HDRI Links

A couple of cool links from HDR LABS:

Picturenaut’s consistent multi-threaded architecture makes it the fastest tone mapper in the world.
Also linked to this site is SMART IBL. It puts optimized IBL setups on a single button again. On top of that, it represents a unified way of organizing your HDR collection into ready-made lighting solutions. Smart IBL is an open system, completely transparent to artists and developers - flexible enough to power an entire company pipeline, and portable enough to work in every 3d application. And most importantly, it's completely free.

Maya and Python Tools

Thinking of learning python for use with MAYA?
There are two good tools out there if you want to code in python and getting it run with Maya. One of them is PYMEL developed by Chad Dombrova of Luma Pictures. ymel makes python within Maya the way it should be-- readable, concise, and object-oriented. Pymel builds on the maya.cmds module by organizing many of its commands into a class hierarchy, and by customizing them to operate in a more succinct and intuitive way. The other is Farsheed Ashouri's mapy 1.2.1 an external commander for Maya. It has the following features:

• Use maya powerful programming language without using it's native script editor.
• Support for MEL and Python.
• Send your scripts with single hotkey.

Mapy looks at the script and based on the extension of the file, sends python or MEL commands to maya. The mapy website has tutorials on how to install and getting it to run with your favorite text editor.
Direct Download Links:
PYMEL
mapy 1.2.1

El Cabron's Blog Site

New year, new challenges.

Check out my good friend, El Cabron's' blog site. If you're a tech head, geek or just plain gadget freak, his blog site is a cool resource on the latest stuff in the hardware and software side of things (jokingly also about other useless things). 

Check it out!