Cant wait for Mudbox 2009 though i am a zBrush user. Anyway, nice to have you putting up production news but its best that after every end of the article, put up a credit from where you got the source.

Also, i am starting to realize that Autodesk is trying to make a production suite out of 3DSMAX, Maya and Mudbox, the integration is so tight that even the requirement to export objects to Mudbox is still .obj instead of other format. Personally, i still prefer the old Mudbox when Skymatter first established instead of the current Mudbox that is geared to monopolize digital sculpting market.

Its best to model the base mesh in 3dsmax then export to zbrush for sculpting, so far thats that optimal way to do organic modeling.

You can do direct modeling in zbursh by using zsphere but so far not many prefer that way as it sometimes can be very complicating.

I suggested that sometime ago. But most of the articles were republication friendly so nothing to worry about be "sued" or something else.

You dont need any new GPU for it. Current drivers for Quadro and Geforce have physX drivers included and will use the GPU for processing. Only the latest, Quadro FX 4800(?) and the current top of the line geforce have build in physX processor (correct me if i am wrong). So your 9800GT is on the safe side.

Start your portfolio early, if you are interested in animation, start practicing on the rigging and expression setups..if you are into modeling, start practicing your modeling in nearly all fields eg. hard modeling, organic.. etc..make sure you know the fastest way to deal with tedious UV mapping. IF you are in to post production, start understanding matte painting and so on..

Split your time between your assignments and personal projects, sacrifice abit of your holidays instead of online games addiction or hanging out with friends, start on your portfolio.

Just like what cymon says but what i commented above is what i did 3 years back.

To whoever participating the CGSociety Steampunk challenge, i highly recommend an anime, Steamboy to be part of your inspiration material. It have some basic overview of how steam engine works and what you need to make your finish believable.

I am in the challenge too, for still image so good luck to all

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348121/ -> Steamboy

The DVD can be found in Tower Records and not sure if stock is widely available in most Tower Records shops. Local distributed Steamboy with fan-sub can be found too.