FLIGHT Trailer

Well, I am extremely pleased that Robert Zemekis has gotten over mo-cap and gone back to real movies.

Siggraph 2008 - New Information Revealed!

Another Siggraph has come and gone. For those who do not know, Siggraph is a convetion devoted to Film Technology, Animation, Special Effects, and other Film Media. This year it was held in Los Angeles, at the LA Convention Center. Many studios and effects houses were in attendance, including, Laika, LucasArts, Walt Disney Feature Animation, PIXAR, Image Movers Digital, Blue Sky, Autodesk, and many many more. Each had its own booth full of displays and demos, ready to show to the masses and line up some incredible stuff for the coming year.

Motion Capture technology is moving away from the little suits with balls on them, to suits with bend-proof metal straps that allow the user to capture motion to a computer with absolutely no cameras, and easily trackable data.




Robert Zemekis' "A Christmas Carol" looks absolutely fantastic. Many of the sets are more epic than Beowulf, and the graphics are even more astounding. Jim Carrey plays Ebenezer Scrooge, a crotchety old man who hate everything except money, as well as plays the three ghosts that help him change his life for the better. As more images are released, they will be posted here.



3D Stereoscopic projectors are the future of film. Or so I was told. Or so I was shown. Starting next year, 99% of animated films are going to be created in Stereoscopic 3d, meaning it will feel like you are in the movie. With a pair of open/close 3D glasses, films will take you into an immersive world where you are a player and not just a critic. It seems that this will soon roll over to normal film and then (hopefully the industry says) to home viewing, where you pop in a game to your PS4 or Blue Ray player and instantly are a part of what before you could only see. The projectors I was shown were dual-HD meaning that you can see HD in each eye and through each lens. Also, the 3d creates itself in a way that it does not require someone to throw something at the camera to show you the effect. With a projector like this, and a set of surround sound speakers, I think this may be the coolest idea for gaming and film viewing ever... at least, so far.

Disney had lots of people demoing drawing and showed many clips from Bolt, which has already been covered by this Blog. Russ Edwards (animator) came in and animated a scene for the upcoming "Princess and the Frog" (see previous post) and then Andreas Deja (animator), dropped by to draw some pictures, give a history lesson of his life, and sketch out the Character of "Mama Odie" who he is animating for "Princess and The Frog". Very exciting stuff indeed.

Andreas Deja draws a frame of 'Mama Odie' from the upcoming Disney flick "The Princess and the Frog". Read more about "The Princess and the Frog" in the previous devoted post.


Siggraph 2009 will be held in New Orleans. See You There!

Lets Talk About Motion Capture

Lets talk about motion capture animation for a minute. I remember beating 'Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time" and seeing credits for the motion capture team. I was amazed that people could capture motion and translate it digitally, and now as video game and film technology progresses, it is amazing to see all the things that can be done with motion capture animation.

Animation has always been a form of motion capture. Great animators from all over the world, Including Walt Disney Studios, hire actors and performers to come preform many actions live in a studio, so they can 'capture' the motion with their eyes and translate it to hand-drawn animation correctly. Many animated movies, especially those from Don Bluth studio, rotoscope which is a form of Motion Capture, where an action is filmed, and literally traced over with a pencil to become the finished animation. Rotoscoping is often frowned upon in most creative circles, because it is seen that the artist is not good enough to do the animation him/herself. PIXARr uses no motion capture (as told humorously in the end credits of Ratatouille)




Rotoscoping turned 3d is called motion capture. It is taking the action that is recorded and using it to become your final project. Using light reflections and an infrared camera, actors movements are recorded and translated into animation. Robert Zemekis is a large supporter of this, creating such fully mo-cap movies such as "Polar Express" and "Beowulf". Often time, people ask why the movies were not made with real actors in live action, but Mo-cap offers things that are impossible in real life, such as sweeping cameras and closeups in fights, and magical characters, such as Gollum (Andy Serkis) in Lord of the Rings, and Grawp in Harry Potter 5.



What are your opinions on Motion Capture? I think that in live action films it is amazing for effects and makes stunts safer for everyone, but stunt people are against it saying that they are being put out of jobs. What are your opinions? More on this to follow.