The award winning morphing and assistant in complex morph setups and animations plug-in for 3Ds Max has released its second version with major updates in its features. Morph-O-Matic v2 features, Faster morphing calculation speed, Enhanced user interface, Displaying 20 morph channels at all time, Static poses preset, etc. Check the full list of v2 features here. Morph-O-Matic is avalible for sale at a retail price of $249 USD. A demo trail is also avalible for download here.SD

Some dude with loads of free time on his hands has decided to create a mobile application for modeling 3D objects by plotting NURBS curves on tiny mobile screens. Objects modeled using the Maya On-The-Go Java application can then be saved and imported onto Maya and Softimage | XSI to be used in *bigger* projects. I cannot think of a reason why anybody would want to spend time away from a computer modeling little 3D boxes, but you can try it out if you have the time just for the novelty of this free mobile application. Check out Maya On-The-Go to learn more about it and download the mobile application for free (Compatible only with Nokia phones).

[via CGIndia]

Softimage announced the release of its 3D character facial animation technology, SOFTIMAGE Face Robot 1.9. Face Robot lets 3D artists create realistic human facial animations without the need for complex rigging steps. This edition of Face Robot introduces exporter for Autodesk Maya to facilitate moving completed facial rigs and animation data from Face Robot into Maya. You can learn more about Face Robot from here.

The powerful 3D modelling, rendering and animation solution for Apple Mac OS X has released a new update that increases MacOS X 10.5 (Leopard) compatibility and fixes many bugs. Cheetah 4.5 also highly improves the memory efficiency of the render manager which allows the render manager to recover the results of finished rendering jobs if Cheetah3D should crash. Cheetah 4.5.1 was announced the next day due to two bugs introduced in Cheetah3D 4.5 that could cause a crash. You can read about the major updates in this new version of Cheetah 3D here. You can download and try out the demo version of Cheetah3D 4.5 for free here.

Aviary is a set of web based applications for creating all sorts of media. The concept of this suite of creative content creation tools is similar to Picnik, Google Docs, and Adobe Kuler, all of which are rich internet applications (RIAs) to be used within your browser. RIAs provide the possibility to run the application on any machine that has a proper browser and an internet connection without the need to carry your data along with you or even install the applications on the computer you work on. The nature of web applications creates unlimited opportunities for collaboration at real time as featured in Google Docs.

Aviary takes RIAs one step further by providing relatively more powerful applications than what we have seen before, these applications include an image editor, a vector editor, a 3D modeling tool, a video editor, a music generator and other creative tools that make up its 14 application-suite. The video below illustrates the capability of Phoenix, Aviary’s image editor:

I personally use many web applications and Google Docs and Picnik are some of my favourites. I find Aviary’s project very interesting and think that it shows us a glimpse of how the future should be.Aviary is currently in private beta and invitations are floating around the internet. You can submit your email to the invitation queue and learn more about Aviary from their official website.

Moment Of Insipartion (MoI) is a brand new 3D modeling application for designers 3D enthusiasts. MoI features a  sleek intuitive UI blends a fluid easy workflow with powerful tools, making it the perfect choice for someone who has been frustrated with the complexity of existing CAD tools. It also features a Pen-tablet friendly user interface, aswell as High quality anti-aliased display on inexpensive  low-end cards. You can dowload a 30-day trail of MoI from here, or purchase the full package from here for 195 USD. For more information about MoI, visit their official site.

The CGSociety.com – part of Balistic Publishing – announced the winners of their latest CG competition. The topic of the competition was ‘Strange Behavior’ - “The unexpected can delight or shock. It can be exciting or frightening. It’s often funny. It’s never boring!” With over than US$90,000 worth of prizes, 15 winning entries were chosen by previous CGS competition winners, and Jinko Gotoh, Film Producer; Dan Curry, Film producer/director and Paul Gulino, Head of Screenwriting at Chapman film school. ” With so many outstanding entries the judging was difficult, but the jury selected the 15 entries that stood out as truly world class.” Mark Snoswell said, President of the CGSociety. To view the winning artworks, visit CGSociety.

Softimage recently released a 30-day trial version of SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5. Softimage is well known software for 3D modelling, character creation, animation and rendering. The new 30-Day trial version is available in English and Japanese, and it will make it possible for students and professionals to try the new features of SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5. The trial can be downloaded from this link.

Pixologic announced the release of a 30 days trial version of its well known 3D sculpturing, painting and rendering tool; ZBrush 3.1. This 30 days trial is a fully functional version of ZBrush 3.1. You can download the 30 days trial version for Windows operating systems from this link, www.pixologic.com/zbrush/trial

Nabors, an oil drilling contracting company, is looking for an AutoCAD modeler in Oman who is familiar with oil rigs and is willing to work on field when required. The candidate must have good English communication skills, must be able to control documents, and create and maintain reports using MS Office and MS Projects. Pay will be determined on the experience of the candidate. You can send your applications to mark.payne@nabors.com.