) VFB: Added white balance color correction;
(*) VFB: Added the ability to save multi-channel .vrimg and OpenEXR files from the VFB UI;
(*) VFB: Added the ability to load arbitrary file formats in the V-Ray VFB for post-processing;
(*) VRayInstancer: Implement a new geometric plugin for instancing objects on a ParticleFlow and other particle systems;
(*) VRayHDRI: Added image preview in the file open dialog;
(*) VRayHDRI: Added controls to specify UDIM/UVTILE tiles for the preview in material editor;
(*) VRayScatterVolumeMtl: Greatly improved calculations; ability to use the light cache;
(*) VRayScannedMtl: Support rendering of scanned real-world BRDF materials;
(*) VRayProxy: Support for hair and particle instances;
(*) VRayProxy: Support for subdivision objects in Alembic files using OpenSubdiv;
(*) VRayLight: Disc light shape;
(*) VRayLight, VRayIES, VRaySun: Added parameters to control the diffuse and specular contributions separately;
(*) VRayLightSelect render element: Added "mode" parameter to allow extracting the full/raw/diffuse/specular contribution of specific lights;
(*) VRayMtl: Added GGX BRDF model;
(*) VRayMtl: Added clip opacity mode option for faster rendering of trees etc;
(*) VRayMultiSubTex: Extended with new randomized modes for choosing colors;
(*) VRayVelocity render element: Added include/exclude list;
(*) ply2vrmesh: Added export options to export specified frames to separate files;
(*) ply2vrmesh: Added Alembic frame offset output to the files;
(*) ply2vrmesh: Added option to merge two or more .vrmesh files into one;
(*) vrimg2exr: Added -multiPart option to vrimg2exr that produces an OpenEXR 2 file with each render element in its own "part";

Modified features:
(*) V-Ray: Added an option to open the V-Ray messages window on error or warning only;
(*) V-Ray: Added by Object IDs selection method for Render mask;
(*) V-Ray: Added MaxScript access to the Trace sets include/exclude flag;
(*) V-Ray: Added %numPasses and %numSubdivs stamp keywords;
(*) V-Ray: "Camera Motion Blur" is controlled independently on "Motion Blur" setting;
(*) V-Ray: Embree enabled by default;
(*) V-Ray: Improved render speed when not using any render elements;
(*) V-Ray: Light cache "Use for glossy rays" option is enabled by default;
(*) V-Ray: Optimized hair rendering in general;
(*) V-Ray: Reduced memory usage for hair and particles;
(*) V-Ray: Renamed the "Time independent" option to "Lock noise pattern" in the DMC sampler rollout;
(*) V-Ray: The default GI methods are set to Brute force/Light cache;
(*) V-Ray: The default image sampler set to Progressive;
(*) V-Ray: The image sampler parameters rollout is unfolded by default;
(*) V-Ray: VFB is cleared always when doing network rendering with render mask;
(*) V-Ray RT: Improved refresh speed;
(*) V-Ray RT: Removed the Show Mask option from the user interface, the mask is written in VRaySampleRate render element for the progressive sampler;
(*) VFB: Improved anaglyph stereoscopic preview to reduce retinal rivalry;
(*) VFB: Improved initialization speed of the History window when there are a lot of images in the history;
(*) VFB: The vfbControl MaxScript function returns values for the commands that have states;
(*) VFB: Made the History window compliant with the 3ds Max color theme;
(*) .vrscene exporter: Added combo box to select between Scene Animation/Frame range, the latter remembers the start/end values;
(*) VRay2SidedMtl: Added ability to filter the translucency effect through the diffuse color of the front-facing side;
(*) VRayClipper: More robust and faster algorithm is used;
(*) VRayDirt: Added "double sided" option;
(*) VRayDirt: The distribution parameter can now take negative values for more defined edges;
(*) VRayFastSSS2: Added opacity texture slot;
(*) VRayHairFarmMod and VRayOrnatrixMod: Faster rendering of hair;
(*) VRayHDRI: Added MaxScript access to "coords" parameters;
(*) VRayLight: Added the ability to display the light name in the viewport;
(*) VRayLight: Somewhat faster sampling of rectangle lights;
(*) VRayMtl: Multiple layers of glass rendered with noise;
(*) VRayOSLMtl/VRayOSLTex: Improved shader cache logic, now the compiled shaders reside entirely in a memory buffer;
(*) VRayOSLMtl/VRayOSLTex: Removed dependency of shader name on the shader file name;
(*) VRayProxy: Export texture coordinates for .vrmesh preview, if preview mesh is specified;
(*) VRayProxy: Same proxies are automatically instantiated;
(*) VRayProxy: Show proxy color set names in Vertex Color texture "Channel Name" list;
(*) VRayProxy: Show the extra color channels from Alembic files in the "Channel Name" drop-down of Vertex Color maps applied to the proxy object;
(*) VRayProxy: Support for Material ID channel when rendering with point clouds;
(*) VRayShadow: Made the U, V, W Area shadow sizes animatable in the VRayShadows params rollout;
 

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Managing Multiple 3DS MAX projects

If you are like me, you have several projects going on at any given time. Each project in a different stage and most awaiting on client comments. And, if you are like me, you hate loosing work and backups are very important. As you might know, 3DS MAX has an Autoback, which keeps 3 backup copies. 

