Dopefish links to this fantastic video of direct facial tracking in the Half-Life 2 engine:
Looks to me a lot like proper facial capture using nothing more than a webcam, which admittedly we’ve seen before - but we’ve not seen it in real-time. VERY interesting.
Interesting - John August reveals that he and the rest of the Prince of Persia movie team used a trailer made mostly of Machinima footage from the game to pitch to the studio execs - the pitch that got the movie made.
We’ve been saying this is possible for ages - but here’s proof.
(Also interesting that a lot of what we’ve talked about in the past has been creating the entire movie in Machinima first. Perhaps you just need a trailer?)
Having now sold enough copies of Machinima For Dummies to pay for a cup of coffee a day for a week – each! – Hugh and I were delighted to see that the book has become part of the ever-growing library of Google Books. That means you can read Machinima For Dummies for free, online. Well, most of it – as is usually the case with Google Books, a few pages have been deleted seemingly at random. Nonetheless, the majority of the book is now online, and ready for you to read legally and for free. And if you really find yourself missing those few elusive pages that didn’t make it to Google Books, Machinima For Dummies is still available to buy in old skool dead tree format – we can always use more coffee.
A couple of exciting developments in WoW Machinima:
First up, a new WoW Machinima tool, MachinimaDev has been released in beta. This is pretty exciting stuff - its capabilities go well beyond those of Modelviewer, including export to various 3D packages, limited mouth control, timeline-based shooting, cameras, loading of sets and multiple characters at the same time, and other very cool stuff. I’ve not tested it, but I’ve had an online demo, and it represents a significant advance in WoW Machinima creation. More news on it soon, because Strange Company will be using it in an upcoming production.
Secondly, I’ve just had a conversation with Simon Bradshaw on the subject of the legalities of the Machinima Agreement from Blizzard, and we’ve had a very careful look at the wording of the agreement as relates to festivals.
Previously, as you may know, the reading of the agreement was that you couldn’t submit to a film festival without asking Blizzard’s permission. However, we’ve just looked at it, and that appears to not be what it’s saying. In actual fact, the wording says that
In the event that you are required to prove to the contest organizer, festival committee, or television broadcaster that you have Blizzard Entertainment’s permission to use the images or video from World of Warcraft that appear in your Production, a content use license is provided
If you’re NOT required to prove that, it looks a lot like you are allowed to enter the festival. The wording’s a bit unclear, but it’s definitely not a “you need to ask before submitting to any festival” as we previously thought.
Obviously, this is exciting news for me and anyone else who makes WoW Machinima.
If anyone knows more on either of these points, has tried out MachinimaDev, has submitted WoW Machinima to festivals, or whatever else, please do comment!
It’s time for another Machinima for Dummies podcast, and this one’s focussing on that perennial bugbear of the Machinima creator, The Law.
For once, we’re talking mostly about UK rather than US law, but there’s lots of bits and pieces of interest for everyone in this podcast, which is with Simon Bradshaw, one of the guys who supports the Open Rights Group with legal analysis and and an English barrister specialising in Intellectual Property Law.
You should listen to this if:
Listen to the podcast here and let us know what you think! If you’ve got any other questions, stick ‘em in the comments too.
I’ve come across a couple of interesting pieces of work lately.
First up, “Alan Smithee” (aka some Moviestorm director who doesn’t want to be identified) has produced, yes, some Machinima (soft) porn (NSFW, but nothing too shocking):
Why’s this interesting? Well, there’s always been a bit of an odd shortage of porn created in Machinima - the occasional bit, but nothing like the flood you’d expect. And this is the first piece of Machinima erotica that actually kinda works. “Sexy” has always been one of those areas where Machinima falls down, so it’s very interesting to see that we’re starting to be able to invoke it, even in quite a crude way.
Why does it work, to the extent that it does? Camerawork is a big part - it’s not just about showing mostly-naked people, it’s also about leading the eye in a teasing, intimate or revelatory way. Subtle animations help, too.
Another interesting element - the areas in which the film doesn’t work. Notably, the walk cycle. We tend not to think too much about the qualities of characters’ walk cycles, but for me, here, the walk cycle of the second character totally breaks the flow of the movie, and destroys the illusion - it’s such a male walk. Interesting to note the effect that a well-made but inappropriate animation can have.
Next up, we have some evidence that Half-Life 2 is continuing to develop to become a very credible engine for all sorts of Machinima creation. Previously, most HL2 work I’ve seen has either been based on the gameworld or carefully limited to minimise the need for new assets (Monad, Jill’s Song) - however, Shelf Life is a very impressive piece of work set, as far as I can tell, outside the HL2 universe, and with a sprawling list of characters and sets.
It’s decidedly slow, but has a genuinely interesting plot, some excellent voice actors, and all the other stuff I keep banging on about being important. Most interestingly, it really shows off why I HL2 currently produces much more watchable-without-game-background Machinima than most other engines (the common thread with the Moviestorm piece) - it’s expressive, the characters’ models have actual character which you can build a personality around, and it’s possible to tell stories and story beats using character expressions and eye movements.
Nothing else so far (sorry, Moviestorm - you’re closest, but not there yet) has managed this level of expression. And if that’s being married with an increasing availability of content and freedom for Machinima creators in the HL2 universe, we could see some very interesting things in the future.
On the “who knew?” list, it turns out that EA game Skate 2 has a remarkably sophisticated Machinima toolset for recamming (by which I mean adding camerawork to recordings of gameplay).
Given the huge “Skate Movie” culture that’s already out there (see Skateperception , it’s an interesting new angle for Machinima. I’d be interested to hear what real skate video creators thought of it. And good to see recamming making a comeback too!
EDIT - Oh, knackers. Looks like this isn’t actually true, just someone’s fantasy (see comments). Cheapest option for Mocap remains Ipisoft. Dammit.
Ooh! Looks like a major player’s getting into the cheap mocap game - Adobe have just announced a suite named “Gollum” which will perform mocap using the Project Natal cameras.
Cost? $400. Time? No idea.
The Internets are buzzing with the announcement of Project Natal, a camera for the Xbox 360 which will supposedly offer full-body motion capture for use in games.
It’s very, very early days yet (the video floating around the Internet bears the small note “Product Vision - actual features and functionality may vary”), but they seem pretty confident about their tech.
Full-body motion capture at a games console price? We’ll have to wait and see.
Ok, something rather cool today. As you probably know, I’ve recently been extremely impressed with filmmaker and author Chris Jones’ training seminar based on how he got to the Oscar shortlist with a short film. Many of its points are highly relevant to Machinima, and I was really interested to see what Chris would say to Machinima filmmakers directly.
Handily, he was as interested in talking to us!
So, today we present to you a 45-minute podcast between me and Chris, talking about making the best film you can, whether and how you should approach big-name actors, how to market your film and hook audiences in, and the future of professional and amateur filmmaking now that new technology is eating the old models alive.
There’s lots of really useful perspective here from a very accomplished filmmaker outside the Machinima world altogether - I hope you enjoy it!
It’s available here in downloadable MP3 - if you’ve got Quicktime installed, it should just play if you click the link.
Enjoy, and let us know what you think. If you want to know more about Chris and his filmmaking, you can find:
