What Games Are..

Interesting article on the theory of Game Making here:

http://whatgamesare.com/2011/12/the-four-lenses-of-game-making.html

Fiction gets technology make over - Transmedia Storytelling

Yet another example of Transmedia and convergence culture, this time from Michael Grant author of BZRK. I must take a good look at it when I get chance

Fiction gets technology makeover


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/9688435.stm


It used to be that fiction novels were read from start to finish on a book made out of paper.
Now, with e-books established, a more revolutionary idea for the humble novel is taking place - a story told on many different platforms.


LJ Rich investigates the possibilities of "transmedia" by getting dressed up for a starring role in a multimedia project.

(via BBC Click)

More 4 rebrand

Really love the More 4 rebrand, it's fresh, bright and makes use of a beautiful colour palette. I also love the plinky plonky tune that runs along with it too. 

Credits

Concept, design & direction:
ManvsMachine

Music:
Guy Connelly

Sound design:
Rich Martin

Installation design:
Jason Bruges Studio

Client:
Channel4 / 4Creative

(via Motionographer)

Cinemetrics — film data visualization

Cinemetrics — film data visualization:

Frederic Brodbeck’s Cinemetrics analyzes movie data to create visual fingerprints.

Posted on Motionographer

Bill Maher’s ‘Irritable Bowl Syndrome’ by Fraser Davidson

Bill Maher’s ‘Irritable Bowl Syndrome’ by Fraser Davidson:

Earlier this week, we posted Fraser Davidson’s slick, type-driven animation, Irritable Bowl Syndrome: an infographic piece inspired by a cutting excerpt taken from Bill Maher’s book, “The New New Rules: A Funny Look at How Everybody but Me Has Their Head Up Their Ass.” With the Superbowl only 10 days away, once again, sports fans and advertisers become unlikely bedfellows. In the spirit of this great, hard-hitting American tradition, we’ve upgraded the piece to our main section and chatted up the artist for a little Q&A. Enjoy the foxy animation and witty social commentary.

Q&A with Fraser Davidson on Irritable Bowl Syndrome.

Posted on Motionographer

Onesize: Ericsson CES 2012 Keynote Film

Beautiful Animation by Onesize that develops stylistically as the animation moves forward in time. Really nicely done.

Onesize: Ericsson CES 2012 Keynote Film

Just when you think Onesize can’t outdo themselves, they do. In their most recent efforts, the gang teamed up with agency Jack Morton Worldwide and Ericsson to promote the company’s vision of The Networked Society. The piece is a fully CG animated film to be screened during Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg’s Keynote at CES 2012 in Las Vegas. Onesize elaborates on the creation of the film:

We liked the concept very much and started developing style frames immediately. We followed this by delivering an animatic in one week which was approved by JMW and Ericsson before production commenced. The animatic was very helpful because some of the final shot framings and camera motion were copied exactly from the animatic.

The film was to be split into three sections — fixed line (the past), mobile (the present) and The Networked Society (the future). Each section was designed in a slightly different style by Reinier to symbolize key moments in Ericsson history. We took this opportunity to design an info-graphical 3D look within an abstract environment of diorama-style rooms and spaces. We selected motion designers for each specific section to take on the task of the modeling, animation, lighting and rendering. We completed the 3500px wide and 1500px high film within six weeks, working with five animators/designers and music company Echolab.

VFX Breakdown of "Hugo" by Pixomondo

This is an amazing VFX breakdown demonstrating hom much work went in to the (post)production of Martin Scorsese's first foray in to 3d HUGO.

Troll Slayer -Jullien Brothers

Great Animation with motion tracking goodness.

Featured Employee: Scott Haraldsen

Okay one for my students...

Sound/Audio designers out there working for Irrational Games giving an insight into his job and what it encompasses.

