Remember: Due to our presence at this year’s FMX conference in Stuttgart, all my lessons and lectures on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 8th and 9th, got cancelled – we’ll make up for them later!

Next week, on Wednesday, May 2nd, instead of practical exercises we’ll do our first excursion and visit the TU Berlin 3D-Lab; let’s meet in the BTK foyer at 2:15 p.m., sharp, and together we’ll go to

Technische Universität Berlin
Sekr. MA 3-2
Straße des 17. Juni 136
10623 Berlin

The guidance through their 3D print studio and CAVE will start at 2:45 p.m. – so be there in time, please!

3D I: Elementary Course
Three-dimensionally Thinking, Modelling, and Constructing

Like every semester before, there again will be the elementary course in summer 2012 providing the fundamentals for any further exercises or projects; however, you don’t need to participate if you got some good 3D skills already.

Start: April 24th, 04:45 pm

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3D II: Animation Course
3D Animation with and without Keyframes

Here we’ll deal with any kind of animation (incl. Xpresso, MoGraph, clothing engine, dynamics system) in space and time, with and without setting keyframes – except character animation which will get an own workshop later.

Start: April 11th, 11:30 am

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3D III: Experimental Course
Experiments :: Experience in Stereoscopic 3D

This will be a project oriented course mainly, and, of course, we’re going to do it in stereoscopic 3D. – Goal is to make some exciting animations for TiME-Lab, Cave, FMX etc. as well as for the 3D Innovation Center of which the BTK/3D-Lab is a member of. We’ll deal with camera-setups, viewing methods, storytelling, and rendering in stereoscopic 3D, and surely we’ll go out for some excursion(s).

Start: April 11th, 02:15 pm

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3D Workshop in May, 21-24:
Content Creation for Interactive 3D Visualization and Immersive 3D Environments

Accompanied by visits at 3D Innovation Center, at TiME-Lab and/or the department Interactive Media/Human Factors of the Heinrich Hertz-Institute, the caves of TU 3D-Lab and/or  Fraunhofer IPK, and so on, we’ll do some theoretical and practical research on new ideas in the field of three-dimensional virtualization and visualization … We’ll gather to a compulsory meeting before the workshop starts.

For the first time ever, but for a limited time as well, Digital Artist Zone is giving away their PRO-Versions of DAZ Studio 4, Bryce 7, and Hexagon 2.5 – for free:

• DAZ Studio is a feature rich 3D figure customization, posing, and animation tool to create stunning digital illustrations and 3D animations using virtual people, animals, props, vehicles, accessories, environments and more.
• Bryce is a feature-packed 3D modeling and animation package of very easy use, designed to quickly create and render stunning 3D environments; via the DAZ Studio plug-in it’s possible to add characters to terrain, water, sky, rocks, clouds, fog, vegetation, and architecture.
• Hexagon delivers all tools for creating detailed 3D models ready for final render featuring DAZ Studio Bridge, sculpted primitives, freehand modeling brushes, micro-displacement modeling tools, comprehensive UV-mapping modules, advanced 3D paint, and instant ambient occlusion.

Grab them all for free before they change their mind …

Right before Xmas, the incredible Nitroman recently released his latest free Plugin, Magic Snow, to make snow scenes with object collisions easily, effortlessly, and fast inside Cinema 4D.

Nitroman's Magic Snow Plugin

Like last year, starting today C4D-Network again is offering their Cinema 4D season’s gifts via their newly released online Advent calendar. Since there maybe something useful for you, you perhaps should have a closer look; you probably need a registration before …

The Visualizing Marathon 2011: Berlin is a 24-hour student data visualization competition being held at the Urania Berlin e.V. from Saturday, December 3, through Sunday, December 4. The event, which is open to students of all levels, offers participants the opportunity to network with students from other universities, compete for prizes and use data and design to tackle a complex, real world issue. Participation is free, and students of the winning team will each receive an engraved iPad while the university of the winning team will receive the Visualizing Trophy, designed by SJET.

Please note that registration for the Visualizing Marathon 2011: Berlin ends on Friday, November 25. (I’m sorry I got this information very late.) Please feel free to contact Alexandra Pappas with any questions.

As the Visualizing Marathon 2011: Berlin is one of five marathon competitions being held throughout the world as part of Visualizing.org’s 2011 Marathon Program, the winning and honorable mention projects for each city will be entered for a chance to win the GE Grand Prize, a $10,000 “Imagination at Work” grant awarded to the university of the project that best illuminates a new insight or solution through data visualization.

It is a great opportunity for any students interested in data visualization with talks by Moritz Stefaner, who has worked on project form institutions such as the World Economic Forum, Skype and the OECD Better Life Index, and Gregor Aisch of driven by data. Additionally, it is the opportunity for participants to have their work seen and judged by a distinguished jury of design leaders.

Concerning 3D Motion Design in conjunction with Interaction Design, we’ll meet on Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011, 2:45 pm sharp, in the foyer of the Heinrich Hertz Institute, HHI, for an exclusive demonstration of the touch-less interactively operating up-to-date free view 3D display technologies developed by the scientists at:

Heinrich Hertz Institut
Einsteinufer 37
10587 Berlin

Although this excursion is dedicated to students of the 3D course, everyone else being interested in 3D visualization will be very welcome but should drop me a note …

In a future release of Adobe’s Creative Suite, there may be a rather amazing feature for editing videos, especially the re-creation of the third dimension of 2D videos, including the ability to change focus and depth of field, as well; watch a compelling live demonstration by Sylvain Paris at Adobe TV!

David Drayton from Maxon Computer has started a personal project called the 99 frames project to encourage people trying out the new Cinema 4D R13 features. Everybody is invited to participate in this project, which is about having fun, learning, and sharing your work with the world. For more detailed information please turn to the 99 frames project home page, where you also may download an according C4D template to start with.

Rules are rather simple, e.g.:

• use at least 1 new C4D R13 feature (why not the new stereoscopic camera feature?)
• no stills, only animation will be accepted
• it must be your own work, no copycats
• …

Read more about the project and prizes here: neosushi68.tumblr.com and join the project’s group at Vimeo.