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Filed under: Design, Developer, Fun, Internet, Utilities, News, Windows, Macintosh, Productivity, Freeware

DAZ up your 3D with this free studio

DAZ is giving away version 1.3.1 of their DAZ 3D studio software. You may recall our own Chris Gilmer's post on the DAZ folks offering Bryce 5 for free a while ago. The generosity of the DAZ folks just never ends. You have to create a new account on their site (unless you have one) to download the studio. They call the application "tell-ware" meaning that you can use it if you promise to tell two other people, swear on it, scout's honor and all that. This is a marketing and traffic generating tactic I have not seen in too many places, but it is optimistic and interesting none the less. I imagine that not many users will tell others unless you really think it is something special. Forgive me if I sound like a newb, but I had never heard of DAZ 3D Studio before today, though I have been using many different 3D studio applications for a while now. DAZ 3D Studio strikes me as an app somewhere between the likes of Sketch-up and Maya. It is fairly full-featured and will do some great stuff for you. If you are into 3D at all, this is worth checking out. There, now I told two people at least, and did my good deed for the day.

Thanks to dcgrendel for the tip!

Filed under: Developer, Internet, Windows, Microsoft

Microsoft .net dev tools CTP released

Microsoft OrcasThe project codenamed "Orcas" is now available for download. The developer tools release is Microsoft's September customer technology preview (CTP) for the .net framework 3.0. You must have the .net framework and September CTP software development kit (SDK), not to mention a non-express version of Visual Studio 2005 already installed to run the tools in this release. At under 4MB (not quite a whale), the development tools include XAML intellisense support, project templates for Windows Presentation Foundation and Windows Communcation Foundation. The dev tools also features the Visual Designer (codename: Cider) for Windows Presentation Foundation, but is sadly not supported by the express editions of Visual Studio 2005. If you understood anything I just said, and it interests you you will be happy to know that it is now ready to be downloaded and I suppose anything else you want to do to it.

Filed under: Audio, OS Updates, Windows, Apple, Microsoft

Monaco - Microsoft's version of GarageBand?

monaco music microsoftYou mean Microsoft isn't going to quit making iLife-style apps just because Macs can boot into Windows? Well, I doubt Windows Movie Maker is going anywhere. And Max, Vista's photo application, is set to be a major selling point to the consumers out there. So I can only think Monaco, or Vista's answer to GarageBand, will also be at least a bullet point on the back of the box (which box remains a question). There's a heated discussion on this topic over at ArsTecnica's M-Dollar. One comment to note: Microsoft set out to dominate the office, which they did. Apple set out to dominate the creative studio, which they did. Now we see each traveling to the other corner of the ring (Apple's got rack-mountable servers, a true server OS, and iWork for what its worth), what will be the result? I can't wait to see the Monaco interface. I have been intrigued with Max, and it'll be interesting to see what Vista technologies are leveraged by Monaco in a similar fashion. So far not enough details have emerged about Monaco to make a call... Let the Studio battle begin!

Filed under: Design, Developer, Internet, Windows, Macintosh

Toon Boom Studio version 3 released

toonboomstudioI have always hated the animation tools in Flash. Maybe it's because I cut my teeth doing animation the old-fashioned way. But ever since Adobe killed off LiveMotion my inner animator hasn't been happy.

Which is why I was delighted to hear Toon Boom Studio has recently risen to the big 3.0. It appears the Mac version is now on par with the PC version (lip sync didn't work before) and there are some new features too. It's not as easy to use as Swish, but for my money much more powerful as an animator's tool.

The big deal on Toon Boom Studio? It's clearly designed with traditional animators in mind. Using GUI metaphors like lightbox and cameras, it's more attuned to the old-school world of animation. As a bonus, you can do some things in there you can't easily setup in Flash. Like how about a camera to pan, zoom, and rotate? Give the demo a try, but unless you're familiar with the animation tools of yore, be prepared for a learning curve. 

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The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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