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The Future Face of Game Graphics: Janimation's VFX Tech Demo
Take a look at the future of video game graphics in this demo, in which Janimation shows off their amazing new engine for facial animations.
We'll have a Heineken; shaken, not stirred
Riding on the excitement of the new Bond film, Skyfall, Heineken has a James Bond themed ad, featuring Daniel Craig. The VFX for the ad were done by none other than our good friends at The Mill, and the global TV and digital campaign will be activated across 32 markets and involves the participation of the film's stars, Daniel Craig and the latest Bond girl, Bérénice Marlohe.
Be one of the first to preview RealFlow 2013
For the first time ever the whole team from RealFlow are coming to London for an exclusive RealFlow 2013 Preview. This event will be the first time that the RealFlow team has previewed the advanced alpha version of this software in public and will be a unique opportunity for you to see first-hand what to expect from RealFlow 2013.
Happy Birthday Electric Theatre Collective!
We would like wish a big happy first birthday to Electric Theatre Collective who celebrate their first year with some massive success under their belts.
Winning in Westeros
As you can tell from the numerous blog posts, we here at Escape are pretty big fans of HBO’s Game Of Thrones and I can honestly say that if there were a parade I would be leading it.
Webseries spotlight: Red vs Blue - Part II
Continuing on from Part I of this blog... then, at the start of season 8, and totally out of the blue, RvB started using action sequences, made with fully scripted fight scenes that involve stunts not possible with the previous game engine. CG had crept its way into the show, and in a big way; multiple people beating the incredible hell out of each other, huge explosions, space fights, giant weapons, and jaw dropping set pieces littered season 8, including a hilarious 8-minute sequence of Tex destroying the Reds and Blues, and flashbacks to Project Freelancer.
Webseries spotlight: Red vs Blue - Part I
And here we arrive at the end of our spotlight on web series blogs that have cool visual effects. And fittingly, we will wrap up with one of my absolute favourite shows.
This show began with a few friends recording themselves playing Halo; Combat Evolved(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo:_Combat_Evolved), and dubbed voices over the top to create humorous shorts. Now, ten years later, those few guys have become Rooster Teeth(http://roosterteeth.com/home.php), and are the proud owners of the internet's longest running webseries, Red vs Blue(http://roosterteeth.com/archive/?sid=rvb&v=more). RvB has won many awards, and now has a huge fanbase(http://rvb.wikia.com/wiki/Red_vs._Blue_Wiki) over the entire world.
In the begining, RvB was a clever nod to the nuances of videogaming; two teams, of the aformentioned colours, trapped in a boxed canyon with two identical bases with no purporse or logical goal other than to kill eachother. There was a heavy emphasis on humour, specifically for gamers and Halo fans. Over the last decade, however, it has evolved. The length of the episodes has grown, the cast has greatly expanded, the plot has twisted and turned dramatically, and although they are split into seasons, the episodes actually tell one long continuous story from start to finish, which at this point clocks in at over 18 hours. It's basically one really, really long film.
The comedy has continued - and improved - over the years. However what's more impressive is the story, and how, despite it being created on a year by year basis, it continuously managed to tie itself into past events to create on long complex yet sophisticated narrative.
Both visually and in terms of production value, you can see how the show has adapted over the years. In its beginning(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BAM9fgV-ts), RvB was filmed in an almost bootleg fashion, where large black bars covered the top and bottom of the screen to cover the Halo HUD, and the aiming reticule is always visible in the centre of the screen (They have since gone back and 'remastered' these episodes for HD quality). As the popularity of the show increased, Bungie(http://www.bungie.net), the creators of the Halo series, gave the guys at Rooster Teeth the means to record and render their exploits with their own in game cameras. Rooster Teeth have also cleverly used their stories to explain the visual differences that occur as new versions on Halo are released. For example, when they began to use Halo 2(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_2), the cast were blown into the future, where everything looked better and shinier.
