YOU CAN GET NOTICED

The weekly web comic Angry Little Girls has apparently merited a pilot order from Oxygen Network. Jennifer Love Hewitt is slated to executive produce. It also seems the comic strips creator Lela Lee will be involved as a producer. So why is this interesting to me?

ANGRY LITTLE GIRLS was created by Lela Lee in response to what she found to be insulting Asian characters in other cartoons.

So reports AWN. Now Lela Lee is an actress who has appeared in some pretty major comedy shows on network TV. It seems here, though, that not being pleased with what was happening in the mainstream world, she had an idea of her own and decided to make it happen. Her comic is simply free to read on the web, with products like books, T shirts and calendars with o major distributor. What's more gratifying, though, is it got noticed.

With all the new channels out there, there is a famine in the land for good content. Someone who was bold enough and believed in their product enough, would create it and put on the web for free, or make it available for the PSP for free. The upside is that this product can be noticed and the deals can begin to happen!

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RSS WORLD

As you can see, I added an RSS feed button to the title bar on this site. The button doesn't go to anywhere. If you click you just get a bunch of meaningless code. It's an XML file which is now commonly used for a news feed. What this means is that if you have an RSS reader, you can subscribe to this feed and when you open your RSS reader you will get the latest headlines from this site.

Mozilla Firefox users can get the Sage RSS Reader from the Mozdev site. (Think it's a coincidence that name sounds like Mos Def?) I started using the Sage reader and I am glad for its existence. It just makes life a lot easier if you keep up with a lot of information.

RSS isn't just about news feeds. Pod casts are actually subscribed to in the same fashion. PSP users who have the latest firmware upgrade now have an RSS reader too. With this you can subscribe to your favorite podcasts or any form of audio based news. You will be automatically notified when new news is published and can immediately download it directly. No need to go to the page and find it.

The same goes for text based news on the PC. Imagine if you follow a lot of sites across many different subjects, even having a well organized bookmarks folder wouldn't make keeping up with all the information out there easy. With a good RSS reader you can get all your headlines in one convenient location and just pick and read what you want, jumping directly to the site rather than hunting through your bookmarks for it.

Someone asked me where I get all the interesting news I post on this site. Often people send me news they think would interest me. On top of this, though, having a good RSS reader can be a great way to keep on top of things.

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NO MORE EXCUSES

Vue 5 Xstream is here! A tool that allows true integration of your Vue 5 work with the 3D package of your choice. While it currently supports 3DS MAX and Maya, claiming Lightwave, XSI and C4D support are on the way, users are no longer limited to doing rendering in separate applications with varying looks.

Thanks to Vue xStream, Vue 5 Infinite environments will become a seamless part of the Max or Maya scenery.

In one single render pass, Max or Maya elements will be rendered together with Vue elements, accurately matching shadows, reflections and illumination to deliver totally blended CG footage without requiring any additional effort.

That's what it says on the Vue 5 Xstream product page. Check it out for some example renders.

Now I'm sure those who find fault with the Vue 5 renderer are already talking about how great it will be to give it up and work in their native package. Well, I want to tell you right now, those who think that relying on their favorite render will grant them a license for sloppy Vue work are in for a surprise. I don't care what renderer you use, if you don't plan for it and optimize for it, there will be problems.

Think this means the end of the edge chattering? Go ahead and put a bunch of tiny little leaves in your scene and don't use proper mip map and anti alias settings, and you will find the chattering will be just as apparent. Even in Lightwave, if you put a bunch of tiny little nurnies on your spaceship you can find yourself rendering at 2X HD resolution to not have it chatter. Of course using a renderer you understand better will have its advantages rather than learning the intricacies of the Vue 5 renderer. But then those objects were made for Vue 5 which has a lot of little surface texture and render quality settings which don't exist in other renderers. It may be an all new learning curve.

For those who have spent the time and learned what makes Vue 5 tick, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread, though. Why? Because you have options. You will know what to use where and how to optimize your environments for placement in either render or any compositing pipeline. This actually gives you more power and not less.

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SO WHO OWNS WHO?

There's a lot of interesting things to consider when looking at this new Disney and Pixar acquisition deal. A lot of it must be seriously considered by those of us indies looking to make our waves in the digital age as well. Who is really coming out on top? How will this affect the future market for media and the distribution of content? Does this open any doors for us?

