New issue of Blenderart Magazine, called “Spirit of Exploration”, is out. Blender community is still growing with all the new tools.    This growing community explores new area of imaginations and creativity and also achieve new levels of amazingness.  In this issue you can find out more about Spirit of Exploration in a series of articles sure to spark a bit of personal exploration of your own.

E-on software, in association with leading organization of CG industry such as Pixologic, 3Dconnexion or Digital-Tutors and more, start the "3D Environment Competition 2012".

The 3D Environment competition is open to everyone, hobbyists and professionals alike. The judging will be based solely on the quality, originality and artistic merit of the images, not on the software used to create them. You may use your application of choice but in combination with any of the e-on software products. This includes any version of Vue. You may also use Carbon Scatter, Ozone, and LumenRT or their respective PLEs and trial versions!

3D Environment Competition has three categories: 3D Environment (create an image of any kind of environment), Character Rendering (immerse your 3D Characters in any kind of environment) and Architectural Visualization(create the perfect environment for your architectural designs).

Submission ends 16th of December.

Prizes:

You can win over $30,000 worth in prizes from e-on software and other sponsors.

3D Environment

• The winner will receive over $6000 worth in prizes
• The First runner up will receive over $2000 worth in prizes
• The Second runner up will receive over $1500 worth in prizes

3D Character

• The winner will receive over $5000 worth in prizes
• The First runner up will receive over $2000 worth in prizes
• The Second runner up will receive over $1500 worth in prizes

Architectural Visualization

• The winner will receive over $6000 worth in prizes
• The First runner up will receive over $2500 worth in prizes
• The Second runner up will receive over $2000 worth in prizes

For more info visit: 3D Environment Competition 2012

New issue of 3D World magazine is coming out. In new issue you can find sea creatures, critters or pink, dummy-toting beasties from the movies because topic of this issue is CG creature art, Blender vehicles and Hotel Transylvania. So this time Renee Dunlop discovers how the characters in Hotel Transylvania were brought to life using simple silhouettes, vivid colours and strong graphic clarity. Kulsoom Middleton talks to self-taught creature concept artist Fausto De Martini about his mix of mechanical and sci-fi styles, and constantly coming up with fresh ideas.

Digital-Tutors released a new course with the name „Introduction to CINEMA 4D R14“. Here several instructors will provide you with a good understanding of how to work within CINEMA 4D and guide you through many of the major parts of the software. The training is starting with a basic presentation of CINEMA 4D by exploring the interface, and discussing a number of features and concepts that are very important to know to be able to master this 3D application. After this point the real modelling will start, the instructors will walk you step-by-step through the process of modeling and texturing our own futuristic flying vehicle using CINEMA 4D and the built-in BodyPaint texturing suite. Moreover, the training not only include the modelling and trexturing itself but also the animating of the vehicle and creating refueling hose to the aircraft  using the standard CINEMA 4D particle system. With the