Many people have discovered the joys of Google's SketchUp. I've been teaching myself how to use it, and I'm constantly surprised at the how easy it is to use. Particularly in comparison to Blender and Wings3D, the 3D apps I've also been working with. More on the choice of app later.
It really is a piece of cake to whip up some 3D geometry in SketchUp. For its intended purpose - a tool for 3d artists to quickly sketch out ideas without having to deal with drudgerous process of traditional modelling - it is a phenomenal success. It ought to win an award for its human-interface design. The golden cherry on top is that there's a FREE version, which has almost all the features of the pro version. Alas, that pro version lists for $495. Youch!
Not surprisingly, one of the most important features has been left off. That feature, of course, is the ability to export a 3d model that's useable in other 3d app's. Equally unsurprising is that the internet provides workarounds. I'd like to share my own workaround. It has its flaws, but it works.
All it entails is downloading the Pro version of Sketchup. The Pro version has a trial feature which is unusual. Instead of limiting the number of days it will work (typically 30), or disabling the ability to save work in progress, or watermarking or whatever, Google limits the trial user to 8 hours of use. You can spread those 8 hours out indefinitely (I'm over 15 months so far), which is nice. Now here's the trick. Google allows you to have the FREE version and the Pro version co-existing on your system.
So to convert your SketchUp models to Wavefront (.obj) or 3DSMax (.3ds), simply create the model in the free version, the open it in the Pro version and export it from there to the format you want. It's taken me about a minute or less to open and export the relatively simple models I've created so far. At that rate, I should be able to create perhaps as many as 480 models! And if I was really trying to conserve time, I suspect I could pack my SketchUp file with lots and lots of models, export them all as a batch, and use Blender or Wings3D to split them apart.
I've had mixed success with textures. I successfully exported a model that was created entirely within the Pro version directly to Unity, complete with textures. However, I tried today with a model created with the free version and I 0nly got the geometry. This maybe because I am using version 6 of the Pro Version and version 7 of the Free one. I'll keep noodling at this problem, and hopefully I'll find a solution.
In the meantime, I'm incredibly stoked. The ability to go from quick and easy modeling in SketchUp to interactive rendering in Unity (which I am now more confident than ever will prove to be a useful machinima engine) is a big step forward for me.
So why Blender and Wings3D? Simple: they're free! Admittedly, Maya offers a personal learning edition, but I still didn't want to deal with it because I don't want to have to deal with the watermarking - I want to be able to create real, usable output. Moreover, I have no ambitions to pursue 3d modeling as a career, so the fact that its' an industry-standard app means nothing to me. Now, if there were a PLE for 3DsMax, I might reconsider, but gMax doesn't really cut it (being PC-only doesn't help its case much, either.) Also, since I'm a complete newbie with 3d apps, I am not put off by the alleged 'idiosyncratic' user interface of blender. In fact, I quite like it - much more than Wings3D, for example.
As an extra bonus, Blender includes a game engine. I doubt that I'll ever make use of it, since I've got Unity (which opens Blender files natively), but hey, you never know!
Meanwhile, as I googled around a bit while writing this, I've learned that AutoDesk, publisher of BOTH 3DsMax AND Maya, has acquired SoftImage! So that puts AutoDesk in control of all of the industry-standard 3d apps. Frankly, that makes me want to use an open-source app just to be contrarian! Also, I couldn't find any mention of a 'personal learning edition', which used to be available for XSI.
So blender and wings3d it is, for me at least.
UPDATE: So it seems that Softimage does provide a free version. Its called the "Mod Tool". You can find it here. Hmmm. Might have to reconsider! Of course, when I tried to actually download it, I got a 404 error. And I couldn't determine if it was a pc only or cross platform program. Anyone out there know the answer?
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Just don't call me Twiki!
After my recent stint helping AMAS to organize the 2008 Machinima Film Festival, I got thinking about other things I might be able to do to help out. It occurred to me that the Academy could use a good wiki.
I promptly googled free wiki hosting services, and set about creating one. I hadn't gotten very far before my age-addled grey matter reminded me that a machinima wiki already exists. It couldn't tell me where though, annoyingly, but eventually I found it again at mprem.com. There's some really good stuff there. However, a lot of it is out of date, and there are some pretty big gaps in the content. So I gleefully set about adding and updating where I could.