On Jan. 24, Walt Disney Co. (DIS ) agreed to pay $7.4 billion in stock to acquire Pixar Animation Studios (PIXR ), where Jobs is chairman, CEO, and 50.6% owner. As part of the deal, Jobs will become the largest shareholder at Disney and take a seat on the entertainment giant's board. His top creative executive at Pixar, John A. Lasseter, will oversee the movies at both Pixar's and Disney's animation studios. Pixar's president, Edwin Catmull, will run the business side for the two studios.

That's what it says in a Business Week article I think everyone here must read. All who truly hope to create entertainment products, be it anime films or otherwise, and hope to eke out an existence in this digital age, earning a living from your passion, need to take a close at Steve Jobs and what he is doing and how he does it. His philosophy is largely what the indie world lacks.

"He has set the basic model for any digital business from now on," says Toshiba Corp. CEO Atsutoshi Nishida.

Indies who are still trying to get into the theatre chains or hoping to get funding for a television show need to really start thinking about what they are doing and why they are doing it. Aside from chasing a dream that will likely never happen, those who actually have the ability to make something could still end up left behind in this new market. We need to learn, prepare and start tackling the ways to get products in front of eyeballs in a world where it need cost nothing.

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FULLMETAL MOVIE

The other day, my import box set of Theatrical Feature:
Fullmetal Alchemist - Shanbara wo Iku Mono - arrived and I forgot to mention that I watched it the other night. The set comes with two discs of extras, including I know not what, and a book of storyboards and other art. The set actually English subtitles too for those who might desire such a thing.

The movie was amazing. I wish I knew the budget, because it looked good. I read in the news from NAPTE 2006 that animation buyers are seeing a good blend of comedy with their action adventure being the top sellers these days. This movie lives up to that perfectly and so I can see why it is so popular. Even though it gets serious at times, it is actually a very fun movie.

The use of cel shaded 3D in the movie is some of the better I have seen. It blends very well and on the FX side, meaning large flying crafts and explosions, it may be some of the best I have seen. This is a 2D movie to be sure, but they use cel shaded work where it will add to the experience and not for its own sake or to show off. Some of the character work, such as scenes depicting Gypsy characters singing and dancing is just beautiful. Makes me want to practice... a lot!

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ARE YOU REAL TIME?

In the old and busted days of Adobe Premiere, I used to record my audio in Sound Forge, trim the wav files neatly and then bring them into the edit timeline and slide them around to fit into my video. A process of many steps.

Now I am working on the story reels for Daniel. Having drawn my storyboards, I bring them into the edit timeline and time them out after which I can then add temp voices, music and sound FX, so that I am working on the show before getting into doing final shots. In Vegas 6.0 I found something great. I simply insert an audio track, arm it to record, play my edit, and talk.

Yes, I can watch the edit I put together and right there on the timeline record the voice track, in place and ready to go. The same would work for doing Foley tracks as well. It's real time, immediate feedback. After I record, I can watch it again with the new track. This is the way it should be! We should not have to go through many steps, or worse, use many different packages to achieve our results. Can you imagine how quickly the story reel process can go like this?

So what do you say reader, are you real time?

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THE BRAIN

I completely forgot to post about this one! We should have known it would happen. According to the latest in science news, a team headed by a distinguished molecular biologist, Irving Weissman, at Stanford University have successfully injected human brain cells into mice, creating mice which are 1% human. They are allegedly considering a follow up which would create mice whose brains are 100% human.

What if the mice escaped the lab and began to proliferate? What might be the ecological consequences of mice who think like human beings, let loose in nature? Weissman says that he would keep a tight rein on the mice, and if they showed any signs of humanness he would kill them. Hardly reassuring.

That's what it says in a copy of the article found in The Gaurdian Unlimited. The article can be found on many other news sites as well. A search for "mice with human brain cells" turns up some interesting results.

From a Sci Fi Pictures standpoint, like the type we do at UFO Films, I can see it now. Scientists create some kind of rat monster by accident and now a special team must be put together to track the creature and kill it. David Keith stars.

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EXTRACT YOUR REFERENCE!

Remember when I wrote about how to model an anime character? I said I studied the characters from games, which I thought would make for the best cel shaded models. Well wouldn't it be nice if you could extract the character directly from a game and study the model?

OGLE (i.e. OpenGLExtractor) is a software package by Eyebeam R&D that allows for the capture and re-use of 3D geometry data from 3D graphics applications running on Microsoft Windows. It works by observing the data flowing between 3D applications and the system's OpenGL library, and recording that data in a standard 3D file format. In other words, a 'screen grab' or 'view source' operation for 3D data.

That's what it says on this website here. Now unfortunately I suspect a tool like this will be used for illegal purposes involving copyright infringement, and even if not, the big companies will think so and get all kinds of sanctions against it. But in an ideal world, how cool would it be?

