“Monster Samurai,” a short CG piece directed by Moto Sakakibara, founder of Sprite Animation.
Sakakibara was co-director of the awful Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. “Monster Samurai” is no Citizen Cane, but the designs are cute, and I like the swoosh effects.
Continued monotonous congratulations to director Pen Ward, co-directors Larry Leichleiter, Hugo Morales, and Frederator Studios in general on their smash hit “Adventure Time,” proof to everyone everywhere that people like things that aren’t lame.
I will withhold congratulations from Nickelodeon, who assisted in the short’s production, until they successfully refrain from scuppering it somehow like they did with Ren and Stimpy and Invader Zim. Until then: take that, network TV, the internets, and all other forces of evil!
(via Frederator.)
SF-based Encyclopedia Pictura just released their long-awaited 3D video for Björk’s single “Wanderlust.” The 3D version will be released April 14, viewable with standard blue and red lenses, but for now the first two D’s will have to do.
[Update: They took down the full-length from YouTube for no apparent reason, now all we get is this 30-second preview… but you can still see the full-length High-res Quicktime. Dorks.]
Only the water and some set pieces are 3D; the rest is carefully-composited footage of real live objects, sculpted and built out of actual matter, and filmed in front of good old-fashioned screens of green. This making-of video shows a lot of sculpting and other hard-core stagecraft.
There’s also an awesome interview at studiodaily explaining all kinds of juicy technical details, including the methods used to shoot the video in 3D.
(via Cartoon Brew.)
This article summarizes the use of edge loops in mid-res polygonal facial modeling and related anatomical theory.
Faces are weird objects. Mechanically, a face is a nylon sock full of pressurized Jell-O mugging a hydraulic cash register wrapped in sentient rubber bands. It stretches and puckers, slobbers and sloshes, and rattles all around, especially in flap-n-snaps.
Modeling such a thing in 3D so that it looks natural when it’s moving is tricky. There’s a technique known as an edge loop which is useful in this situation, but to use it successfully you must understand the theory behind it.
When modeling for animation, potential motion must be taken into account. Certain shapes allow for certain motions, and other shapes will fight attempts to be animated. In general, edges or boundaries between shapes act as hinges, allowing bending, and extra detail allows expansion without distortion, like the corrugations in a bendy straw.
If available memory and processor power were infinite, an infinite amount of edges and detail would allow for any motion, limited only by the rig — however, here in reality we must find a balance between the amount of detail in the model (aka its weight) and functionality.
“Shut Up, Heart” by Dionysos, animated and directed by Frenchman Stéphane Berla.
(via Yannick Puig.)