Classic procrastination. Finding something else to do when I should be teaching myself MovieStorm (hats off to ShortFuze for putting out a Mac version! Hint, hint, Reallusion), Blender, Wings3d, SketchUp7, StudioArtist, Anime Studio, VirtualStage, and in particular, Unity. Oh well. At least it's useful procrastination.
In my previous post, I invited the machinima community to volunteer with the AMAS. Well, here's another way to help, that ironically doesn't involve the Academy. Why not contribute to the wiki? Just don't call me Twiki!
I promptly googled free wiki hosting services, and set about creating one. I hadn't gotten very far before my age-addled grey matter reminded me that a machinima wiki already exists. It couldn't tell me where though, annoyingly, but eventually I found it again at mprem.com. There's some really good stuff there. However, a lot of it is out of date, and there are some pretty big gaps in the content. So I gleefully set about adding and updating where I could.
Classic procrastination. Finding something else to do when I should be teaching myself MovieStorm (hats off to ShortFuze for putting out a Mac version! Hint, hint, Reallusion), Blender, Wings3d, SketchUp7, StudioArtist, Anime Studio, VirtualStage, and in particular, Unity. Oh well. At least it's useful procrastination.
In my previous post, I invited the machinima community to volunteer with the AMAS. Well, here's another way to help, that ironically doesn't involve the Academy. Why not contribute to the wiki? Just don't call me Twiki!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
So long and thanks for all the films!
And so, another Machinima Film Festival is in the can.
Does it make sense to use that old metaphor anymore, 'in the can'? Admittedly, it is from the movie business, but it has an anachronistic whiff about it. What might be more appropriate in the digital age? Backed-up? Archived? TAR'ed? Off-loaded? Printed? Saved?
It's interesting that I struggle to find a metaphor from the computer world that works as well. I think that has something to do with the fundamental mutability of digital media. It's never really done. The whole point of digital media is that it can always be reloaded, re-edited, remixed, re-used. Gone is the raw physicality of celluloid, and with it its inherent limits and obstacles. Gone is the visceral satisfaction of the unambiguous moment when, for better or worse, you know that a project is done, completed... in the can.
In any case, the Festival is over. Though I was crushed that I was kept away at the last minute, it was by all reports a success. Great movies were shown, awards presented, issues both lofty and quotidian were discussed.
The Machinima community owes a tremendous debt to Friedrich Kirschner, whose indefatigable commitment to the Festival made it all possible. Without his enthusiam, ingenuity, and willingness to forgo sleep for days and weeks, I can assure you there would have been no Mackies, no panels, no Festival. My hat's off to you, Friedrich!
Friedrich made sure that the Festival's overarching goal was always to nurture and encourage machinima filmmakers. To give the community an opportunity to slap themselves on the back and feel good about what we've accomplished in a year or two of toil.
It was disturbing, then, to stumble across libellous commentary on the internet that the committee is biased, that we are paid lackeys of major game companies, that we arrogantly, arbitrarily and wantonly disqualify films from the competition. Even though I know full well that this sort of thing is endemic to the internet itself, and that every community deals with issues like this, it was troubling that these wild allegations found receptive readers, and few critics.
Let me encourage anyone who'd like to see things done differently at the festival to put their money where their mouth is and volunteer. We were woefully short-handed this time as last time. Everyone involved gave up nights and weekends, forsook the company of family and friends, all without pay, for months on end. No offer of help would have been refused.
And it's not too late to volunteer now. The AMAS can do a lot to support and promote the machinima community. It needs resources to do so - time and money - which it is chronically lacking. The folks at AMAS all have day jobs, so the time available for Academy activities is limited. Why not lend a hand?
In the end, we all had a great time. Sneaking up on a robot turned out to be one of life's hidden pleasures.
So 'til the next fest, keep machinimating.
Does it make sense to use that old metaphor anymore, 'in the can'? Admittedly, it is from the movie business, but it has an anachronistic whiff about it. What might be more appropriate in the digital age? Backed-up? Archived? TAR'ed? Off-loaded? Printed? Saved?
