2005 YEAR END REVIEW 03
July began with greater experientation on how to actually make video for the PSP. My plans for the PSP show underwent a change because of my view of the market. While I was previously developing older more sophisticated characters, I saw the need to add some younger, more anime-like characters to round thing out. My experiences and the things I was reading were affecting my production.
I also finally saw the much talked about Appleseed movie in july. I really couldn't get into despite some parts containing some of the most amazing images I had seen in anime. On the whole, though, even though I heavily used 3D in what I did, I did not want my work to look like this. I think this started to turn me more and more away from 3D in my creative process. My preference was still something along these lines:
At this time I was researching the next level of music production for my content creation as well. Eventually, in my PSP research, I figured out how to do true widescreen video presentation on the PSP. I had to then redo everything I previously created for the PSP in this newly discovered format. I tended to carry my demo reel and other trailers around on the PSP, because you never know who you might run into.
It wasn't long before some actual dailies were seen for my PSP show. It was actually quite an experience to see content I had created playing on that cool little device. I also learned some more interesting things though. I needed to change the ink style I used to get a beter look on the PSP. I also needed to work with colors in a different way. The experimentation continued. Then a new revelation came on the scene!
I had an apostrophe! Lightning had just struck my brain. Bauhaus Software had just intoduced the tool that would change everything. You may remember I was seriously looking at the Cintiq earlier this year, but this changed everything.
I thought a lot about the difference between a system like this and having a WACOM Cintiq. In the end I decided that while at home, using WIFI, my tablet would be my Cintiq. I don't need both, and then I have the advantage of taking the Mirage NOMAD out on the road. I would have loved to have had this when I was in China.
That wasn't the end though. I also made a decision on the music side of things. The choice being between GigaStudio and Native Instruments Kontakt 2. After much deliberation, I decided that Kontakt 2 was the tool for me. Of course, none of these things were cheap. I still had to actually purchase them!
While saving up to actually buy this stuff, I thought long and hard about content creation. I looked at video games thinking that for series creation, the way in whch video game characters are done, with great models and a library of standard motions, might be the ticket to being able to quickly get content out and thus focus on telling the story rather than getting bogged down in technology. In order to do this, the 3D models would have to be created to such a level as to need no touch up after the fact. It had to be possible. Look at the girls in Dead or Alive! To that end, it was time for a new way of working. I set out to learn IK Booster.
IK Booster, combined with Motion Mixer in Lightwave 3D, was a new way of advanced character animation which I had barely even touched in my years of using the software. They were hanging around for a while, but one tends to get stuck on a path of least resistance when it comes to using software. I just never bothered. I may have messed with Motion Mixer once and put it away because it was difficult. Now it was time to tackle them both, and I did that.
I bought the first of the many tools that would totally change my studio. Kontakt 2 was now in hand and the improvement in sound quality over anything I had heard previously was astounding. This little piece was the first thing I constructed with it.
FRIDAY, July 29th, 2005
My old, tore up Geo Metro died the death about an hour ago. The amount of repairs the car actually needs would cost many many times more than the car is worth, which is next to nothing. To do a minor repair to get it running temporarily would simply postpone the inevitable for how long... how long?
I have been on foot ever since.
August began with some with some popular game rumor sites using an image from my work as supposed graphics example for the next gen Nintendo system. I didn't care, though. I was more interested in a real media revolution.
I had the idea that in today's world, the things we used to love from fantasy art could actually be made into movies. It doesn't have to be big sweeping camera, million soldier battles, I mean things exactly like the art from all those old novels and magazines. They could small stories done by indies, but because of green screens and the latest CGI technology, they could look like the fantasy art of those days!
I continued to expand my music library wit the Giovani Edition choir. This really showed just how far one could go with a full sampler like Kontakt 2 rather than just using sound modules like I did in the past. My first demo combining Kontakt with Giovani can be found by clicking here.
