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Watch filmmakers render realistic CG on the fly using $14k of graphics cards
A new short film teaser has taken digital character rendering to a new level, making real time motion capture a lot easier for animators. While working on "Construct" (see the stunning video after the break) filmmakers captured the movements of real actors in a studio, similar to how James Cameron did for Avatar. Instead of seeing the performer, however, the director saw a ray-traced version of the animated character on his screen. Though heavily pixelated, freezing the scene instantly gave animators a clear idea of the final result, something that can normally take hours in post-production. The system used custom software from ray-tracing outfit V-Ray powered by three top-of-the-line NVIDIA K6000 GPUs -- not exactly a home setup. Still, it's not hard to see how such tech could eventually power ultra-realistic gaming, though at $4,500 a pop or so for the graphics cards, we're not there yet.
Immortal is the toughest raiding achievement in the game
This is extremely interesting. Guildox is a site that tracks raiding progression solely based on earned raiding achievements -- they check the Armory entry of your guild, and then add them to a list of who's toppled which instances and when. But they recently sent us a note about some overall data, and it's fascinating. Below the pulldown bar of the achievement listings on their site, you'll find an "achievement rate" stat. That is the percentage of guilds who've completed the selected achievement as compared to the number of guilds in their system who've completed any of the 10 or 25-man raiding achievements.In essence, that's the percentage of guilds raiding who've completed that achievement. And the toughest achievement in the game right now is The Immortal, which requires you to get 25 people through Naxx without dying once. Only about 1.5% of guilds raiding have finished that one. After that, it's Heroic: You Don't Have an Eternity (take out Malygos in six minutes), and Heroic: Shocking! (bring down Thaddius without crossing charges). The hardest 10-man achievement is the non-Heroic version of the Malygos timed achievement -- The Undying actually isn't too bad, with almost 20% of guilds having attained it.More after the break, including information on the easiest raiding achievements.
Guildwatch: Puppies can cause drama, too
This is Xander. You might think he's just a cute puppy, but no -- he's a drama-causing ball of AFK fury. A player in our drama section this week is the proud new owner of Xander, but the puppy caused so much AFK time for him that it rubbed his group the wrong way. Look in his eyes -- you can see he's got the power to split guilds and wipe groups at will!Lots more drama, downed news, and recruiting notices in this week's Guildwatch, which starts right after the break. Unfortunately, that's the only story that's puppy-related, but we've got lots of dead dragons and guild transfers. There's even a Blue appearance this week!
Raid boss simulator for Teron Gorefiend
The European Horde guild "Ferox" has designed a flash-based simulator to help assist with the Teron Gorefiend raid boss fight in the Black Temple. I've never been to the Black Temple myself, but according to Bosskillers, Mr. Gorefiend will debuff a random player every 30 seconds with "Shadow of Death," which basically gives you a 55-second countdown till you die. But your death isn't the end of the battle for you yet, in fact it's just beginning: four "Shadowy Constructs" will spawn around you, and as a ghost you will get special abilities only you can use on these constructs -- other raiders will be helpless against them.The flash game based on this fight does a great job at letting you practice the strategies to success, and it even makes for an interesting puzzle for people who like to figure out how to do things on their own. For those of us who are never likely to actually get to go to the Black Temple, simulations like this help convey a taste of what it's like to be there for real, too, so I hope more and more players develop these sorts of simulations in the future. If you want to figure out the simulator from scratch, go ahead and check it out; otherwise I'll explain the basic tools, and then after the jump I'll explain how to win.The constructs will spawn from the point where you die as the Shadow of Death countdown finishes. From there, they will make their way to the rest of your raid. To win, you have to kill them before they get there. Some of the basic controls are explained in the game itself, but the 5 spells you can cast as a ghost are not clear at first. The first and last abilities, "Spirit Strike" and "Spirit Shield" are useless in the flash simulator, so you can ignore them here. The important abilities you'll be using are the three in the middle, "Spirit Lance," "Spirit Chains," and "Spirit Volley" (which you can use by clicking, or pressing 3, 4, or 5, respectively). Spirit Lance will damage a construct within a certain range and also slow it down, Spirit Chains will freeze nearby constructs in place, and Spirit Volley will do AoE damage to all the constructs around you. Continue reading for the secret cheat codes to give you super-extra-strength and +1000 damage!
