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Rock Star Games’ L.A. Noire Uses MotionScan 3D Technology To Bring Nuanced Expression To Characters

admin — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 04:58:11 +0000

A while back we pointed out how much your robot sucks, but fortunately, the digital simulation of you seems to be doing just fine. Today RockStar Games released a trailer (also below) for their upcoming release LA Noire (available April 2011), which features an intriguing behind-the-scenes look at the new technology that drives the game. I’m not even a gamer, and I find this fascinating. While consumers are already probably starting to get a little ho-hum about the motion capture and computer generated imagery that James Cameron spent ten years perfecting, and that Robert Zemeckis seems to think is the future of cinema – after Polar Express, Beowulf, and A Christmas Carol, he’s now working on a 3D Yellow Submarine – it seems the technology is accelerating at a rate that may outstrip the pace of typical Hollywood production and lead to even more interesting uses. The possibility of real-time rendering combined with the amazing affordability – you can set up a full motion capture studio for about six thousand dollars – opens up all sorts of possibilities. Imagine, for instance, a Hollywood that doesn’t need the ongoing expense and public annoyance of a flesh-and-blood Tom Cruise, or virtual worlds like Second Life that don’t look like they were rendered in fifty dollar 3D home design software. If you’ve seen movies like Surrogates, you’re already aware of the benefits of not actually living your real life, but with lower prices and consumer-targeted software, we could do away with all this annoying “real life” stuff altogether! Of course, there are those who believe we’re living in a computer simulation already, but why not add an extra layer just to be sure? In the meantime, see the LA Noire trailer and some screen grabs below to reassure yourself that you are in fact living in the genuine reality, and that the technology doesn’t yet exist to make a Matrix-like existence possible.

The studio setup for the MotionScan 3D motion capture looks remarkably like a Matrix set prior to be “dystopified”:

This screen grab from the trailer is a good example of the dynamic facial expressions made possible by the cutting edge processes used for the game:

The trailer doesn’t make it clear whether or not the character is being rendered in real time:

Increasingly Impossible Objects Becoming Increasingly Possible

admin — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 23:39:52 +0000

There’s a place I know, just around the corner of the corner of the corner. It’s inside a house designed by Karl Menger , and the walls, floors, and ceilings are covered with carpets designed by Waclaw Sierpinski. I’ve been going there since I was about five, when a Japanese fellow who rented a room from my family showed me how to make a Möbius strip. You’ve probably seen examples of impossible objects before; people are probably most familiar with MC Escher’s work, but there are many other artists who’ve dabbled in this arena. You can even make your own impossible triangle, or if you’re feeling really ambitious, you can engage in a little fractal origami. I love illusions like this, but I’ve always been even more fascinated with objects that can be partially represented in two or three dimensions, but require a little imagination or mental investment to grasp. We’ve touched on hypercubes and extra-dimensional ideas before, but today I ran across something I’ve longed to see for ages, which is detailed, 3D animations of fractals, and objects like the “Menger Sponge” referenced at the top. I became a little obsessed with these forms when the book Chaos: Making a New Science came out in the late 80′s. I spent a lot of time in bars drawing the Menger Sponge (which possesses infinite volume and no mass) for strangers, because it was a great conversation piece with the the right sort of person. But I have to confess that my fascination with mathematical/conceptual objects like this runs much deeper. Much like how – after several millenia of believing that human flight was just a dream – the world changed phenomenally in a short period of time once a handful of people saw the Wright Brothers fly their simple craft, I believe it only takes a handful of people seeing the strange possibilities of these shapes before another paradigm shift will occur. I believe there’s something right around the corner of everything, and that our ability to reach it is right around the corner. Of the corner. Below are a bunch of amazing little clips, mostly animated, 3D renderings of fractals. With – alas – really bad soundtracks. Just turn the sound down and enjoy.

