Interstellar VFX Part 2 - TARS and CASE Robots

Thursday I posted about the stunning VFX work in Interstellar. Today I came across a behind the scenes video of how they created the robots in the film, TARS and CASE. They play a major role in the film and they were created with a combination of motion graphics and puppeteering.

The basic frames of the robots were created with metal and puppeteered on set using various methods. In some scenes where the robots needed to move quickly through water, they used a modified ATV rig to propel the robot puppet through the water. Then, using CGI, the more detailed aspects of the robots were generated and the rigs used were keyed out of the shots.

This video below shows you exactly how they did it and it's amazing to see how it was actually done.
EDIT: The video was removed after I posted this. Here is the mirror link.

"Jessica says Claymation is for Poor People!”

This week as I was brainstorming some blog-post ideas, I stumbled upon a UK site that I initially mistook for an entertainment news website. The article had a bubbly fun scrawl along the top that read: “Animation Trends 2012: Discover the hottest new forms and styles”. Wait. Can animation go out of style? “Mom I can’t watch Wallace and Gromit. Jessica says claymation is for poor people!”

I obviously continued reading the page and learned all sorts of knowledge.

For instance, California-based animator, Gabe Askew, is the Jessica of trendy animation. He explains— “The gloss of CG has become commonplace… characters tend to look beautifully rendered but to act as stiff as zombies when not animated in painstaking detail.” Sorry all you CG lovers out there. You’re just, well, you’re not very hip. Good luck trying to sit next to Gabe at the lunch table you big loser. Unless, of course, you like CG when it’s blended together with vintage animation styles…  “It’s not super-new,” Gabe admits, “but there definitely seems to be a trend in mixed-media animation…Animations are no longer stop motion, or 2D, or CG or puppetry; they are all these things blended together – and a small team or even one person can be proficient in all these mediums.” 

Ticktockrobot’s Me, Marionette is a good example of this new (but not super new) animation trend:

Me, Marionette from ticktockrobot on Vimeo.

Me, Marionette combines the stylistic look of marionettes using computer generated images. A.K.A. The epitome of trendiness. You go girl! Stay tuned for more animation updates, or, just check out the Digital Arts Online page.

Motion Graphics and Special Effects in "Lazy Town"

When one thinks of television shows that are heavy with special effects, action shows tend to be the first to come to mind. But one of the most VFX filled shows out there is Iceland's "Lazy Town"

Focusing on promoting healthy habits in children, the show is action packed when it comes to the movements of main character and show creator Magnus Scheving, who is a impressive athlete. The show itself is bright and colorful, with a mixture of human and puppets populating it.

But the most interesting thing, is that most of the backgrounds and environments are created digitally!

Often, the puppet characters are controlled by multiple people. The puppeteers wear green suits so that they too can be edited out like the green screen!

This allows for lots of complex movement on the puppets' part, which is important in a show all about moving around and getting active!

When all the elements come together, they look fantastic! Take a look:

Toy Story - Live Action

Toy story has become a classic movie of our generation with its cutting edge graphics and editing techniques to tell a story. Two fans Jonason Pauley (19) and Jesse Perotta (21) wanted to visit the facility where it was all created. Unfortunately for them Pixar does not let any visitors in unless they have done something fantastic. So armed with $1000 and 150 friends they created a shot for shot live action remake of the entire movie. The result is quite spectacular and the effort that must have been put forth is immense. What I find to be interesting is seeing this story told without animation. The characters are literally less animated with no facial expressions or fluid movement. This makes the scenes less believable and its harder to connect with the characters. That aside it is a very cool project and definitely worth a look. 

Aside: They learned yesterday they get to tour pixar.

Cigarette people

Well after not missing a post all year I guess it's fitting I forgot the last one haha.  So I'll just leave you with this sweet music video.

http://youtu.be/voBNpdXkLnU

It's from The Prodigy.  I think the concept for the video is really cool.  The characters are people made from cigarette boxes.  I had assumed the video had to be made using stop motion because the textures looked too real but after finding this "making of"video I found that they actually did live action work with puppetry and green screen.

They also used animation along with the live action.  It still amazes me to see the level of planning and sophistication in order to make one 3 and a half minute video.  Really cool stuff.