Cynematik • Cyndi Greening

Since I’ve been on a tutorial kick, I decided to go looking for good Maya tutorials. I love Maya. The software package is just so deep, there is so much one can do with that program. So, I have found a lot of sites with tutorials but I do not have tremendous confidence about the sophistication of many tutorials and, in fact, some tutorials teach inefficient or improper techniques. For example, game modelers need to monitor their polygon count and their polygon shape to avoid malformations in animation. Film character animators are more likely to use a NURBs patch model and have to pay attention to edge looping for better blendshapes when the character speaks. So, a list of tutorials and a word of caution. They always say, “Begin with the end in mind.” Know what you’re final goal is so you make the proper decisions along the way.

• Learning Maya.Com
• Pixel2Life
• The Gnomon Workshop
• Simply Maya
• High End 3D
• Infinitee Designs
• 3D Links
• Digital Tutors
• Tutorial Find

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Seramon, ancient priest of Thebes, died 3000 years ago. His remains have lain in state in France since 1851. As per their tradition, Seramon’s organs were removed and amulets were placed in the cavity to accompany until the next life. Using VolumeGraphics VGStudio Max, a CT scanner and Apple Cinema Displays, scientists have been able to examine the amulets of Seramon without disturbing or desecrating the remains. Glass eyes, an amulet necklace, beeswax figurines of the sons of Horus and a dung beetle amulet were documented visually.

My favorite piece, Seramon’s mummy contained a scarab amulet. The amulet is a carved image of a sacred dung beetle that represented his heart. The underside of the scarab amulet is inscribed with Spell 30B of the Book of the Dead, a collection of spells and incantations. The spell implores his heart not to testify against him when it is weighed in the judgment ceremony:

O my heart which I had from my mother!
O my heart which I had from my mother!
O my heart from my different ages!
Do not stand up as a witness against me,
Do not be opposed to me in the tribunal,
Do not be hostile to me in the presence of the Keeper of the Balance.

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Last Thursday, Apple released the iPhone Software Developer Kit (SDK) and offered Mac aficionados the chance to build applications for the iPhone. There are, of course many reasons Apple might make such a choice but the most important reason is that it will generate a plethora of programs to add value to what a friend essentially described today as “an iPod on steroids.” Let’s face it. Most of us already have a cell phone with a two-year contract for services. If one does not want to buy out their contract or crack their iPhone, then one must wait for the contract to expire or use the iPhone as a glorified MP3 player. So, if Apple can get everyone working on making value-added merchandise for the iPhone, it will become more useful for users. And, it certainly does increase user loyalty. So, overall, another clever marketing move by Apple.

To be honest, the SDK development process has a fairly steep learning curve. I’ve spent the last three days in search of someone, anyone who knows Xcode really well. I’ve downloaded Open Source sample projects and tried to take them apart. I ordered the new book from O’Reilly that lists today as the publication date. If UPS is accurate, I should have that in a couple of days BUT as a person who is really quite determined to figure this out and do it, it has been a challenge to get information. Even going to the Apple Store didn’t give me the answers I was hoping to find.

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The folks at Mac Media sponsored seminar on Apple Leopard Server today. I wasn’t all that interested in going because I’m more into the whole creative production side of Apple. I’ve never enjoyed the thought of becoming (or, worse, actually being) a networking geek. But, the biggest little networking geek I know actually left school early so he could go and invited me to go along.

As is always true, some parts of the event were grindingly boring sales pitches BUT it turned out to be five hours well-spent because I remembered why I love Apple so much. They demonstrated the installation of Leopard Server from beginning to end on an empty laptop. The entire installation took less than fifteen minutes (after a two-hour explanation) and it was phenomenally easy. The new Leopard Server rectifies the challenges with Active Directory versus Open Directory structures. Didn’t that sound smart? I had to learn the difference between Active and Open Directory (Microsoft versus Open Source; closed, restrictive versus more open directory structures) and knowing the Leopard handles that problem so I don’t have to was quite exciting. And for the folks I have watched install Windows servers with VLAN (or some such acronym), I was stunned at how quickly and easily the Mac handled it.

Bottom Line: I am actually planning on buying Leopard Server. I’m small, only about ten computers that we use for film production and blogging, but I now have the ability to easily share enormous media files between all of these machines. And, by having network administration capabilities, I can easily limit who has access to what data. I had been planning on Fedexing data DVDs to NY so Alec could do some FX scenes because there was no easy way to get it to him. With my own server, I simply give him the IP address, he logs in and, BAM!, he’s got the files. Seamless integration.

There were three other things I was REALLY excited about:

• Podcast Producer: Built in ability to record video and audio, compress in multiple file formats and distribute to multitude of locations. Automated VOD (even high-def video on demand) and podcast publishing. It even automates the intro/extro process. Holy cow.
• Wiki Server: Filmmaking requires a lot of data collection and sharing with members of the cast and crew. In the past, I always set up blogs for people to share info but it was tedious to work through the entries to find what one wanted. Now, one can easily make Wikis for each project that are tremendously easy to use.
• Calendaring: Group calendaring with automatic notification, invitation and RSVPing. During production, seems like it would be useful but the jury is out on this yet.
• Hosting my own blogs: I’m actually considering hosting my own blogs and media. Since I don’t want to be a networking geek, I’m having a hard time reconciling this in my noodle.

Cost: In my opinion, cheap. $499 for ten client (ten servers NOT ten endusers), $999 for unlimited clients.

After teaching for 18 years, I’m always shocked at how many geeky computer things I’ve learned over the years. Often times, I’ve had to laugh that things I spent a lot of time learning (like HTML) became nearly superfluous with the advent of new applications like, say, Dreamweaver. I had often thought, “If I had just waited a little longer, I wouldn’t have needed to learn that.” Well, the time has come where I’m thinking, heck, networking so easy, even I can do this.

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