June 20, 2008
ATTENTION ALL ANIMATORS!
The video game "Spore" has been in development for years, I've seen behind the scenes clips and all that on YouTube along with gameplay teasers, and just to let you know I'm not a hardcore gamer by any means. I dust off my PS2 maybe once per month for a quick game and that's it.
But the downloadable SPORE CREATURE CREATOR is fantastic!!!
As can see this as an amazing reference tool for if you're working on a web cartoon, TV series or film that has many different creature designs, you can literally re-create them in 3D according to the models and hit 'test drive' and you can see it in motion! It's the ultimate reference guide.
You can create almost ANY type of creature, with 1, 2, 3, 4 or 8 legs, multiple heads, several eyes, many different types of appendages, tails, ANYTHING, it's so much fun. and AMAZING REFERENCE for any animator. If only actual 3D modeling and animation could be so simple.
If you're working on any sort of series with animal animation, you can literally build your own animal, hit play and the game makes it jump, and walk for you.
It all starts with a torso and spine and you have total control over the shape, length, color, texture, and form of the creature.
Depending on how wild and unrealistic the anatomy you create is, the quality of animation and weight-distribution varies, but it 'rigs' and builds the skeletal structure as you add on and morph the creatures build to whatever you need. Pictured below is a creature (and it's offspring) that I made in virtually 7 minutes. I'd show you how he walks, jumps, swings and screams but you need to register with Spore first to do that. The actual full blown game is out in September apparently, where you begin as a single-cell organism and evolve into advance life forms by growing, multiplying, exploring, and colonizing.
Get it here, for Mac or PC.
Bob's change of motion
extraordinary worldwide franchise, based on his stop-motion
exploits... Eight classic seasons... An eco-town spin-off...
Four feature-length films... Four more specials... And more...
But now, the building work has come to end. Or rather, it's come
to its end in stop-motion form, with the news that his next
series is to be produced as an all-CGI show. HIT Entertainment
have just announced plans for SD Entertainment in LA to take
over production duties on the main show from the folks at
HOT Animation - something that was flagged up on this site
a while back, but which has now, almost inevitably,
come to pass...
Of course, the HIT publicity wagon is playing up the move.
Bob's been with us for ten years, after all. It's time for a change.
Something new. The change has only come about after eighteen
months of research, and this CGI shift is intended to improve the
emotional connection between the characters
and viewers (C21media)...
But you know, for this particular viewer, Bob was working just
fine as he was. Stop-motion beguiles and delights. It draws an
audience in with its magic in a way that can never be matched
in a CGI production. For kids watching these shows, it's like
seeing their own little model toys coming to life in front of their
eyes. And in HOT's hands, Bob, Wendy, Spud and the gang
completely bedazzled their audience...
Look, there's a reason why adults and children will watch
films like "Nightmare Before Xmas" or "Curse of the Were-Rabbit"
over and over and over again, and why, forty years on, we're still
watching those little worlds of Gordon Murray and the SmallFilms
partnership. They have a unique fascination. The crew on these
productions have to construct an entire bespoke world. All the figures,
all the props, the scenery, the minutiae have been built by human
hands... And behold... they live, they breathe!... Oh...CGI just can't
match that... even at its very Pixar-like best, the magic is different...
the attraction changes... that unique and specific connection is gone...
Now that's not to say that Bob's new show won't be fine and shiny.
But it will no longer stand out from the crowd. It will no longer
beguile.
So certainly, we'll wish Bob all the very best. He's off on an a new
adventure, and hopefully he'll be keeping his parent firm happy
for years to come. But there's no escaping the fact that a
siginficant portion of his audience will see things differently.
In their eyes, Bob's laid his last brick, he's hung up his hard
hat and sold-up his family firm.
[Via Toonhound]
I guess it's cheaper to make Bob a CG character than to make him out of plasticine and plastic.
