Source Film Maker

So if you're a gamer like me, chances are you're very familiar with Valve's celebrated "Meet the Team" series. For those not in the know, "Meet the Team" is a series of 3D animated short films and biographies built around the characters of the 2006 game TF2.

What's truly incredible about this series is that all of the films are made in the games actual engine, meaning that what we're seeing are the actual characters as they appear in game. Now while this isn't necessarily rare for game developers to do, what IS rare is that Valve actually released that animation software to the general public and then allowing them to do essentially whatever they please with the games in game elements.

While I haven't played around with it too much myself, it seems to be a great tool for learning the very basics of 3D animation. And of course if you're already pretty handy with 3D animation, you can always use it to create content that you wouldn't have made otherwise for fear of wasting to much time on a project that comes across as completely ludicrous.

Silly I know, but in just trying your hand at making something akin to the video above I feel that you can truly learn a lot about the basics, physics, and properties that are needed to seriously pursue a career in animation.

Anyway if you've ever wanted to dip your toes into 3D animation I think that the Source Filmmaker would be a tool well worth your time and effort, and of course because the program is open source there are a wealth of tutorials available on YouTube. If you enjoyed the above film's I'd suggest going on YouTube and searching "SFM FILMS" some people have used these models to create truly gripping films, but then again for every piece of serious content there about a million videos of just unfiltered insanity.

Source Filmmaking

Technology is constantly trying to reach new heights in every aspect of filmmaking; that includes animation. I decided to do some research to see what I could find. The most interesting article I came across, described a new animation tool from Valve called the Source Filmmaker (SFM). This is a program that allows you to make films by using the world of a video game. The video below does a great job on describing this technology, but what I thought was the most interesting was that SFM allows the animator to create scenes from action, camera, to lights, instead of the typical order, lights, camera, then action. Even after they have created the whole film, they can pause a scene and play with lighting, camera angle and even change facial features in order to tell a different story. The facial feature aspect was the most impressive, since the technology allows for subtle nuances. 

Though I can't see this technology becoming a huge hit in the professional world of animation right now, I think it offers a lot of opportunities to viewers, especially since new audiences are starting to lean towards stories and environments they can influence. Look at how many reality shows rely on audience tweets or participation to determine the outcome of the participants (ex: Opposite Worlds). They have already done this with some chapter books. At the end of the chapter, the reader can decide which action the character should take and will be told which chapter is the next one to read based on that action. There are even websites that allow you to create shorts where the audience can decide what will happen to the characters. All of these are in the beginning stages, but just think what this could mean for the cinema experience. Instead of being drawn into a story, we can decide how the story should end, which defeats the whole purpose of watching a story unfold in my opinion. I'm not saying that this is what SFM is trying to do, it's just the concept of always being able to manipulate a story in anyway that is growing. I think SFM is actually very interesting and can't wait to see where it takes the industry, although I think most animators will stick with traditional methods for now. 

Here is a link to the SFM website for more information. Here is the article I first used as a reference.

By Amber Capogrossi

The Steam Machine

     The steam machine is a new gaming console coming out 2014. It developed by Valve Corporation, the creators of many popular games such as Half Life, Team Fortress, and Portal as well as the digital game distributor Steam. To understand the Steam Machine first we have to know what steam is. 

     

     Steam is a digital distribution, digital rights management, multiplayer, and communications platform developed by Valve Corporation. It is used to distribute games and related media online, from small independent developers to larger software houses.As of January 2014, there are over 3000 games available through Steam and 75 million "active" users. In February 2014, it was announced that Steam had surpassed 7.5 million concurrent users.In October 2013, it was estimated that 75% of purchased games downloaded for the PC are through Steam.

     Now within the year valve will be releasing its Steam Machine. The machine is basically a computer that runs an open source Linux based operating system called Steam OS. The machines will come pre-built and vary in size and hardware depending on the price of the machine. Like PCs however most of the machines will allow the owner switch out the parts with higher end hardware later on. The device is also going to come with a new style of controller that will give the user the same high level of precision and accuracy that PC gamers are used to with keyboard and mouse controls

Welcome back... TO THE FUTURE!

I dunno if you've noticed but the future is here people. Phones, tablets, tvs, computers... the more advanced they become the more integrated they become. Soon we'll be in the matrix. But until that day we must prepare! And we can start soon, once the Oculus Rift comes out later next year.

The Oculus Rift is a head-mounted display for virtual reality gaming developed by Oculus founder Palmer Luckey. That's right. Put on a set of goggles and get whisked away to your favorite video game and be immersed in strange new worlds while controlling the movement of the camera with your head.

It's not the first time that virtual reality has been attempted, but it is apparently the most fluid and natural feeling rendition to date. Its been endorsed by John Carmack, the founder of id software, and Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve. The Oculus is set to be fully functional with the re-release of Doom 3. I'm upset that I didn't jump onto the Kickstarter over the summer when it began; for those who backed the project in its infancy they will receive a working unit once it is commercially available. The company only asked for $250,000 and was blown away by nearly 10 times that amount. In fact the reason I'm posting about this now is because there has been  a delay of its release due to the overwhelming reception for the product; calling into question the effectiveness of the Kickstarter program and whether it is more helpful or hurtful to these start up companies. But that's another story for a more boring time. Right now too many exciting things are happening! Like virtual reality!

This isn't the only foray into the virtual world soon to be available to the public. Obviously we see things now like the Wii, the Kinect, and Playstation Move (Wii U is up there I guess with its tablet to tv integration... but we'll see about that one). Apparently Microsoft and Sony have been filling out patents for some serious tech. Maybe it won't land at first with the next generation, but you can be sure that add ons will probably come about for the next systems. Microsoft has plans for glove-based controllers, which will enhance and refine motion controls; as well as concepts for a projection screen device that would work on all 4 walls of a square room, to completely immerse oneself into a game. Wow. Some crazy stuff going on.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/09/19/is-microsoft-working-on-wearable-xbox-controllers
(Sorry no video)

So keep your eyes glued to your tvs, (and laptops and tablets and phones) and your heads in plastic buckets with pretty pictures painted on the inside in preparation for this glorious event. And in 10-15 years, when we're all plugging into a virtual world, we can talk about the good old days when trees existed.

Think with Portals, not Safety

So I stumbled across this video while looking to purchase a replica of the Aperture Laboratories' famous portal gun from the critically acclaimed video game series Portal. Portal is a first-person puzzle-platformer released in 2007 by the Valve Corperation. At first it was a bundle package but then later it was released as a standalone game with additional features as well as a port to the Mac OS X.

This video was created Portal fan and Minnesotian Jason Craft. After studying Visual Effects and Motion Graphics for a few years at The Art Institutes International Minnesota, he now works as a compositor for a company called Ghost Productions, a 3D medical animation studio in promotional marketing, surgical technique, and surgeon and patient education. Janson made this video a few months ago and has been tweaking it ever since to get it just right. Using a combination of Maya for modeling & lighting, After Effects to composite, and some more other software.

Public access to professional grade software has really been a great asset to movie-making fanboys as well as people movie-watching fanboys and allows for user created videos like this one and many more. Check them out!