Latest news as of September 2010:

"Modeling with modo, Volume Three - Jets!" coming in the fall.

I've been working on several jet aircraft projects, and so I've collected a lot of material on building them in modo. They are:

• Boeing 727 project - Classic airliner
• Boeing 787 project - Boeing's latest high-tech beauty
• B-2 bomber project - Northrop-Grumman's stealth bomber
• Gulfstream G650 project - A large, luxurious business jet

Each aircraft has interesting attributes… The Boeing 727-100 is a classic airliner, and one of the most important historic aircraft that helped usher in the jet age. Built using typical Boeing all-metal "heavy duty" methods, it's also got one of the most complex wings that Boeing every built. The Boeing 787-8 is quite different… much larger, but using modern composite construction, a simpler, more efficient wing, and two huge engines. The B-2 project is the most difficult, due to the lack of documentation, and quite a modeling challenge. Finally, the Gulfstream G650 is a large, fast, luxurious business jet, using the latest in high-tech composites and avionics.

The online articles here are typical modo construction articles, showing images of the steps involved. But at the same time, I'm recording screen-capture video with sound, showing the details of how each step is done. These will all be included on the DVD, along with at least two other projects, which I'll reveal as the release date gets closer. This DVD is especially devoted to those who enjoy scale jet aircraft building.

"Modeling with modo, Volume Two" released July 14th, 2010

This one is a "Right brain/Left brain" DVD…
A large part of the content comes from the six-month-long one I've just finished, for a company that trains "King Air" pilots. I created images and animations for them, which will become part of an FAA-certified flight training program. These range from cockpit animations, where gages move, and the crew takes action, to systems tests, de-cing, heating and cooling, fire suppression, fuel flow, valve operation, propellers spinning at different speeds, etc..

Along with a ton of video at 30 fps, 1280 X 720, (tutorial videos all have audio) several exterior aircraft models are included on the DVD, including a detailed exterior model of the King Air B200 created for these clients. (a twin turboprop business aircraft) There's quite a bit of precision aircraft and systems-oriented modeling, including simple animation methods, and my method for assembling those individual animations into a presentation for the client. (This is key framed action center-based animation, including morph maps, and the animation of various color and visibility channels... not IK or "mech rigging".)

I used an interesting method for creating custom "paint" on the aircraft above, beginning with creating mesh shapes in modo. These dense meshes were applied to the plane using "Background constraint", and were then rendered (alone) at high-res with an orthographic camera. From there, they were imported into PhotoShop, colored, and exported as PNG files, which were then used with UV maps in various ways. It worked out great, and has become one of my favorite methods, due to it's flexibility. We could modify the paint shapes, or the colors, easily. I'll show that process.

And…
There's a large section on organic visualization work I've been doing for artists. You might be interested to see the process we used to document these organic figures for the engineers who actually plan the physical installations, since these are all large pieces. (Documentation was as important here as it was for any scale project.) More preview movies will be added during June, but the first one (modeling turbine fan blades) is already up.

For those of you who might be interested in both volumes, I've created a discount package price for the two together, which you'll find on the same page. (Info on "Modeling with modo, Volume One" is here.

You can pre-order if you like, but no orders will ship until July 14th. Hope you enjoy this one!

I was one of the presenters on the 05-15-10 live internet "Modo Users Group" (MUG) webinar, via "GoToMeeting".
If you'd like to view the video, it's available here.

As soon as I received my Apple iPad, (story below) I checked the appearance and functionality of all my web sites using it, and all seem to work, aside from some videos. That can be solved, by adding HTML 5 support, which will make the video content more iPhone and iPad friendly. I'm studying now, and will have these additions functioning as soon as possible. If you're interested in making these changes to your site, See the articles on Apple's site, here.

My home page now includes a little HTML5. So far, this works in most browsers, and on the iPad. Firefox has some issues, but I'm working on it.

Click here for a slideshow from the Alaska State Aviation Trade Show and Conference, 05-02-10. (46 MB)

Apple's new "iPad":

Apple's new "iPad", launched on time, on April 3rd, and I received my pre-ordered unit the same day. Check it out at http://www.apple.com/ipad/. Summing it up… For me, this is a great tool. In addition to all the fun stuff, like watching movies, etc., it's a great "portfolio on the go", and has huge future potential. I hope to see fully OS X-powered "touchscreen notebooks" in a year or two.

As of Apple's April 6th iPhone OS 4 event, we now know that multi-tasking is coming, along with a long list of other great features. I'm looking forward to a slightly larger version, something like a touchscreen notebook, and with stylus support, for those of us who use Wacom products. We'll see, but regardless, the iPad is a small, light, "instant on", fast, and useful device today, and I'm having a blast with it. It doesn't get hot like a laptop either, so it's comfortable to use for long periods.

After using it for a few days, I decided that I'd sometimes need the 3G version. Apple was completely cordial about that, allowing me to return it, for a 10% restocking fee, and ordering my 3G version at the same time. It works great in the house, using WiFi, via an Airport Extreme Base Station, and 3G is for road trips.

"Modeling with modo, Volume One" released 11-30-09

"Modeling with modo" is available now. (Preview page here) Special thanks those who have already ordered this DVD.

Beginning with requests that came to late for this DVD, I'm already planning more releases in a "Modeling with modo" series. If you have a particular request for something you'd like to see covered, feel free to email me and let me know. (One caveat…I don't want to repeat ideas that already exist in other training material.)

Beginning in March or April, 2010, I'll post a preview page for the new DVD, "Modeling with modo, Volume Two".
Check out my 2009 Projects Gallery, here.

• Two renderings, and some nice comments, regarding my Cessna T-50 project, appeared in the November 2009 issue of "Scale Aviation Modeller International magazine. (Image from the article here) Nice!
• The Berkut/LongEZ has been one of the most-viewed models on my site at nextcraft.com for many years. Beginning in late 2009, I've completely rebuilt this model, to a much higher degree of accuracy, and with many more details. It should appear in my 3D catalog with a month or two.
  This one was built entirely in modo, using spline cages, with the end result being an almost entirely sub-d model. It's also rigged for animation. Click here for the article.
• The second most-viewed aircraft on my NextCraft™ site has been the Raytheon Super King Air B200. So, my next major aircraft modeling project will be the all-modo version of the B200.
• Mike Burnett, of Doghouse Animations, has created some very cool flight sim animations, using my F-22 model. View them on my site here, or on my YouTube channel.




• Rumors have been circulating for some time in regard to the idea that Apple might come out with a "tablet"-type computer. In February of 2009, I did a 3D model of my concept, which I labeled "iPad". It was strictly a fun modeling exercise, done in one day, and was part of my series of "n gadgets". (See the article here) When rumors surfaced again, in the summer of 2009, I sent MacLife Magazine the image, and much to my surprise, they selected it as "Photo of the Month" for the October 2009 issue. (scan at right, which is page 8)

Blog with RSS feed, images, and animation, on my MobileMe site

Brief 3D animation samples on my YouTube channel