tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319027572009-11-09T03:33:39.977-08:00Moviesandboxnews about the 3D realtime moviemaking tool "Moviesandbox"fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-13081223924023798402009-10-01T17:10:00.001-07:002009-10-02T17:10:33.426-07:00Verion post-mortem pt. 1Verion was the first major project realised with the new Open-Source version of moviesandbox. It is a somewhere between 60 and 80 minute long live theatre performance with all sets and lots of characters projected in stereo behind two live performers.<br />In this post-mortem, I will talk about the 3D poduction aspect of the piece and try to provide some insight into what went wrong and what went right.<br /><br /><object width="400" height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6861889&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6861889&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/6861889">verion scene preview</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/fiezi">Friedrich Kirschner</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p><br /><br /><h2>some numbers:</h2><br /><br /><h3>Movie facts</h3><br />Running Time: ca. 70 minutes.<br />Production time: May - September, a total of 4 months<br />3D production budget: 8000 EUR <br /><br /><h3>3D production team size:</h3> <br />3 illustrators - Mika Satomi, Chris Glanz, Hannah Perner-Wilson<br />1 additional Programmer - Chris Sugrue<br />2 animation assistants - Bianca Bodmer, Stefan Bünning<br />and me - doing a little bit of everything<br /><br /><h3>Assets:</h3><br />9 main sets: watchtower, library, wall, city, room, cinema, nightmarket, alley, funfair<br />some are reused with some minor alterations.<br /><br />8 digital characters: old man, old woman, gion, lauren-bikini, lauren-dress, lauren-jeans, swansa, peep<br /><br />80 animations (approx.)<br />75 3D props (approx.)<br />1.6 GB of data - all stored in uncompressed xml<br /><br /><h3>System</h3><br />3.2 Ghz Intel Core2 Duo, running Windows Vista 32bit.<br />GeForce 8800GT with 512MB<br />4GB of main memory.<br /><br /><h2>The process</h2><br /><br /><h3>Working with the script</h3><br />We started production with a first version script that featured a lot more characters and a lot more detail - from a gang of serbian boys that cruises through the library on skateboards to lots of people in the nightmarket packing up in the early morning.<br />We agreed on going crazy in the script, with the idea that we would come up with creative ways to work around the obvious things, at the same time leaving enough space for the scriptwriters to give us ideas and come up with images that we could work from, without thinking of feasibility or technical issues.<br />Lots of amazing ideas for audience participation were tossed around in the first meeting, and I hope we will be able to revisit them at some point, with more money and time. <br />Alot of things had to be cut from the script, some significant elements even as close as two weeks before the premiere. It was one the most amazing experiences for me to work with a creative director who had enough understanding of the process and a good feeling of communication. Constant meetings were held discussing the state of the play and how realistic it was to implement all the aspects of the script. The meetings very very honest and void of ego. <br />I firmly believe that, given the time and the task at hand, this was the most important aspect of the production. If you cannot be honest about what you can achieve and you are not willing to cut and change and discuss all aspects of the production, you will not be able to concentrate, work together, and focus on delivering a finished piece.<br /><br /><h3>Art Style</h3><br />We met for the first time in March to discuss the project and the timeline, and then started actual production in May with a quick technical meeting followed by a "prototyping session" in Copenhagen with Anne-Catherine, the creative director. During this brief week, we implemented the stereo rendering and toyed around with art-styles.<br />Back then, the idea was to go with 2D billboards for the virtual characters, and photoshop filtered textures, very similar to the work I did in the <a href="http://person2184.com">Person2184</a> movies. <br />I didn't like that though. With <a href="http://puppenspiel.moviesandbox.net">"Ein kleines Puppenspiel"</a>, I had already started to work on a more particle-based approach to 3D and thought going back to billboards would be a step back.<br />Also: I now had a reasonably good engine that was able to push a good 2 Million point sprites and access to custom shaders, so i wanted to do something cool and new.<br />The decision to go for a completely particle-based look came very late. I was very worried that doing something completely new (for me, anyway) in such a short amount of time would add a hefty amount of extra work. <br />It turned out that it was quite the opposite. With the particle approach, we could make use of the milkscanner. Also, the way we produced props was basically the same as with the billboard approach - just now we converted them to particles and had to paint displacement maps.<br />Here's an example of a building created like this:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2441/3975879024_c69143d3e9.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2441/3975879024_c69143d3e9.