Patrick Tresset and Frederic Fol Leymarie of Goldsmiths  in London are taking NPR to a new dimension… ours. Instead of remaining within the confines of a computer / monitor configuration, they literally bring the computer to the table  by means of a mechanic arm. This is not only clever – traditional artist-model roles are upheld – but also meaningful. The portrait situation hits the nerve of perception and vision studies and I hope that future work will explore this more directly.

portraiture as dynamic process
The current portraits take a snapshot of the model, process this visually and transfer the results to commands which are carried out by the robotic arm. Note: this is my guess from the demonstration videos. This sidesteps two of the most interesting aspects of artistic process. Namely, the portrait is a dynamic process. The dynamic quality of sampling information over a period of time instead of a captured instance is an integral difference between photography and artistic perception. The model tries to hold relatively still and the artist tries to piece together numerous glimpses into a figuratively recognizable likeness. The discrepancy is a great source of artistic interpretation. I see this in the videos. The models pose, get photographed and then fall into the role of detached observer. They immediately recognize that they are no longer being artistically scrutinized. The tension dissipates. I would love to see this very interesting project expanded by a dynamic element, having the ‘eye’ continuously update its sampling, piecing elements together. The resulting errors would of course lessen the exactness, but heighten the tension – and thus come much closer to replicating portraiture.

one eye or two?

Another keen element of the vision process is that the artist (or at least most artists) have two eyes. While processing visual input the mind decides between the two, often reflecting human bias. This results in a tendency to ‘unfold’ the face, so that more of the far eye is seen behind the nose than would be possible from a sole vantage point. I often mimic this with mesh deformation or manually controllable rigs that allow a similar deconstruction of a character’s face. It would be fantastic to discover more about the artistic processes behind this bias. Can it be replicated by fragmenting the face into zones and processing scrambled viewpoints to reconstruct the whole? It would also be interesting to see what effect this would have visually.

Head over to the AikonII project site and check out some very interesting research. Its great to see NPR projects that get up from behind the computer and explore the artistic elements beyond algorithms. From their nodal structures and the sensibility shown in their work, I suspect Patrick and Frederick are well on their way.

What are you waiting for? Click the dragon! At yahoo (not my favorite trailer viewing site) there is an option at the bottom to view in high resolution, so if you have the bandwidth, search for it. This is another film I’m very much looking forward to.

Todd Alcott is a must-read reviewer for anyone involved in making film. His crit of Inglorious Basterds (here, here, here and here – oh, and here) will easily cement this opinion as fact. So its particularly rewarding to see him adress the animated classic Bambi.And of course, the crit (which will be continued) is a must for animators, even his first, fairly brief installment.

None of this should work.  And yet, Bambi remains one of the most charming, most beguiling, most arresting movies ever made.

And what the heck, a quote from the Basterds review:

Movies are lies that tell the truth.  There is nothing real about them, and there is even less real about Inglourious Basterds than there is about most movies.

I learned that the eye is not like a camera, but more like an extension of the brain itself. I learned that moonlight is not blue, it only appears blue because of a trick that our eyes are playing on us.

The eye isn’t a camera, says Gurney, it’s an extension of the brain. And our brains are deceptive little things. We are quite perceptive to reds and yellows – likely due to the perception of ripeness in fruit. What many don’t know – our traditional color wheel reflects this bias.Wonderfully succinct communicator that he is, James Gurney arranges the hours on a clock with similar bias. As you can see, noon is about 3:30. (Mental not to self: make a biased clock representing the production process with final rendering landing at about 6:45)

James Gurney is not just incredibly talented – the type of talent that reeks of endless hours of having repeatedly and thoughtfully executed every idea – he is very generous with the fruits of his exploration. Click on the clock to go to the fourth post in his overview of the color wheel. (Second mental note to self: BUY HIS BOOK!)

Sachform – makers of hi-quality HDR libraries – has now released their HDR viewer for free. Its a great app for perusing your hdrs and now at an unbeatable price.

In the aftermath of the professional debates concerning Avatar’s qualities as a film, whether its animated or not and how it could have been better, it’s humbling to witness how many people were authentically moved by it. This protest in West Jordanian might be easily written off as a curiosity, which would be a shame. There are true feelings of exploitation in the world and the film has hit a chord. What an achievement!

I’m really looking forward to seeing this film. Here he is, Sylvain Chomet – translated from French to German for the Berlinale, where it premiered. Stylistically, its amazing to see how much tact is used in integrating hand-drawn and 3D animation. The 3D isn’t hidden. Its integrated by finely pushing the frame behaviors and colors to settle into the drawn environment. Need to see this in larger resolution! It leaves me with a slight aftertaste that he’s pushed the flow of line almost too far towards polished sophistication. For me, this becomes evident in the behind-the-curtains scene where the singer struts towards center stage. That movement – as lovely as it was on its own – sticks out. Not to worry – no geek criticism will get in the way of pure enjoyment of what I hope will prove to be a masterpiece! Just…. when do I get to see it?!