It's interesting that I struggle to find a metaphor from the computer world that works as well. I think that has something to do with the fundamental mutability of digital media. It's never really done. The whole point of digital media is that it can always be reloaded, re-edited, remixed, re-used. Gone is the raw physicality of celluloid, and with it its inherent limits and obstacles. Gone is the visceral satisfaction of the unambiguous moment when, for better or worse, you know that a project is done, completed... in the can.
In any case, the Festival is over. Though I was crushed that I was kept away at the last minute, it was by all reports a success. Great movies were shown, awards presented, issues both lofty and quotidian were discussed.
The Machinima community owes a tremendous debt to Friedrich Kirschner, whose indefatigable commitment to the Festival made it all possible. Without his enthusiam, ingenuity, and willingness to forgo sleep for days and weeks, I can assure you there would have been no Mackies, no panels, no Festival. My hat's off to you, Friedrich!
Friedrich made sure that the Festival's overarching goal was always to nurture and encourage machinima filmmakers. To give the community an opportunity to slap themselves on the back and feel good about what we've accomplished in a year or two of toil.
It was disturbing, then, to stumble across libellous commentary on the internet that the committee is biased, that we are paid lackeys of major game companies, that we arrogantly, arbitrarily and wantonly disqualify films from the competition. Even though I know full well that this sort of thing is endemic to the internet itself, and that every community deals with issues like this, it was troubling that these wild allegations found receptive readers, and few critics.
Let me encourage anyone who'd like to see things done differently at the festival to put their money where their mouth is and volunteer. We were woefully short-handed this time as last time. Everyone involved gave up nights and weekends, forsook the company of family and friends, all without pay, for months on end. No offer of help would have been refused.
And it's not too late to volunteer now. The AMAS can do a lot to support and promote the machinima community. It needs resources to do so - time and money - which it is chronically lacking. The folks at AMAS all have day jobs, so the time available for Academy activities is limited. Why not lend a hand?
In the end, we all had a great time. Sneaking up on a robot turned out to be one of life's hidden pleasures.
So 'til the next fest, keep machinimating.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Machinimation?
So, typically, I'm the last to hear. I just figured out that Fountainhead Entertainment, creators of Machinimation Studio, have merged with (been absorbed by?) id Software. It seems like all of their FAQ pages for Machinimation have gone by the wayside, although they're still in the Google cache.
What a bummer. Of all the machinima interfaces, UI paradigms, whatever - theirs was the best that I've seen. Why?
So, Fountainhead, if you're listening... you've got a product with market-dominating potential in Machinimation Studio. Now is the time to bring to market!
please?
What a bummer. Of all the machinima interfaces, UI paradigms, whatever - theirs was the best that I've seen. Why?
- Real-time interactivity. Characters could be puppeteered by the a group of players, LAN style, or by the director, working alone. Game engines like HALO etc can only be played in multi-player mode. There is no director-puppeteer option, which is the only option in iClone, MovieStorm, and Antics. These engines still don't offer the real-time interactivity that Machinimation does. Of course, it looks like iClone3 will have this kind of puppeteering capability. I'd love to check it out. (Hint Hint, Reallusion!) Games like Half-Life and UnReal offer something in between, but only for those with heavy-duty level-editor and scripting chops.
- Camera paths that are fully editable. No need to have a player act like a camera, no need for hacks to remove the UI or HUD from the players screen. Antics/iClone/MS have something similar. The visible path in Machinimation is cool though. Just wish there were a focal length/field-of-view option.
- Animatable lights. They are limited, but they're there.
- Renderable output. No need for FRAPS. Don't get me wrong, FRAPS is a truly awesome tool, and I am a proud licensee. But I like knowing that once I've constructed a scene to my liking it will output just that way. I don't have to hope that my actors will hit their marks just the same way. I haven't seen it, but apparently the SaveGame feature of Halo 3 offers the same functionality by allowing for a free camera after the fact. MS offers this, but on my mac version the rendering is FLAKY. To be fair, I've only rendered the tutorial scene so far, but oy vey! iClone2's renderer is useless - you basically have to use fraps. Hopefully this has been fixed in a update. Anybody want to fill me in here?
