Events you should know
Spring break, whoo!! Or something. Whatev.
ABDC, the New Alphabet
If you're not watching America's Best Dance Crew, you don't know what's up. This week (episode 5), they paid tribute to Michael Jackson and Thriller. [ Videos ] Unlike American Idol, there's no team that doesn't deserve to be there, though there are a few that definitely stand above others.
(Watch the second half of this clip)
Anatomy of Naked Ladies
[ Steven Stahlberg ] is a Swede born in Australia, who has worked in Austin, Hong Kong, and Malaysia amongst other places. He's a figure in the 3D art community who has been at it for about two decades. He gave an interesting talk at our school about ways to effectively express anatomy in art, specifically in 3D models. One of the most interesting slides was regarding facial theory and features that define faces for a man, woman, or baby. I wish I remember or wrote the exact details because it was absolutely revelatory. One interesting thing I remember is that combining a woman's features with that of a baby's makes her psychologically more attractive, which helps explain why anime characters look the way they do. He mentioned a couple of websites, but the only one I can recall is [ faceresearch.org ].
So. He's gone from doing all that and moved to Gainesville, FL, aka UF Gator-ville-and-nothing-else-town, to be Lead Artist at [ Artificial Studios ]. Ever heard of them? Most recently they made Mercury Meltdown Revolution, CellFactor (the Ageia physics demo game), and Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia. Now have you heard of them? Okay, still probably not, but Epic bought their rendering technology, so that means a lot. Was it to stomp them out as competition? To add in the tech to Unreal? Some of our alumni work there, and that's how this figure wound up speaking with us.
You should check out [ this video ] on his site. (Be sure to click on "Link to animation" below the photo.) Have you seen the videos for Quantic Dream's follow-up to Indigo Prophecy, [ Heavy Rain ]? When he was announced to be coming to speak with us, I was browsing his site, saw his video and immediately thought about Heavy Rain. Turns out he was involved with it, so that train of thought really did mean something.
I'm psyched.
(Grand)Father of Video Games
Ralph Baer, father of home video games, has agreed to come speak at our school. This is all contingent on his health, however, since he's like 83. Psyched for that, too.
Me and Big Bird
Earlier this week the local PBS crew came to do some filming regarding our motion capture facility and the proposed Creative Village downtown. They got some B-roll of me helping my classmate get a handle on the Unreal Editor, so that might make it onto the segment. We'll see at the end of the month.
Tax Money at Work
Today I got a package in the mail. It was from USPS, who, one would assume, would have access to more appropriately sized and cheaper to ship packaging. Take a look at the picture below:
Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!
ABDC, the New Alphabet
If you're not watching America's Best Dance Crew, you don't know what's up. This week (episode 5), they paid tribute to Michael Jackson and Thriller. [ Videos ] Unlike American Idol, there's no team that doesn't deserve to be there, though there are a few that definitely stand above others.
(Watch the second half of this clip)
Anatomy of Naked Ladies
[ Steven Stahlberg ] is a Swede born in Australia, who has worked in Austin, Hong Kong, and Malaysia amongst other places. He's a figure in the 3D art community who has been at it for about two decades. He gave an interesting talk at our school about ways to effectively express anatomy in art, specifically in 3D models. One of the most interesting slides was regarding facial theory and features that define faces for a man, woman, or baby. I wish I remember or wrote the exact details because it was absolutely revelatory. One interesting thing I remember is that combining a woman's features with that of a baby's makes her psychologically more attractive, which helps explain why anime characters look the way they do. He mentioned a couple of websites, but the only one I can recall is [ faceresearch.org ].
So. He's gone from doing all that and moved to Gainesville, FL, aka UF Gator-ville-and-nothing-else-town, to be Lead Artist at [ Artificial Studios ]. Ever heard of them? Most recently they made Mercury Meltdown Revolution, CellFactor (the Ageia physics demo game), and Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia. Now have you heard of them? Okay, still probably not, but Epic bought their rendering technology, so that means a lot. Was it to stomp them out as competition? To add in the tech to Unreal? Some of our alumni work there, and that's how this figure wound up speaking with us.
You should check out [ this video ] on his site. (Be sure to click on "Link to animation" below the photo.) Have you seen the videos for Quantic Dream's follow-up to Indigo Prophecy, [ Heavy Rain ]? When he was announced to be coming to speak with us, I was browsing his site, saw his video and immediately thought about Heavy Rain. Turns out he was involved with it, so that train of thought really did mean something.
I'm psyched.
(Grand)Father of Video Games
Ralph Baer, father of home video games, has agreed to come speak at our school. This is all contingent on his health, however, since he's like 83. Psyched for that, too.
Me and Big Bird
Earlier this week the local PBS crew came to do some filming regarding our motion capture facility and the proposed Creative Village downtown. They got some B-roll of me helping my classmate get a handle on the Unreal Editor, so that might make it onto the segment. We'll see at the end of the month.
Tax Money at Work
Today I got a package in the mail. It was from USPS, who, one would assume, would have access to more appropriately sized and cheaper to ship packaging. Take a look at the picture below:
Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!