This film contains adult language and bitter disillusionment. It is not for those sensitive to sacrilege. Viewer discretion is advised.
Versions:
A) EXTREME: See it the way it was made to be seen, in HD (1280×720) over on Vimeo.
B) EXCELLENT: Not up for HD? The 800×450 render is still superb quality. Check it out on Stage6 (DivX) or at Z-Studios (Flash).
C) IN A HURRY: Want the quick and dirty? It ain’t the prettiest but you’ll get the idea. There’s a QuickTime 426×240 version on Moviestorm’s site, or you can catch it in low-rez on YouTube.
D) DOGGY BAG: Take it to go, ingest it later. Download mirrors are available at Z-Studios and on the ZS Blip.tv channel.
** Embarrassed you didn’t get me a gift this year? The way out is clear: support the film over on Will Ferrell’s comedy site, Funny or Die! **
Your comments, and your own crazy Xmas stories, are welcome!
I’m going to take a few weeks off from both the blog and podcast, and I plan to return to action on the first weekend of January, 2008. There will be one more post here in 2007… I’ve got a Christmas / New Year present for you all which you’ll be seeing very soon.
In the mean time, here’s a teaser of what you can expect to see here in 2008:
A number of machinima / anymation films, in a variety of genres… one of them in an all new platform (for me).
Some interesting (albeit few) collaborations with other filmmakers.
A series of behind-the-scenes vids and scene anatomies, basically lifting the hood on my production process to reveal how I get stuff done.
Lots more overcast goodness, with some interesting interviews and an increased emphasis on how-to.
Continued regular blogging right here, again with a particular emphasis on how-to and tutorials.
Custom content for Moviestorm, including a very special utility tentatively named MScope Plus.
A very real possibility of a non-machinima YouTube series.
Happy Holidays! Keep an eye out for your Christmas / New Year present, and then we’ll see you in 2008!
The Overman #1 will arrive in stores on Dec. 5 from Image Comics. The issue is written by by Scott Reed with art and cover by Shane White.
Here’s how Image describes the issue:
“Brace yourself for an explosive journey into a doomed future. Set in an art deco-styled Pittsburgh of 2135, hired killer Nathan Fisher discovers the first clue of a vast, cryptic plot that will destroy the human race. Overman combines hard science fiction with a surrealistic twist.”
The Overman #1 will be 32 pages and will cost $3.50.
Sunday, December 16, 2007 at 1:00 P.M. Pacific Standard Time (click here for World Time conversion), Machiniplex will be premiering Tobias Lundmark’s “Among Fables and Men.” Defying the ever-evolving definition of machinima, Fables is a masterwork of compositing, repurposing imagery from World of Warcraft in a stylized Lewis Caroll-esque presentation.
The film should be up at Machiniplex some time today, and then on Sunday at the above time a Q&A will take place with the director in Skype chat, hosted by Ricky, Ingrid and Jason of Machiniplex. Learning more about Lundmark’s techniques and inspirations for this beautiful piece of work should be fascinating.
If you’re on Facebook, you can get more info at the Facebook Event page. Otherwise, I hope we’ll see you tomorrow at Machiniplex.com and then on Skype to dissect and discuss.
If you’ve been looking for a good machinima demonstration of what iClone can do, look no further than Paul Louis‘ latest film, “The Opera-tives.”
Performed in the style of classic-era comedy (Groucho Marx, Stan & Laurel, a bit of Abbott and Costello), this piece is a phenomenal representation of the variety of animations possible in iClone 2.5. Additionally, it’s a very nice showcase of some of the different character looks which are possible in the platform. Paul is a prolific character designer in iClone, both commercially as well as via the unbelievable number of freebies he gives away on his blog. And, he’s the author of what I think are the best video tutorials on the subject.
Even if the style of the piece isn’t your typical fare, if you’re interested in evaluating iClone for your toolkit I encourage you to take a look.
Joe Rigby of Mellanium (previously talked about here) gave me a guided tour of their product recently. There are many things to be excited about with this technology, but one of the most significant breakthroughs is with regard to the quality of 3d models. Since its inception, real-time 3d rendering’s trade-off has been low poly models - a necessary evil which is ever so slowly becoming less of an issue. (See Mass Effect, UT3). Finding ways around this limitation has been a bit of a holy grail for machinima in some circles.
Mellanium’s modification of the game environment allows the introduction of Autocad-quality (very high detail) 3d models into the UT2004 engine, while still keeping performance speeds / client machine specs very reasonable (i.e. close to the specs already required to run that game).
During the walkthrough, I got to see highly detailed player models, exquisite Autocad props, and all within the kind of large open environments Unreal has always been so good at rendering; I noticed no lag. The video below shows the kind of detail I’m talking about. If they can do this in UT2004… imagine what they’ll be able to do in UT3 if they port their tools over there?
The film should be up at Machiniplex some time today, and then on Sunday at the above time a Q&A will take place with the director in