- Image Quality. Its Quake 3, so its quite out of date. It looks it.
- Limited animation. Gesture (!!!). That's it, just 'Gesture'. Run, Walk, Jump, Shoot, and 'Gesture'. Not exactly channelling Thespis, is it?
So, Fountainhead, if you're listening... you've got a product with market-dominating potential in Machinimation Studio. Now is the time to bring to market!
please?
Friday, July 11, 2008
How to do it! Machinima, that is.
Regular readers of this blog know that I'm a rank tyro machinimist. That's why I am very interested in FAQ's and tutorials that more experienced creators have made to help out people like me.
Initially, I was excited to come across a 'how-to' article called How to Make a Machinima at a site called WikiHow. But then I read it.
Take half a minute to read it yourself - that's all it will take - and you too can apparently know how to make machinima.
I'm old enough to remember that Monty Python already covered all this. Have a look:
Initially, I was excited to come across a 'how-to' article called How to Make a Machinima at a site called WikiHow. But then I read it.
Take half a minute to read it yourself - that's all it will take - and you too can apparently know how to make machinima.
I'm old enough to remember that Monty Python already covered all this. Have a look:
Monday, July 7, 2008
Unify'd Field Theory
Work progresses on our little tennis project, and this has refreshed my interest in Unity, which I remain convinced has tremendous potential as a machinima tool. But its been over 6 months since I worked with it regularly, so I'm rusty. To make matters worse, the tutorial I was planning on starting on, the FPS tutorial, no longer exists on their website! There is a new, much larger, 3D platform game tutorial, however.
I have been warming up by reading the documentation. I have to admit though, it does make me feel old. I learned to code at a time when object-oriented programming was a theoretical construct in research labs in California, when there were no GUI's, when you POKE'd machine code directly into physical memory addresses, when programs where stored on cassette tape. Anybody else remember those? So the elegant object-oriented architecture of Unity is a bit daunting to an old salt like me. Where are all the BNE's, JSR's and Gosubs?
I have been warming up by reading the documentation. I have to admit though, it does make me feel old. I learned to code at a time when object-oriented programming was a theoretical construct in research labs in California, when there were no GUI's, when you POKE'd machine code directly into physical memory addresses, when programs where stored on cassette tape. Anybody else remember those? So the elegant object-oriented architecture of Unity is a bit daunting to an old salt like me. Where are all the BNE's, JSR's and Gosubs?
Friday, July 4, 2008
Wiither machinima?
Big props to Damian Lacedaemion for his help moving my first machinima piece from concept to reality. I am trying to make a short using the Tennis game on the Wii. Damian graciously offered me the use of a Wii, as I don't have one, and helped write the script, too. (He may even appear as voice-talent.)
Of course, I learned an object lesson in the endeavor, one that D was trying to tell me - you gotta be playing the games to really be able to make machinima with them. Here's what happened. I have only played Wii Tennis once, about 2 years ago. I got an idea for a script that would go with a one-on-one tennis match, and according to my perforated memory, the Wii would be a hilarious medium to use.
Now, any Wii fans out there are way ahead of me already: there is no singles game in Wii Tennis. Its all doubles only! We'd already recorded the voices by the time we got to capturing footage, so we were kind of up a creek. To make matters worse, there doesn't seem to be any way of controlling which avatars the computer picks when you play in single-player mode. And in double player mode the screen is split - not much good for machinima, methinks!
So its time to think on our feet to come up with a solution. Rest assured we'll find one, and the film will be a blockbuster, don't doubt that!
The experience has been instructive, and the film's not even done yet! It has called to mind again the central problem of Machinima with a capital M. Can it be a form for general-purpose film-making, or will it forever be limited to game-related stories?
As a middle-aged filmmaker whose only real experience with 3D videogames since the days of Missile Command, Asteriods, and Defender (the kind you need quarters to play) was Castle Wolfenstein and Doom, I harbor a desire that the real-time power of 3d games can be harnessed to serve any story idea, or at least any class of story idea. In particular dramatic narrative. I would certainly like to see that happen.
