I came across a promotional video on YouTube the other day that was made to show off a new open source animation creator called Blender. I'm not even all that sure why I clicked on it. Maybe it was the word "dragon" in the tagline, maybe the thumbnail looked cool enough. Regardless, I was really surprised at the quality of the video. At 1080p,the movie Sintel looked about on-par with any Disney-Pixar movie that has recently come out.
The animation was extremely fluid, and didn't look at all amateur. At least one complaint in the comment section was that the dialog was contrived and boring, but I think it actually wasn't bad at all; there just wasn't much of it. Seeing as how it was a 3D animation promotional video, I think it was meant to show off the quality of the animation's movement, not necessarily spectacular sound. Maybe one of the most surprising things was that after looking into the Blender website, I found out that the program is free.
The entire 15 minute movie short is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRsGyueVLvQ
I've always been a fan of both comics and cartoons, and I think that computer animation is something that is constantly getting better and better. Honestly, if I could go to graduate school for it, I don't think I would hesitate long before signing up. One significant change to computer animation is the use of real people (wearing some weird mapping-outfits) as models; if done well, it keeps movement from looking jagged and unnatural, and also helps add a lot of detail to facial expressions.
I don't think it's going to replace live-action filming too soon, but in terms of that niche of movies, shows, and video game animations, it's really exciting and kind of scary to see how CGI is starting to look less and less like a fabricated reality.
This is really neat. Cgi is on the brink of looking almost lifelike. Video games, movies, and series are becoming more advanced in their animation making for a much more intense viewing experience.
ReplyDeleteMy question regarding this topic is this; Why hasn't Marvel or Manga come out with a digital version of their books like the tablets you can buy that download books to read. These companies could reduce their paper consumption by doing so and at the same time, create some really cool comics and graphic novels utilizing Cgi imagery.
Funny you should mention that, my brother got to ask Jim Lee at one of the panels at the Con a similar question. It sounds like there are actual digital versions, I think that one issue is people's attachment to the paper-versions. Also, when you digitize something like that, the screen size and type comes into play and can potentially mess with the details of the image.
ReplyDeleteI'm still looking forward to seeing them on screens a little more, though.