It doesn't just have to be for anime characters, though it would be great to extract a 3D character directly out of the PC version of a Final Fantasy game, but you could use it to study anything you currently don't know how to build. See how the experts do it and learn from them. Aspiring game designers could look at levels from their favorite games and learn how to optimize for real time level building. I won't even begin to get into what this could mean for game mods.

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NEW TIMES ARE HERE!

Times are changing for the independent film industry. With more than half of the 193 Sundance films screening in a high-definition format, it's obvious that the newest trend is digital.

That's what it says in a new MSN article which is very good news for those who want to make films and not spend the cash needed for 35mm prints. Question whether the digital stuff can look good enough for the big time? Check out this video clip. I didn't shoot this, but I brought the footage into Mirage for a little processing and voila! This was shot on the cheapest of new HD cameras.

For less than $2000.00 US you can have quality that is more than acceptable for major motion picture work. I would go so far as to say it is downright competitive if you know what you're doing. You can read the MSN article here.

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DISNEY'S DONE DEAL

The LA Times is reporting that it's a done deal!

Walt Disney Co. today agreed to buy Pixar Animation Studios which has produced the hits "Toy Story" and "The Incredibles" in a $7.4-billion deal that will make Pixar CEO Steve Jobs the entertainment company's single-largest shareholder.

That's what it says. It's amazing what kind of things can happen when you remove one Eisner from the picture isn't it? After a string a box office mishaps, Disney is getting a big boost to their name actually. John Lasseter will be the chief creative officer of both animation studios and apparently will even advise Disney on the theme parks, which have not been doing as well as they would like since the Eisner days.

Think about it. $7.4-billion. Lucas sold Pixar to Steve Jobs for something like $12 million. Now Steve Jobs sits over Apple, Pixar and Disney!

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THERE IS ANOTHER

As best as I can tell, I have found another independent creator of animation making his own dreams in Japan. The visual quality of his work is amazing. The fourth link in the title bar goes to a trailer which is well worth seeing.

I'm telling you we are going to see this become the norm in the anime market. As the costs continue to rise on studio projects, talented guys like this will continue to create their own dreams and get them seen. I already ordered this DVD.

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RESTING PLACE

I can't stress enough how necessary it is to sometimes step back from your projects and take a rest. Last night I had to do just that. Burning out does absolutely nothing for getting to the end result of a finished work of art.

FEAR THE END

Although unrelated to animation, it appears that on February 1st, Jet Li will be appearing in what is billed as his final martial arts film, titled Fearless. There is a trailer for it here.

Fearless is the story of Fok Yuen-gap (Huo Yuan-jia), a national hero in China and master arts master at the beginning of the 20th century, who early on experiences the dark, vengeful side of wushu. He eventually rises to embrace its more positive side by taking on some of the world's greatest fighters in a sporting competition that takes place at a time when a distressed China is being encroached upon by foreign powers.

It'll be kind of sad to see him exit the stage but I always thought there were hints at such a move in his interviews on the extra features on his DVD's, particularly Rise to Honor. From what this movie seems, as a throwback to some of his classic best, he will go out with a bang.

Ronnie Yu (The Bride with White Hair) directs and Yuen Wo-ping is action director. The movie's subject matter is familiar territory for Yuen. He directed Legend of a Fighter (1982), a kung fu classic about the life of Fok Yuen-gap starring Leung Far-yan.

So writes Mark Pollard of cinema.com. Ronny Yu has put to screen some of the most beautiful images I have ever seen, and with the top action director on his side, it looks like Li will certainly go out on top.

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EXPOSED

I just ordered a few of the popular art books from Ballistic Publishing, the guys behind the CG Society and the CGTalk forums, where much of the art comes from. I have known about these books for a long time, and have even seen them in PJ's office, but I got a coupon from them a few weeks ago for 20% off, so I thought it's time to go ahead and do it.

I got all 3 Expose art books and their Exotique showcase as well. These books are a great resource for information and motivation when it comes to CG art. Also, looking at great art fuels ideas and allows the user to see perspectives never before considered. I think these books are well worth the expense.

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SONY AT IT AGAIN!

I just received word about another new product soon to come from Sony. Apparently it is an all around reader that will display ebooks, pdf files and even manga on a screen that appears indistinguishable from text on a page. Apparently many major publishers, including TOKYOPOP for manga, have signed on.

The Reader can also store and display personal documents in Adobe PDF format, favorite web content like blogs or news feeds, and JPEG photos. With a seemingly limitless battery life equivalent to roughly 7500 page turns, avid readers can devour a dozen bestsellers plus War and Peace without ever having to recharge.

