maxscripting...

I had a go at Maxscript for the first time today. A group project at Uni required some automation of .obj importing and exporting so I sat down and started learning the language. The help in Max is pretty similar to Maya and so it was quite easy to pick up and do the necessaries. Here is the simple script for anyone who is interested import export .obj script
One or two interesting things to note is that running multi-line code in the Maxscript listener doesnt work. It took a while to figure that out and so I moved it all into an actual Maxscript and things started working fine. Another is the use of normal brackets () for loop statements and enclosing functions, a little strange when you've been using curly braces {} for years (PHP etc) and have just started learning not to use them as with Python.
All in all it looks a pretty goof thing to learn alongside Mel/Python and should be of value in the future :o)

bTraffic progress

I'm currently working on a particle based Maya animation tool called bTraffic.
What this allows an animator to do is to draw a series of lines in Maya and auto-generate traffic that drive along the lanes.
Further updates will add in extra functionality such as inner lane changing, exit road options, density controls and replacement of cubes with custom models.
Click the image to see some demo videos.

barcamp leeds...

Thought I'd do a little bit of advertising for barcamp leeds here seeing as I'll be going along and having a look at what 'barcamp' events are all about. It looks like an interesting lineup and has some people there that I used to work with back in the days of hardcore web programming. It's also at the Old Broadcasting House in Leeds which has facilities available for our current Masters group project (more about that when it is complete). It's a rather swanky place, nicely laid out and kitted out with some cool equipment.
Should be fun :)

you tube updates to the site...

Just a little note to say that I've uploaded my 3D videos onto you tube and linked them straight to these pages so people wont have to download movies before seeing what they are.
I've also split the 3D section into relevant categories so that it is easier to follow.
Finally all the videos that I have uploaded can be accessed from the following you tube page: My videos

An example can be seen below: