Autodesk has announced the release of their Ultimate Entertainment Creation Suite. The best thing about it? It contains 3ds Max AND Maya as part of the package. Check out the press release below and click the link for more info.

Since the acquisition of Alias, people have wondered where the relationship between Maya and 3ds Max is heading.

Would they fight to the death?

Or… Would they unite in one of the most powerful software packages the 3D world has ever seen?

Introducing the Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suite Ultimate

Whether you want to call them the ultimate tag team, the ultimate bromance, or the ultimate dynamic duo, Maya and 3ds Max have come together in the Ultimate Suite to provide you with a complete set of tools that give you the flexibility to tackle any project, any time. With single-step workflows and the ability to create sophisticated effects in Softimage, real-time character animation in MotionBuilder, sculpting and texture painting in Mudbox, and 2D concept art in Sketchbook Designer, the Ultimate Suite offers a complete set of 3D creative tools that unleash your creativity.

Like Mario and Luigi, Woody and Buzz, or Batman and Robin, Maya and 3ds Max are together at last.

So, what are you waiting for?

Source: Autodesk Annoucement

Digital Heroes site
Digital Heroes blog
Larry’s twitter

Our event was hosted at HNTB’s downtown Kansas City office.  The evening started with some food and fun with a backdrop of digital art playing on the main screen.  The local 501st Legion deployed a few folks to make sure things didn’t get too out of hand.  We had a mix of people show up.  Including our two Digital Heroes, we had professionals from the architectural field, civil engineering, film/video artists, traditional animators, illustrators, to freelancers, students, and hobbyists.

Our Executive President, Larry Kleinkemper, was briefly detained by the Trooper, but after ‘explaining’ he didn’t have the droids the Trooper was looking for, he was let go.  
First up was local President, Chip Weatherman starting the event and welcoming everyone.  After some brief announcements, including a future logo competition for the KC chapter, he past the festivities over to our Executive President, Larry.  He started off with some giveaways, then went on to thank some of our national sponsors, AMD, Render Stream, and Autodesk.

With the giveaways given out and the sponsors thanked, Larry started with our first Digital Hero, Stephen Goldblatt from Bazillion Pictures.  Stephen and Larry talked in-depth about everything from when Stephen started out as a traditional matte painter on various motion pictures, to the Walmart years, to his company’s current work with Quixotic.  Bazillion’s collaboration with Quixotic led to being invited to do a TED talk, which was a very artfully done multi-media piece using live dance, video, Unity game engine, and controlled with a Kinect.  We’ll definitely keep an eye out when that talk is available on the internet.

After a brief intermission, he moved on to interview our second Digital Hero of the night.  Jim Lammers from Trinity Animation has been a fixture in the KC CG community for years.  In fact, the original user group Jim started, KCAGA, is where Stephen, Jim, and Larry had all met many years back.  Jim and Larry discussed everything from Jim’s introduction to 3d, to transitioning different software, authoring support books, Trinity’s role as a reseller, to their current breadth of work.  Trinity’s animation group is responsible for creating many types of art for a varying array of clients.  They do everything from architectural renderings, motion graphics, to creating the background sets for the FX shows Archer and Unsupervised.

Needless to say, the Kansas City area has an incredible amount of talent and coupled with the midwest atmosphere, there’s no wonder people gravitate to artists in this market.  Trinity and Bazillion are living proof that it doesn’t matter where your studio is located.  You can still create incredible work with the demands this industry expects.  Check out our gallery to see other photos from the night’s festivities.

Check out the link below for all the details.

Maxed Out

Jim Lammers from Trinity Animation and Stephen Goldblatt from Bazillion Pictures will take us through an in-depth history of each of their companies and how they’ve stood the test of time in the KC computer graphics arena. Trinity and Bazillion have been bastions of content over the years. From Trinity’s work on Starship Troopers up to and beyond their current work, to Bazillion’s work with the Walmart bouncing ‘Smiley Face’ up to their current work with Quixotic and beyond. In addition, many of the artists in the KC area have ‘cut their teeth’ working with both these companies and the community as a whole has been better for it.

We’re also going to have some local artists showing some of the sci-fi/comic art, including Darryl Woods and Arie Monroe. Come early and hang out with some of the folks from the local area 501st Legion. They’ll be on-site to take pictures and make sure no one has the droids they’re looking for.

The event will be held at HNTB in downtown Kansas City. Address is below. You can start showing up at 6 to get some food, socialize, check out some art, and get your picture taken with the 501st Legion.

Check in at the front desk and say your here for the AAUGA user group meeting.
715 Kirk Dr
Kansas City, MO 64105
Room 434

The first 50 people to RSVP to me via the contact page on this site will get a guaranteed spot. Please limit any included persons besides yourself to 1 (one) extra person. You can always tell someone to come to the page and send an RSVP request themselves.

Also, since this will be a taped event, make sure to not wear clothes that have copyrighted labels. This will save the editors some time from having to blur out shirts, etc.

The contest runs from now until March 31, 2012. The official contest page includes an entry form as well as links to all of related contest information.

Check out their offical blog post for more information.

Arthur Suydam, THE ZOMBIE KING will be attending Planet Comicon on Kansas City this next March 24-25, 2012

The Spike TV Scream Award, Spectrum Gold Award, Film Festival of Sebastian Lifetime Achievement Award Winner has been writing and illustrating comics since the age of four. Suydam’s Marvel Zombies won the artist status of a comic legend, earning to the creator legions of fans around the globe and reportedly set trade paper-back sales records.

Additional Suydam titles include, Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth, Batman , Wolverine, Raise the Dead, Avengers, Army of Darkness, Vampirella, Moon Knight and many more!

As a musician, Suydam has been composing and performing and a studio vocalist and lead guitar player for horror film soundtracks for decades.

A list of the Zombie King’s roster of band-mates reads like a who’s-who of Rock and Roll and include musicians from Paul McCartney Wings, Bob Dylan, Joe Cocker, Brian Setzer Group, The Rolling Stones band and Aretha Franklin to name a few. Suydam’s current group, The Gotham Playboys recorded three albums with Bruce Springsteen and won a Grammy for “The Sessions”.

Currently Suydam is working on a Top Secret Zombie Series scheduled for release in 2012.

You can find more about ZOMBIE KING, ARTHUR SUYDAM at: http://www.arthursuydam.com

Their recent offer includes Substance Designer, Bitmap2Material, and 250 premade Substances. Check out their site for details.

Allegorithmic

The Master Awards are handed out yearly to exceptional Maya, Softimage, 3Ds Max and Mudbox professionals who have been nominated and voted for by their peers. The 4 award winners are announced at the Autodesk 3December event every year and their bios and work are showcased on the 3December web page.

The Junior Master Award is a new progam that is now in its second year. This award recognized exceptional students in the 3D community and the winner is also announced at the Autodesk 3December event and their bio and work is showcased on the 3December web page.

If you would like more information on submitting nominations please visit Masters page on the AREA site.

The criteria and instructions for nominations are posted on the website above.

If you would like to view the 2011 Masters please visit the 3December 2011 page on the AREA.

There’s some details below, but check out the site for further details.

Admission to Planet Comicon
$20 for an Adult Weekend Pass
$15 for an Adult One-Day Pass (Saturday or Sunday)
$5 Ages 7 to 14 for a Kid’s Weekend Pass
Under 7 FREE

Advance tickets — Adults $15 for a weekend pass