Featured Employee: Scott Haraldsen:

Here’s why we think Scott is swell

Jim Bonney, Audio Director: Scott is hardcore about pretty much everything. Whether it’s sound design, game development, ping-pong… you name it, he hits it hard. As the Audio Lead, Scott is both enforcer and advocate – making sure we get the job done, on time, and then representing our department to the rest of the dev team. Since we’re a small team, Scott is also constantly getting his hands dirty: doing field recordings, creating sound effects (like the zeppelin rocket barrage in the E3 demo), and authoring our most complicated technical audio systems. Besides being an accomplished musician and sound designer, Scott is an experienced programmer, and we all rely on his advanced technical expertise on an hourly basis.

Scott is also responsible for enlightening us with most of the “inside jokes” we continue to sling at each other day after day in the sound department – so in that way, he brings a lot of “depth” and “culture” to the group.

Your title is Audio Lead. What does that mean?

Scott Haraldsen: I actually wear quite a few hats as the Audio Lead at Irrational. Aside from the regular managerial tasks that every lead has to perform, one of my main duties is to work with the tech team to make sure we have all of the audio technology we need to make the game sound amazing. On top of that, you’ll typically find me creating sounds, implementing audio into levels, field recording or doing post-production on voice-overs.

At the end of the day though, my main duty is making sure that the work the audio department does is of high quality and delivered on time. I’m kind of like Patton going through Africa. Hell or high water, it’s going to get done.

What games have you worked on?

SH: Bully: Scholarship Edition, Empire Earth, Empires: Dawn of the Modern World, Star Trek: Legacy, Rise & Fall and Natural Selection.

Describe Life at Irrational in three words or less.

SH: Un-f%@*ing-believable.

What is your favorite game of all time?

SH: I was going to say Team Fortress 2 but in the end I’d have to say Diablo II. It has everything, an amazing story, addictive gameplay, great music and it’s a game that never gets old. It’s as fun today as it was when it was released over a decade ago.

Name a game everyone should play once in their life.

SH: E.T. for the 2600. Anyone who plays that game more than once needs their head examined.

Seriously though, the one game that I recommend to everyone is Beyond Good and Evil. I don’t think many people played it on release, which is a shame because it has some of the best characters ever created in a video game. They recently re-released it in HD for the 360 so if you haven’t, play it. NOW!

What is your favorite movie?

SH: I’d have to go with Blue Velvet since it’s the one movie that has influenced my career as a sound designer the most.

What are your hobbies outside of work?

SH: Music and Mixology. The nice thing about those two hobbies is they go great together.

Music and Mixology? What do you play? Are there any concoctions you have made that goes well with the music you’re playing?

SH: I mainly play organ but I also play guitar and bass from time to time. Also, I’ve found that certain drinks better suit the different styles of playing. For example, if I’m playing blues, I like to go with a whiskey based drink like a Manhattan or Sazerac. For jazz it’s Martinis all the way. For funk I prefer a cognac drink such as the Sidecar or Vieux Carre. It’s a beautiful thing.

Tell me your favorite story about life at Irrational

SH: The early stages of a project are both the most difficult and the most fun for the audio department. It’s difficult because we have no idea what we’re going to need two or three years down the road when the game is in full production, but also fun because it gives us a lot of time to experiment and try new ideas.

The one thing we knew we would need back when BioShock: Inifinite was conceived was a lot of wind recordings. And not just your typical everyday wind, we needed something that was new and strange since that is what Irrational does. Jim Bonney, our Audio Director, and I had gone out a number of times to different locations trying to get the sound we wanted but at the end of the day the recordings we got just ended up sounding like wind. They were technically great recordings, but they just didn’t have that strange sound we were looking for.

After experimenting a bit, we finally found something that we liked. We had recently purchased some contact mics (microphones that pickup vibrations through solid surfaces), and we wondered what kind of results we would get if we recorded the sound of wind affecting a solid object rather than just recording the wind. So when a gusty day eventually rolled around, we trekked out to different locations and recorded the sound of the wind affecting things such as aluminum framing and high tension wires. The results were amazing and we’ve used those recordings in a number of the sounds that you’ll hear in BioShock: Infinite. It was, by far, one of the most productive field recording trips that I’ve ever been a part of.

