prSelectionUi 2023.0 update with Python 3.0 support

A few months ago I released an update (2023.0) for prSelectionUi that supports Python 3 (Maya >2022.x). It also still works with older Maya versions (Python 2.0).

You can get it here: https://pazrot.gumroad.com/l/prselectionui

It still requires PyMEL to be installed, which sadly has become more difficult with the PyMEL installation switching to pip. I think that installation change was a bad call and I regret using PyMEL. The time I saved was not worth the time lost for the users, and I might now have to rewrite the script with maya.cmds anyways.

Common sense #1: Investing

Because the investing information market place is dominated by bad actors, which directly or indirectly promote bad investment behavior, I want to do my part by sharing my favorite educational material, which allow anyone to identify and avoid the most common bad investment behaviors.

Summary

good 

• total market index funds 
• minimize fees 
• minimize taxes 

mid 

• factor investing 
• leverage

bad 

• trying to beat the stock market 
• actively managed funds 
• stock picking (country picking, sector picking, dividend investing, ..) 
• market timing 

very bad 

• speculating on non productive asset prices (precious metals, crypto/nft)

Sources

Why total market index funds and not trying to beat the stock market: 

• (51 min interview) Jack Bogle on Index Funds, Vanguard, and Investing Advice 
• (Text) Jack Bogle: "The Relentless Rules of Humble Arithmetic" 
• (5 hour audiobook) Jack Bogle - The Little Book of Common Sense Investing 

Once you understand how trying to beat the stock market is a bad idea, you also understand that trying to beat the market of non productive asset pricing is an even worse idea.

Testimony

• (3 min video) Warren Buffett pays tribute to Jack Bogle 
• (6 min video) Warren Buffett - How to Invest in Index Funds 

Advanced

The only reasonable divergence, that I am aware of, to actually increase expected returns, but comes with major increase in risk, volatility and complexity:

• factor investing
• (7 min interview) Eugene Fama - Why Small Caps and Value Stocks Outperform
• (16 min video) Ben Felix - Small Cap and Value Stocks
• leverage: 
• (13 min video) Ben Felix - Investing With Leverage

2019 - Scoob! rigging reel

• Content from 2019, for the animated feature film "Scoob!". It was my first show after moving to Canada and starting as Senior Rigging Artist at Reel FX.
• Was done for my 2020-2021 demo reel that got me to Vancouver / VFX
• I used a blinn/highlight shader to be more honest and show the surface curvature. With lambert/flat shaders you can get away with a lot more. Even wireframe is pretty forgiving. 
• Velma body rig (0:01 - 0:32):
• I could not actually find good body deformation shots in the movie, because she does not move much in general and wears a thick sweater. 
• 0:08 Deformation issue when metacarpals are offset. This area was always a struggle, because of the topology. It was the standard hand topology at the time and not supposed to be changed. That's why I didn't show the hands in the breakdown.
• 0:11 clavicle up chest corrective blending issue. It stops suddenly, when it should fade out or extend instead.
• Cpt. Caveman face rig (0:32 - 0:59)
• His face has a high range of motion with close ups in the movie, so I was happy with the shots that I could select for this demo.
• 0:48 Eyelid, mouth corner topology distortions: I did major retopology, maybe full retopology for his face, but afterwards there was a design change, which created these topology distortions in this somewhat neutral pose (The design/model change was great though)
• 0:57 shape and blend issues between eyebrows.