On the other hand there is a school of thought that holds that that is a foolish dream; that instead, filmmakers should find in games inspiration for stories that are suited to them. Don't try and force a square peg into round hole, in other words. Before my recent mano-a-mano with the Wii Tennis engine, I would have dissmissed this idea as self-limiting, as a rationalization of shortcomings.
Now I'm not so sure. The problem for me personally, though, is that I don't really play games as a hobby any more. This leads to a more serious problem, which is that I'm not really an active part of any community of gamers. Filmmaking is a collaborative effort, and if one hopes to make films with videogames one needs a group of gaming friends. Nevertheless, I have come around to seeing machinima a little differently thanks to my conversations with Damien. (sorry about the typo, Damian! -K, 7/4)
Instead of bringing the expectations of traditional media like film to machinima, look for ways in which machinima can create new forms. If we expect Machinima to be able to make dramatic feature films, we may well be disappointed. Similarly, if machinimists make something new but we're looking for something that's familiar, we're likely not going to appreciate it for what it is.
So there's something to mull over. Next time: toolsets, puppeteering, and animation.
Of course, I learned an object lesson in the endeavor, one that D was trying to tell me - you gotta be playing the games to really be able to make machinima with them. Here's what happened. I have only played Wii Tennis once, about 2 years ago. I got an idea for a script that would go with a one-on-one tennis match, and according to my perforated memory, the Wii would be a hilarious medium to use.
Now, any Wii fans out there are way ahead of me already: there is no singles game in Wii Tennis. Its all doubles only! We'd already recorded the voices by the time we got to capturing footage, so we were kind of up a creek. To make matters worse, there doesn't seem to be any way of controlling which avatars the computer picks when you play in single-player mode. And in double player mode the screen is split - not much good for machinima, methinks!
So its time to think on our feet to come up with a solution. Rest assured we'll find one, and the film will be a blockbuster, don't doubt that!
The experience has been instructive, and the film's not even done yet! It has called to mind again the central problem of Machinima with a capital M. Can it be a form for general-purpose film-making, or will it forever be limited to game-related stories?
As a middle-aged filmmaker whose only real experience with 3D videogames since the days of Missile Command, Asteriods, and Defender (the kind you need quarters to play) was Castle Wolfenstein and Doom, I harbor a desire that the real-time power of 3d games can be harnessed to serve any story idea, or at least any class of story idea. In particular dramatic narrative. I would certainly like to see that happen.
On the other hand there is a school of thought that holds that that is a foolish dream; that instead, filmmakers should find in games inspiration for stories that are suited to them. Don't try and force a square peg into round hole, in other words. Before my recent mano-a-mano with the Wii Tennis engine, I would have dissmissed this idea as self-limiting, as a rationalization of shortcomings.
Now I'm not so sure. The problem for me personally, though, is that I don't really play games as a hobby any more. This leads to a more serious problem, which is that I'm not really an active part of any community of gamers. Filmmaking is a collaborative effort, and if one hopes to make films with videogames one needs a group of gaming friends. Nevertheless, I have come around to seeing machinima a little differently thanks to my conversations with Damien. (sorry about the typo, Damian! -K, 7/4)
Instead of bringing the expectations of traditional media like film to machinima, look for ways in which machinima can create new forms. If we expect Machinima to be able to make dramatic feature films, we may well be disappointed. Similarly, if machinimists make something new but we're looking for something that's familiar, we're likely not going to appreciate it for what it is.
So there's something to mull over. Next time: toolsets, puppeteering, and animation.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Excuses, Excuses
So, since my last post I've been knee-deep - nay, up to my eyeballs deep - into cutting my first feature-length project: New York Street Games. What a great documentary this is going to be, even if I say so myself! I'm very proud of the work I've done on this film, which really has been far beyond what an editor normally does.
All the work on the film has definitely distracted me from my 'machinima' ambitions. In particular I stopped teaching myself Unity. I still really believe that this platform has great potential for machinima, and now that the Machinima Festival is coming back to town, I am reinvigorated. So stay tuned to this space - I'll be bring you some fresh reports on how I go with Unity.