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />It's a very fast way of producing content - at least for a theatre piece with limited camera movement. Youcan go very far with this method. There's even a set piece that is created out of a single image:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3534/3975134939_c631b29c30.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3534/3975134939_c631b29c30.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />While it is a fast way of producing content, it became clear that it won't be fast enough to create compelling sets for all the scenes, and that at some point, with the stereo rendering and all, we would be hitting limitations.<br />Obviously, things start to become slow at around 3 Million particles. Also, while it's great to create small props, things like terrain would be horrible to do this way - in terms of performance. <br /><br />So we decided to add some more graphical aspects to the set design, to create balanced and interesting images on stage. They also give a way of balancing color and tone of each set piece and add a sense of abstraction, which helps blend in the live-actors with the world. <br /><br />The switch towards the graphical elements came quite late though, and some scenes suffer from a lack clear color direction and too concrete and overcrowded set design. In general, the later the sets were built, the better they look. <br /><br />Next time: Character Design, Animation and Scripting<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-1308122392402379840?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-8828269531545225492009-08-28T07:04:00.000-07:002009-08-28T07:32:53.585-07:00Verion premiereYesterday evening at 7 pm in Trondheim, Norway we premiered Verion. In the week before, Verion had coverage in all major newspapers, national radio and national television - in Norway...<br />Initial reception was good, as far as audience clapping can be a measure for that.<br /><br />I plan on posting a sort of post-mortem for the production as soon as it's finished.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fiezi/3861355763/" title="verion_poster by Fiezi, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2634/3861355763_e0ca6a75fc_o.jpg" width="300" height="400" alt="verion_poster" /></a><br /><br />The characters, scenes and overall setup for the production will be made available with Moviesandbox for people to play around with.<br />And I'll upload some video and screenshots soon.<br /><br />This is also the time to thank a couple more people than those who fit in the credits:<br /><br />* Zachary Lieberman and Theo Watson for <a href="http://openframeworks.cc">openframeworks</a> - an open source c++ framework that we used in some of the content creation tools for this production, and in some parts of Moviesandbox.<br /><br />* <a href="http://muonics.net">Theo Watson</a> for his Video Input library - used for Video-Textures in Moviesandbox<br /><br />* <a href="http://eyebeam.org">Eyebeam Center for Art and Technology</a>, for providing the initial resources to get Moviesandbox off the ground as an Open-Source project.<br /><br />* Michael Nitsche of GeorgiaTech for feedback and an initial testbed for Moviesandbox<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-882826953154522549?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-22427956573581413202009-08-24T02:32:00.000-07:002009-08-24T02:48:21.444-07:00Verion setupThe project I am working on right now could not have been any better as a testbed for Moviesandbox. It's a 80 minute live theatre performance mixing two stage actors with stereoscopic 3D projection (as you might have figured out by now).<br />The piece is run live, to make sure that we can give the actors some room with their timing.<br />Which means that all cues for animations, lipsync, sound and cameramovement have to be triggered manually.<br />This is a screenshot of what one scene in this play looks like:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2598/3851742614_2b43bf667a_o.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 100px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2598/3851742614_2b43bf667a_o.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>(click to embiggen)<br /><br />The left screen is the node setup with all the key-press events and Udp-(network) input events in place.<br />In order to stay in sync with the sound and not have the overall piece become a complete trigger-mess, we decided to have the sound as the primary cue source, so we send start- and end-commands from the sound computer over a local network using UDP. We also send the amplitude of the character voices, so their mouths move accordingly.<br /><br />To get a better idea of the setup, feel free to have a look at this flickr set which documents the production and the people involved:<br /><br /><!-- Start of Flickr Badge --><br /><style type="text/css"><br />#flickr_badge_source_txt {padding:0; font: 11px Arial, Helvetica, Sans serif; color:#666666;}<br />#flickr_badge_icon {display:block !important; margin:0 !important; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0) !important;}<br />#flickr_icon_td {padding:0 5px 0 0 !important;}<br />.flickr_badge_image {text-align:center !important;}<br />.flickr_badge_image img {border: 1px solid black !important;}<br />#flickr_www {display:block; padding:0 10px 0 10px !important; font: 11px Arial, Helvetica, Sans serif !important; color:#3993ff !important;}<br />#flickr_badge_uber_wrapper a:hover,<br />#flickr_badge_uber_wrapper a:link,<br />#flickr_badge_uber_wrapper a:active,<br />#flickr_badge_uber_wrapper a:visited {text-decoration:none !important; background:inherit !important;color:#3993ff;}<br />#flickr_badge_wrapper {border: solid 1px #000000}<br />#flickr_badge_source {padding:0 !important; font: 11px Arial, Helvetica, Sans serif !important; color:#666666 !important;}<br /></style><br /><table id="flickr_badge_uber_wrapper" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="10" border="0"><tr><td><a href="http://www.flickr.com" id="flickr_www">www.