Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Interesting Anime Software

Moved this post to here:


Thought it was a better place for this to live.

15 comments:

JMG said...

hell, enough already. I'm sick of technology. How many jobs will this kill? Sure somebody's current animation job will be made obsolete by this or they will hire a 14 year old who got this software as a birthday present from his mommy and daddy.

Surly Bird said...

I hear what you're saying, Jim. The Qumarion tool could be seen by the wrong kind of producer/director as a way of making artists largely irrelevant (as if that hasn't already happened). In the end, though, I see it mostly as another tool and as something that could speed up production. So it might make jobs (more technical jobs in nature, but jobs nonetheless).

Personally, I think Live 2D is kind of cool. Its application is very limited at the moment and I think it's mainly being used to make interactive manga for teenage girls. That kind of stuff. But it's really style-agnostic and could open the door for interactive comics on the web (using Unity or whatever). I could see this taking off and making content-rich web comics very achievable - which interests me.

What is also kind of interesting about Live 2D, in particular, is that it's only going to be as good as the art that's put into it. So good artists might actually benefit. If you make lame art, it'll be easier to articulate and animate than by doing it by hand using this software, but it'll still be lame.

Ideally, someone like the next Shirow Masamune or Otomo will be able to make a really cool interactive experience using this.

JMG said...

Just in the last 20 years, all this stuff has just gotten out of hand. They were still using Studio 8, 32 in the mid 90's. Just knowing a vector program, bitmap program and the ability to draw was all you needed for a pro job. Now 3d and video is a common use to high schoolers. I go back to the market "SATURATION" aspect. Once it's common it's no longer a SPECIALITY or even a profession. Then it's just a Hobby....like drawing with a pencil is headed....and that may well be obsolete within the next 10 years.
I used to know a skill and a craft that only a few knew. All that knowledge is worthless now and has been relegated to a museum or a history book. I knew Amine before it was called that and only a few knew that. Look at it now. And it's not even as good as the old stuff. And Otomo is overated, just like Miyazaki. my 2 cents

Surly Bird said...

Well, again, I see your points and I'm certainly dealing with the same reality concerning tools, the job market and general saturation. And I'm struggling with how I adapt and stay attractive in this new job market. I don't pretend to even know where all this is going.

Whatever stance you take, though, the cat's out of the bag and I don't see things reverting back to their former state. The tools will only get simpler to use and content will be super cheap. Its already largely the case. Can't go cheaper than free.

The reality now is that everyone from the old world should be nervous, not just the artists. YouTube and Vimeo and other technologies have largely killed TV and movie theaters. Radio and music companies no longer have much relevance in the age of streaming audio and awesome music production tools like Garage Band. Producers, publishers and studios are largely irrelevant now, except as holders of intellectual property. That's all they really have - that and legal muscle and capital to buy up new things that look they will be the next big things.

From what I've seen, the new frontier is mostly about learning how to leverage all this stuff to make content fast and how to make a living doing it. I think the days of a big studio like Disney or whatever are over. I think if you can master the fundamentals of business, then you stand a fair chance of getting by, maybe even making real money - but you have to be in the right place at the right time with the right tools. I don't think it's necessarily about artistic skill or having original ideas. Pains me to say it, but I think that's the reality.

JMG said...

All too true. It's all about BRANDING now. Doesn't matter if it's good, or right or better. It's about that stamp. Just look at that crap they are calling Star Trek....pure garbage but they have dumbed it down for the BRAND to make money. All you have to do is look around and it's everywhere. Corporate branding......SOYLENT GREEN!

MrGoodson2 said...

A guy could be hired forever being creative. As long as he didn't expect any money for it.

MrGoodson2 said...

I looked at the videos. I feel like that poser deal is something the developers WISH would catch fire and never will.
Like all that wacky , track my motion , video game development that they spent a billion on and no one wanted to play.

They were missing the point of the alpha, vegetable state of a video game player.

The mannequin deal, anyone already experienced in animation would look at that as the height of crudity compared to digging into a model on screen and animating.

MrGoodson2 said...

Might be good for comic books. I recently met a guy that uses poser and 3d model backgrounds for his work. And he's a talented guy. The poser models are painted into expertly and he's getting a lot of bang out of his tech. I'll find examples...
Poser assisted art
one example.
But for me, give me a guy like Ashlley Wood, got so many lost edges I may just be imagining that it's a comic book. Or better yet. Give me Marty Davis. That's comic books.

MrGoodson2 said...

More of the poser based strips

Tom Moon said...

Ick. Personally I think those poser-based strips look terrible!

Tom Moon said...

And I just looked at some Ashley Wood stuff. He's okay, but some of it does look a little too much like painted-into photos for me. I would rather look at the work posted by any one of our fearless TAG artists.

Rickart said...

I think we can all say objectively that those poser comics are pretty awful.

New tech will kill some jobs and create new ones. This is the continuing story of our economy. The trick is to stay one or two steps ahead of the curve and to be employed by places that are on the bleeding edge and would rather train the existing staff than hire a new one.

Rickart said...

Oh, and that tech has such a limited use as to be virtually useless.

Tom Moon said...

Very true Rick. Progress is a mixed blessing. As you say, new tech both kills and creates jobs. And though I frequently feel overwhelmed by technology, I can't complain too much. It gave me my current career. Whereas before I was stuck doing $8-an-hour T-shirts jobs, after the tech-art revolution I became a pretty well-paid computer artist. But I agree that you can spend so much time on technique, including how to render the best line or the smoothest gradient, that you never get around to real creative part. Then it's just a hindrance.

Surly Bird said...

Here's a link to a fairly good case-study of using Live2D and Unity to make a game. Granted it's a different culture and market (I have no idea how you actually play this game), but it's interesting how two separate technologies can be used together.

Konami, Live2D and Unity