Then, at the start of season 8(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ9pCqbwCFo&list=ELKa7KIIcrH8k&index=3&feature=plpp_video), and totally out of the blue, RvB started using action sequences have been made with fully scripted fight scenes that involve stunts not possible with the previous game engine. CG had crept its way into the show, and in a big way; multiple people beating the incredible hell out of each other, huge explosions, space fights, giant weapons, and jaw dropping set pieces littered season 8, including an hilarious 8 minute sequence of Tex destroying the Reds and Blues(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke9wtbzGjCI&feature=relmfu), and her epic final battle against Washington and The Meta (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgweBtQLL5g&feature=relmfu).
Since then, the show has cleverly incorporated fully CG sequences by showing flashbacks to Project Freelancer(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ3OZfPsP2E&list=ELYWB-pNdHjy0&index=2&feature=plpp_video) that tie into the current story. They've also built models for their characters underneath the suits of armour they wear, allowing their helmets to come off. It's important to remember that this is still a low budget show so the graphics aren't movie quality, but it's perfectly forgiveable considering the sheer amount of action and artistic direction used.
For those of you who're desperate to follow RvB in all its glory after this extremely thorough and well-written blog (which, I'm sure, will be all of you) it's important to point out a few things. The first 3 season's do look a little rough by today's standards, and it takes just a little bit of time for the cast to refine their voices. While it's fine to skip ahead to see the kind of quality you'll end up with, I urge you to start at the beginning, otherwise you'll fail to grasp most of the long running jokes. Also; it's totally hilarious, heartfelt, intelligent and constantly impresses with its ability to create a complex and intriguing story using just a few multilayer maps from a video game. So you should watch it anyway.
It terms of visual effects, RvB delivers incredibly over the top sequences that rival any film this side of The Avengers(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0848228/). In terms of the series as a whole, there's a reason this show has been running longer that most television shows, keeps winning awards, had it's fictional game Griffball incorporated into Halo 3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_3), and generally keeps getting better every year (this has even seen the inclusion of Elijah Wood to the cast). It's the best and longest running webseries out there, and well worth you're attention. Now go; you've got 18 hours of webshow to watch this weekend. Enjoy!
And here we arrive at the end of our spotlight on webseries blogs that have cool visual effects. And fittingly, we will wrap up with one of my absolute favourite shows.
Union VFX's 'River Zoom'
In a bid to cure our post-Oylmpic blues, we've been re-watching Union VFX's fantastic opening sequence, comprising a mix of real photography, animation and CG elements, which helped to kick off the celebrations at the opening ceremony for the Games.
September’s Free Tutorial: "Hellboy" Inspired Maya Animation
For those of you looking to get more adventurous in Maya, September’s free tutorial is a must see. This is the perfect opportunity to spice up your showreel with something a little different, while learning a diverse range of new skills in the process.
Fusion ioFX
The Escape Studios Technology team have received some rather exciting new solutions recently, one of which being the new Fusion ioFX board.
Augmented Reality - A real game changer
Sometimes a new piece of equipment struts onto the gadgetry scene, reminding us all, just how hard it is to keep up with the rapidly evolving trends in the technological world we live in.
Reasons to be creative!
Today sees the launch of Reasons to be Creative, an annual festival dedicated to art, design, code and being creative. Born from its predecessor Flash on the Beach, this is a Brighton based digital media conference perfect for those who want to learn, get inspired, network, brainstorm, and collaborate. This is where leading minds in the business are brought together to share their knowledge, experience and above all inspire.
Dragons are cool, right?
In pursuit of some new blog material, I managed to stumble across this über cool, VFX heavy advertisement. For the most extravagant collection of watches I think I’ve ever seen. And as far as product shots go, this one is a pretty elaborate example.
Selby's App of the Week: Postagram - the new age of postcards!
In this modern age of gadgetry we've got tablets, suri and GPS coming out of every oraphis, but sometimes it's nice to remember the past, the things that people used to do before all the technological world took over, like writing a letter - with an actual pen and paper, using real stamps from a post office?! That's quite a retro step too far but if there was some way to combine the old and the new worlds...some sort of post card sending app maybe?? But if only you could use your own picture - not the generic touristy crap you can get every, something more personal...Everyone LOVES taking photos on their phone - it's fast and it's easy but what do you do with them after that - sure you can whack them on twitter, upload them to facebook and wait for the likes but what about posting it...as a postcard?!
