Monday 10 March 2014

MudWalker X2 release (Finally!)

Why just transfer between apps ...why not between machines...anywhere there is a internet connection?

MudWalker was an idea that has probably 'inspired' more clones than I ever foresaw, Then the clones started inspiring other clones and things got really weird.  It was the first of its type to allow you to transfer between applications but that was never the original idea, the original concept I had was so much bigger.  But at the time it was also impossible to test.  I had to wait a few years until I was working at Screen Scene in Dublin as 3D Supervisor on the film 'The Last Days on Mars' to be able to be allowed to fully test it in production.  Then (and only then) would I be sure it would be able to be released.



Due to work commitments and being busier than a rabbit in the mating season I haven't had a chance to release it for 2 years now. So it has sat on my drive gathering dust when not being used on Film and TV projects.   But as I have big changes coming in my life I have to put this out now as otherwise it may well disappear down the rabbit hole for another few years.




So the initial concept of MudWalker was not to just send models and assets between applications.... but between machines.  In fact anywhere that has an internet connection.   THAT is what MudWalker was always supposed to be.

Now right now I don't have a chance to do flashy complex videos or go into insane amounts of details on MudWalkerX2... you will either get why this is important or you wont.

The plugin has been compiled and tested again Mudbox 2014 SP1 and SP2 although as my internet provider has saw fit to block me from my own site (lol) I am having to upload it to another location.  The original version of ReDucto and MudWalker X are of course on PsychoCore.com.  Again as usual its windows only.... as no I still have not got around to compiling it on the mac and my Linux box exploded somewhat last year.

About The XClone Character Creation and Digital Double System

In the video above I make reference to an internal system of mine I have been using for a few years its called 'XClone' and is a fast idiot proof suit to create high end characters and digital doubles.  I've had cause to do a lot of digital doubles for both TV and film over the last couple of years and dev times are forever getting shorter.  So to keep quality up where I want and need it to be I developed XClone. Xclone version I have at the moment run on 3Ds Max, Mudbox and Modo so that they can best fit into a pipeline.

So using what I call the 'identikit' system I mentioned briefly in passing during one of my Autodesk Siggraph Mudbox Masterclasses back in 2010 I can ball park a digital double in a very short time ready for simply refining and sculpting.  But I can also press a button and if a client needs say 100 humans for a crowd scene hit a button and off it goes and you have 100 completely different models already UV'd and with shader set up in about 30 seconds.

I showed my xClone system as part of my closed session at CAVE in vegas last year.... If I get a chance I shall do a teaser outlining it.