Appleseed Movie is out

New generation anime, like GITS Innocence - CG blended with traditional cel animation.

Broadband dorks, you know what to do.

Some Game Art/Making Of Books

Art of Halo
- I'd assmue this is a bit old hat, doesn't interest me much anyway. (Halo2 would be more interesting, but even then there's 3D forum threads which probably go into more detail on the normal mapping technique etc. I just can't find the bloody link at the moment...)

Halo 2: Raising the bar
- Now we're talking. Skaffen I'd suggest you treat yourself to this for xmas. Get it over Amazon, it'll be heaps cheaper than Borders. I got 2 Lightwave books over Amazon for $80 AUS total including shipping, and have since heard they're $90 in the shops, EACH.

Japanese Game Graphics : Behind the Scenes of Your Favorite Games
- apparently this is cool. It's fairly cheap, might be worth a look.

The Making of Doom(r) III: The Official Guide
- Maybe worth a squizz

When I get paid I want to get one or two issues of that game magazine NEXT. The game art stills are sick, I want to get it just for reference material for a short film with game art-style animation. Costs close to $20 an issue or something though I think. You'd only need one, have a look next time you're in a newsagents. It might be good to find the kind of look you're after in your Modding...

HalfLife 2 Mod Central

Decent site for HalfLife 2 Mods, with a comprehensive community.

They also seem to provide a nifty 'backend' for tracking status and progress of individual mods, assisting the teams in managing the development cycle before it spirals out of control.

Plus, great resource for attracting attention, getting help and even recruiting to the mod team if required.

LW to Quake 3

Probably sounds like waffle, but bookmarked here for future reference.
You'll thank me when TML turns into a game modding hive of inactivity,

More Bling for your Box

Heh, more time wasting fun.

Normal Mapping

HL2 and Doom3 engines support normal mapping - you game dorks will know what that is. It's a staple in 3D game work now, and not that hard - well of course it will be an horrific can of worms like anything else in 3D which you assume will be straightforward, but the results are worth it and any TML mod must have normal mapping. Zbrush2 is the weapon of choice for mind-fucking modeling detail, build basic low poly model in LW, MAX or whatever (Skaffen will instist on cutting it out of cardboard because he read on "planetspanker.com" that's how the tough guys do it.) Then detail in Zbrush until you experience anal seepage, extract a normal map and go back to 3D app of choice and apply normal (displacement) map.

So your motorbike has fuck all polygons but normal mapping lets you detail the engine etc and add nurnies until you go blind, with no slow-down in gameplay. Robot detail out your ass. Everything can be rich as fuck.

If I had the money yo

I'd totally do this.





ps. if this link doesn't work my surprise = 0

hint: if the image is broken try hitting publish again to witness the full hilarity

TML game modding

I gave Skaffen a show bag of 3D training gear today, and being up to my neck in a 3D freelance gig with the working title "never ending story of fuck", I'm getting excited by the prospect of finishing this and doing some 3D which is more fun and less tedious. Well, it's more excitment by proxy, where someone else might have that experience. Anyway.

Your first mod could be roughed out quick, as long as you have the basic geometry you can always add detail. In fact it would be better to block it out then add detail, this makes changes easier. Like the game equivalent of an animatic. Boxes for buildings, cars etc, big chunks of geometry with simple colours. Then run through, see how the gameplay works, tweak and so on. Then build something to use as a yardstick - sure agree on texture map sizes, resolutions, polycounts etc, but if you have one car and one building done, this makes it a lot easier to make other stuff by comparing.

There are tutes on low poly buildings etc at Shirow Project, a bunch of Lightwave guys who are making scenes from the manga by the Ghost in the Shell creator. Lightwave tutes but can be used in other packages. I can make cars and bikes pretty easy. A bike with basic textured uv map in photoshop given to 8ball could be made rad easily... So stage 2 is modeled to final detail, rough textures. Then stage 3 is to final textures.

The key will be project management.

Holo-dek

Check out their site off the link above, the dude running the show says his kid used to borrow the office projector every weekend and set it up in the basement with his mates to game on. When the old man started bringing them pizza every time and collecting money he realised he could turn a little profit of the whole thing.