That's what it says in an article found here. You can also read about it on the Gizmodo website with their live from CES coverage.

Now personally I would like to see these technologies make their way to the Sony PSP. After all, as the owner of a Motion Computing LE 1600 Tablet PC, or Mirage Nomad as it is called, and a PSP, how many mobile devices is one expected to carry around? The PSP is the end all portable entertainment device in my view, and I already read manga on it.

Ever since I first saw the article that mentioned manga on the PSP I have been using it to do so. I would love to see publishers sign on to offer manga specifically formatted for the device, as doing myself can be a chore, even though there are great tools available. Wouldn't it be nice to just connect with the PSP and download straight to it? Maybe I'll have to be the one to pioneer that service with an original manga title for PSP. After all, I have the tablet to draw it.

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DISNEY OVER PIXAR?!

I completely forgot to mention, though I am sure most of you already know of this, but word on the street is Disney is actually seriously considering buying Pixar.

The Wall Street Journal today cited anonymous sources in reporting that The Walt Disney Co. is in serious talks to acquire Pixar Animation Studios. The stock transaction, would reportedly have Disney pay a small premium to PixarÂ?s stock market value of $6.7 billion, making Pixar CEO Steve Jobs DisneyÂ?s biggest individual shareholder.

The part about Jobs being the majority shareholder is the only thing that sounds really promising. That could also bode well for stopping Disney from ruining any Pixar franchises with cheap direct-to-video sequels and the like.

Did you know that Pixar was created by George Lucas back in the 1980's to explore new frontiers in using computer graphics in film production? They made a few ground breaking shorts in those days. I remember well, because Alan Hastings, the creator of Lightwave, always seemed to have an answer to the work of Pixar for the old Amiga computer, which any serious graphic user had at the time. ;)

Lucas later sold pixar to Steve Jobs for something like $12 million. With Pixar worth $6.7 billion now, I wonder if Lucas regrets that at all.

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MAKE ANIME FOR REAL!

So it would appear that the desire of users is for a series that really spends time of the particular subjects covered in each volume. I expect these will not be short volumes either. Likely they will be 2-3 hours of "get in there and do it" tutorials on how to get stuff done. I guess how much can or needs to be covered will be discovered as I make them.

I am certain there will be a volume on creating characters, and one on backgrounds, but who knows, I may find that doing interiors and exteriors needs to be separated. I can certainly see that from a lighting stand point, but we'll see. More on that as it develops.

In the meantime, after about five hours of heavy historical research last night, I have a sequence in mind that needs boarding. Interestingly, I watched The Incredibles DVD extra features recently and noted that their storyreel is quite similar to the direction I want to move in regarding blocking out the show I am making as soon as possible. Why is this?

The key is, you want to be making your movie as soon as possible, not focusing on a particular model or particular scene. Working from this perspective also gives you more options if you have a rough schedule due to your job, family commitments or anything else that strives for your time. For example, if you quickly board out a sequence, or do rough animatics with boxes and standin characters, you can be in edit very quickly. You can start cutting these things to temp music from your soundtrack library, temp sound FX and a rough voice track. You can see what you will be making.

Once you have one sequence at this point you can choose how you want to work based on your time and schedule. You can move on to boarding the next sequence. You can create the digital environment for the final version of one of the shots already boarded. You could model a character, prop or anything needed for a final version of the boarded scenes. You could even work on final music for that section if you don't feel like doing the other stuff. You see what I mean by more options? You can build your movie as you go, but always be focused on the movie (the sum) and not an individual piece of it (the parts).

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MAKING ANIME DREAMS

I want to thank everyone who wrote in to tell me what they would like to see in a new DVD tutorial series, and I want to continue to ask people to write in with their ideas of what they would want to learn about.

So far, it seems that there will definitely need to be volume all about character creation. There is a lot to cover on this one subject alone. Creating good characters, from the design phase all the way to modeling, rigging and animating can make or break a would be anime title. Even doing it in all 2D, with video or 3D references presents a large set of challenges.

It also seems that there is need for a DVD tutorial on creating great backgrounds. With all the tools available to us today, there is a lot to cover. It's not just about creating a good 3D model. Today we have tools like Vue 5 Infinite and the ability to composite multiple elements of a background in Mirage. There is also the issue of good lighting, which can turn an average background into something great.

