Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Spotlight: Fox Sports HD

Chris Meyer | 08/27- 07:36 AM

Flowing ribbons in 3D space tie together this sports ID.

For our next project spotlight, we’re going to look at a Fox Sports HD promo animated by Joost Korngold of Renascent. This spot fuses organic movement with the high-impact 3D Fox Sports is known for. Joost, as well as Fox Sports Creative Directors Josh Nichols and Mark Denyer-Simmons plus Senior Vice President and Creative Director Robert Gottlieb, were kind enough to spend some time answering questions and revealing how this spot unfolded.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

TED Talk: Using Biology to Make Better Animation

Chris Meyer | 08/24- 09:37 AM

Torsten Reil talks about how the study of biology can help make natural-looking animated people.

The annual TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) conference is a place where Big Thinkers gather annually to inspire and be inspired. I’ve been going through their online archive of talks for my own amusement and education, and sharing with you ones I found to be particularly interesting.

This week I’d like to share a talk by Torsten Reil, originally of Oxford University and now of NaturalMotion. He and his team started from the point of view that most animation in computer games that were based on motion capture or manual keyframing were too simplistic, repetitive, and predictable. So rather than try to guess ahead of time what actions would be needed, and creating or capturing those actions, they went about simulating a human nervous system, wired it up to control a skeleton and muscles, and then gave it artificial intelligence. They used a form of simulated genetic evolution and mutation to teach it how to at first walk, and then react to external forces (such as being tripped or shoved). This system is now being used not only in computer games such as Grand Theft Auto IV, but also in movies for virtual stuntmen - or perhaps most famously, in battle sequences in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

This movie from TED - originally recorded five years ago - was the first public demonstration of the technology. Watching how their creations learned and then reacted was initially humorous, then breathtaking, and then actually somewhat disturbing; I highly recommend watching it (if you’re impatient, start around the 3 minute mark or so).

If you want to see where the technology is now, visit the NaturalMotion to learn more about their endorphin Dynamic Motion Synthesis simulator which can bake animations, and their euphoria real-time AI engine, including a good demo movie the gives you an overview of the technology.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Ten Reasons To Switch To Final Cut Studio

Kevin P. McAuliffe | 07/28- 02:15 PM

With all the editing programs and packages on the market today, deciding on which one is right for you can be difficult and confusing.  I thought I would take a look and list my top ten reasons why you should either switch to Final Cut Studio 2 or make it your first choice when buying for the first time!

10. SMOOTHCAM AND THE INTRODUCTION OF BACKGROUND PROCESSING

Anyone who has used Shake will be familiar with SmoothCam.  It was designed to, as the name says, smooth out camera bumps and shakes in your footage.  Most people might look at this and think that it is not really that big a deal, but believe me, it is.  Why you ask?  SmoothCam not only lets you smooth your footage out, but it introduces a new feature to Final Cut Pro that let’s you process the effect “live” in the background.  The way the effect works is that once you add it to your timeline, FCP immediately starts analyzing the original clip to see what is happening inside the frame.  Keep in mind, if the shot you captured was an hour long, it will process the whole hour long clip.  In most cases, with anything that needs processing or analyzing, you would need to stop and wait for it to finish.  Not anymore!  Now, Final Cut Pro will analyze while you are working.  Once you hit play on your timeline to see what you are working on, the analyzing will pause, and once you stop playing to do effects work, titles, etc, it will keep processing until it is done.

Monday, July 28, 2008

3-D Objects in Photoshop Part 2 - Photoshop for Video #86

Richard Harrington | 07/28- 08:29 AM

Instructor Richard Harrington how to work with 3-D objects in Photoshop CS3. Part 2 of 2.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

3-D Objects in Photoshop Part 1 - Photoshop for Video #85

Richard Harrington | 07/27- 08:27 AM

Instructor Richard Harrington how to work with 3-D objects in Photoshop CS3. Part 1 of 2.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Animator vs. Animation

Chris and Trish Meyer | 04/02- 10:07 AM

A fun animation that shows what can happen when you tease your art a little too much…

Steve Kilisky recently wrote a thought-provoking blog about how video (and now, the web) has traditionally been initially driven by technical folks, with the artists following along. To this day, there is still often a distinction between an “artist” and an “operator,” “animator” or “developer.”

In that light, Trish recently found (on a calligraphy list, of all things) a pointer to this excellent cartoon that shows what can happen when an animator provokes his animation to revolt. It’s well worth a few minutes from your day. (Be patient through the first minute; it keeps picking up pace from there...)

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