<strong style="color:#3993ff">flick<span style="color:#ff1c92">r</span></strong>.com</a><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="10" border="0" id="flickr_badge_wrapper"><br /><tr><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.flickr.com/badge_code_v2.gne?count=3&display=latest&size=s&layout=h&source=user_set&user=64387735%40N00&set=72157622015259594&context=in%2Fset-72157622015259594%2F"></script><br /></tr><br /></table><br /></td></tr></table><br /><!-- End of Flickr Badge --><br /><br />The amazing thing about this project is that it was completed from start to finish, including script development and technical R&D in under 4 months with a software team of 2 people and 3 additional illustrators.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-2242795657358141320?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-974829975761331582009-08-03T12:17:00.001-07:002009-08-03T12:26:52.708-07:00the stereo effectThe project I am currently working on uses stereo projection to make the animation a bit more funky. You know, like in Beowulf or Ice Age 3.<br />Here are two screenshots showing you how that works:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3598/3786243632_dbd11f0924.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3598/3786243632_dbd11f0924.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />The first image shows two almost identical images side by side. One is rendered for the left eye, the other one for the right. They are placed so that each spans exactly one full screen, and we send them to two projectors that are projecting on the same screen.<br />The projectors have polarization filters on them, polarizing the light from the upper projector vertically and the one from the lower projector horizontally.<br />The surface we project on, a silver-coated canvas, keeps the light's polarization, and if you wear glasses that have similar filters in front of each eye, we can send individual images to your eyes.<br /><br />The same can be done by splitting the channels in red and blue and using red and blue filters before our eyes to trick our brain:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3567/3785435851_e9106801c7.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3567/3785435851_e9106801c7.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />If you have a pair of red/blue glasses, you will see a monochrome, but seemingly 3dimensional picture composited from the one posted above.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-97482997576133158?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-65287516748718704132009-07-26T07:37:00.001-07:002009-07-26T07:42:47.441-07:00Animation toolsMoviesandbox now allows you to create your own characters and animations, including your own skeleton setups and physics based animation.<br />Once you created your own bone structure, you can skin your object by drawing on it, as seen in this video:<br /><br /><object width="400" height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5763422&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5763422&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/5763422">bone weighting and skin deformation</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/fiezi">Friedrich Kirschner</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p><br /><br />I actually use a .tga file created in photoshop for the vertex information, ao all my characters are point based. but you're free to import collada objects as well (including skeletal information).<br /><br />Also, you can create physics bodies. I am using ODE as physics engine and you can connect multiple physics objects together using a variety of joints. And then skin them, just like regular bones in a skeleton. Here's an example:<br /><br /><object width="400" height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5763585&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5763585&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/5763585">ODE Physics test</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/fiezi">Friedrich Kirschner</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p><br /><br />Again, the actual vertex information comes from a .tga file.<br />It's all a bit abstract, but that's okay for me...<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-6528751674871870413?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-70545584328759569482009-07-23T08:00:00.000-07:002009-07-23T08:04:27.630-07:00related workI just found this via a friend on facebook (who found it through Golan's twitter - damn I should get on there I guess) and it is an amazingly inspiring piece of work.<br /><br /><a href="http://rhondaforever.com/">rhonda 3D drawing tool</a><br /><br />It's a different approach than what I am doing, but the outcome and the easy handling (not that it wouldn't require some getting used to) truly show what a different mindset when designing tools can produce.<br />Knowing that Zach (of awesome <a href="http://openframeworks.cc">openframeworks</a> fame is now on board the project too makes me most happy.