It appears that this has escalated to a fairly fine art, 'Gold Class Cinema' type deals where you can order food and drinks off the screen without interrupting your killfest, and screens built big enough that the in-game characters stand at about 6 foot tall, for complete immersion.

Don't pretend you all didn't immediately think 'porn!'

"Little Splashers": nappies you can swim in

Stock up because I just got this in a Cinefex email newsletter:

Battle Angel Alita: Appearing on National Public Radio's Talk to the Nation on November 18, filmmaker James Cameron publicized his upcoming 3D Imax documentary Aliens of the Deep, and during the conversation confirmed that his next project will be a feature film adaptation of Yukito Kushiro's Japanese manga comic Battle Angel Alita, about a broken female battle robot found on a scrap heap and rebuilt to become an avenging angel in a post-apocalyptic future. The project is currently in shooting script form. Cameron stated, "A couple of things that will be interesting about this project ­- even though it's a live-action film, the main character will be done with CG animation. And the second thing that's interesting is we're going to be shooting it in 3D using the stereo imaging system that we've been developing for the documentaries."

My job is currently killing me, but I cannot say why right now...

So instead, here's some funky weird shit I've been keeping myself sane with:

JetPack dude (no pics I'm afriad)

Heh, fuck the jetpack, I want one of these to rain firey death

Wheelie thingamer

DOOM type ref photos

This should get Skaffen off his arse and level designing on a napkin during staff meetings...

Shaolin Video Night

I got
- The Street Fighter's Last Revenge
and
- Legend of the Eight Samurai
today on DVD for $3 each, both films with Sonny Chiba
and I still have
- Fist Power (Hong Kong action video)
which I got Eightball as a gift and then promptly borrowed from him, and neither of us have seen it yet.
I can feel the first Shaolin Drunken Bastard Video Night coming on in January...

One - or maybe two - days to go

Arse!

WARDEVIL

This links to the CGtalk thread where they say how they made it.
From that thread you get to the trailer.

It's all lightwave and digital fusion for compositing. Cool.

Check this out

It's awesome

And about fucking time.

Can y'all read through this & tell me if I've got this straight.
This bad boy

& it's little brother

right here

is an external 2.5 drive bay, which also happens to play MP3's

which means, & stay with me here as this could get a little bumpy for those without much money & a 40GB MP3 collection (like me).

If I was to say, have a spare 40GB 2.5" drive which was accidently shipped to me from some dumbass online store I could get one of above said bad boys & get myself a $200 iPod...

Well fuck me running & call me a cheap date, I think I found a proud recipient of my well earned birthday money.

Half Life 2

Well, it should be released shortly, so you won't hear from me for a while. Enjoy your feeble lives while I glory in the digital universe of Gordon Freeman.

People at work say I need a girlfriend, I think they may be right.

How not to upgrade your PC

The process - not the hardware.

1. A bit over a month ago my graphics card (ATI Radeon 9700 pro) fan shat itself. Possibly due to me giving it a caning while playing Doom 3.

2. Fuck it I think, so I buy a new graphics
card and power supply so the bastard doesn't kill my PC

3. Thinking I'm not going to upgrade anything else for a while I go and buy Dawn of War. Then get annoyed that a lot of the graphics options need CPU more than a decent card. Bugger it, might as well upgrade other stuff as well.

4. Order new ASUS motherboard, Intel 540 LGA775 3.2 Ghz CPU and 2 x 512 Corsair AL-CMX512-3200C2PRO RAM sticks with the activity LEDS. Stuff arrives on Tuesday - ordered Friday arvo. auspcmarket rocks.

5. My wife goes into labour at 3:00 am on Thursday 28/10. By 12:30 we had a beatiful new baby daughter. Get home a bit after six, look after the 2 year old and keep the inlaws amused. Decide after 10:00 pm, now that everyone else is in bed it would be a good time to upgrade the PC.

6. Don't worry about any advice I've given to anyone else. Don't check if XP disk is bootable, don't make boot floppy.. Think I'm only changing RAM, motherboard and processor, she'll be right, will boot in safe mode and be able to reinstall.

7. 03:00 am next day - decide I should go to bed as XP CD isn't bootable, can't find boot disk after pulling apart study, can't successfully make a boot disk that recognises DVD-ROM. System reboots after starting in safe mode.