My PSP craze most certainly continued as the 2.0 firmware update cameout including the web browser. I could now check my email from anywhere with a WIFI connection and even post on this blog using the PSP. More importantly, though, the web browser openeed a flood of new ideas for PSP media and how to deliver. I still think it hasn't been maximized to this day.
I also became more aware of the importance of design in a series. Not talking costume or mecha design, but the design of the show itself. In Soukyuu no Fafner, the designers crafted a show that had built in reusability. Like many mech hsows they had a bridge crew that was always on the same bridge in the same uniforms in the same positions. They had some cool mecha launch seuences which could be reused and so on.
With reusability in mind, I continued to build up my motion library, created with IK Booster and Motion Mixer such that it could be transported across any number of characters, even at different sizes, a great feature I hadn't seen since Kaydara Filmbox. And so the month the month of August continued on as I created motion after motion adding to this library that was t change the way I did series work. It was t make possible the creation of large volumes of animation in a short time, especially if the series itself were designed properly for it.
During this time I watched another incredible series, Last Exile in the bottle, which gave me more insights into designing a complete series and a great desire to do one eventually. But then something else came along:
Yet another tool that would totally change the way I think and work forever dropped into my lap. Newtek had been for a while offering an upgrade special that included a full package of Vue 5 Infinite free with the Lightwave upgrade. It seemed to good to be true since Vue 5 Infinite by itself costs more than the upgrade. Of course I jumped at it, havng seen the amazing videos on the e-on software website.
Being busy, I didn't dive in right away and play, but I also picked up a good WIFI router from Fry's which allowed me to get my PSP online from home. It seemed many things were really coming together.
September began with the Tv networks all looking for the next Dragoball Z. I was not really wanting to ride the mainstream though. I was continuing to expand my 3D arsenal with possible uses of video game techniques to make anime faster. In this case, using a video game style low poly character with a single UV map seemed a good cheat to quickly create minor characters, extras and soldiers. Combined with the motion library I was developing, this could make doing things which might otherwise be irritating, like crowd scenes, far easier to do.
I was now able to update this blog using my PSP, even from my favorite restaurant. That made keeping up with it far easier. Why not pull out the PSP and write something while waiting for the food to get done? I finally got down to playing with Vue 5 Infinite. Little did I know that I was only beginning to scratch the surface of this amazing program. Even though I have yet to look at the manual, the program is intuitive and I can get right in and start creating. That's the way it should be.
September also saw my first experience with "Loop Group", doing ADR on one of our mvies at UFO. It really felt like "show biz" going to one of the "real" studios and recording for an actual movie. It was a lot of fun too. It was mostly recording crowds being attacked and killed by bugs.
September also saw the advent of a new Final Fantasy all CGI movie. I went all out and got the "Advent Pieces" box set which includes all that it seen above. I always told people that there was chilli in the can.
Shortly thereafter, someone turned me onto Avatar: The Last Airbender, a Nick Toons show that quickly vaulted to a top spot in animated programming. I was obvious why, the show is amazing. It looks good and sounds even better. Anime dubs wish they could sound as good as this show, which uses top notch talent and some of the most noted Asian actors in the industry for voices. I was hooked very quickly. It comes out on DVD next month.
As for my own production, I continued to experiment with techniques that would improve speed and quality and allow me to create the shows I really want to make without barriers.
On the live action side of things, a new camera hit the market. The first truly low priced, affordable HD cam around came from Sony. It's not as good as those other big cameras I mentioned. It doesn't have 24P, it is interlaced, has a fixed lense and many other things that might detour would be filmmakers, still I chose this as the camera for me. I'm odd like that. I wanted an HD camera that I could also use for everyday things. Basically a replacement for the Sony Handycam I have now, but something that could still be used to make a serious film should I choose to do so. This is the only camera that gives me all that. Who knows, maybe I'll use this to do that fantasy art style film I think should be made. (to be continued)
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