Digital-Tutors announces new Nuke, Houdini, 3ds Max, Mudbox, and modo training.

Digital-Tutors has announced the release of five new titles to their online learning library including the addition of the Foundry's compositing software Nuke. 'Getting Started with Nuke,' 'Modeling Game Props in 3ds Max,' 'Getting Started with Replicators in modo 401,' 'Houdini Ocean Toolkit,' and 'Creating Game Weapons with 3ds Max and Mudbox,' collectively contain over six hours of creative, self-paced training and provide 56 interactive lessons.

These five new educational courses provide a tool-based approach to fully understanding fundamental industry techniques and popular production topics such as how to efficiently composite and create visual effects in Nuke; achieve optimal results for building low resolution game assets in 3ds Max; effectively use replicators to quickly populate scenes in modo 401; simulate and render realistic oceans in Houdini; and create cohesive digital assets using 3ds Max and Mudbox.
"Digital Tutors has produced a great introduction to Nuke that's really easy to follow along with. It's an excellent way to start building a Nuke knowledge base," said Nicki Morris, Global Partner Manager at The Foundry.

Getting Started with Nuke
Key topics and highlights: user interface basics, reading images into Nuke, Merge Node, Bezier Node, Transform Node, ColorCorrect Node, Constant Node, merge operations to composite a 3D render, Animation in Nuke, and rendering images out of Nuke.

Modeling Game Props in 3ds Max
Key topics and highlights: creating the initial shape of the shield, finishing the shield geometry, adding detail to the shield, building the main pieces of the barrel, adding the recoil sleigh, modeling the rear assembly of the barrel, adding a support structure, adding the equilibrator spring and hand wheel, modeling the trail, and building the wheels.

Getting Started with Replicators in modo 401
Key topics and highlights: replica basics, cactus replicas with the vertex tool, replicating grass, adding randomization, surface generator, modulating replica density, weight maps, and texture maps to modulate rock and plant placement.

Houdini Ocean Toolkit
Key topics and highlights: Houdini Ocean Toolkit parameters, building ocean geometry, setting ocean parameters, lighting and shading, Fresnel reflections, height-based shading, foam with noise, shaders and rendering, adding fog in post, and finalizing the composite.

Creating Game Weapons with 3ds Max and Mudbox
Key topics and highlights: building the base of a weapon, creating UVs for base geometry, adding and modeling blades, building the handle, transferring geometry to Mudbox, sculpting and detailing the guards, blades, and handle, adding specular maps, exporting assets from Mudbox, and assembling the finished weapon in 3ds Max.