8. Take two year old to visit wife and new little sister. On the way home stop at local shop of Asian PC hardware goodness. Buy 200Gb SATA HDD. Go to Powerhouse. Buy XP Pro with SP2. Two year old says "no more shops Daddy". Take her to KFC for lunch.

9. Install XP pro on existing HDD. Make sure data is OK. Happy again.

10. Install SATA HDD. Start format and go watch tellie. Check format status. Go watch more tellie. Check format status. Go to bed. Get up for a slash during night check format status. Check a bit later. Format finished. Install XP Pro. Update all of the extra shit. Attempt to activate. Fucking XP tells me key has already been used. I know. It was me the day before on the same fucking machine with the same fucking hardware, but I've installed to another HDD. 05:00 am. Call Microsoft. Read out fucking huge validation code. Complain about shitty activation process. Told by operator who is too happy for someone at 05:00 on a Saturday that I can call any time. Fuckers. If the all games I wanted came out on Linux I would never use XP again at home.

11. Install Doom3 and Dawn of war. Copy old save files - all cool. Run both at maximum settings with no slowdown.

Now I just need to get a new case (I'm looking at this Lian-Li 6070A, but will probably get a window for my new geek bling bling)

If I had been sensible and relised it was almost 2 1/2 years since I last upgraded I would have gone the whole hog - SATA everything, PCI-E. If I get the new case and a replacement fan for the old graphics card then I've got enough bits to put my old PC back together. Fuck eh ? Anyone want a P4 2.0Ghz ?

Vid Files For Download

This thread has heaps of demo reels, which may or may not interest you (Meats Meyer one is sick, some of the others will be mind-altering too.)

But also links to heaps of animated shorts - Pixar shorts, 50% Grey, and more...

Enjoy

Valve - making of Half Life 2 article

You may have heard the Half Life 2 release date has been broken by several retail stores. There's a whole bunch of shit going down with Valve and their Producer, Vivendi, about unlocking the damn thing. Anyway, it's two days away and oddly enough I've gone a bit quiet and am running on a bit of a short fuse :)

Anyway, the title above will take you to a pretty cool article about Valve, Gabe Newell and the Half Life 2 production process. I found it interesting following on from the current EA fiasco as well as some insights into the industry, and what it's like to be working at the front of the gaming industry. They talk about the hacking, Vivendi being cunts, the lot.

DOW 1.10 patch

Go get it - you need the extra maps and shit.

EA games winning goat blowing competition

http://www.livejournal.com/users/ea_spouse/

http://www.livejournal.com/users/joestraitiff/368.html

http://games.slashdot.org/games/04/11/13/208253.shtml?tid=146&tid=187&tid=10

http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/04/11/12/0537234.shtml?tid=123

http://games.slashdot.org/games/04/11/11/0031259.shtml?tid=98

It is time.

I need a new system.

I need it cheap, (sub $500 for case, motherboard, CPU, Ram + (if budget allows) 80GB HDD & further silent cooling.)

I need it to be powerful (but not 'gamer' powerful, more like a video rendering/fileserver workhorse. Lappy will remain day to day machine)

I need it to be quiet (but not 'I spent $1000 on a cooling system quiet, just something I can have running 2 feet away & not hear it)


I will more than likely buy the components from Centrecom (linked above, as this is pretty much the cheapest hardware shop in Melbourne (arguable of course, but it's also close to work)

What this thread is for is basically (like the notebook thread) a sounding board & info resource that people like me & stomp can refer to when we need to upgrade shit.

I think I've decided on an Athlon XP 2600 for $120ish. However AMD Semprons are also cheap but I dont know anything about them, are they powerful or are they more geared towards office-droneware

Also this case looks nice & cheap but still big enough, anyone have a 'how to make your PC quiet on the cheap tutorial handy. or some simple advice?

Motherboards Does this one match with the CPU, I think it does but this shit's confusing when you hvaen't looked at it since you bought a AMD K-6 400. Also I assume the answer is no. But will my pc100 RAM work with it? All this socket 470 & socket A-PooPthangs shit is really dumb. I don't even know what I'm dealing with.

Anyway this is a long & pretty boring post for the most part. But if people with a clue put up info, it will be recorded for eon's & people like us will eventually stop bugging you about this shit.

