I recognize Aaron’s flight patterns work, but I love seeing some of his collaborative works. The Johnny Cash project and the The Wilderness Downtown are impressive. My eyes have been opened a little more to the unlimited possibilities. Note: I had trouble getting The Wilderness Downtown working in Firefox, but it worked fine in Google Chrome. It will open multiple windows, so be warned… but there’s nothing to fear. Is the interface really the message?
I try to avoid posting random video game videos, unless there’s something be learned… but this was too trippy to pass up. It’s amazing what you can do with a procedurally built world. The bigger the monitor you have, the more immersive the experience. If, at first you are not impressed, give it a minute… even if you’re not much of a gamer.
Although some pretty impressive stuff is coming out on CSS3, there still seems to be some Adobe Flash applications to discover, particularly these powerful weather maps.
WeatherSpark allows for an animated weather radar with 6 hours of history.
Special thanks to Jonathan Voigt for Buzzing this one. Apparently Wunderground (Weather Underground) is another similar app.
If you have an Android device, I recommend playing around with the Rainy Days app.
Tons of great water effects and compositing in this visual effects breakdown reel for Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter.
The last few weeks have been a bit dizzying. Spent a little time waiting for potentials to open up. I made sure not to waste too much time, though my focus has certainly been diverted away from more visually creative endeavors.
That being said, I still make sure to sit down with a pen and practice some sketching. Proportions are always a little funky, thus showing my habit of focusing too much on the details.
Spending a lot of time reading business magazines and blog articles. I did this last year as well. I love seeing the abstracts of successful or failed systems. It validates or challenges a lot of my own opinions. So far, so good.
Here’s a pretty slick quote regarding innovations, by Dick Foster, author of Creative Destruction.
I’m convinced that for an existing company to innovate, they must first make the decision to get rid of something. Unless you get rid of it, it will always be more a more compelling argument to improve the old rather than commit to the new. That small decision over time adds up to a total deflection, and you are never as motivated to innovate as the unencumbered new entrant. I think this is enormously important.
The rest of the interview can be found at Forbes.
And now, back to the sketchbook so I can finish up some storyboard for my next animation… in progress.
In a style similar to Girl Talk, this mash-up moves through 23 Daft Punk tracks and uses HTML5 and CSS3 in order to visualize all the layers, cuts and waveforms in real time.
You can use the timeline on the bottom to skip around. It would have been neat to be able to toggle each track on and off, but I haven’t found anything in here that allows for that… yet.
The most impressive part is that no Flash was used to create this! Awesome. There is hope for the future of the internet.
“The Man In Blue” also has a link in the upper right to download the mix as an MP3.
With every iteration, these robot drones are getting creepier and creepier. Yes, this thing is real and not a movie prop. It’s the procedurally driven animation that procedurally drives me to link to it in this blog.
If you haven’t already seen the video for the “Big Dog”, here’s a link to the video.
Integrated with some flocking technology, these little buggers would gain some more points to creepy factor.
Google’s front-page tribute to Martha Graham‘s 117th birthday was animated by Ryan J Woodward. A few months back I had posted a link to his animated dance film “Thought of You“. I’m glad Google gave me an excuse to mention this fantastically inspiring short again.
The Christian Science Monitor has quoted Martha Graham saying,
“I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer. It’s permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable.“
Again, I can’t stress enough… if you haven’t seen his “Thought of You” short film, check it out here.
According to the Galactic Empire Times:
CORUSCANT — Obi-Wan Kenobi, the mastermind of some of the most devastating attacks on the Galactic Empire and the most hunted man in the galaxy, was killed in a firefight with Imperial forces near Alderaan, Darth Vader announced on Sunday.
Suspected Rebel “Jer” DetainedIn a related victory for the galaxy, another rebel was apprehended by a squadron in the Toronto region. The unsuspecting terrorist was taken without incident. Identified as “Jer“, the rebel was armed with a concealed hot dog wrapped in paper towel and a bag full of independently financed comic books.
He was also in possession of a 20oz bottle of Coca Cola, though he denies that he was the owner. He was recorded saying, “It’s not mine!! I’m hypoglycemic!.”
He is currently being detained at an undisclosed location and undergoing “questioning” in order to determine the whereabouts of other potential rebel terrorist cells.
With two historic victories in less than a single solar cycle, citizens of the Empire have reason to be proud.
Working in the animation industry, it’s almost impossible to not have heard of Richard Williams. His Animator’s Survival Kit is a bible for most character animators. Every studio that I have worked at, had at least a half dozen copied floating around. A few years ago, Richard also made his live lectures available on DVD. The price is now down to just under $1000 USD. Wiki says that this animator/director was born in Toronto, Canada in 1933.
Richard Williams is best known as the director of Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Apparently, Williams had also directed 3/4 of the Raggedy Ann & Andy, “A Musical Adventure“. Here’s a great clip of the iconic dolls floating around in a living lake of sugar, via Scribble Junkies.
According to the Scribble Junkies thread, the primary animator for this shot was Emery Hawkins.
If you liked that, I recommend checking out Michael Sporn’s blog, where you can find pages and pages of behind the scene materials, including the original timing sheets. There is also a “The Animated Raggedy Ann and Andy: An Intimate Look at the Art of Animation Its History, Techniques, and Artists” book, that sounds like a good collector’s item.
Finally, it’s difficult to talk about Richard Williams without mentioning his film, The Thief and the Cobbler. If you appreciate his work, I recommend taking 2 hours to see the mostly finished Recobbled Cut“, which is available, in it’s entirety on Youtube.
I love seeing innovative leaps in software upgrades. Companies willing to take the gamble of creating grumbling purists in order to freshen the product… makes my heart melt. It seems like you can feel out dependencies better, which should help get the big picture, quicker. I’m guessing this would also be a great help to those that are collaborating on projects. FLStudio 10 has even added a little module where you can render out musically driven 3D effects. Your VJ will love (or hate) you.
This reminds me of what I love so much about LoiLoScope, which I use for editing my home movies.
Living in the Midwest for so many years, yet I never visited Niagara Falls. A few weeks back, this changed. It was pretty cold and rainy, though this didn’t take much away from the spectacle, besides my camera getting dangerously wet.
Here’s a link to entire photo album.
Here’s one entertaining way to help train yourself to read music… as well as provide a little subliminal programming…?
Zombies chomping (and being chopped) in reverse, for Zombie Island trailer. Houdini was used for rigging, animation, effects and rendering. A nice score for Toronto based SideFX software!
Read the VFX breakdown here.
Untouched photo taken of the sun, through the tinted glass windows of a moving van.
© 2024 Jer's Life
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
World War Z
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A commentary of the societies around the globe. What happens when our systems are stress tested? How would we survive and reconstruct after a zombie apocalypse?
If you’re curious, this is a must read. If you don’t really care, then read it anyway!
View all my reviews