<br /><br />Videos and animation examples of moviesandbox to follow shortly too...<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-7054558432875956948?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-64270842108217020832009-07-20T10:01:00.000-07:002009-07-21T01:30:54.702-07:00CharactersI worked a lot on character design and rigging tools last week, and out came oneandahalf characters for the project i am currently working all, called VERION.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2627/3739213616_27b0e9547a.jpg?v=0"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 240px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2627/3739213616_27b0e9547a.jpg?v=0" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />I am still using photoshop as the main tool here, either drawing the depth information by hand or using the <a href="http://inkscanner.moviesandbox.net">inkscanner<br /></a> to get an idea what it should look like.<br /><br />Also, to make the points come out round (and not square, as would be standard) I had to use full screen multisampling. Since I am using Depth of Field and all the other shebang i posted about before, that multisampling had to be carried over to the Framebuffer-objects too, which was much more of a pain than I originally thought. <br /><br />Noteworthy is that it took me about one week to get the style right for the girl, and about 3 hours to create the guy in the stripy shirt. Way to get your pipeline going...<br />A big part of that first week was spent on making the character animations look right, which I will talk about in more detail soon.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-6427084210821702083?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-55213446429940192452009-06-28T15:21:00.000-07:002009-06-28T15:44:29.457-07:00Moviesandbox OpenGL progressIt has been quiet the last couple of months but that doesn't mean nothing happened on the moviesandbox front. It turns out programming a realtime animation tool is quite a task and takes its time.<br />In the recent weeks, a lot of interface and rendering progress has been made and I thought I'd share some of it here. <br />First off, Moviesandbox now lives in this generation of graphics, making full use of OpenGL 2.1, pixel and vertex shaders and Framebuffer objects (or "rendertargets"). <br />It's obviously a huge improvement from the now 5 year-old UT2004 engine (and there's a lot more functionality when it comes to non-rendering issues, but that's a different post).<br />One of the most fun things this makes possible is Screen Space Ambient Occlusion. <br />This was introduced in a paper by Crytek (siggraph pdf from 2007 <a href="http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/1290000/1281671/p97-mittring.pdf?key1=1281671&key2=9942678811&coll=ACM&dl=ACM&CFID=15151515&CFTOKEN=6184618">here</a> , wikipedia page <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_Space_Ambient_Occlusion">here</a>.<br />It looks for areas in the picture that are less likely to receive light from occlusion (as the name suggests). Here's a screenshot in Moviesandbox:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3303/3664704680_ccb4f55814.jpg?v=0"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3303/3664704680_ccb4f55814.jpg?v=0" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />No lighting has been calculated in this scene. All shading is done using this Ambient Occlusion shader. Credit goes to <a href="http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=463075">this discussion at Gamedev.net</a>.<br /><br />Next up is Depth of Field. It was one of those Eureka moments when I finally managed to bend UT2004 to rendering DOF by rendering 6 rendertargets spaced evenly around the camera, looking at the same point. A tedious and hardware-hungry process that can be highly optimised with today's shader technology.<br />I am rendering the scene in a 16bit texture to get the depth information (also useful for the SSAO above) and then fading a blurred picture of the scene (using a 5x5 Kernel Gaussian Blur if you're interested) on top of a regular picture of the scene, blending depending on the 16bit depth map. Result in video form:<br /><br /><object width="400" height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5347685&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5347685&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/5347685">Moviesandbox Depth of Field Test</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/fiezi">Friedrich Kirschner</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p><br /><br />Both of these run well within 30fps on a Nvidia 8800GT.<br />Feel free to ask about details and expect some more updates on the technical side of development in the coming weeks.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-5521344642994019245?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-80538209812845028452008-10-17T08:45:00.001-07:002008-10-17T08:46:33.127-07:00The Inkscanner in Austin<a href="http://www.makezine.com/go/makerfaire"><img src="http://makezine.com/images/makerfaire/badges/2008/mf_austin_150X60.jpg" alt="See me at Maker Faire!" width="150" height="60" border="0" /></a><br />Just a quick heads up that I will be in Austin this weekend to show the Inkscanner at the MAKER Faire. If you are in the area and wanted to have your body scanner as a 3D dataset - come on over!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-8053820981284502845?