Cebas has release its new ThinkingParticles 3.0 Demo Version. Cebas tried to make your ThinkingParticles Demo experience as close to the full version as possible, but there are as you can expect some restrictions in a Demo Version. Cabas say’s about their product: “ThinkingParticles^TM 3.0 is the ultimate rule based particle system for 3ds max, offering unparalleled power to the user. ThinkingParticles^TM 3.0 is a completely new class of rule-based particle systems for 3ds Max. When this type of particle system is compared to an event-based particle system, (which works on triggers and time dependent events) you’ll find many unique advantages within TP3′s rule-based logic, which is free from normal time-based constraints and instead applies simple behaviors. These behaviors govern all aspects of a particle’s motion, life, death, and collisions in a true non-linear fashion. We hope you find that by using ThinkingParticles 3, you can create all the incredible effects you were hoping for, but have been limited previously by existing technologies. ”

Demo only Restrictions:

• Particles can’t be rendered
• Meshes are not created except for view port display
• Materials are not supported for rendering output
• Particle caching is not available in the Demo Version
• Physics Simulation caching is not supported
• ThinkingParticles Scenes can’t be saved
• Black Boxes can’t be saved
• 3rd Party Plug-In Support is not available in the Demo
• Particles can’t be exported
• External Particle is not available (Mesher/Snapshot)
• TD-Tool support for creating TP Particle Systems is not available

You can find the demo version of ThinkingParticles 3.0 here.

A short but great promo clip which was made with ThinkingParticles

Andrew Kramer from videcopilot.net did release another great After Effects Video Tutorial. This time he is guiding you through the creation of smoke on a footage and how to stabilize it. Andrew was inspired by the book Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional Studio Techniques (Author Mark Christiansen) that we at StrongMocha.com recommend as well.  I did buy the book myself some weeks ago and learned a lot from Mark Christiansen’s book, of course not as much I learned from Andrew Video Tutorials or products videcopilot.net sells.

From Andrew’s announcement at videocopilot.net:

“In this new 2-part tutorial you will learn a great method for stabilizing footage in After Effects that smooths the result rather than freezes the tracking center. We will also create smoke flying behind a police car, which is as fun as it sounds.

This one tutorial has many great tips and techniques including, rotoscoping, expressions and matte blending.”

“I’d also like to thank Mark Christiansen for allowing me to demonstrate his stabilize technique in this tutorial. For more information about his great After Effects book” Click the book below

Some day’s earlier the same week videocopilot.net did release another useful Video Tutorial. The After Effects Video Tutorial “Smoke Screen” which teaches you how to use various compositig techniques to create these smoke designs in After Effects.

Please do not forget to support the work Andrew is doing. One great way to support videocopilot.net is to buy their products like Twitch. Twitch is available as a download version, buy Twitch here. Twitch from Videocopilot is a awesome After Effects plug-in. StrongMocha highly recommends this great plug-in.To learn more on Twitch you can read more here:

New Twitch (Vines) Tutorial @ videocopilot.net

Twitch – a “must have” After Effects Plug-in

Twitch After Effects Plug-in promotion video

Alternative you could start to stabilize and/or track footage with monet or mokey both from Imagineer Systems, however these products come with additional costs you may do not want to spend. View the product overview chart to see how Imagineer Systems products compare and what you are missing in your toolbox: Chart

Rhys Enniks published a new Video Tutorial. This time on creating a particle system purely with expressions in Adobe After Effects.

WilliamVaughan and Chuck (Chuck Baker) did release more then free 16 hours of Free LightWave training . Newtek did post over 16 hours of LightWave training covering

• Modelin
  • General Modeling
  • Organic Modeling
• Surfacing/Texturing
  • Tools
  • Mapping
  • Surface Editor
  • Node Editor
• Animation
  • Animation Tools
  • General Animation
  • Animating Cameras and Lights
  • Vehicle Animation
  • Character Animation
  • Particles
  • Dynamics
• Lighting
  
• Rendering and Compositing
  

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