All the work on the film has definitely distracted me from my 'machinima' ambitions. In particular I stopped teaching myself Unity. I still really believe that this platform has great potential for machinima, and now that the Machinima Festival is coming back to town, I am reinvigorated. So stay tuned to this space - I'll be bring you some fresh reports on how I go with Unity.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Sketchup and Unity?
Sure! Why not?
Why, if you only have the free version, of course! The free Google sketchup has no exporters; you can only save to its own format, the 3D warehouse format. However, just today Overman turned me on to a new possibility - 3DXchange:
http://z-studios.com/blog/2008/01/10/google-sketchup-into-iclone/
I haven't tried it yet, because I haven't got windows on my mac yet, but I sure hope that if it will convert Sketchup to iClone it'll also convert to Unity. Unity has a very robust set of formats it imports seamlessly.
That said, I have tried exporting a model from my 8-hour trial version of Google SketchUp Pro into unity and that worked FINE. So if 3DXchange doesn't work, then an alternative would be to find someone who has the pro version and ask/pay them to convert my models for me. Because truth be told, SketchUp is really fast and easy when it comes to building 3d!
Otherwise, still just slogging my way through my many new programs: Unity, StudioArtist, etc.
Why, if you only have the free version, of course! The free Google sketchup has no exporters; you can only save to its own format, the 3D warehouse format. However, just today Overman turned me on to a new possibility - 3DXchange:
http://z-studios.com/blog/2008/01/10/google-sketchup-into-iclone/
I haven't tried it yet, because I haven't got windows on my mac yet, but I sure hope that if it will convert Sketchup to iClone it'll also convert to Unity. Unity has a very robust set of formats it imports seamlessly.
That said, I have tried exporting a model from my 8-hour trial version of Google SketchUp Pro into unity and that worked FINE. So if 3DXchange doesn't work, then an alternative would be to find someone who has the pro version and ask/pay them to convert my models for me. Because truth be told, SketchUp is really fast and easy when it comes to building 3d!
Otherwise, still just slogging my way through my many new programs: Unity, StudioArtist, etc.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
A Quiet Start to Dos Mil Ocho
Early New Year's Eve I was watching Univision's (or was it Telemundo's?) broadcast from Mexico City, and I just love the sound of 'Two-thousand and Eight' in Spanish: Dos Mil Ocho. So that's what I'm calling this year, by the by.
The days up to New Year's Eve saw a flurry of purchases to make the tax year: Unity, Anime Studio, Studio Artist, GroBoto. With Parallels Desktop, I hope to have my other key machinima tools, iClone, CrazyTalk, Antics, FRAPS, up and running soon. I've also been adding a bunch of OS/Freeware: Blender, Bryce 5.5, etc.
Incidentally, I have belatedly discovered the joy of blogs and rss feeds. Not just because I've started writing one, but because I finally went and got myself a tool for keeping up with all the blogs out there! (Props to Thinking Machinima, Free Pixel, 3DFilmMaker, gTOON, Machin-X, Machinimoo, Overman, and more. Keep up the good work!)
The challenge now is to get myself organized. My day job is keeping me busy with a very big and demanding project, so I am going to have to really start budgeting time in my day for working with all my new toys, and to write and develop my scripts.
The days up to New Year's Eve saw a flurry of purchases to make the tax year: Unity, Anime Studio, Studio Artist, GroBoto. With Parallels Desktop, I hope to have my other key machinima tools, iClone, CrazyTalk, Antics, FRAPS, up and running soon. I've also been adding a bunch of OS/Freeware: Blender, Bryce 5.5, etc.
Incidentally, I have belatedly discovered the joy of blogs and rss feeds. Not just because I've started writing one, but because I finally went and got myself a tool for keeping up with all the blogs out there! (Props to Thinking Machinima, Free Pixel, 3DFilmMaker, gTOON, Machin-X, Machinimoo, Overman, and more. Keep up the good work!)
The challenge now is to get myself organized. My day job is keeping me busy with a very big and demanding project, so I am going to have to really start budgeting time in my day for working with all my new toys, and to write and develop my scripts.
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