Channel Frederator Blog

Animator and software developer Friedrich Kirschner has figured out a way to do 3D scanning with a webcam, some Legos, a plastic bowl, and milk. It’s called Milkscanner. It’s a silly sort of stop motion that actually works!

The Lego structure holds the webcam. Your object of choice is placed in a the bowl of milk (filled up to halfway). More milk is added three teaspoons at a time. Each scan is a “slice” and it appears that you can get a pretty accurate outline from this calcium-rich contraption. (You have to flip the object to finish the scan.)

For the latest version of Milkscanner, go here.

Friedrich Kirschner has his own website here, which spotlights lots of cool Machinima innovation. (Machinima is the process by which movies are filmed using game engines.)

And go to this Vimeo link to see a variation on the technique where people are dipped into a kiddie pool that is filled [Read more…]

This is a great piece of footage. This animatic was done by Phil Tippett and crew for the first “Jurassic Park” film. It’s really cool to see the armature supports and such as well. The personality that Tippett’s crew was able to inject into these characters was incredible. While I can see why CG was chosen over stop motion, that snake like tongue would have been awesome!

Here is the way the sequence played in the final film.

-Floyd Bishop 

Peter Griffin (Family Guy) by mataleoneBR

Worth1000 is a company that creates web-based internet applications for artists. But what’s really fun about the company is that they’ve decided to generate buzz by hosting a series of Photoshop image manipulation contests. The resulting entries can be astoundingly strange.

The Reality Cartoon Contest asked contestants to “make a photorealistic image which depicts what a cartoon character would look like if they came to life.” See the deeply disconcerting results by clicking on these links:

Reality Cartoons 1

Reality Cartoons 2

Beavis by mataleoneBR

Another contest after the jump…
[Read more…]

artist self portrait

You can listen to the interview HERE.

I recently interviewed Oregonian illustrator, animator, and director Ward Jenkins. Ward has worked on both coasts, from Primal Screen to LAIKA House.

[Read more…]

Here’s the latest animated video for a They Might Be Giants song: an artsy craftsy, naive-yet-sophisticated interpretation of “Davy Crockett in Outer Space”. It’s a great use of chalk board animation. For insight into this advanced, high-tech process, check out a comprehensive behind-the-scenes page at the Tiny Inventions site.

(I am glad to see that cartoon workers protect themselves from chalk-dust inhalation by wearing stylish mouth masks.)

And these folks are deft with cotton balls, for sure!

Tiny Inventions worked with illustrator David Cowles on this piece. David has worked on animated vids for many TMBG ditties, including “The Mesopotamians” and “Seven Days of the Week”. Links to all his animated videos are here.

—Anne D. Bernstein

The Gnomon Workshop is releasing a new instructional DVD called “Conceptual Storyboarding: Story Telling and Struggle, Storyboarding Techniques with Derek Thompson.“

The DVD will cover topics such as Developing Story Concepts, Sequence Building, Shot Design and Construction, Improving Story through Character, Editorial Thinking, Troubleshooting Story Problems, Action and Movement, Simulating Camera Moves and Sequence Pitching.

Derek’s credits include work on “Men in Black”, “Star Wars: Episode III”, and “WALL-E”.

You can purchase the DVD here.

-Floyd Bishop

Sketch Theatre is a great website where you can watch videos of artists drawing in time-lapse fashion. The clip above features Gary Baseman’s hands.

There are 65 videos currently up on the YouTube page, but if you go directly to the Sketch Theater site, you can watch them there and also read about the artists, buy merch, and (eventually) contribute to the forum.

So get on over and check out the cuffs, the wrist hair, and of course…the fabulous artwork!

—Anne D. Bernstein

Click on the Image to watch the episode!

Channel Frederator Awards Announce Winners
First Network to Celebrate the Internet Where It Belongs - Online!

NEW YORK, NY - June 10, 2008 -

Channel Frederator, the largest Internet cartoon network in the world and one of the founding networks of Next New Networks, today announced the winners of the Channel Frederator Awards, recognizing extraordinary talents in animation and the internet. The Second Annual Channel Frederator Awards is available to watch online today at http://www.channelfrederatorawards.com/.

Winners were announced in all seventeen Freddies categories that range from “Sick Sick Sick Award” to “Best Flash Film.” Channel Frederator’s prestigious Vanguard Award, went to Dan Meth, a New York-based independent animator.
[Read more…]

Reposted from Indy Mogul!

Not to sound too much like a shameless plug, but our friend Rob Schrab (who recently put together an episode of the 4-minute Film School) is encouraging fans to recreate the energy of his popular comic book series “SCUD: The Disposable Assassin” by means of a fan film contest. Rob co-created Channel 101, so he knows how valuable deadlines and obstructions can be to creating something.

If you’re a fan of Scud, or just like making stuff, check out all the information on his site. You can make whatever you want about SCUD, make it three minutes or less in length, and send him a link by July 31st.

via Creative Juices

Bob Flynn posted this exercise on his blog, and I thought is was worth a post here.

Here is what Bob had to say:

I have a fun game for everyone to play that could also be educational. If you click on the above image, you’ll find silhouettes of 34 different cartoon characters. Even at the small size all of them should be recognizable (which in itself is an amazing feat—for the characters, and your BRAIN!). I’ve talked a little about character design on this blog. I wanted to test the theory that a memorable character, one that is entirely unique and original, will have some semblance of strong design. Which boils down to having contrasting shapes and forms, which in turn should reduce to a distinctive silhouette. This isn’t perfectly scientific, because pop culture presence, humor, voice, and writing all play a role in constructing the perfect character. But I’m [Read more…]