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-23158553714202324372008-08-06T12:39:00.000-07:002008-08-06T12:50:30.776-07:00Moviesandbox @ Siggraph<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.siggraph.org/s2008/images/new_home_logo_v4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://www.siggraph.org/s2008/images/new_home_logo_v4.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><br />I am part of a panel on Procedural Character Animation at <a href="http://sandbox.siggraph.org/about.html">Sandbox</a> (no pun intended), the Siggraph Videogame Symposium together with Ken Perlin, Chris Hecker and Craig Reynolds. <br />There'll be some puppeteering and animation stuff to see from the new moviesandbox, if all goes well... More info on that <a href="http://sandbox.siggraph.org/panels.html">here</a>.<br /><br />If you happen to be in L.A. during that time let me know. I'm all in for hanging out.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-2315855371420232437?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-60415080348763072212008-07-31T12:56:00.000-07:002008-07-31T13:04:33.377-07:00A puppet play at NVision08If you like Moviesandbox, you can now support it by voting for my film "A puppet play" (Ein kleines Puppenspiel) over at the <a href="http://www.machinima.com/nvision2008/view&id=646">Nvision 08 Machinima Contest page</a>.<br /><br />You need to register in order to vote it seems, so if you have a couple of minutes, feel free to vote!<br /><br />And while you're at it, also check out Egils Mednis "the Ship" - one of the most fantastic films in the competition <a href="http://www.machinima.com/nvision2008/view&id=668">here</a>.<br /><br />Thanks for your support!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-6041508034876307221?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-72460113985584071122008-07-05T21:50:00.000-07:002008-07-05T22:00:24.011-07:00InkScanViewer now available for download<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3271/2586918388_1916d3a6ea.jpg?v=0"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3271/2586918388_1916d3a6ea.jpg?v=0" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />I finally got some time in between all the <a href="http://interactivos.eyebeam.org">interactivos crazyness</a> to upload the InkScanViewer and the new <a href="http://openframeworks.cc">OpenFrameworks</a> based Milkscanner software (complete with sourcecode) over on the <a href="http://milkscanner.moviesandbox.net">milkscanner website</a>.<br /><br />It's only for PC right now, but it should be portable without too much hassle.<br />If you have questions about the software or the code, please post them in the <a href="http://forums.moviesandbox.net/viewforum.php?f=11&sid=5e5ba5d1c4d9357f605553db9315b835">moviesandbox forums</a> - I'll be more than happy to make up for the poor documentation :-)<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-7246011398558407112?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-56285804722092838102008-06-17T20:26:00.001-07:002008-06-17T20:34:53.561-07:00Milk and Inkscanner website now live!Just a heads up that the Milk- and Inkscanner now have a website!<br />It's <a href="http://fluidscanner.moviesandbox.net">fluidscanner.moviesandbox.net</a>.<br /><br />You can find pictures, some explanation and the most recent videos of scanning events plus some new code (as soon as i finished some minor polishing). <br />For all those who attended saturday's mixer event at eyebeam: THANK YOU SO MUCH!<br /><br />I uploaded some documentation on <a href="http://vimeo.com/fiezi/videos">vimeo</a>, embedded for your convenience:<br /><br /><object width="400" height="250"> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> <param name="movie" value="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1150543&server=www.vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /> <embed src="http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1190405&server=www.vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="250"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />Pictures (on flickr) can be seen <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/fiezi/sets/72157605661438193/">here</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-5628580472209283810?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-29376146647084668132008-06-12T17:35:00.001-07:002008-06-12T17:47:22.558-07:00Ein kleines Puppenspiel website live<img src="http://puppenspiel.moviesandbox.net/puppet-header.gif" width="314" height="210"><br />Just a heads up that the final Moviesandbox release for Unreal Tournament (and my last project with that game/engine) is now up for your viewing either on <br /><br /><a href="http://www.vimeo.com/album/17309">vimeo</a> <br /><br />or on the <br /><br /><a href="http://puppenspiel.moviesandbox.net">project website</a>.<br /><br />All of it is in HD and is played in realtime in-engine.<br /><br />It is a live-puppetry performance that has been shown twice over the course of the last six months and i am currently converting it to the new moviesandbox format (which is a long and painful process). There's lots of material that describes how it was made and if you really feel like it, you can read a 40 page booklet describing the Why and How.<br /><br />Let me know what you think!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-2937614664708466813?