Channel Frederator Blog

I’m a big fan of the music of Jonathan Coulton, a musician who actually encourages people to make their own video versions of his songs. (For example, there was this contest to create a video for “I Feel Fantastic”.)

A guy who goes by the name Spiff has created a slew of these videos using World of Warcraft. His Machinima videos (that’s animation made using video games) are very entertaining. He also has a page on his site with detailed explanations of how to make them—featuring two methods: easy and hard.

Here’s an interview with the man himself from Nerdabout New York (a Discovery Channel blog).

The video above is for the song “Codemonkey”. After the jump, his latest: “Tom Cruise Crazy”. [Read more…]

The Playstation 3 title Little Big Planet is quite fun. Playing the game is only half the fun though. The game includes a robust level editor. While the initial stuff that many people did with the title was limited to game levels, there are many machinima films appearing that feature Sackboy and his friends.

I would imagine it’s only a matter of time before we see a more traditional short film done with the title.

-Floyd Bishop

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…]

Most of you know all about New Tee Vee, where the knowing go to know more about wassup in the online TV world. But, you probably don’t know about their summer Pier Screenings events in Los Angeles, where the knowing go to see even more, and meet even more.

Well, August 28 is there ‘Non-Human’ screening (”by which we mean anything that doesn’t include human actors on-screen“) and they’re welcoming “animation, puppets, animals, machinima, or whatever other interpretation you have.”

SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS AUGUST 21.

“Animation…”! That means you! Have those in the know know about your films. Great opportunity, great venue, great event. Get your entries in now.