“How often should I back up? It depends, how much data are you willing to lose?”
— Bobby Parker

Without spending a fortune, I sought out for a solution, and found a solution that works great. 

Project Switcher

ProjectSwitcher is a Macroscript utility for quickly switching between multiple project folders. It keeps track of the previously opened projects, saves them to an .ini file and presents them in a dropdown list.

Installation: For automatic startup, just copy this script into your scripts\startup folder and restart 3ds Max.

Use the 'X' key to remove an entry from the list (this will not do anything to your actual project folder!); the 'Set' key works just like the 'File > Set Project Folder function: it allows you to select another existing project folder or create a new one. Both will be added to the list. Note: projectSwitcher does not currently track any project folder actions that were performed directly in 3ds Max.

New in v0.31:

  • Due to a bug in 3ds Max 2014, I have made an alternative version for 3ds Max 2014
  • The alternative version 0.31 no longer works as a dockable toolbar but inside a floating dialog instead
  • Dialog now remembers position and size

New in v0.3:

  • Automatic Project Switching when opening .max files: When opening the file c:\projects\myproject\scenes\file.max, this function will automatically set c:\projects\myproject\ as the new project folder. Thanks to Tollef Roe Steen for the suggestion.
  • No longer a macroscript; can be automatically run when 3ds Max starts

Bug in 3ds Max 2008: A bug in the latest release of 3ds Max causes projectSwitcher to always show a Browse-Folder-Dialog. This can be fixed by manually editing the file Macro_SetProjectFolder.mcr in the <3dsmax_root>\ui\macroscripts directory and changing

local _SetProjectFolder_macro_option_promptUser
local _SetProjectFolder_macro_option_newFolder

in line 25 and 26 to

global _SetProjectFolder_macro_option_promptUser
global _SetProjectFolder_macro_option_newFolder

Save the .mcr file and restart 3ds Max. This should return normal functionality for projectSwitcher

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aXYZ HUB THE 3D ASSET BROWSER

As 3D Human Characters & 3D Assets become ever more important in visualizations, animations and illustrations,
we decided to develop a simple tool to improve your workflow!

ORGANIZE AND MANAGE!

With aXYZHUB® you now have a unique and simple way to navigate, choose, catalog and keep clean and organized your 3D Assets in order to optimize your workflow.

 

WATCH VIDEO!

 

ADD 3D ASSETS TO YOUR SCENES!

Forget about opening individual files and merge one by one! With aXYZHUB® you can populate your 3D scene within a click. You don't need to remember where your model files are located in your drive. All your 3D Assets are organized and accessible from aXYZHUB®.

 

 

RESIZE!

Ohh no! My 3D Assets are in centimeters and my project is in inches! With aXYZHUB® you can forget about scaling issues. All your 3D Rigged Characters and 3D Assets are scaled and ready-to-be-used in your project.

 

 

CREATE PRESETS!

Save hours of your precious time! You can create ready-to-use
presets of 3D Characters and Assets to simply merge in your scene each time you need them.

 

 

RENDERING READY!

If you work with V-Ray, Mental Ray or Thea, you are able to set up your converted model's versions to be directly accessible from aXYZHUB® and ready to be rendered!

 

KEEP YOUR CATALOG UPDATED!

Each time AXYZ publishes a new character, aXYZHUB® will inform you. This way, each time you start a new Arch Viz project you will have the ability to evaluate if the new product additions are suitable for your project!

FEATURES HIGHLIGHTS

ORGANIZE AND MANAGE

With aXYZHUB® you can have a unique and simple way to navigate, choose, catalog and keep clean and organized your 3D Assets in order to optimize your workflow.

ADD 3D ASSETS TO YOUR SCENES

Forget about opening individual files and merge one by one! With aXYZHUB® you will be able to populate your 3D scene within a click. You will not need to remember where your model files are located in your drive. All your assets will be organized and accessible from aXYZHUB®.

