HAVE YOU BEEN LOOKING?

Have you been checking out the galleries on some of the sites related to Vue or Poser lately? There really is a revolution going on and it seems to be going on quietly outside of those communities. The creative power put forth by these latest tools or versions of tools is really changing things.

Think back for a moment. Remember a time when we looked at the best of game intros from Capcom or Konami, seeing the cinematic scenes of Soul Blade or the movie style opening of Onimusha. We knew that a major effort went into the creation of them, requiring enormous manpower and highly skilled artists, usually using very expensive tools.



Today, images like this are found in the daily gallery on the Vue 6 Website. There are equally telling images on the Cornucopia 3D galleries. This is the future! Not done by large teams or by using extremely expensive tools that have been around for over fifteen years, but done by the artist at home with tools becoming more and more accessible to everyone everyday.

One thing that is as yet telling is that we don't see enough animation at this level from the home artist. Render times can be a deterrent even with some of the faster computers today. Still there are ways to circumvent this issue as well. The price of machines is such that a small 5 unit render stack can be put together for the price of one main machine a few years ago. Or one can get a second, single top of the line box as a render engine and keep working on their current machine.


And then there is IClone 2. The next generation characters in the IClone realtime machinima creation software are starting to look rather amazing. They are much higher res and will only continue to improve as computers become faster and more powerful. They now have really nice scenery generation tools as well. Remember, in IClone you pretty much have everything to create complete machinima movies in one package. It's only a matter time, as we can see from the latest XBox or PS3 games, before IClone allows one to hit Final Fantasy quality.

If you haven't been looking at what's going on in these galleries, take a look at what's out there. Some of this stuff is more than worth keeping an eye on. If you ever find yourself limiting your creative desires because you are worried about what's feasible, a trip through some of these galleries might be the inspiration you need to remember that there are no limits today!

IS TIME AGAINST US?

I find myself in search of time. When I think about Vue 6 I want to time to play with and explore Vue 6. When I think of what I want to say, I want time to write on this blog. Even now I want time to play with ideas I have for Poser or to look at some of the new characters released on their content site. Where does all this time go?

When I look back on the days when I created Understanding Chaos, I now wonder how I ever found the hours to do such a project on my nights and weekends. Does life get more complicated? Is the issue really time at all or is it energy? There are a dozen things that I want to do right now and what's worse is I fully have access to them in terms of ability and technology. The only thing which keeps me from them is time.


Today, me and a couple of guys from work went to Guitar Center on our lunch break. We got keyboards for use with Garage Band, the music creation software which is part of the iLife suite. I got the keyboard pictured above, which is often seen advertised or set up in stores in connection with Garage Band. One of the guys hooked his keyboard up at the end of the work day and I got to see first hand what I was missing out on by not having a keyboard attached to Garage Band all this time. With this in mind, I had every intention of playing with my keyboard when I got home, but then I remembered something that I didn't have time for the day before.

I picked up a copy of a book I had heard about some time ago. It was Range Murata's Robot comic anthology which features full color high quality art from a variety of manga artists, pro and indie alike. Tonight I had the opportunity to go through it and I have to say I am amazed at the work. Of course, I expected nothing less than the best from some of the names attached to the project, but I was pleased to see such an attempt to break from the mold or the tradition of how manga is done come out so well. It also seems, from what I read, that it is quite successful and spreading across the world little by little. There was something more interesting that I found in those pages though. It went beyond the amazing drawings of femme fatales with swords, eiree science fiction worlds and beautiful artwork. I saw hints of fractured time. Like with typical manga publishing in Japan, some of the stories are of decent length and appear to be continuos, which will pick up in the next volume. Other stories, however, break from typical manga convention and are exceptionally short, 3-5 pages and they end... completely. This really made me think of how I work.

Often times there are things I want to say or show which do not require the length of a full feature film. Some do not even require the length of a short like Understanding Chaos, but I still want to say them. Usually, seeing no place for such ideas, I just drop them. Why is that? With limited time, one would think these tiny things would be ideal for self expression and to keep the skills up.

I recently read a book which liberally quoted Joseph Campbell, and it got me thinking about the whole "follow your bliss" thing again. I mean, if you already had all the money you wanted and were creating your dream project with no thought of financial reward, no thought of sales, just doing it for your enjoyment, how different would it be from what your are making right now? Would you follow the structure of a feature film? Would you make it the length of a TV show? Would you include things that you currently think might not sell well or go over with an audience? What audience? Would you care what other people say you should make? Are you truly making the show that you want to make right now?

I find these questions to be really motivational. I think Range Murata must have asked similar questions and the answer was Robot. When I get down to the many things I want to say with my work and do with my time, I find these questions make me look at what's really mine and what is little more than a holdover of thinking someone else's way.

UNDER THE TOP

It has been mentioned to me before that not everybody can go out and spend the money on the latest greatest tools and software out there to make their movie. As I brought up in one episode of Anigen, you don't have too, and realistically you probably shouldn't. I know I have spent my share of money on tools and software that I didn't get equivalent use value out of.

When it comes to Vue 5 Infinite, I got it as part of a bundle with a Lightwave upgrade, so it was really like getting it for free. I am sure this was good for E-On Software because it probably greatly expanded their user base and gave them reach into the pro world. I was able to then upgrade to Vue 6 Infinite for a very low price. The point, though, is that you don't need the "Infinite" version to create great artwork.

