the future isn't HD, it's 3D

A few months back we had the SPP2 forum thread discussing of all things, cinema and 3D films. Having not really seen 3D for a while, I couldn't agree or disagree too much. However, that's changed now.

Harry Potter at IMAX has the first 12 minutes in 3D. It was a revelation. Gone were the headaches and rubbish glasses of old, in came a real immersive atmosphere. They say that watching HD you feel like you are almost there, well with 3D it went the next step and you felt like you were there.

It wasn't all fancy effects - although these were good, apparating for example. I actually really appreciated the subtleness of simply standing in a room and feeling a sense of depth, again, just as if you were standing there on set. It made a huge difference.

BBC Click has done a whole feature on the future of 3D and notably I'm pleased to find that 3D films are making a comeback. However, there are downsides. First, when the 12 minutes of Harry Potter in 3D ended, 2D then felt bland and boring, so presumably, if you watch a feature film in 3D at the cinema, when you get it on DVD at home, the magic will be somewhat lost.

If you visit the BBC link you'll see that 3D TV is being devised, but I think that this should be the opportunity for cinema to find itself a niche. Theatre goers pay a lot more money for something that technically they could get on DVD at a reduced rate. But part of the enjoyment is actually going and seeing it professionally done, on a much larger stage than a TV screen. I think cinema too could make this their unique selling point - 3D at it's best: on a massive screen with superb surround sound.

Needless to say, I still think there's something to 3D web browsing. Youtube in 3D seems the first step in the right direction.

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walk walk walk

We have literally just walked our way through our last 3D max seminar with Andy - walking being the key word.

Using spheres, poles, clown like shoes, we all set about making some them there legs. And then to make em move smooth as well! lol

This has to have been the most complex thing so far, it seemed to be a thing of clicking the buttons but not exactly knowing what an inverse konemation is! One of the legs also at one point decided to fly up weirdly in the air, but undo undo undo and then some more reversing through the motions resulted in a functioning pair of trotting limbs (thanks to Leanne and Andy's input as well)

I've played around since coming home, and dubbed it to some music slowly, normally and quickly.



If I'd change anything, it'd be to get it to sync with the music even more finely. But for now it's just fine and dandy.

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they call it 'the blob'

I've been a little slow posting this, but our last session with Andy saw us taking on the BBC3 blob. Or should that be former Beeb3 Blob now the heart fm style ident is being introduced.

Anyway, I'm really pleased with the morphs I've animated. I can see them reflecting realistic actions from life, perhaps a burp or something!

I've played around with him and added some sound in Movie Maker. Lip syncing is such a chore though. It can send you loopy as well, watching a clip about 30 times over! But nonetheless, I persevered, had a break and then another last little play and here's the result!



This one is just set to different music and basically a few little fil editing effects applied.



My favourite is definitely the do it do it do it now! It's makes me laugh, particularly at the end where the weird little sound plays and he reacts! Me like blobs! :)

Hope you like!

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practice makes perfect - the water edition

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I've downloaded and been experimenting/learning the ropes with Blogger and I'm actually enjoying using it now. It definitely has promise for the creation of my avatar.



After a tutorial or two, I'm quite comfortable using the program, I can insert shapes, assemble them to create a man, extrude surfaces to make them peak like mountains. As well as altering material properties, rendering smoother shapes and panning the camera during animation.





However, there's so much more than just that. There are a number of tutorials online: youtube and wikipedia, and these have proved quite successful, in the least, the visuals are very pleasing. Unsurprisingly, it took attempt, after attempt, after attempt to get it right.
I really like applying this glass effect known as Rayfray. This has a number of variants available- reflect more, refract more, be more opaque, have a colour tint.


In the second picture here, I used similar settings but tweaked them to be more 'mirror' fied and hence, the more metallic look.

The next attempts actually dealt with animating fluids, which again, took even more attempts to get the water to fall in the right place, not go straight through the 'obstacles', but eventually they've turned out quite good! I altered the properties from the tutorial for some variety, be it the colours, the shapes, the amount of water etc.







Lastly, another tutorial has shown me the ways of the world, and I now can make waves. Again, aesthetically pleasing and the animation is actually quite fluid despite using lower render settings - I tried the higher quality settings which looked sublime, but in reality would have taken 25 hours or something to render! So naturally, I had to compromise.



When looking at all this, it's surprising that Blender is actually free. It's a decent program with support from external pieces of kit (e.g. YaFray renderer), plenty of help/tutorials on the forum and further afield, and the stuff it can kick out is mighty fine!

I'll post more when I've made more. There's something addictive to this 3D modelling malarky!

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