This first clip is a trip through a 3D fractal. Which made me want to see a movie based on a story that takes place in a universe like this. Maybe it could be based on a fractal novel.

Another really beautiful fractal zoom. This is what the baroque era looked like in the 23rd dimension. Unless you’re a Tool fan, you’ll definitely want to kill the sound on this one.

Here’s a trip into a Menger Sponge. If what you’re seeing doesn’t make sense to your brain, look at the graphics and explanation further below.

The Sierpinski Carpet: First imagine a square, divided into nine squares, with holes cut into it like this, with the pattern repeating infinitely.

Source

The Menger Sponge: Then imagine a cube that takes the concept into three dimensions.

Source

This is another trip into a Menger Sponge. It’s reeeeealllly slow. You might want to skip up to a little over a minute, then be patient when it blacks out for a bit. It actually does a pretty good job of traveling inside.

A beautiful “fractal crater”

Neuroscience Audiomedical’s Antiviral Marketing

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:29:54 +0000

If you were paying attention last fall, you might have caught a glimpse of the Neuroscience Audiomedical clip on the left. If you haven’t seen it, give it a look; it’s fun, and perhaps even a little disturbing. The only thing that disturbs me about it though, is that in spite of being a product-weary anti-consumer, I’m somehow disappointed that it’s NOT pitching a product at me. It has all the elements of a viral campaign or an Internet-Meme-to-be, but somehow is neither. It sort of points at the electronica DJ collective called Scratch Perverts, but none of their sites reference the clip, so you’re just left kind of thinking “Wow, that’s really neat, but WHY?” Well, keep wondering, ’cause I didn’t find much in the way of an answer myself. If you liked the video though, you’ll be pleased to know that Neuroscience Audiomedical has also done a live performance (also below). Or so say they say. It appears they used the same projection technology that was utilized for the Gorillaz and Madonna appearance at the Grammy Awards. The holographic projection method is a product called Musion Eyeliner, which allows 3-dimensional, moving, life-size holograms to appear within a live stage setting using Peppers Ghost techniques. Pretty cool. I just wish I knew what I was virally promoting here. More vids below.

Madonna & Gorillaz – Live at the Grammy Awards

Neuroscience Audiomedical “Live”

Musion’s live, transatlantic HD 3D interactive system demonstrated at InfoComm last year

Google Earth’s GeoEye & 360Cities 3D Panoramas

admin — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 04:02:01 +0000

Here’s a quick preview of 360 Cities
with -appropriately enough – Dead
or Alive as a backing track

Do you ever get that funny feeling that someone is watching you? Well if not, you should. We’re getting closer every day to full time coverage of every location on the planet. Between things like the 4.2 million CCTV cameras in England, the way Google has you covered from your desktop to the sky, and the members of 360Cities obsessively creating cool 360 degree panoramas of the planet (see their blog for the latest views), it won’t be long before there truly will be nowhere to hide. Especially with tools like PhotoSynth to put the info all together. You may or may not find this kind of coverage invasive, but you know what? It’s really kind of FUN too. You may have read that Google made a deal with spy satellite company GeoEye last year to gain a competitive edge over Microsoft, Yahoo and other satellite image search providers. What you may not realize though is that the satellite can capture objects 16 inches across from 423 miles up in space! Don’t worry, Google isn’t allowed to use those images, only the NGA and men of integrity with security clearances like Dick Cheney are. And your secrets are always safe with the US government and politicians named Dick, right? In any case, the upside of all of this is that Google has been showing off the images on their Google Earth GeoEye pages. Even if you’re not stunned with the images, it’s a blast pretending you’re shooting the opening titles for a James Bond film by zooming in and out from the Earth, from an orbital view to street level in seconds. Likewise with the 360 Cities panoromas; some of the images aren’t so thrilling, but moving around in them is an entirely new experience, and a cool one at that. See a sample below.

There should be a 360 degree panorama embedded below.
Let us know if it doesn’t work on your system….

