Apr
07
The Sounds of Tarkovsky
Posted in: Animation
See more at fandor.com/posts
Apr
07
SL-1200GAE was developed to redefine the direct-drive turntable reference.
For detail, visit http://www.technics.com
Apr
07
Loop Daigakuin(Bird’s-eye view Ver.)
Apr
07
Animating characters…with your hands
Posted in: Animation
For Cartoon Brew, I talked to The Mill about their new Real-time Animation System. Seems really promising.
Apr
07
The art of the VFX breakdown
Posted in: Animation
Image Engine gave me some great breakdown pics to go with this VFX Voice story on the art of VFX breakdowns.
Apr
07
Oscar-nominated Japanese animation director and Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata has passed away at 82, confirmed public broadcaster NHK.
Born in Mie, central Japan, Takahata started his career in animation at the Toei studio in 1959 where he met long-term collaborator and rival Hayao Miyazaki. With him he co-founded the famous Japanese animation studio, Studio Ghibli in 1985 which went on to produce several blockbusters in future.
Takahata was best known for his 1988 film Grave of the Fireflies, a heart-warming tale of two orphans during World War II. His latest film The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013) based on a Japanese folktale earned him an Academy nomination in 2014 for best animated feature. It was also selected at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival for a slot in the directors’ fortnight, sidebar to the main event.
In many interviews, Takahata confessed about the love-hate relationship with Miyazaki because their works were so different. He said he tried not to talk about Miyazaki’s works as then he would end up being critical and he didn’t want conflict with an artist he respected.
Under his supervision, Studio Ghibli mainly stuck to hand-drawn Manga in the age of digital film-making which gave Hollywood’s computer-graphics cartoons a run for their money. He was fully aware how the floating sumie-brush sketches of faint pastel would work as a stylistic feature which he said was the heart of Japanese Manga or comics.
“It is about the essence that’s behind the drawing,” he said in an interview in Tokyo.
Over a long and distinguished career, he produced around 20 films, namely Only Yesterday (1991), Pom Poko (1994) including Kaze no Tani no Naushika [The Valley of the Wind] (1984) which is a science fantasy adventure that tells the horror of environmental disaster through a story about a princess, directed by Miyazaki.
He is also well-known for the 1970s Japanese TV series Alps no Shojo Heidi (Heidi, Girl of the Alps) and Lupin Sansei (Lupin the Third).
Although he didn’t win an Oscar, Takahata won many prestigious awards, including honours from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the Lorcano International Film Festival.
Takahata was known for strong female characters. He wanted to make a film about girls who are exploited and forced to work as nannies with infants strapped on their backs. Most lullabies in Japan weren’t for parents singing babies to sleep but for such young women, crying out about their suffering, Takahata once said in an interview.
All his stories had the message of urging everyone to live life to their fullest and to not be bogged down by petty concerns like money and prestige. “All must come to an end in death. But in a cycle, repeated over and over, there will always be those who come after us,” he said earlier which surmises the current situation aptly.
The post ‘Grave of the Fireflies’ director Isao Takahata passes away at 82 appeared first on AnimationXpress.
Apr
07
The newest Overwatch comic titled Retribution gives an in-depth look into the early days of Blackwatch, its black ops division before the organization’s fall.
The comic ties in with an ‘archive’ of news, posted yesterday about the Oslo Incident, in which the reporters were informed about the investigation of the attack had begun, but that it was too early to identify any suspects. Archives also hinted at the new PvE mission taken from Overwatch’s history taking us back to a developer update video earlier in the week, in which Jeff Kaplan revealed that last year’s Uprising event will be renamed to Overwatch.
Blackwatch, the small, secret sub-unit of Overwatch, was tasked with the dirty deeds the front-facing organization could not. Headed up by Gabriel “Reaper” Reyes along with McCree, Genji and Moira worked in the shadows to keep the world safe. The latest comic series explores one of the crucial missions it had undertaken.
Blackwatch has been a fan-favourite even though the organisation does not exist currently in the gaming world. Overwatch was destroyed, after Blackwatch’s operations were exposed with the UN intervention. Despite their crucial role in the first generation and the demand for more information by the fans, Blizzard has only revealed how their missions looked like until now.
The comic takes place in the past when Overwatch and Blackwatch were still operating and gives us a lot more information on Widowmaker’s husband, Gérard Lacroix, and Gabriel Reyes. Blackwatch’s members are seen boarding a ship at the end of the comics and McCree seems to be the star of the show this time while Moira and Genji make cameo appearances. The former is also found working on some spooky genetic interference behind the scenes who also happens to be the only Blackwatch member who does not have a Blackwatch skin. But she is seen with a Blackwatch uniform in the comic hinting that this might be an unlockable skin once the event goes live.
The game has been consistently giving us slices of the backstory with animated shorts and comics accompanied by various events, this event would likely give us an idea about the less talked about operations of Blackwatch. This event is also bringing with itself a new map set in Venice, Italy.
The post Overwatch’s latest comic, ‘Retribution’ explores the history of Blackwatch appeared first on AnimationXpress.
Apr
06
Chad and Chris team up to create a cascading piece of art, and put it on display in a gallery showing. Download the free scene files and follow along.
In this two-part Cinema 4D tutorial, Chris and Chad are going to team up and show you how they created this gallery and moving artwork. Take a look at the final piece here.
Ready to learn and create the moving artwork and then build out the gallery? Get started by downloading the scene files.
Download Free Scene Files
Click the button below to download the free scene files. You’ll be able to dissect the project, and see how everything came together.
Cascade Art Gallery Tutorial – Part 1
In the first tutorial, Chris is going to show you how he created the cascading wall art in Cinema 4D. You’ll see Chris and Chad talk about coming up with the concept, and then we’ll dive right into Cinema 4D (R19) and get to work building the cascading wall art.
Be sure to experiment with your own movements, and share your projects with us! We’d love to see them.
Cascade Art Gallery Tutorial – Part 2
In the follow up to creating the cascading wall art, Chris hands off his project to Chad. Learn how Chad brings the photo-real gallery to life and see him light, texture, and render the space using Redshift and Cinema 4D. If you are interested in the 3D people used in the project, check out Human Alloy.
Hope you were able to take away some cool nuggets of knowledge from this team-up series. Leave a comment down below if you’d like to see more of these types of videos. That’s it for this one, we’ll see you in another Greyscalegorilla tutorial.
The post Create an Entire Art Gallery in Cinema 4D with Moving Art and People appeared first on Greyscalegorilla.
Apr
06
Weapon of Choice: Building a GPU PC
Posted in: Animation
As a follow-up to the popular Render Wars article, contributor Sekani Solomon is back with a new article focusing on how to build the right PC for today’s GPU-intensive workflows.
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