3D Printer Share Proposal – Fiddian Warman 3.1.11

The proposal is for around 10 people to share the purchase cost of a Makerbot-Thing-o-Matic http://robosavvy.com/store/product_info.php/manufacturers_id/37/products_id/1216 £846 +VAT. The purpose would be for the Thing-o-Matic to be used for small scale creative projects, experimentation etc rather than heavy duty production.

Contact Fiddian @fiddian or fiddian {AT} soda.co.uk for more info, contribute thoughts etc. Shared Google Doc here:

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1rEH4i5CNgjcySD3gaRS8hW0Eoal67xW_ovvT0x6PsSg

Ideas for how share could work:

• Each partner to share ownership, shares could be transferable (with permission from group)
• Thing-o-Matic could be kept at Fiddian’s studio in Waterloo, conveniently central for those who live or work in South London?
• Thing-o-Matic is pretty small and portable so could be moved around.
• Members could have monthly evening Thing-o-Matic get togethers, make stuff share knowledge etc
• We could share cost of filament. Its reasonably cheap about £42 +VAT for 2.25 kilos which would make a lot of small parts. If a partner uses a lot they replace the roll.

Potential Interested Partners

@Fiddian – Fiddian Warman (proposer)
@3djamie Jamie Denham
@digitalmaverick Digital Maverick
@Adilabrar Adil Abrar
@moongolfer Tim Wright
@paulharter Paul Harter
Nick England (architect shares studio with Fiddian)
@orgicus George Profenza

If you are interested yourself please get in touch asap, either through our website or Fiddian direct. Ta.

We have just completed a 2nd Flash game installment for the Fire & Rescue Service (client: Meteorite) called ‘Hotel Havoc‘, the game comprises of 3 games in 1 and includes a PaperVision (3D) element.

Usually a haven, this hotel is now reeking havoc upon its guests. A fire is raging. The building unstable. And five people’s lives hang by a cable, in a broken lift. It’s up to you to save the day. But you’ll have to be quick, think on your feet, and smart to get the job done. The call is in…

Game 1 – The fire is spreading fast. You’ve got 60 seconds to get it under control and extinguish the flames. But be careful not to run out of water, and watch out for the wind!

Game 2 – You’re about to see how to support a building by using wooden poles. Memorize the picture. You’re going to have to replicate the structure in 2-minutes. Good luck!

Game 3 – There are five people trapped in the lift. You need to navigate the corridors and get to them ASAP. The only problem is, the lights are broken and the hallways are clog with smoke. So mind your step.

Sliced Bread Animation are looking for an experienced freelance Maya Modeller for a 2/ 3 week project. Must be London based, please contact us via our website.

We were recently commissioned by award winning MS&L (Manning Selvage & Lee) to create a 20 second 3D animation piece for the new Philips Sonicare toothbrush. The sequence was designed to give the user a full ‘wow’ experience with the product appearing to come out of the screen via the Philips 3DWOW monitor.

Philips 3D Solutions offers a 42″ autostereoscopic 3D display family, for professional applications, that provides today’s best 3D viewing experiences without glasses. The slanted multi-view lenticular lens technology affords full brightness and full contrast and allows multiple users to view 3D content at the same time, within a large comfort zone. Moreover, a true colour representation is ensured by the lenticular lens technology.

The images below provide an insight into how the monitor works, on the left you will see the beauty image and on the right the z-depth registration. The z-depth dictates how the 3d is read by the monitor through the light and dark gradient. There are lots of variables with the settings (with some basic set-up provided via the Inition website) and therefore some ‘trial and error’ required. The final file is rendered an exported as a .s3d file for use on the monitor [video clip to follow].

Updated video clip:

Great news post from Motionographer on Psyop’s awesome Milk commercialfor the California Milk Processor Board and agency Grupo Gallegos. What is it with Milk marketing work that attracts such quality work, first there was Get the Glass and then Got milk and now this lovely rendered and animated piece. Check out the ‘making of movie’ links underneath the image.

This is a study in the art of narrative compression. Each spot feels like fully realized fairy tale—and yet nothing is rushed. From the lush mattes to the tiny dancing mouse at the end of “Sad Princess,” each frame feels like a pitch board packed with detail.

