Level Up Your Game Art & Animation at the Summer Game Jam!

We're thrilled to announce that industry leaders SideFX, Radical, and Genies are partnering with TheXPlace and Unity for the upcoming Summer Game Jam! These top companies will provide invaluable resources, expert guidance, and exclusive opportunities to help elevate your game development skills to new heights.

Game On with Radical: Real-time motion capture and 3D content design for game animation and prototyping

😎 About RADiCAL

RADiCAL is a 3D creation platform that simplifies and accelerates every aspect of building and animating in real-time — from motion capture and animation, to scene composition and collaboration.

The RADiCAL platform is accessible through any consumer-grade device – directly from your web browser – and integrates seamlessly with Unreal, Maya, Unity, Blender, WebGL, and Replikant, enabling creativity, animation, and design for anyone, anywhere, at massive scale.

😎 About our guest speaker: Gavan Gravesen, co-founder and CEO @RADiCAL

Gavan Gravesen is the visionary CEO and co-founder of RADiCAL, a pioneering company pushing the boundaries of real-time 3D content creation and motion capture technology.

😎 Who should attend this session?

Game artists, animators, 3D artists, game developers, storyboarders, beginners/students 

😎What can participants hope to learn?

This presentation will introduce you to RADiCAL's two products, and demo how to use them in a Game Jam setting:

• RADiCAL Motion is an AI-powered, markerless, real-time, multiplayer motion capture solution.
• RADiCAL Canvas is a web app that simplifies collaborative real-time 3D scene design and prototyping.

Participants will learn how to think outside the box and use non-gaming traditional software to help in game design and development. How RADiCAL's browser-based tools can help with remote collaboration and creativity, how to use RADiCAL Canvas for prototyping and 3D content creation, and how RADiCAL Motion's AI-powered capabilities speed up the animation pipeline. 

😎 Any pre-requisite knowledge needed?  

There is no learning curve. It's all drag-and-drop. 

😎 Any instructions participants should follow ahead of the session?

Please sign up at radicalmotion.com for a free account

😎 What support will be available to Jammers?

RADiCAL experts will be available on the Game Jam Discord for office hours and Q&A sessions throughout the jam.

😎 Any Goodies?

Jammers will get Pro-licenses for 2 months - FREE.
How? Following these instructions:

• Sign up for a free account
• Visit https://radicalmotion.com/pricing
• Choose Professional > Hit SELECT
• Enter upgrade code XPlace-GameJam-2024 > hit APPLY > amount should be reduced to $0
• Complete purchase

We will be raffling 25 Pro-licenses for qualified Summer Game Jam participants

Procedural Game Art Using Houdini and Unity

🌞 About Houdini

Houdini is a 3D procedural software used for modeling, animation, FX, lighting, rendering, and more.

🌞 About our Guest Speaker: Debra Isaac, Community Mentor @SideFX

Debra Isaac is the Community Mentor at SideFX. With over a decade of experience teaching Houdini, she focuses on community building, education, animation, and emerging technologies. Additionally, she is an Adjunct Professor at Drexel University and the founder of Houdini School. Her community-building efforts include co-organizing LAHUG (Los Angeles Houdini User Group) and running Houdini Battle. Debra's work aims to get more artists learning Houdini, inspire others, and create connections.

🌞 Who Should Attend?

This Houdini presentation is for everyone in the game development pipeline - artists, tech artists, animators, VFX artists, and engineers alike. 

Whether you're a creative force or an engineering powerhouse, understanding the capabilities of Houdini can be a game-changer. You'll discover how this versatile tool empowers artists and tech artists to create stunning procedural art and VFX for games. Engineers and developers will gain insights into how Houdini integrates with Unity, opening up new possibilities for streamlined workflows and enhanced collaboration across disciplines. Don't miss this opportunity to unlock the full potential of Houdini and witness firsthand how it can revolutionize your game development process, regardless of your role.

🌞 What can participants hope to learn?

Gain insights into SideFX's cutting-edge tools and workflows for creating mind-blowing game art and VFX in games.

🌞 Any prerequisite knowledge needed?

A basic understanding of 3D modeling and visual effects would be helpful, but not a must. 

🌞 Any instructions participants should follow ahead of the session?

No.

🌞 What support will be available to Jammers?

SideFX experts will be available on the Game Jam Discord for office hours and Q&A sessions throughout the jam.

🌞 Any goodies?

• Assets for the jammers
• All participants get 2 months free trial of Houdini Indie license
• Indie license prizes courtesy of SideFX

Indie license prizes courtesy of SideFXAll participants get 2 months free trial of Houdini Indie licenseAssets for the jammers

🌞 Any resources that might be helpful for this session? 

This talk will cover:

• Unity Starter Kit Tutorials 
• Unity Starter Kit Assets
• Install Unity Plug-in for Houdini
• Houdini + Games
• Houdini Engine for Unity | Starter Kit Install
• Houdini Game Jam Basics
• Unity + Houdini Documentation

Additional resources: 

• SideFX Documentation: https://www.sidefx.com/docs/
• SideFX Learning Channel: https://www.sidefx.com/learn/

Enabling Expressions with Genies Avatars

🤩 About Genies:

At Genies, we believe in the power of avatars to express your digital identity. Through the Genies Toolkit, developers and artists can build games & experiences and contribute to the future of immersive avatars.

🤩 About our Guest Speaker: Carl Domingo, Developer Relations @ Genies

With over ten years working in games and technology, Carl truly cares about making technology easy to use and learn. At Genies, he leads their Developer Relations efforts to put Genies Avatars in the hands of developers, leveraging his experience of building programs at Unity and creating technical content at Amazon. When not at work, you can find him still immersed in digital worlds - from new tools and technologies for game development to racing on a simulator through tracks around the world.

🤩Who should attend this session?

This session is open to all - from engineers to designers! 

🤩What can participants hope to learn?

With the Genies Starter Pack, we are bringing you aesthetically pleasing avatars that are easy to use! These avatars serve as the introduction to upcoming Genies tools in games and XR - eventually leading to a future where players can bring their avatar across games and experiences and truly represent themselves in the digital world.

In this session, we'll show you how to import the Starter Pack into Unity, what you can do with it, and get started. By the end of the session, you'll be able to quickly bring avatars into your own projects.

🤩Any pre-requisite knowledge needed? 

No.

🤩Any instructions participants should follow ahead of the session?

No.

🤩What support will be available to Jammers?

Genies experts will be available on the Game Jam Discord for office hours and Q&A sessions throughout the jam.

🤩Any Goodies?

Genies Starter Pack will be available to all Jammers.