Issue 6

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FEATURING...

COVER STORY: STEALTH FX
From plummeting planes and imploding buildings to airborne environments and cityscapes whipping by, find out how Digital Domain artists worked their magic to create their awesome visual effects.
BY RON MAGID

LIGHTWAVE BEGINNER CHECKLIST
Answers to the top twenty most asked questions from the online community and from the classroom.
BY WILLIAM "PROTON" VAUGHAN

ESSENTIALS: FLASH ANIMATIONS
How to quickly create Flash animations that can be shown on a Web site.
BY BRAD CARVEY

HAIR STYLING TECHNIQUES
Been trying to tame a wild head of hair? Adding hair to characters has been a challenge for quite some time. Take a gander at these styling techniques using Softimage|XSI 's integrated hair styling tools.
BY RAFFAEL DICKREUTER

EXTRACTING SURFACE MAPS FROM DIGITAL CAMERA FILES
As the popularity of using digital images for surface mapping is increasing, many don 't realize how much shadow, mid-tone and highlight detail is lost once an image is converted from a camera 's native RAW format into a format that can be read by programs like Photoshop. This first of a two-part series using digital texture photos taken at the Cabrillo Monument shows you how to preview and control those details before they 're lost in conversion.
BY STEPHEN BURNS

INTRO TO NORMAL MAPPING PART 2: ADVANCED TECHNIQUES &APPLICATIONS
This second article in a series offers solutions and strategies for tackling complex challenges in normal mapping.
BY JAKE CARVEY

UNCLE ROBIN 'S MINI GUIDE TO MEL
VOLUME 2: HOW TO MAKE SOMETHING ACTUALLY USEFUL
In this volume, we discuss using procedures and scripts to create complex extended systems to enhance your Maya experience. It builds on the over view of programming in the first volume with more specific details about using MEL.
BY ROBIN SCHER

BINDING THE MODEL TO THE RIG
Part 4 in the series of Preparing a Human Model for Animation. This last part in the series takes you through the final details required to make your character deform properly when animated or posed.
BY PETER RATNER

NUKE SERIES PART 1: COMPOSITING PASSES WITH NUKE
This article provides detailed explanation for compositing custom passes with Nuke, as well as an extensive introduction to Nuke 's powerful multi-channel compositing abilities.
BY BOAZ LIVNY

RENDERMAN ARTIST TOOLS, DIVING IN
In this first article in the series, we will be looking at the Renderman Artist Tools inside of Maya. It will be brief and simple, but will touch all the basics, and even show you how to write your first shader.
BY PETER HARTWIG

ANIMATING A CRAWLING TATTOO
Paint Effects can create some interesting animated effects, but of ten at the expense of your sanity. This tutorial offers some tips on customizing a brush to create a specific look. In addition, it will describe a workaround that will make animating the stroke much easier.
BY ERIC S. KELLER

DEATH, TAXES, AND TYPE WRITE-ONS
Learn to make intricate type write ons using Adobe After Effects. Then use the rendered files to reveal three dimensional type in LightWave 3D.
BY AARON KENT

KOOSHLINGS
An editorial by DARIUSH DERAKHSHANI

STUFF
An editorial by BRAD CARVEY

A STEP CLOSER TO BELIEVABLE DIGITAL ACTING
An editorial by RAFFAEL DICKREUTER

FINAL RENDER: IT'S EASY TO BE AN EXPERT
An editorial by BRAD CARVEY

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