One technical note: Scrub through the snakes-to-hair transformation at the end of “Medusa.” While a cross-disolve might have done the trick, the snakes are actually morphing into hair. Despite not registering on a conscious level, labor-intesive details like that are what separate Psyop from the herd.

Making of movies:

Princess’s Ocean:
http://www.florianwitzel.com/com/milk/

Ocean Lighting& Rendering:
http://www.florianwitzel.com/videos/Milk_LightingTheWaves_MakingOf.mov

Wave Rig:
http://www.florianwitzel.com/videos/Milk_RiggingTheWaves_MakingOf.mov

I wrote a draft post about this some months ago (see below) but held back until the release was confirmed. Now an official release has been sent via Kotaku, its now Ok to reveal that Disney are now releasing 3D games titles (with glasses) and we helped them. Back in the Summer of last year I was ask in to consult (for free!) on how to get the 3D (anaglyph) looking right, and in early March of this year I was shown the complete G-Force game with the 3D capablity. The strength of the 3D came into question against health and safety concerns, watching a minute piece is OK but for hours of playing time, this can be an issue (Disney ran a couple of focus groups to deal with this). When I was there to see the final piece I really thought the developers had done a superb job, the 3D was at the right level against the concentration of gameplay, where the cuts scenes also made full use of the 3D effect.

From Kotaku:

Guinea Pig sporting action title G-Force and Wii mini-game collection Toy Story Mania will both ship with 3D support, the developers announced tonight.

G-Force, a game based on the upcoming 3D movie, did have the 3D display on show this evening. Both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game will support 3D graphics, which can be switched on and off on the fly.

The 3D graphics used in the game requires gamers to sport a pair of cardboard blue and red lensed glasses and uses a type 3D known as off-axis, the developers said. The effects seen in motion were surprisingly good, The guinea pig lead stood out on the screen, enemy shots seemed to blow out of the television and the world felt more realistic, though with slightly muddled colors because of the graphics.

Though not the first game, by a long shot, to sport 3D graphics the game certainly seems to put a shine on the red/blue technology.

Draft post not sent [Jan 5, 2009]>>

Not a particularly ‘animation’ post this one, nor am I entirely sold by the trailer. However, I do have a little insider knowledge on the G-Force Wii game that is due to be part of this, where I know they are definitely doing an anaglyph (with glasses) version of it. How do I know this? Well back in the early summer of last year I was invited to Disney HQ in London to consult for a couple of hours as they were having an issue getting the 3D working. There are so many permutations to getting it right, and of the few projects we have done, we have always come across various issues – but the end result is always rewarding.

Its interesting that the anaglyph approach has become fashionable once again (remember Jaws in 3D?), I think it has something to do with the upcoming Monster vs Aliens by Dreamworks which will be the first ‘proper’ 3D release on their new-fangled screens (no need for glasses here). Apparently its based on the same technology as our ‘special’ 3D monitor.

There are no hard and fast rules on getting the 3D right for use with glasses (although you should ensure you have the right type of glasses), but having some knowledge on distancing and targeting objects does help (there are a number of Maya and After Effects tutorials online that can assist). That’s was mainly the problem at Disney, and thankfully the game developers had given them some tools so that we could adjust aspects in situ. Its a thoroughly satisfying experience to be able to pass on the (little) knowledge that we have and I’m sure the end result will look amazing. Although, I  am slightly concerned about people playing an anaglyph game for hours on end – but we’ll leave that for another day!

In partnership with Play, Sliced Bread have recently created this cgi roulette wheel for the Ladbrokes Online Casino launch. Animated assets of the roulette were supplied for the main website and online media campaign (Play did the lemur).

An update from our previous product visualisation showreel. Client work includes; Shell, Carling, Southern Comfort, Kodak, Sony, Manga and Adidas. A mixture of agency and direct client work.

At Sliced Bread we are big fans of Nathan Love’s work, see here for his latest piece, a Wizard of Oz spoof for Chips Ahoys cookies. Be gone you evil witch! Click image to view

We have recentaly completed work on another product visualisation piece for Kodak. The V1253 is a 12 megapixel camera with true HD for pictures and videos. The movie was used as part of its marketing collateral (click images to view), if you would like to discuss simliar projects, please contact us.