There will always be people who will tell you with convincing reasons why you must use some expensive tools like Maya or don't bother. These are likely the same people who will tell you their movie must be on the level of Pirates of the Caribbean or a Pixar film or it's not worth doing. They don't want to make their El Mariachi and build up to their Once Upon a Time in Mexico. They want to skip the small, cheap movie that many great directors started with, like Raimi with Evil Dead or Cameron with Piranha 2, and get right to their Spider Man or Titanic level films. Well don't listen to them.

You can have everything you need, computer, software and all, for less than the cost of one copy of Maya Complete (the cheap low end version). With time and effort you could make a dazzling movie for the cost of one copy of Maya Unlimited (The version needed to do anything great). Now I have nothing against Maya. We have all seen great things done by studios like ILM using those tools, but I think most of us are against spending $6000 for software and so we can't allow ourselves to think that way or we join the group who will go to their graves saying it can't be done.


So what then do we think about? Well take a look at the image above. This was done with Vue 6 Esprit, the $159 version of the Vue product line. Now I suspect some will immediately complain that it lacks the features of Vue 6 Infinite, but really look at the image. I think it's really cool. The real key is what are you going to let hold you back? If you could be doing something right now today because you can afford Vue 6 Esprit or you have to wait for months saving for Infinite, which is the better choice? You can always upgrade down the road, and that's if you need to. I know that Vue 6 Infinite contains a lot of advanced functionality that I will never use, because the defaults are usually more than good enough for me.


Another tool I have been giving far more serious consideration lately is Poser. This is made even great by the fact that it works so well with Vue products. Poser has gone up in price to $249 but it is still very much worth the money. I still remember the days when pros, myself included, would laugh at Poser, thinking it was a toy and nothing good could ever come from it. They have come a long way since that time. It was Poser 6 that first attracted my attention enough for a revisit. Poser 7 actually blew me away. The thing is, with both Poser and Vue, when you go to those galleries and see a great image, chances are its not the pros that did it. It's some artist at home, probably just having fun!

There's absolutely no reason to break the bank to get your project made. Some of the cheapest tools out there can do amazing stuff. On top of that, there is the growing popularity of Open source. Someone sent a link for the CeltX preproduction toolset. Take a look at what it offers. Most of us are very familiar with Blender, which has grown more and more competitive with each revision. Some may choose to go the machinima route with Iclone. The number of options available are staggering and the quality of low price software impressive. There are always going to be bad attitudes, such as seen on some art sites, against low cost software. There will always be people who feel like you didn't struggle enough to create something great because you used great tools. If we get our projects done and have a great time doing it, do we really care about the negative attitudes? You don't have to aim for the top in hardware and software. Aim for what lets you create now and, more importantly, have fun doing it!

NEW POINT OF VUE

I have been wanting to get my hands on Vue 6 Infinite from E-On Software for quite some time. From the moment I first saw the announcement on their web page, with the news that it had been used in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, I knew the upgrade must have been serious. Although I was extremely happy with Vue 5, there were some complaints about it which may have kept it out of the league of a studio like ILM.

Shortly after seeing the incredible images from Pirates, I then viewed the amazing Vue 6 demo reel. Of course, the first thing I noticed was the new spectral cloud rendering, a feature I could have only dreamed of in my previous projects. Now the kind of beautiful scenery that many anime are known for would be available in a tool that anyone could use.



Eventually, I actually saw the Pirates movie and was surprised to find that what I thought would be some good still matte paintings done with Vue, were in fact helicopter style aerial shots of the Cannibal Island. Now I was sure that the makers of Vue had answered every complaint and made the program into what users had always hoped for.


Now the program is in my hands. The images above are not result of laborious efforts. They are the result of me simply playing with the base package while learning my way around the new , more professional interface design and toolset. I am certain that ILM must have seen promise in earlier versions of this tool and really pushed them to create something spectacular for use in their films. This version has finally given me the power that I knew must have been hiding in Vue.

If you can recall what it was like on a Peter Jackson DVD where we see the wizards at WETA quickly carving out miniature mountains and rocks out of foam, that is how easy it is to sculpt terrain in Vue 6. With the added ability to simply paint on Eco Systems with airbrush type tools, a user can create an environment exactly to their spec in a very short time. The new atmospheric system, which not only features the new spectral clouds, but also volumetrics, God rays, and meta cloud objects which can be placed anywhere the user desires, literally places in your hands the abilities of a master painter, removing the time barrier, but at the same time not limiting the creative vision. The user can get right down to creating the image and not worry about technical details.

The content library for Vue has grown considerably since I last checked their Cornucopia 3D content site. It is far beyond just a few new trees. Now they have a variety of available models from ancient in style to science fiction, large and small buildings, interiors and exteriors. Many are high enough quality to serve as great starting places for sets you can dress for your own use. Combined with their Eco System technology the scope of what can be created is immense.

I will be exploring Vue quite a bit more in the coming days as it will play a major role
in my projects. I also got a copy at work where it appears we will be using it for some very realistic aerial shots in our movies. I see a bright future for E-On Software, but I also see the unleashing of great creative freedom for whoever shall make use of this incredible tool!