Updated: Futuristic Multi-Touch Interfaces

This is old (from last summer), but extremely cool. A prototype multi-touch user interface demonstrated by Jeff Han. At about eight minutes in he demonstrates some potential puppetry applications for it. Think of the possibilities!

Come to think of it, the new iPhone will have a multi-touch interface too. Hmmm...

Henson debuts The Skrumps

The Skrumps is a new digital puppetry series from The Jim Henson Company.

The Jim Henson Company is developing a new animated property called The Skrumps, based on a line of colourful, monster-like toy characters created by artist John Chandler. The series is being produced using the Henson Digital Performance System and looks very promising. John Chandler, Skrumps puppeteer Victor Yerrid and Henson's head of Children's Programming Halle Stanford discuss The Skrumps and their development in the latest episode of the Henson.com podcast.

The Skrumps debuted today in four new videos available at Yahoo! Kids for a limited time. Be sure to take a look!

Via The Muppet Newsflash.

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13/01/07 Update: A behind-the-scenes video about the making of The Skrumps is now available on Henson.com. It's fairly short, but gives a basic overview of how their HDPS works and shows the performers in action.

A Merry Machinima Christmas

Visiting Scrooge puts a Machinima spin on a Christmas classic.

In the mood for a little holiday Machinima? Take a look at Visiting Scrooge, a two-part film based on Dickens' A Christmas Carol and made using The Sims 2. A behind-the-scenes page about the film is also available.

Acting and "virtual puppeteering"

Bill Nighy's motion capture performance was used to create Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

Earlier this week Variety ran a good article about the growing use of motion capture in feature films and how actors are increasingly been utilized as virtual puppeteers to create fantastic creatures and effects. Most of the article deals with Bill Nighy's impressive mo-cap performance in last summer's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

Inside the Machinima

A Machinima film that explores how Machinima gets made. Very meta. From Machinimated Studios.

Don't mind the mess

I'm in the process of converting Machin-X to a new Blogger Beta template so the site may look messy for the next several days. Also, embedded YouTube videos don't seem to work anymore. Does anyone know what's up with that?

Turn a Mac in to a marionette

Digital puppetry usually involves using computers to create puppetry, but this may be the first example of actually turning a computer in to a puppet...the newer Mac Powerbooks are equipped with a Sudden Motion Sensor that detects if the computer has been dropped or is flying through the air. The purpose of the sensor is to minimize damage from impacts by locking down the Mac's hard drive if it's suddenly in motion, but since the sensor can be accessed via software with a little programming knowledge you can hack it and explore all kinds of interesting possibilities.

Andreas Nicolas Fischer in Germany used this feature to turn his Powerbook in to a marionette for an art project. When the computer is swung a animated character on screen reacts with realistic physics to the movement. A build summary for the project is available on his web site along with some of the source code used for the project.

Thanks to Mike for the info!