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AT&T says Verizon's first LTE phone is 'going to be a fat brick'
Ooh wee! Verizon and AT&T are getting all hot and bothered over the forthcoming LTE battle -- a battle which much like the current map wars, you can expect to grow weary of in about two minutes. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal today, both carriers have put reps in the limelight for a volley of tough talk. For starters, AT&T's CTO John Donovan claimed that Verizon was jumping the gun with its first-on-the-scene LTE rollout, suggesting initial devices are "going to drain the battery like crazy, and [they're] going to be a fat brick," noting that "2012 will be the time when you'll have decent handsets." Donovan lumped on the hits by also saying that "Anyone who says their network is ready for the iPhone -- or the broader mobile data explosion that AT&T has experienced -- is being naive." Of course, Big Red didn't just sit there and take it -- spokesman Jim Gerace fired back that "No matter how much our competitors talk, it's not going to slow us down," though he offered no further comment on the insults' stride-breaking potential. Both parties were mum on just how fleeced the consumer would be getting once the LTE pricing plans are announced, of course.
WoW Moviewatch: The Way of Life
Nathan Allen Pinard is known mainly as the composer for projects by Oxhorn, but you may not know that he agreed to let entrants for the WeGame machinima contest use some of his work for their submissions. However, Firebolt Productions, the award winning creators of Acolyte 1.5 and Ugly Goblin's Christmas, went above and beyond that by getting a custom soundtrack by Nathan. The composer was so proud of his score that he sent in the link if you want to listen to it by itself!The Way of Life is another top contender for the contest. The story revolves around a man, Thord, sent to Northrend at a young age at the same time as Arthas Menethil. Instead of emerging a hero, he is resigned to a life of misery at a post in Menethil Harbour. However, one day he'll meet a young man, Caldor, that will change his outlook on life. Clearly in this contest to win, Firebolt pulled out all the stops with sound design by Caruu and a voiceover by Drewbie! He also used CrazyTalk, by Reallusion, for lip-synching. As a longtime fan of the program, it's about time that the World of Warcraft machinimators embraced it![Thanks, Nathan!]If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
WoW Machinima: The basics
(Dell is holding a machinima contest, which we'll discuss shortly. They asked me to write a tutorial to help new machinimators get their start.)Every day, I feature a video by some brave soul that dived in head first into the world of machinima. For those that aren't familiar with the term, it stands for machine and cinema. The literal definition is movies made in a 3D gaming platform. Using this basic guide, as well as the other tutorials and resources available to you, you'll be creating your first project in no time!Here is what you'll need if you want to make a machinima for free: WeGame camera - A free capturing program GIMP - A free image editing program Audacity - A free audio editing program Windows Movie Maker/iMovie - Free video editing programs that should have come with your appropriate system [Thanks for originally suggesting this, Bryan!] Read on for optional and advanced tools, plus additional resources ...
WoW Moviewatch: Baron Soosdon and Pinkhair win Synergy contest by a landslide
When I wrote about the Warcraftmovies Synergy contest for machinima three days ago, I had no idea just how close of a fight it would be. The results are in and it was literally a battle to the death. Baron Soosdon and Pinkhair beat Martin Falch by a whopping three votes, with final scores of 299 to 296. Over the next few days, we'll be looking at the winners and giving requested feedback to some of the ones that didn't place.Baron Soosdon and Pinkhair's machinima followed along with the Busted script, but there were multiple little touches that really made the film. In addition to weaving his 3d magic throughout, Pinkhair also used a third party program, Crazytalk, to animate the lips of one of the characters. Caruu mastered the sound, while he, Drewbie, Olibith, and Selserene voice acted. There are also tributes to the great Shepiwot, Drewbie's character from The Grind, the Robber Baron of Warsong Gulch, and the cast of Snacky's Journal. Even I played a part in it by ruining their PR campaign -- or so they say! Try to keep in mind that neither script was good, so the contenders didn't have a lot to work with in the way of variation. Now that it's over, I hope that Warcraftmovies will use a different method for their contest next time![Via Warcraftmovies.com]If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
WoW Moviewatch: Anasterian, King.
