How to use anything as a digital interface

Here's an interesting project from Disney Research and Carnegie Mellon University...a system called Touché that can be used to create gesture controls on everyday, non-computer objects. Cool stuff.

Hmmm...can anyone think of possible digital puppetry applications for this?

Via Ars Technica.

Scooter on Puppets vs. CG

I've always believed that computer graphics and puppetry are complementary art forms, but there are of course a lot of people who insist that the two mediums have a competitive - and possibly combative - relationship. While I don't personally subscribe to that theory apparently certain Muppets do.

Earlier this week Scooter appeared at the TED 2012 conference, making a tongue-in-cheek presentation called Can Tactile Icons Survive in an Integer-Driven Environment? in which he made the case for puppets over computer generated characters and got pretty worked up about it. Unfortunately, the quality of the video isn't great, but hopefully a better version will surface online soon.

Cross posted from PuppetVision; via Tough Pigs.

Another Blender / Kinect Demo

This is an early test of Kinect and Blender working together using OSCeleton. This is a custom coded solution that's different than the NI Mate software that I mentioned in my previous post. As you can see, it's not quite production ready yet, but it's still very, very exciting to see Blender and Kinect working together. Full details can be found here.

Great work Machinima Studios!

Real-Time Motion Capture in Blender at last!

NI Mate is software that imports Kinect motion capture data in real-time into 3D apps and they've announced that Blender is the first application that they're supporting. When I was working on the aborted Panda Puppet project several years ago I realized that one of the things Blender really needed in order to become a practical and effective tool for digital puppetry was a straight forward method of accepting motion capture data in real-time, so I think this is very exciting news and long overdue!

It should be really interesting to see what people start doing with this new capability in Blender. 

NI Mate is now available in open beta for both Windows and Mac OS X (Linux support is coming soon). You can register to participate in the beta and download all of the necessary software at www.ni-mate.com.

Via BlenderNation.

Watching the Superbowl with the Coke Polar Bears

The iconic Coca-Cola Polar Bears are going real-time for the Superbowl this year.

From PSFK:

This year’s Super Bowl will not only have millions of people cheering, but with some animation magic from Coca Cola, polar bears will watch and react to the game in real-time. Coca Cola and advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy have jointly created two animated bears, one sporting a red scarf signaling his support of the New York Giants, the other wearing a blue and grey scarf for the New England Patriots, that will be featured in Coca Cola’s microsite – CokePolarBowl.com. Not only will internet users be able to watch these bears’ reactions, but television viewers can catch glimpses of the action as well. A TV spot called “Catch,” will show a bear leaving the ice cave to grab a Coke before starting to play football on ice.

This sounds like a really great idea for a Superbowl tie-in. Hopefully will get a behind-scenes-glimpse at this after the big game on Sunday. I suspect we're going to see a lot more interactive advertising like this utilizing real-time animation to bring characters to life in the near future.

You can reserve your spot to watch the Superbowl with the Coke Polar Bears at CokePolarBowl.com.

Via myCLONE.

Power Puppets

Power Puppets are a series of digital puppet characters produced by Little Mountain Productions, a firm that provides a variety of design and production services to Christian churches.

There are a variety of Power Puppet 2D and 3D characters available. The characters are controlled using an X-Box controller. The software is available for both Windows and Mac and is sold as a standalone product, although Little Mountain also builds complete hardware systems as well.

Machinima vs. Anymation

Have you heard of "Anymation"?

The term first emerged a few years ago as way of classifying the work of digital creators who were willing to embrace any and all available tools in order to express themselves digitally. It was originally coined by Croatian animation artist Tom Jantol and seems to have emerged during online debates over what does and doesn't constitute Machinima.

From Tom's Anymation Manifesto:

What, then, is Anymation? And where does it fit into this multi-faceted world of Computer Generated Imagery?

Quite simply, Anymation is the embracing of any and all available tools in order to create a digital expression. The spirit of Anymation is not a rejection of any one of the tool-centric genres, nor is it a desire to reform them. Rather, Anymation is a conscious decision to be LESS CONSCIOUS of the barriers typically seen between the different types of digital expression, coupled with a "renaissance man" kind of willingness to harness ANY available tool or method to create that expression.

So, essentially, Machinima is Anymation, but Anymation isn't necessarily Machinima.

I like the idea of using whatever tool you want to achieve the effect you need. That's really what Machin-X has always been about, the blending of technologies and techniques to create new and interesting work.

It's a brave new creative world.