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-47669700655736591472008-06-10T18:57:00.001-07:002008-06-12T17:34:39.463-07:00Machinima Filmfest 08 in New York<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3258/2569420270_dc37e41260.jpg?v=0" width="350" height="186"><br /><br />This year's official Machinima Filmfestival will be held on the weekend of November 1st at Eyebeam Art and Technology Center in New York!<br />An official call for entries will follow soon.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-4766970065573659147?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-80458927914417753662008-06-09T16:58:00.000-07:002008-06-09T17:03:01.567-07:00Inkscanning in New York this saturdayThis saturday, during the eyebeam MIXER event, I will set up a life-size 3D scanner for all of you to use - using a pool, some ink, a webcam and some free software.<br />All you need to do is bring your bathing suit (preferably light colored) and you can get a scan of your whole body... towels and a swim-cap are provided...<br /><br />More details for the event (there's going to be Live Music, a Robot and an Open Bar!) can be found <a href="http://www.eyebeam.org/engage/engage.php?page=unique&id=175">deep within the eyebeam website</a>.<br /><br />Eyebeam is located at 540 W21st street between 10th and 11th Ave. The event starts at 9pm.<br /><br />Tell your friends! It would be wonderful to see you there!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-8045892791441775366?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-59724004637233118302008-04-25T21:48:00.000-07:002008-04-25T21:52:30.479-07:00new site design and forums!Hello there,<br /><br />as you might have noticed, the site looks a bit more friendly now (and cohesive) and as an additional benefit, i have added a discussion forum where your questions and comments are more than welcome! Please take a few moments to register...<br /><br />The registration process is now entirely tied to the forums. This means that you need to have a valid forum account in order to be able to edit the wiki.<br /><br />All of these changes should facilitate the launch of the new Open-Source version of moviesandbox sometime next month. I am currently testing it in production and while the first version will be humble (just like the first UT2004 version was) i encourage you to give it a try, well, when it's out.<br />Until then, please be patient - i will restore the site to its full content over the coming days.<br /><br />Friedrich<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-5972400463723311830?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-51393948197014946452008-04-21T16:33:00.001-07:002008-04-21T16:38:07.417-07:00the marionettes at eyebeam<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3241/2432699472_e24f72ecf4.jpg?v=0"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3241/2432699472_e24f72ecf4.jpg?v=0" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />"the marionettes" is a networked puppet installation created with the new standalone (and soon opensourced) version of moviesandbox and displayed for the eyebeam reception for the shanghai media art fair symposium in new york<br /><br />Two networked puppets can be controlled by hardware marionette controllers. Participants can interact with each other through their puppets without seeing each other in person.<br /><br />The controllers are a bit more sophisticated right now, albeit not really tweaked enough in terms of distances etc... There are some more picture on flickr <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/fiezi/2431886103/in/photostream/">here</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-5139394819701494645?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-37319379624654424572008-04-01T12:17:00.000-07:002008-04-01T12:22:28.509-07:00Blender Milkscan<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.pixelsix.org/assets/images/research/MilkScanning.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://www.pixelsix.org/assets/images/research/MilkScanning.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Jonas over at pixelsix sat down last weekend to scan a self-modeled play-doh face with the <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Milkscanner-V1.0/">milkscanner software</a> and the results are astonishingly accurate - at least for my expectations.<br /><a href="http://pixelsix.org/index.php?id=85">Go read and see for yourself</a>!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-3731937962465442457?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-74548700812629805112008-03-17T14:14:00.000-07:002008-03-17T14:20:38.191-07:00UT2004 now on steam!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://steamreview.org/wp-content/images/atari/ut2004.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://steamreview.org/wp-content/images/atari/ut2004.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Great news! UT2004 has been released together with the complete Unreal catalogue on <a href="http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php">Valve's Steam download service</a>.<br />This means that there is, indeed a future for Moviesandbox for UT2004 and that makes me quite happy!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-7454870081262980511?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-66394677956443277502008-02-07T12:59:00.000-08:002008-02-07T13:09:05.501-08:00Tool documentation videosI uploaded some videos documenting the tools that i used to create the "A Puppet Play" performance. These videos all refer to the current version of Moviesandbox.