I added all this stuff up, along with a 'silent cooler' & 80GB drive & cracked jst over the $500 mark, so effectively I think I've found A solution. anyone have ideas how to make it better/cheaper?

Hardcore Geeks, in advance us semi-hard core geeks thankyou

HA HA

I love it when 3D is used to make cheesy scifi book coverart. That alien is STACKED. That picture is the sci fi equivalent of a Frazetta chainmail bikini fantasy soft-porn masterpiece. Help me I'm night shift delerious. Send no-doze, comic books and alcohol.

Making Games in Lightwave

This thread starts with a dumb question; "How do I make a game dudes?"
But there are some relevant nuggets of info I thought worth bookmarking here for anyone thinking about making or modding games. This stuff would probably be more relevant if you wanted to whip up your own little game at some stage. They talk about Garage Games which I think has engines, and forums with dudes who are into it and where you can get pointers on all the different areas (coding, etc)

There's also some talk about using LW to make 3D graphics for 2D games. A little 2D game (shooter, platform, whatever) would be cool, even just a little one screen/level job to show you have a bit of fucking initiative. Good if you're after a games job anyway. Shockwave, or SDL is something else they talk about.

As I've said my hand is up for LW modding and/or game creation. Collaboratively we could make some sick shit for our folios, and save Eightball and Skaffen from hanging themselves in the work toilet with their headphone cable and tie respectively.

Skaffen could program that shit in his sleep, 3D or 2D. Eightball could design a wicked little 2D, I'm thinking about Metal Slug and Earthworm Jim while I type this. And I could do the graphics and farm bits out to you if you're interested (Uv mapped and ready to go as a photoshop file you can paint on.)

Megadeth - The System Has Failed

I trid to get this at JBs the other week, but they didn't have it in yet. Then of course they got it in but I was broke. Anyway a kid at work had a burn of it, I just ripped it. I'll have to buy it later anyway because I like the artwork etc, but I am one happy dude. Mustaine has remastered the first 5 albums or something too, I will have to get them. The first 3 would be great remastered. Don't know what I'd change about Rust in Peace or Countdown though. They're called remasters but from metal forum chatter I think they may have actually re-recorded some parts/instruments. Good or bad, anything that makes you listen to old Megadeth is, um, good.

And the verdict so far: I'm only 4 tracks in, and it's fucking awesome. Some Rust in Peace type tracks, and some Cryptic Writings type tracks (like Youthanasia but marginally less gay) but with leads out the ass.

Mustaine woke up to himself. Good for him.

The Last Chronicles of Thomas Convenant

"The Runes of the Earth", the first of four books in this new series, is going to be out here in time for Christmas.

There has been talk of Elric of Melnibone being the next fantasy franchise to get the feature film treatment. Imagine if Thomas Convenant got the kind of treatment Lord of the Rings did. Armies of urviles, with catapults flinging stone-eating bubbling magic vomit at that huge castle full of martial artist bloodguard who are so tough they laugh at people who use swords. Giants possessed by ravers and turning into serial killers. (no, not chuppa chup sucking whislte blowing dancing boys, ravers were those evil-spirit sick-cunts.) And Thomas Covenant, a leper hero who hates himself and occasionally opens a can of supernatural whoop-ass on dudes. Dark stories with CG coming out your BUTTHOLE. I'm going to have to go to a 2nd hand bookshop and re-read the lot. I loved those books.

On his site there is an interview, I haven't read it but I bet I know what it says.
Q - "Dude, why are you finally getting smart and writing more Thomas Covenant books?"
A - "Well, I realised I suck at writing, and accidentally wrote one of the best fantasy series ever. That series was so cool it spoiled all other fantasy books for people. So when I started writing other shit and was exposed as a complete bag of old wank, I wallowed in mediocrity for years. Now I realise I should stick with the radness. SO there you are. More radness for you dudes. Sorry about Gap Into Conflict, what the fuck was I thinking."

That other fantasy series was so-so, and the sci-fi one was book after book of pure unmitigated shit.

Ghost in The Shell - Innocence

Only watched the intro and first scene so far - heavy on the 3D in the intro, then a lot of 3D/2D mix. You know the stuff, CG cars and sets, 2D people comped in really nicely with great lighting so it all blends well. They really milk this technique with great camera work. "Blood" is a good anime to watch for a great example of merging these two styles. Anyway the intro to GITS-I is like futuristic soft porn for robots, and the movie is fucking awesome so far. Beautiful design, very rich world. As good as Blade Runner when you first saw that, but different not a straight ripoff.