Irene Suh - Concept Artist

Some beautiful concept art and visualisation from Irene Suh. You should check out her 2011 portfolio

 

(via Fuckyeahconceptart)

Doomed

Some great character in this short animation from the creator of Pocoyo. Reminds me a little of Ren & Stimpy from the early 1990's

Doomed:


Strange, weird, absurd. Doomed! A pilot for a series by director Guillermo García Carsí (Pocoyo) and produced by El Señor Studio.

Posted on Motionographer

Next Steps in Interactive: Marshmallow Laser Feast and Design I/O

Now there is some pretty cool stuff going on here with projection mapping, I certainly don't understand fully how they are doing it but it's very clever and looks like it could be interesting for live performance stuffs.

Below From Motionographer

Next Steps in Interactive: Marshmallow Laser Feast and Design I/O:


Sony Realtime Projection Mapping 2 from Marshmallow Laser Feast on Vimeo.

Real-world projection mapping was all the rage in 2011. Many a building was seen breaking apart or getting filled up with geometric shapes. This technique is executed similarly to how projection mapping is done in 3D software: A flat animation is created that, when projected onto geometry, wraps around the nooks and crannies for added believability.

One of the most important details in projection mapping is knowing where your audience or camera is going to be and how much they will be moving around. This is because there is often some corner-pinning or other trompe l’oeil trickery involved. As a result, most projection mapping projects either deal with a limited amount of camera movement, or some amount of baked-in perspective that doesn’t necessarily match your viewing angle. This isn’t a bad thing; it’s just an aspect of the technique, like the difference between creating a craggy cliff through projection mapping vs. true 3D — unless you’re going to fly right by that cliff, no one’s going to notice the difference.

So, what’s the point? Well, a group by the name of Marshmallow Laser Feast (Memo Akten, Barney Steel and Robin McNicholas) has figured out one way around this issue. If you are able to link the camera’s position to what’s being projected, than any tiny movement the camera makes can be reflected in real-time. This technology has been used previously in immersive VR CAVEs that are mostly in universities and research facilities. MLF was able to recreate it using consumer products like the Playstation Move.

Sony Realtime Projection Mapping 1 from Marshmallow Laser Feast on Vimeo.

If nothing I have said makes sense (fair enough), the meaningfulness of this technique can be seen in the ad above. Traditional projection mapping would be able to handle the image at 0:37. It would just be a grid projected directly on the wall. The camera could move around and it would make sense because the texture maps directly to the wall. It would NOT be able to handle what happens at 0:40 and forward. This stretching out to infinity is an illusion that can only happen if the perspective of all the projections perfectly matches the cameras.

Puppet Parade - Interactive Kinect Puppets from Design I/O on Vimeo.

Another “we live in the future” moment comes from Design I/O (Theo Watson and Emily Gobeille). Their Puppet Parade is an interactive installation that allows children to use their arms to puppeteer larger-than-life creatures. This time, it’s the Kinect that serves as the consumer hardware helping get data into the computer. I love how intuitive the puppeting motion is. It makes it seem perfectly natural that you’re able to control the head of a ten-foot-tall creature with the flick of a wrist, when in fact this is pretty much magic.

All this tech is still pretty bleeding edge, but there are two aspects of these projects that I think are important for the future. First, the ability to interact with graphical worlds on set allows for more spontaneous performances. The actors and cinematographer can see what’s happening and react to it, trying out new performances or camerawork that wouldn’t have come up otherwise.

Second, as these tools get more developed and accessible, a wider range of visual artists will be able to contribute their styles to interactive artwork. Eight to 10 years ago there was a motion graphics boom where a wide range of visual styles, especially illustrated styles, were explored in full motion for the first time. I think in the coming 10 years we’ll see a similar boom in designers and illustrators teaming up with interactive teams to create unique visual worlds to explore.

Posted on Motionographer

Making of Rango

Making of Rango: VFX : ILM VFX Supervisor explains how they've created Rango characters Click to watch

Welcome

Well, a big hello to you all out there.

This is my new blog where I want to share some of the interesting creative work and ideas that I spot whilst out on my voyage across the internet. Hopefully some of it may be of interest to you, feel free to link and comment on anything you see.