Stunning Building-Sized 3D Projections

admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:07:12 +0000

For a longer version of this demo, see the clip below

As something of a stimulation junky myself, I find it amusing that our actual reality, with its 3D visuals, surround sound, and full-function tactile and olfactory responses is simply not enough. We’re always trying to recreate that special 3D experience, and – usually – falling a bit short somehow. In spite of the fact that the film industry is making us slap the 3D glasses back on so they can charge us more money, and that free standing holograms made our Top 10 Disappointing Technologies list, some interesting headway is being made elsewhere. You may have seen the Puma Lift ad that uses 3D projection mapping to make it appear as if a dancing couple is being constantly transported to different landscapes and changing outfits magically. Well, Dutch company Nuformer Digital Media has taken this idea to an impressive new level with their ProjectionOnBuildings work (clip featured at left, more below). They don’t say anything on their site about how it works; they’re mostly trying to sell it to high-budget advertisers. But if you’re interested, here’s the math, as they say. The results are stunning. The last seemingly innovative projection technology to get some decent press kind of “mist the point”; as impressive as I02 Technology’s “Mid-Air Touchscreen Display” seemed to be (see a clip here), it required a fine mist in the air. Something that’s not really gonna fly in most boardrooms, no matter how impressive the results.

NuFormer’s Volvo ad is quite stunning:

Here’s a longer version of demo clip at the top of this article:

It’s helpful to realize that this the building they start with….

…and this is what they can do with it…

Hollywood’s 3D Conspiracy

admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:50:54 +0000

As I sat at a friend of a friend’s house the other evening watching a torrented “DVD rip” of the new Star Trek movie two weeks before its release date, it struck me that there’s a bit of irony in the fact that Disney is using a remake of “A Christmas Carol” to help roll out the film industy’s latest flailing attempt to save its way of life – the 3D movie. At a time in US history that teeters on the edge of being Dickensian, to take a story that is typically viewed as an indictment of nineteenth century industrial capitalism and use it as part of a platform that is meant to help Hollywood regain control of its media and its profits is either a master stroke or incredibly foolish. They’re going to have to do something though, I may have been watching a copy of a DVD release a couple of weeks early, but Star Trek was available as a torrent while the film was still in theaters. Hollywood’s been warming you up with 3D re-releases of Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, but the acid test will be James Cameron’s Avatar, set for release around the holidays, and touted as the spearhead of the new assault of 3D in theaters. If you haven’t pieced this all together yet, Hollywood’s idea is to offer something in theaters you won’t be able to take home later. Will it work? I personally don’t think so; I agree to some degree with the thinking of people like Chris Anderson, who’s book Free: The Future of a Radical Price points up the fact that pop media has little value in itself, but is a great way to build customer engagement. I mean, a pop song is 99 cents on iTunes, and Star Trek is free at my friend’s house. Why would I pay even more to watch a movie in an already overpriced theater? I’m not alone in this thinking, this mom’s reaction highlights Hollywood’s ongoing disconnect. In my opinion, the greed will eventually kill them. They literally own our brains already by virtue of how media like Toy Story saturates our existence and generates ancillary sales, but it’s not enough. They still want cash up front. Sorry Hollywood, my life is already in 3D. That’s precisely why I go to a movie or play; to invest a little imagination and get away from things.

Innovation.

Flea Circus Origami

admin — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:49:01 +0000

No, the man pictured here is not having his brain sucked out by our alien overlords. He’s using Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci® Surgical System, a Minimally Invasive Surgical method that allows much smaller incisions to be made while performing sophisticated procedures. The system features “wristed instruments with seven degrees of freedom, three-dimensional, intuitive visualization and ergonomic comfort”, which basically means the surgeon’s hand motions are replicated by eensy-weensy robot hands, and he gets to see the work in Hi-Def 3D. Check out this video on YouTube in which the system is used to fold a teeny Origami swan. Your flea circus will never be the same.