We interrupt your regularly scheduled Moviewatch to bring you this special broadcast from inside the mind of Gnomechewer. In Anasterian, King., he ponders what would happen if Anasterian Sunstrider came back. In the machinima he made to reflect Anasterian's return, he doesn't even cover half of the storyline that he envisioned. We're amazed at the level of creativity involved in Gnomechewer's short productions. We only wish that he'd focus on one idea and either create a longer video, or a series. With that said, his use of CrazyTalk as well as other advanced programs only enhance his work, which continues to make him a crowd favorite.If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
Cinemassively: Animating avatars with CrazyTalk
Reallusion, the company that creates the animated facial expression software, CrazyTalk, embraced Second Life machinima quite some time ago. First, they appeared at real life festivals, then they developed their own plot of land in the virtual world, and now they've created a page on their website that features the works of SL machinimators, as well as a tutorial. In the instructional video, they explain how to use their software to lipsync pictures of avatars, as well as give some tips and tricks.[Thanks, John!]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
WoW Moviewatch: How 2 Machinima, Episode 2
In Episode 1 of How 2 Machinima, Ian Beckman taught us how to chromakey right off the bat. This ended up being controversial, as some machinimators felt that he should start with basic tutorials. Now Ian is back with an even more advanced tutorial about lip-syncing.Episode 2 of How 2 Machinima focuses on how to realistically lip-sync your actors using images of their own mouths. According to this tutorial, you would need pictures of the mouth in various stages of opening and closing. Then you would study the sound chart, which Ian has linked to on How 2 Machinima. From there, it only gets more complicated, so you'll need to pay special attention to the video. I personally use CrazyTalk, by Reallusion, for all of my lip-syncing, but the choice is yours![Via How2Machinima.com]If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
Cinemassively: Machiniminute, Episode 1
Second Life resident, Juiceof Prunes, started a cute series of machinima tutorials under her "Pink Paw Productions" label. In the first episode, she focuses on how to get started with machinima. I'm particularly impressed with her use of Camtasia to prepare the video, as well as her easy to follow instructional style. She even uses CrazyTalk to lipsync her character's dialogue.More specifically, episode 1 gets down to the basics. She shows viewers how to log into SL, what program to use to capture, and what settings to use in both Fraps and the SL client. As the series continues, she plans to go more in-depth into the process.
Cinemassively: Hide and Seek
For those that believe that aliens are out there, things just got more complicated. You see, they're also in our virtual worlds! At least, according to Gary Hazlitt they are.Gary created a music video, Hide and Seek, about their presence in Second Life. In the video, they cruise around in several sims, Planet Mongo, Svarga, and Deakin University, to a soundtrack by Imogen Heap. If you liked the video, check out the medium quality version. To complete the shots, he used a greenscreened picture version of the avatar and filtered it through CrazyTalk 5, then filmed real shots of movement. He placed the lipsynched picture video over the footage and chromakeyed it in Final Cut Pro.
Reallusion opens CrazyTalk 5 beta to public
One of the top questions I'm asked about creating Machinima is how I get my lips to move. Second Life users know all about the struggle to make convincing lipsync dialogue in their movies. The answer to their problem is CrazyTalk, by Reallusion. It doesn't just apply to SLers, though. Any MMO Machinimator can use it, with the help of chromakeying and bezier masks.CrazyTalk, currently released up to version 4.6, allows you to use a picture or screenshot and map facial regions to animate them when combined with audio. They have been in closed beta testing for a couple of weeks for their newest version, CrazyTalk 5, but they just opened it up to the public! You can download the beta and use it until January 15th, 2008. If you haven't tried CT yet, this is the perfect time.
Cinemassively: Beast
Sometimes a video provokes so much emotion that you forget it's not real. In the words of Beast creator, Dr. Nemesis, "So far, facial animation has been very limited in Machinima. To get emotion across, most of us have had to rely on good acting, a well chosen sound track, and the viewers imagination, but not facial expression." In his current film, he uses Crazy Talk, Motionbuilder, and Sims 2, to overcome this issue.When the scene opens, you see two men. One is tied up and the other is yelling at him. As the story unfolds, you learn that the man in captivity has deeply wronged the other man, to the point where he has nothing left to lose. With each facial expression, punch thrown, and gut-wrenching confession, you feel his pain.While this is not traditional MMO Machinima, you can learn from the tactics he used. In the future, Second Life will be part of a hybrid-Machinima movement. Filmmakers are already using multiple programs to blend their works, such as MovieStorm, Poser, Crazy Talk, and iClone. As merging mediums becomes popular, I believe we'll see a whole new level of quality work coming from the community.