One thing that has not been talked about, though, is getting started. If the DVD program is to take a user from zero to finish product, then what about the design phase? There are issues in crafting a story, keeping in realistic in terms of doability for the indie animator, and designing things that look great but don't require a 100 person crew to implement. Many indie projects start and end here because the user has an idea that is impossible to do.

Think back to what Robert Rodriguez said. He had a guitar case, a bus, a turtle, a bar he could shoot in and streets to shoot on. He worked with what he had the result was El Mariachi. It's no different for the indie animator really.

Another aspect that seems to need covering is the final stages of the dream. We all want to see a return on all our hard work, right? I think a volume on getting DVD's made, setting up a web page, protecting your IP, ways to promote the project and actually sell it would be a good tool to have. Either way, I can see this shaping up to be an actual project.

In the meantime, there are other projects in the works that need to be wrapped up. New ideas on how to present and execute this complex project have given me a new fire. Expect to see more on this in the near future.

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LEARN HOW TO DRAW ANIME

Ya know, it's been so long and things have changed so much in how I make my anime projects that I am starting to wonder if it isn't time for a new DVD project on just how to get your show made. This time I am talking about a truly comprehensive video dealing with every aspect of getting from zero to a finished program. The real question is just how comprehensive?

I mean, I could go into incredible detail on just the techniques of creating great backgrounds for an anime show. There is a lot to cover on just how to get the best use of tools like Vue 5 Infinite and using Mirage for compositing scenes together.

On top of that, there's so much to be said in the way of cel shaded 3D characters. Not just on how to model them, but also my recent discoveries in IK Booster, Motion Mixer and using motion libraries to create reusable assets for series production.

A then there's the Tablet PC and WACOM tablets. When is it better to draw rather than use 3D? On the back end, there's creating your music for scoring and soundtrack, editing, sound FX and many other aspects to getting it all done. A two or even three hour video couldn't cover it all. This makes me thing that even a series might be in order.

The real question is, what do you out there creating your own projects, feel is missing from the instructional and tutorial arena? What do you want to know about? What was there not enough of in Anime: Concept to Reality? Is there really a need for such a video at all?

What about some of the other aspects? Authoring your own DVD, doing subtitle tracks, getting it mastered, doing cover art and preparing it for sale. Should these aspects also be covered in a video program? What about how to promote the products, where to advertise and how to setup your website for direct sales? What do you want to know? I want to hear from you. Let me know what you would want to see if such a program were to be done.

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THEY GOT THAT GLOW

I know there has to be a UFO film hidden in this story somewhere. What will they think of next?

The pigs are transgenic, created by adding genetic material from jellyfish into a normal pig embryo.

That's right. If you haven't guessed it yet, this is isn't science fiction, it's real according to the BBC article found here. Scientists say that although the pigs glow, they are otherwise no different than any others. Ya know.. because glowing in the dark isn't all that different. I can see it now. NEW JIMMY DEAN STAY BRIGHT SAUSAGE!! The applications for glowing pigs are endless.

Seriously, though, the thing that concerns me more is how easily it is written that DNA from Jellyfish was added to the embryo of pigs. One gets the impression that such genetic research is like putting together puzzles. This is hardly the case. I did some research on the process by which this is done and aside form being extremely difficult it could also be very dangerous, being that viruses are involved and the side effects thereof wholly unknown.

You don't even have to be all that creative to write science fiction in this day and age. If you run out of ideas, just spend a few days scouring the news and I am sure you will find the next big sci-fi, or more likely horror, blockbuster just waiting for you in an Associated Press, Reuters or BBC article.

I know that I am certainly taking notes, tablet in hand, everytime I come across such news because the fountain of ideas is clearly endless. I can imagine even now being on the road, maybe in a far off country, with the Motion Computing LE 1600 Tablet PC, also known as Mirage Nomad on the job. I can easily take notes of all I encounter, draw sketches and start animating at any time. In 2006, I fully intend to put the tools I have to their best use!

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A BRAND NEW DAY

So here we are in a brand new day, a brand new year. I got back to work at UFO films last week and started getting into the swing of things. I finally get to work on a film I've been waiting to get my hands on for a while. Everytime I try something there I am learning. Learning new skills and new ways of creating.

One of the biggest things I learned from my experience there was that live action projects are not as far from me as I might have originally thought. More and more I begin to see just how feasable it is and how enjoyable it might be, should the prject be done right. SO will this new year bring a live action project to Studio ArtFX? Well, it's at least something on my mind.

As we all know, though, I got a new tablet. I want to draw something. Lately I've done a few images like the one above for friends and for myself. I like the look and style. Combined with Vue 5 Infinite, what are the possibilities? This is what I ost want to explore for 2006.

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