RESIZE

Ohh no! My 3D Assets are in centimeters and my project is in inches! With aXYZHUB® you can forget about scaling issues. All your 3D Rigged Characters and 3D Assets will be scaled and ready-to-be-used in your project.

CREATE PRESETS

Save hours of your precious time! You can create ready-to-use presets of 3D Characters and Assets to simply merge in your scene each time you need them.

RENDERING READY

If you work with V-Ray, Mental Ray or Thea, you will be able to set up your converted models versions to be directly accessible from aXYZHUB® and ready to be rendered!

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Forest Pack Pro v4.3.0 beta

forest pack pro beta

New level of detail and visibility triggers. See the feature list.

New features and changes:

  • Forest LOD (Level of Detail).
    • A new type of object, "ForestLOD", is used to define levels of detail. Once created, assign it as Custom Object in Forest.
    • Visibility triggers by Distance to camera or Screen size.
    • Support for billboards and geometry.
    • Custom materials.
    • LOD properties can be adjusted in Camera rollout.

 

 

  • Added Areas->Limit by Surface Material ID.
  • Areas->Falloff Affect is splitted in Density and Scale values.
  • Forest Tools->Data exporter to XML files.
  • Added General->Disable Pop-ups: turns off all suggestions and warning messages, except critical errors (this option is global and persistent).
  • Geometry->Get Size from Library is removed and enabled by default.
  • Geometry->Global Size parameters are removed, although they are accessible by Maxscript ("globs¡ze", "width", "height")
  • Geometry->Use Object Dimensions is replaced by local Scale parameter.
  • New Display->Proxy model: Arrow (non-symmetrical)
  • Added Display->Disable Object.
  • Forest Tools->Instantiate copies User Properties, Object ID and wireframe color from the source object.

Library:

  • 16 new presets: Gravel, including detail and large scale models.
  • Added materials for Corona Renderer.

Fixes:

  • Fixed problem of Exclude areas with Inverted Falloff Curves.
  • Fixed issues with Distribution->Diversity Map and UV Surfaces.
  • Fixed rare problem related to missing Surfaces on load.
  • Fixed minor issues in Maxscript functions.
  • Fixed potential crashing bug on Forest cloning.
  • Forest Color ignores status of Override checkbox when using Tint by Element.
  • Added Undo support to Geometry->Copy/Paste operations.


Registered customers of Forest Pack Pro can download the upgrade from User Panel->Beta versions

Image by State of Art Academy

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Autodesk's Featured 3D Artist

There are a million stories. Tell us yours.

Share your best work with the AREA community and tell us the story behind your creations.

I am proud to share with you an Autodesk Artist blog that I was featured in. Several months ago I received a call from Autodesk, requesting an interview for a featured story on a new "Tell Us Your Story" blog, over on the Autodesk Area website. Of course, I was excited to speak with them, and the featured post has now gone live.

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Photoshop on a Chromebook

In partnership with Google, Adobe is proud to introduce Project Photoshop Streaming, a new technology beta. Initially, this beta will be available exclusively to select North America based Adobe education customers with a paid Creative Cloud membership.

Project Photoshop Streaming enables selected participants to access Photoshop on Chromebooks. Applications delivered via streaming are easy to access and easy to manage. Even better, streaming apps work directly with files in Google Drive, so no need to download and re-upload files - just edit directly in the cloud.

Project Photoshop Streaming includes:

  • Creative tools: Streaming access to Photoshop with other products coming soon
  • Access from any Windows device with a Chrome browser or from a Chromebook
  • Learning tools: Access to Adobe Education Exchange learning content and an in-app Learning panel called 'Learn Now'
  • Project Photoshop Streaming Feedback and Forum support

 

Project Photoshop Streaming is an exclusive program. If you are interested in applying, please review the eligibility requirements and application process and submit your application here.

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The best one-minute animation you'll see all year

This brilliant short shows just how little time you need to entertain and make a point.

It takes real skill to entertain an audience for over an hour with a CG animation. But in a way, doing so in little over a minute is even more challenging. And here's an example of an animated short that does just that – combining brilliant 3D craft, a clever script and an unexpected ending with fabulous results.

It's the creation of House Special, a spin-off company fromLaika, the Portland animation studio behind such quirky feature films as The Boxtrolls. And it's already won a ton of awards, including Best Minute Movie at Animation Block Party in Brooklyn, Short Film Silver at The Australian Effects and Animation Festival, and Audience Favorite (3D Animation) at the California International Animation Festival.

Did you enjoy this article? I would love to hear your thoughts, so don’t be shy and comment below! Please don’t forget to subscribe to my RSS-feed  or follow my feed on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook! If you enjoyed the following article we humbly ask you to comment, and help us spread the word! Or, if you would like, drop me an email.