<br />In the meantime, the next version of moviesandbox is coming along nicely but is still a month or so out. I can assure you though that it will be worth it.<br /><br /><object width="400" height="300"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xqcmhytclcc&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xqcmhytclcc&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-6639467795644327750?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-89978361462362285662008-01-11T14:53:00.000-08:002008-01-11T19:46:42.838-08:00MovieSandbox V1390 Beta releasedThe near final version of the UT2004 Moviesandbox is released and ready for download from <a href="http://zeitbrand.net/mediawiki/index.php?title=Downloads">the Downloads page</a>.<br />There are a lot of "under the hood" fixes in this release but it also prepares Moviesandbox for the "Puppeteer" content that i will release very soon as a separate download. I also implemented graphics tablet support (in the System Menu) as requested by some of you guys.<br />This is basically a final release. The only things the next version will do differently is that it will allow you to export your content to the second iteration of moviesandbox, and maybe fix some bugs.<br /><br />Thank you all for your input and help in creating this software!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-8997836146236228566?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-68541938075685378992007-11-28T07:31:00.000-08:002008-04-25T22:06:29.542-07:00a bit of documentationThe puppet show is over and all went down quite nicely. In the coming weeks, i'll be tidying up all the files and produce some proper documentation for it. In the meantime, you can check out a <a href="http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=JY1YO8bUMDY">short youtube video</a> from the event showing a bit of the last part of the performance (thanks to Christine Elmer and the TMA Hellerau for the documentation!). <br />I learned a lot from this and it's a great way to finish Moviesandbox (remember? We're moving towards V1400Beta!). <br />Thanks to everyone who came and to the TMA Hellerau and eyebeam for both of their support! <br />more to come...<br /><br /><object width="400" height="300"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JY1YO8bUMDY&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JY1YO8bUMDY&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-6854193807568537899?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-4182762437147380552007-11-23T04:38:00.001-08:002007-11-28T07:28:55.592-08:00ein kleines Puppenspiel in Dresden tomorrow<img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2335/2038935006_2c91d03d7e.jpg" border="0" alt="" /><br />"Ein kleines Puppenspiel" (a little puppet show) will be performed live tomorrow at 8 pm in the Festspielhaus Hellerau as part of the CyNet-Art media art festival 2008. It's a small movie/puppet theater play that's driven by 2 puppeteers, a cameraman and a live-musician using 4 Gametraks, two Wiimotes and a <a href="http://plusea.at/projects.php?work=39">specially designed MoCap-suit</a>.<br />The complete source material will be made available for download as a free add-on for v1390Beta. <br />If you happen to be around let me know! <br />I'll post pictures and video of the play.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-418276243714738055?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31902757.post-88493116564350312442007-10-31T18:53:00.000-07:002007-10-31T19:23:15.538-07:00MovieSandbox V1380 Beta for downloadThis one took a bit longer and is mainly a housekeeping release. <br />With the introduction of so many new features and paradigms in 1370, it was time to squash some bugs and make a couple of adjustments here and there to make it easier to actually use of all the new stuff.<br />Unfortunately, the facial mimics and lipsyncing is still something i have to find a good interface solution for. It's just SO many possibilities...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.zeitbrand.de/mediawiki/index.php?title=Downloads">Grab the latest version from the downloads page!</a><br /><br /><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2394/1812218394_9e61c97fea.jpg?v=0"><br /><br />The biggest difference in 1380 is stability - the drawing tool proved to be a pretty unstable thing to use. Hopefully these times are over now. <br /><br />In addition to that, you are now officially allowed to use your photoshop creations and scanned images in both character creation and painting, as the Trace tool has been reworked to allow for more detailed importing of drawings and now has an extra section to paint bone connections right into your drawing (every color represents the bone accordingly). <br />The templates used here can be found in your MSBTools directory.<br /><br />And yes, it works with drawings in the scene editor as well, it just ignores the bone image. Click on Trace, then start, then switch to the tracer window (or open it), click on the appropriate images to load your own (.bmp or .jpg), choose a resolution and click "Send". <br /><br />Of course, there'll be tutorials, hopefully over the weekend. <br /><br />Enjoy! And let me know what's good and what's not.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/31902757-8849311656435031244?l=www.moviesandbox.net%2Findex.php'/></div>fiezihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10183180215885941501noreply@blogger.com0