June 18, 2008
Lego Life
Balakov outdid himself in his amazing Flickr set, where he reenacts famous historical photos with legos. I have many fond memories playing with legos as a kid. Honestly they are the best toy for a kid to have because it let’s them learn how to first follow directions, then build and create whatever they want once they get good enough. I literally had thousands of them and used to store them in a big 5 gallon pain bucket!
[Via mumbojumbodaily.com]
ASTRO BOY VOICE CAST ANNOUNCED
Slated for worldwide theatrical release in 2009, ASTRO BOY will feature the voices of Academy Award-winning actor Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, Bill Nighy and Eugene Levy with Freddie Highmore in the title role. David Bowers is directing ASTRO BOY from a screenplay written by Timothy Harris, with Maryann Garger producing.The announcement was made by Rob Friedman, Co-Chairman and CEO of Summit Ent. and Douglas Glen, CEO of Imagi Studios.
"We are pleased to join with Imagi Studios in bringing the exceptional world of ASTRO BOY to both existing and a new generation of fans alike," said Friedman. "The team at Imagi Studios is capturing the spirit of this popular post-modern franchise by doing great things with the story, characters and animation. ASTRO BOY promises to be an excellent addition to our existing slate of family films."
ASTRO BOY was created by the "god of manga," Japan's Osamu Tezuka, in the early 1950s. The iconic character has since found wide popularity
around the world as the hero of three acclaimed animated television series spanning the past four decades, besides being one of the top licensed properties for merchandising.
Set in futuristic Metro City, Imagi Studios' ASTRO BOY is about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist to replace the son he has lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving father's expectations, he embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, experiencing betrayal and a netherworld of robot gladiators, before he
returns to save Metro City and reconcile with the man who had rejected
him.
ASTRO BOY is the second CG-animated feature film from Imagi Studios,
following its 2007 release TMNT.
[Via Dan Sarto - Animation Flash Newsletter]
The 51-year-old television set now wired for the digital age
Instead of buying a fancy new TV he's keeping the 1957 flame walnut encased set and has had it converted to receive digital channels. His father bought the set when he was aged eight and the television has been a cherished feature in the family home ever since.
Antique enthusiast Richard Howard bought his television for £113 in 1957.
Not only is it in perfect working order, the classic set, which enthralled Mr Howard through his boyhood years and brought him the first images of the moon landing, is now wired up to receive the 20 plus channels of the digital age.
According to Digital UK, the body coordinating the switch to digital, it is the oldest set ever to be converted to digital. The 59-year-old furniture restorer can now watch Madonna music videos and glossy Australian soaps play on the tiny 17" black and white screen.
"It was my family's first TV", Mr Howard said. "My father was walking past the store and was just taken by it. I think there were cheaper ones available but he liked the way it looked like a piece of furniture instead of just a big screen sitting in corner of the room."
Mr Howard enjoys watching Madonna music videos on the tiny 17" black and white screen.
He has even kept and framed the receipt for the £113 purchase of the Bush Television Receiver. "I was away at boarding school at the time but I remember coming home and being amazed. I think the first programme I saw on it was the Lone Ranger. "I have a lot of fond memories of Christmas time when the whole family would gather round and watch it together. I could never bear to throw it away it had too much value attached to it."
He had been unable to use the set since the late Eighties, when television pictures switched from the old 405-line format to 625 lines. But a specialist repair shop fitted an electronic converter, available only in America, so modern programmes can be shown on the 405-line screen.
The furniture restorer feared he may have to get rid of the set due to the digital switchover.
And by plugging in a Freeview box he can now see digital shows. As part of the £200 revamp, the experts also replaced 13 old capacitors, the brightness knob and a lead so the tube would keep from burning out.
The set takes ten seconds to warm up and antiques expert Mr Howard still gets the 'old TV smell' from the warming of the paxolin resin insulators.
The analogue signal is gradually being switched off across the UK and will affect Anglia his TV region in 2011.
With that in mind Mr Howard contacted Digital UK - the independent body co-ordinating switchover in the UK - who said there was no reason for his TV not to work in the digital age.
He took the set to a repair shop in Norwich and they fully restored and converted the set in a matter of weeks.