Versatile Palm Treo cradle crafted from LEGOs
While we've seen various forms of Treo docks come and go, there's just something magical about those those colorful, timeless blocks, and although we've caught a LEGO-lovin' DS fortress acting the part before, this time it's a Palm getting the homegrown docking station. Envisioned after simply not wanting to shell out the $30 to $50 required to purchase a ho hum dock that didn't exactly fit every need, the LEGO Palm cradle is a true sight to behold, and can at least handle both the 650 and 680 with ease. Although it doesn't sport features that are too far out of the ordinary -- besides the handy earpiece hook and "solar powered WiFi tower," of course -- at least the onboard watchman walks softly and carries a big stick Sony Clie stlyus. Best of all, the project owner took a few snapshots along the way to give us a bit of insight in replicating his masterpiece, so if you've got an estimated 45 minutes and a whole stash of unused blocks, be sure to hit the read link for your next DIY endeavor.
German robotics group crafts LEGO factory to build... LEGO cars
It's one thing to craft something remarkable all by your lonesome, but constructing an entire factory to handle all the dirty work for you is really doing something. A robotics group assembled (ahem) at a German "grammar school" (VHG) in lower Bavaria has fabricated a feat that even Toys R Us would marvel over, as the group's expansive LEGO Mindstorm factory was built entirely out of LEGO blocks, and moreover, programmed to assemble LEGO-based vehicles. Taking a note from every other major assembly plant in the world, this automated construction site feeds blocks from one end to the other, carefully pushing, pulling, and connecting pieces as necessary to completely assemble a LEGO car. While we've no idea how you'd even begin concocting this same masterpiece at your own domicile, nor how tough it is to be admitted into this apparently incredulous university, you'll reportedly need at least 2,000 man hours and €3,000 ($3,937) just to get started, but feel free to click on through for a lengthy video demonstration.[Via MetaFilter]
SIXAXIS + model airplane = killer flight sim
While we've seen some crafty folks turn a Wiimote into a mouse (twice), the engineering minds over at Zedomax apparently figured they'd offer Sony an alternative to that sure-to-be-sued motion-tracking gizmo it has "patented." Of course, maybe the project was just to show off a good bit of snazzy soldering skills and a horrendously slipshod computer rig, but it's impressive nonetheless. Although it can't take flight like the FlyTech Dragonfly, this SIXAXIS airplane can control the motions of a flight simulator (or other joystick-enabled programs) by actually maneuvering the model in the manner you'd like your on-screen, pixelated counterpart to fly. Moreover, the propeller even kicks it into high gear to simulate the thrill of the flight in the comfort (and safety) of your own room. While the list of hardware (and background knowledge) necessary to create this thing is far too long to cover here, you can get your feet wet with a Cubloc controller, an accelerometer, and about 40 hours (or more) of unused vacation. But if you're ready to take the leap into the modding elite, there's no better place to start than the read link below (and the vid after the break).
Swiss designers create LED-based assembly instructions
Sure, step-by-step instructions by some of the best modders we've ever seen can help you turn your Jaguar into a portable or stuff a Linux box inside an Apple monitor, but what if that newfangled computer desk just magically assembled itself as soon as you got it home? While we're not quite there just yet, a group of Swiss gurus have devised a prototype system that utilizes multiple series of LEDs that glow and fade based on user input, direction, and tasks remaining. Designed to be used on typical flat packed tables, chairs, and other forms of IKEA-derived furniture, the diodes act in "proactive fashion" and "adapt to each movement the user makes" in order to guide the assembler to screwing the right bolt in the correct location and in the appropriate order. While there are far too many specifics to get into here, be sure to hit the read leads for the full skinny, including a comparison to the often used "paper and frustration" method. [Warning: PDF links]Read - LED furniture assembly explainedRead - LED furniture design details[Via infosthetics]
