Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
WPF provides a unified framework for building applications with rich user interfaces and interactivity. It is built on top of the .Net Framework and makes use of the managed and unmanaged code. WPF programming model allows the developers to write code once and deploy it as a standalone installed application or in a browser.
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If you’ve been watching the technical news or attended MIX ‘07, then you’ve probably been hearing about Silverlight (f.k.a. WPF/E). The idea behind Silverlight is simple — provide a cross-browser, cross-platform technology for 2D vector graphics, animations and DRM high-definition media. Currently, Microsoft is targeting the Mac using either Firefox or Safari and Windows using IE6/IE7 or Firefox.
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Creating art in a 3D modeling package such as Max or Maya and then trying to get it to work in the Unreal Editor can sometimes be quite a feat, especially if you’ve never done it before. Hopefully this process will provide a basic understanding of the art pipeline for Unreal Ed and answer any questions you may have about getting your static meshes from the 3D package of your choice into the Unreal Editor and into your Mod.
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This tutorial is intended to teach new animation students a few basic animation techniques and workflow based on fundamental animation principles using Maya and a free character setup named walkingBall_v2.3 created by the author. This character setup or “rig” has many useful features without being overwhelming to newer students. This tutorial assumes you have a basic understanding of how to navigate the Maya interface, find menu commands, and other basic computer file management skills.
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This 3D Quick Start Guide is designed for the multimedia designer who is new to the 3D capabilities of Director® Shockwave® Studio and the 3D artist/animator who is unfamiliar with Director® 8.5 Shockwave® Studio. Our goal today is to animate an American-style football player, kicking the ball over the goal post. This character was created in 3ds max™ 4 and animated using character studio® 3, proven software solutions from Discreet. You will find a number of assets in the .zip file. By the end of this tutorial, you will be able to take these assets into Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio and create an interactive 3D sequence, playable on the web. The player is kicking the ball over the goal post. The character is animated to perform a series of motions in sequence along a single timeline, i.e., an idle motion, a jog start, a kick sequence, a sprint with arms up and a jog stop. The football is animated to leave its start position, fly over the goal and bounce on the other side. The goal is to take these assets into Director Shockwave Studio and to make them interactive.
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In this tutorial you will use 3D Studio Max 6 and reactor to set up a physics simulation. Using these animation tools you will create a wrecking ball (swinging chain with heavy ball on the end used to break things, see figure 1). This tutorial will touch on some of the key elements to remember when using reactor. After completing this tutorial you will be able to create chains and hopefully you will avoid common mistakes that often frustrate people when using these techniques. This tutorial will give you the knowledge to explore and experiment with most of the reactor tools. If used properly, reactor is a powerful tool.
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Installing the 3D Studio plug-ins Plug-ins for importing and exporting 3DS files are automatically installed with Life Forms. However, if you need to update your plug-ins or if you have removed the required plug-ins, you must install the 3DS plug-ins again. To install plug-ins • Put the 3DS plug-ins files, 3ds.in.dll and 3ds.out.dll, in the Plug-in folder in the Life Forms program folder. Building Models for Animation Life Forms only animates segmented models. When you build a model that will be animated, consider how it is going to move. This helps you to determine how many segments the models should have and where the pivot points of each segment should be.
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Animania is a catalogue of ready-to-use Animal models and motions. If you have built your own models and boned it or set up a segmented model for animation, you know it takes a long time and can be quite challenging. Animania provides models that are already set-up for animation. The mesh models have been boned, and the segmented models have been linked and set up for you. Moreover, each animal model comes with matching motions that you can use right away.
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