There is a new Appleseed film coming soon (3D done in Lightwave, they love that app over there) which looks as awesome. I think this is like the next generation of anime. When we are grandparents you are going to need to strap into your seat to watch saturday morning cartoons the way things are going.

Has finally been updated, hit the banner to check out an extremely efficient yet educational time waster :)

TRAILERS GALORE

Just about every trailer ever made, updated regularly

World Of Warcraft intro cinematic

Bittorrent link (just click) - apparently quicker download (?)

Blizzard's download zip (right-click save as)

I haven't seen it but the CG dorks online are going through boxes of tissues

Good calligraphy. Good Swordsmanshit

Holy fucking ass shattering spectacle of cinematic brilliance.

This movie is out in your local googleplex cinevillage. & you are required to go watch it.

You can take your chick along, & she will think you're being all sweet & educated for watching a foreign film. In lieu of a chick you can take a moist towel. (& you'll need it, however after you've wiped up it problaby wont think you're sweet & endearing)

You can watch Jet Li chop six shades of shit out of everyone that looks at him.

You can watch Zhang Ziyi do what she does best.

You can watch Maggie Chueng try to look hotter than Zhang Ziyi (& get fucking close for an older bird)

You can watch a couple of other dudes get busy with a spear a calligraphy brush & Zhang Ziyi.

You can watch a FUCKLOAF of arrows

& if thats not enough you can marvel limp wristedly at the amazing cinematography, the stunning use of colour palettes along with the (as to be expected) wire work blah blah

Just go & fucking see it. The story kicks along nicely for eastern cinema & it makes Crouching Tiger look like a low budget hack of a film.

Oh yeah, it's also by the same guy that did 'House of the flying daggers' which will be out in Australia in January & screening on Box Hill by December.

I need another two weeks off

The rest of you will as well.

Crap Logo, Crap Name but oh my god........

"

Stomp, have you heard these guys? if not WHY NOT. if you have WHY HAVEN'T YOU TOLD ME? I picked up the name from a forum thread on the new 'the Haunted' album (old singer back but apparently they still suck a fair bit, haven't heard it yet. I'll reserve judgement till I do)

People were basically saying, The Haunted suck now, thankfully we've still got Dew Scented. I grabbed their first album having no idea who they were. (after thinking what a stupid fucking name for a thrash band)

Fast, technical thrash in the 'fuck we love Slayer' realm. Vocals are pretty good, not to modern but not as straightforward catchy as Tom Araya (you know what I mean) but they aren't as shitty modern as everything the Haunted's done since the first album. Riffs & drums are just pure 80's thrash for the 00's ie: FUCKING FAST

I'm ranting cause I'm happy. Skaffen this will make Sydney Public Transport bearable. email me & I'll hook you up.

ps. The website is linked purely cause thats what you're meant to do.

Stompy just put me on to this about two hours ago. I've found the Japanese Trailer at apple, as well as some pretty fucking handy movie trailer sites:

Movie-Page.com

JoBlo's Movie Trailers

Everywhere I read about Casshern people were talking about Immortel too.

Maybe it's time to order in some dvd's.

Spidey comic online

And there you were worried you'd get some work done today!

WH40K - DOW cinematics creators Interview

The video links pop up in a window. I've dug in and got out the direct links so you can right-click and save to download the video files:

Cinematic 15meg MPEG4

Animatic to Final 2.3meg MPEG4

Render Layers 6.6meg MPEG4

Tech Support Service Review

TML tech support staff arrived at my door, sneezed into his hand and offered said hand for a warm sticky handshake. Within minutes he had rendered the upstairs toilet unusable for the rest of the day. He proceeded to belittle me and mock my setup, before stating the job was too big for one person and phoning in oncall staff. Oncall staff arrived with fashion model in tow, marginally better personal hygiene but similarly mocking comments regarding Mad Robot Media IT facilities and staff.

Challenging TML staff resulted in them downing tools. Threats of violence were greeted with the announcement that MRM facilities were beyond repair, a coke was poured in through the fan vent on the back of my desktop system, and I got jabbed in the eye with a pen.