Animal Movement

As part of our 3D animation unit we've been asked to reasearch animal motion, so we can replicate it using standard primitives in 3DStudioMAX. Follow the jump for links and the like.
Once i find a host for the flash animation stuff ill upload my Channel 4 Ident and Personal Ident.

Pigeon
I thought i'd start with some thing simple, the humble pigeon. Nothing to complex, one foot in front of the other, with a head bob for each. Will move in random directions to get somewhere, very rarely walks in a straight line. For now, have a youtube link, but seeing as im carrying my video camera everywhere for the Video Production Unit ill try to remeber to film some in town or on the way to college.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_H5rUF6EYk

Rabbit
More complicated this time, the rabbits front "arms" move froward, follwed by as push of the back "legs". Reminds of when cats leap. No one owns a rabbit as far as i know, so heres a bad youtube video. Unfortunately rabbit walk cycles gennerally incolve humaniod rabbits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPOCaPs7oek


EDIT 29/4/08
I've since started animating a scorpion instead, for they are made of win and multiple legs.

Read the rest of this entry...

Work Update

Okay so its taken a while, and i still havent got some of my sketch books back, so ive rounded up all the digital copies i can find and uploaded them to this Blogs Picasa account. You view all my work to date (minus the Flash animation - need to find a host) after the jump. Also removed the slideshow widget from the sidebar, hopefully ill try to remember to update as i go.

3D Moddeling



Digital Graphics



Concept Art

Read the rest of this entry...

Lost Odyssey Review

I've always been a fan of RPG's, ever since i can first remember gaming on my old SNES. After being dissapointed with Mistwalkers previous 360 RPG, Blue Dragon, i was unsure of how to approach Lost Oddyssey. I'd heard good things, but the same could have been said about Blue Dragon, so i was a bit apprehensive about dropping £40 on this game. Nevertheless, i hadn't played a good RPG in a donkeys age, so hit up PLAY.com and within a few days it was on my doorstep.

Upon loading up Lost Odyssey, i was treated to a pretty awesome opening FMV which seamlessly rode into the first battle. It was fairly standard affair, with a system akin to Final Fantasy X's CTB system. After the introductory battle, the game slowly eases you into its mechanics, the most prominent being the Ring and Immortal system. The ring system is a reflex mechanic that allows you to deal extra damage, inflict status or even mug (all dependant on which ring you have equiped) enemies with a well timed hold-and-release if the right trigger. It makes the battles that much more interactive, with out making it an action RPG. The Immortal element of gameplay is like a constant auto-life on some of your characters, which means provided at least one person in your party remains alive, within a few turns any immortal characters will be revived! it can be quite handy in those optional boss battles.
Of course, the heart if any RPG is its story, and this a cracking one. I wouldnt want to say anything to spoil it, so ill leave it at its not a worn out rebel vs empire, or light vs dark story, its a fresh and excellent concept.
The game was desgined to be anti-grinding (except for optional bosses), so you are always proceeding, never hanging around trying to get those few extra levels to beat the next boss, which is a welcome addition in my book.
It really looks the part too, although sometimes this did cause a bit of stutter. Having said that, my 360 did RRoD about 50 hours in, so that may be why. It was a shame really, because all i had left to do was get a few acheivments then defeat the final boss. By the time i got my 360 back i had forgotten what i was doing and what was going on. Alas, i finshed it anyway, and despite the hicup, i was pleasantly suprised at how much i had enjoyed the game. This is an RPG, though while not as good as classics like Chrono Trigger or FFVII, is definately the best RPG ive played on this or the previous generation.

---

Game Log

Game Title	Lost Odyssey
Platform	Xbox 360
Other Platforms possible	-
Dates Played	3/3/08 - 16/4/08
Number of Players	One
Release Date	29/2/08
Developer	Mistwalker
Developer Loacation	Japan
Brief Overview	Deep RPG woth fresh twists on worn out concepts
Primary Game Genre	RPG
Secondary Game Genre	-
Tertiary Game Genre	-
Single Player/Multiplayer	Single Player Onlye
Typical Duration of Game	60 Hours +
Out of 10	9/10
Target Audience	Young Adults, RPG Fans
Out of 10 for Audience	9/10
Is it a Success	Yes
Why	Has flipped turn based RPG's on their head with and enagaging story and great battle system

Read the rest of this entry...

Advertising Geared Towards Gender

As part of our new unit "Critical Approaches to Media Products" we have been asked to find examples of advertising geared towards a specific gender. Follow the jump for five examples of advertising for Males (Females to come later)along with a short background and explanation of the advert. Ill also upload all that concept art and flash animation stuff when we get our sketch books back.

Click on titles for links to the adverts.

Male Advertising

LYNX - Click

The first piece is a Lynx advert, as part of there promotion of their new annual fragrance "click". It features Ben Affleck as he goes about his day, using a clicker-counter to count how many women check him out. And the end of the advert, a not as attractive male shows him his own counter, significantly higher than Ben's. It is also shown that this male uses "Click" as a fragrance and thus is more attractive to the opposite sex because of this. Clearly aimed at single men, this advert was shown in 2006 to promote the yearly fragrance, which was preceeded by "Pulse", and has been followed by "Vice" and the current "Chocolate"

Noitulove - Guinness

The Noitulove (Evolution backwards) adverts was a critically acllaimed advert for Guinness in October 2005. It features 3 Males who are shown to have wait for the entire history of evolution for a taste of Guinness, after having tasted muddy water in the beginning of theire evolution, following the "good things come to those who wait" campaign. This was aimed at men trying to draw them away from faster pouring lagers. Several variotions were later shown, including a variation for Guinness ice cold featuring a slighty different ending where the muddy water freezes the 3 bugs.

Budweiser - Wassup

This advert was aimed at students and aired between 1999 and 2002 and features the now cult slogan "wassup?". It depicts several young adults holding a fairly pontless conversation, and intergrating Budweiser as part of their life style. It appeals to the target market as it has comic value and the slogan has even been parodied in movies.

Durex - To all our Competitors I have been unable to find any information on this ad so it may be a photoshop hoax, but it is still an advert aimed clearly at sexually active men, playing down their competitors abilities to prevent pregnancy as well as Durex can. Features the slogan - "To all those who use our competitors products, Happy Fathers Day"

Setanta Sports Tv Spot

An advert aimed at sport loving men, featuring the attractive Thaila Zucchi and the sporting icon Des Lynam, it features straight to the point facts appealing to Men for its simple nature and appealing content.

Read the rest of this entry...