BOOM! Hello Postagram! This super cool app puts a perfectly digital spin on the dying art of postcards allowing you to take any picture you've captured on the hot photo-sharing service Instagram (anyone who's anyone is using Instagram!), convert them into a postcard, add your own 140-character message and click send! Postagram allows you to look at your Instagrams while on the go and then send any picture - new or old - to anyone all from your iPhone! All you need is a recipient's name and address and a credit card - details will all be remembered after the first entry.There are a couple of photo-postcard-sending-apps on the market at the moment, including Touchnote, but Postagram is super user-friendly, quick and convenient and allows a direct connection with Instagram - which is great for editing and jazzing up pictures.
So if you too would like to send the personal touch of a postcard, without the old skool hassle of finding those fiddly stamps and a pesky old mailbox you can download the Postagram app for FREE! Each postcard costs just £1.49 to send - if you think that's pricey, have you been into a card shop recently?! You can thank me later. You're welcome.
In this modern age of gadgetry we've got tablets, Siri and GPS coming out of every orifice, but sometimes it's nice to remember the past, the things that people used to do before the technological world took over, like writing a letter—with an actual pen and paper, using real stamps from a post office?! That's perhaps a retro step too far, but if there was some way to combine the old and the new worlds...some sort of postcard sending app, maybe? But if only you could use your own picture—not the generic touristy crap you can get everywhere, something more personal...Everyone LOVES taking photos on their phone—it's fast and it's easy. But what do you do with them after that? Sure you can whack them on twitter, upload them to facebook and wait for the likes but what about posting it...as a postcard?
Everything is just Vine...
Over the past six months we have been working with Michael Illingworth, founder of Vine Post Production to expand his studio. Michael has worked at The Mill and Cinesite and has been involved in post-production, compositing and visual effects supervision on some of the biggest film names in the industry including the Harry Potter franchise, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down.
Get Involved with Thinkbox
Thinkbox Software will be in London on the 3rd, 4th and 5th of September and will be working alongside Escape Studios to organise meetings and demos of their product line up.
Autodesk Scaleform
A one day VFX taster session!
“Big things have small beginnings”, was an idea acknowledged in Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, released earlier this year. And for us, this statement couldn’t be more true. Taking the art of visual effects as a prime example, the spectacular CG you see on screens today was born from the most basic of concepts, and the people who created those effects invested significant time and energy to become the talented artists they are today. Every creative talent has to start out somewhere, and with the right levels of care and determination, it can evolve into something magnificent.
Total Recall, Terrific Reception?
This year’s remake of cult classic ‘Total Recall’ has sparked some serious controversy in the world of film. Here at Escape Studios we are PUMPED for its release, given the fact that a number of our graduates have been hard at work over the last year, on the VFX side of things.
A total of 1600 digitally enhanced shots are used in the film, the vast majority of which were worked on by our pals over at Double Negative in Soho – pretty damn cool right?
The hugely complex cityscape of a futuristic London was some challenge for the artists, and it required some high detail rendering, luckily these digital wizards called upon previous lessons learnt from their work on the ground breaking, Oscar winning, Inception.
Total Recall is yet to be released in the UK, so we can’t join the squabbling masses just yet. But if you do spend your bank holiday weekend watching this high action sci-fi flick, we want to know - Does this contemporary version do the original justice?
Twitter is telling me a number of different things, from…“WARNING: Total Recall remake is unbelievably boring.” To “Total Recall - Amazing cinematography, perfect execution. More exciting than Avengers. 9/10”
I just don’t know what to think!
This year’s remake of cult classic ‘Total Recall’ has sparked some serious controversy in the world of film. Here at Escape Studios we are PUMPED for its release, given the fact that a number of our graduates have worked on it over the last year, on the VFX side of things.