He added: "Nowadays there's a culture of forced obsolescence. We supposedly live in a hi-tech age but most modern electronic equipment you buy needs replacing after a couple of years and yet this has seen half a century and still sounds and looks great.
"I think I would have been heartbroken if they hadn't have been able to convert it."
Jon Steel at Digital UK, said: "We'd like to congratulate Mr Howard for proving that virtually any television, no matter how old, can be converted to digital.
"It's great to know that he can now look forward to many more years of happy viewing, even after the old analogue signals have been switched off."
Mr Howard's favourites include Foyles War and Waking the Dead and Inspector Morse re-runs. As well being able to receive Freeview the adapter has allowed him to relive his favourites of yesteryear on DVD.
"There were brilliant shows in the late 50s, I remember Jimmy Edwards in Whacko, CrackerJack and Dixon of Dock Green. Watching them all again on the same TV is quite a nostalgic experience."
"I watched old musical hall shows and remember laughing at George Formby and Arthur Askey with my dad.
"I also watched the news and saw events like Churchill's funeral, the assassination of John Kennedy and Neil Armstrong landing on the moon." Adding to this experience is what Mr Howard describes as 'old TV smell' caused by the heating of the paxalin insulator used to mount the electrical components inside. Mr Howard has a passion for preserving memorabilia. Along with furniture he restores classic cars and still lives in the family home his grandfather built in rural Norfolk in the 1920s.
He added: "I think it is important to respect the past otherwise people will forget it. If it weren't for eccentrics like me nothing would be preserved.
And I think that would be a very sad world."
[Via Daily Mail Reporter]
See a great collection of Flash-made films here:
As always, Cold Hard Flash finds and promotes much news, knowledge and information regarding all things Flash Animation. This is a great place to see some cool animated shorts, and it's nice to see more classical animation being applied with Flash. Every year, more and more artists experiment with Flash as their primary animation tool, see the films here, and vote for your favorite.
Batmanime! Gotham Knight Mashes Bruce Lee & Memento
The Dark Knight is coming soon, but the straight-to-DVD anime Batman: Gotham Knight is thankfully coming sooner (July 8th). Feeding Bruce Wayne's superego through the animated filter of Pacific Rim cinema so far looks very sweet indeed, and new pics and news confirm that comics nerds and late adopters alike are probably going to be impressed.
On the nerd front, animated Batphiles should be pleased to know that Kevin Conroy is returning to voice Wayne, as he has for the last couple of decades in various iterations of the mythology. Adam West would probably not be pleased to know that it is Conroy's pipes that have ruled Batman's tech-noir corner of television, proving that an animated Batman is truly a resonant one. For his part, Conroy says he believes the multiple-narrative Gotham Knightmovie will resonate more than any other when it hits store shelves July 8.
"It's a really rich experience," promised Conroy. "The artwork in this film is so beautiful. It's like getting six movies in one."
And perhaps as many personas, especially now that anime and Batman have merged after being on a collision course for decades. Bruce Wayne may be voiced by Conroy, but he's also carried the weight of everyone from Michael Keaton to Christian Bale, with probably too many big names in between. But lately in the series The Batman and the new Bale iterations, Bruce Wayne has been more like Bruce Lee. He looks the part in one segment.
"I thought it would be fun telling the story backwards," explained Olson. "You'll notice that each time the villain appears, he seems to be gaining weapons instead of losing them. That was an intentional nod to Chris Nolan's film."
Plus, in the age of the internet, they have more power and influence than ever. That's a trade-off that the economically sensitive producers have to deal with, one way or another.
"Comics are in many ways like soap operas, in that the fan base rests mostly in the characters," Rucka says. "Consequently, the fans can be prone to hysteria. With the prevalence of the internet, there's been this movement where everyone wants to be an insider, everyone has an opinion, and everyone wants to spread the information as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, a lot of times, the information is wrong or horribly incomplete. But these things don't exist without that fan base. They are devoted, and vocal."
Article Via: blog.wired.com By Scott Thill