Keith Lango has a fantastic eye for NPR, and for stories and characters that work well in stylized looks. Here he shows how he gets his 3D to generate nice boiling lines. As usual, he does so with a wonderfully informative presentation of the motives for each step in the process. Just… must npr be so painful unintuitive? Go visit his site and give the guy a hug. He deserves it!

Here’s another sculpting application, following in the innovative footsteps of the game-changer zBrush, competitor mudbox and the indy 3Dcoat. (sculpt by onim) What is very impressive is the haptic feel of the interface – this feels much less technical than artistic. Of course – its an early test version, but already very impressive. Kudos to Tomas Pettersson, from Sweden. I suspect we owe a lot to the long, dark winters up north. Check out his other, equally impressive projects and let him know you appreciate his openness!

By the way, I praised the aritistic feel that this interfacce conveys, but there’s no lack of impressive technical implementation in there. Check out the real-time mesh tesselation going on here, and the brush’s topology awareness:

Andrea Cau has a hand for precisely written scientific analysis that stands up to even the duress of google translation. He also has a hand for fantasticly haptic life reconstructions. He just posted a list of common errors that artists make when drawing theropods – all of those bipedal, meat-eating (and not) dinosaurs we so adore – errors that have a tendency to take on a life of there own as they are replicated by further artists with even less scientific foundation in their reconstructions. Akin to science journalism, this is a big issue – how to correct misconceptions without snubbing the public’s authentic interest? Head over for a dose of paleoartistic vaccination.

Many of my students are fixated on the film and fx houses. The explosion of animation technologies and creativities has only just begun. Case in point: generative animation techniques and corporate identity. I can’t emphasize enough how much impact this will have. Check out this fantastic corporate logo from okdeluxe. It combines (to varying degrees) experiential marketing, user-generated interactive content, efficient corporate design and provocative, meaningful print visuals with moving imagery perfectly minimized to communicate the brand’s function and intent.

Now think back to those flying logos that broke new grounds back in the late 80s and 90s. How far we have come! And how meaningful this new, flying identity will become.

The Japanese artist Minako Abe, creates provocative landscapes tottering on the edge between abstraction and photography – well actually, I’d love for that to be the case. Areas in the images tend to push them too solidly into the realm of the representative. But nonetheless, a beautiful case study of the effect of photo-realistic palettes and abstracted details combined.

This is from 1979, by the electronic visualization lab. Looking back at the works of pioneers in the field is worthwhile not just for historic interest, but because next to respect for the pioneering efforts involved it reveals the interests of those pioneers. There is no attempt to represent anything in the above animation… just pure exploration of the pixel. In and of itself, a refreshing animation in times when the word computer graphic has become synonymous with remarkably life-like synthespians.

Stéphane Grabli and Emmanuel Turquin are integrating the stroke renderer Freestyle into Blender – a fantastic project. And thanks to their blog, we get valuable insight into the issues they’re encountering. Also offers a glimpse into the difficulties of software development.

From the perspective of a vision scientist, I think it’s important to understand why artists have chosen to depict things in certain ways … because these are critical clues to some fundamental aspects of visual processing.

Read this… We often underestimate the way our vision functions, and what we as artists can learn from this. Its widely known that Pointillism was inspired by scientific research into light, so its a poetic justice to see vision scientists in turn learn learn from those artists… in particular, how they might be using “equal value” to confound the brain. Monet’s “ineffable, eerie quality”.
Found via the equally interesting Gurney Journey.

I was recently informed of a Dinosaur documentary focusing on – you guessed it – Tyrannosaur Sex -  and the thought of the talking-head paleontologist commenting on it in recent Discovery style generated some interesting humor over at the dinosaur mailing list.

It also made me think of the incredibly bold and fantastically informative Green Porno videos from Isabella Rossellini. Anyone interested in communicating science can learn a lot from these. Isabella understands dramatic tension and uses it to great effect here, contrasting  the silly costumes and giggle-assured sexual content with deadpan informational monologue. Kudos to Sundance for honoring these videos! And congratulations to Isabella for some very deserved attention.

Nothing about sketchy animation or animated dinosaurs for a change, just a simple heads up to an interesting and active blog: monophyl. Great links to recent videos and some interesting comments. Ilija, Jan, Fabian and Csaba just graduated from the Filmakademie and are finishing up their graduation film.

Head on over.

The potential of NPR is staggering, and one of the more promising applications of late is Sketchup. More when I get to it, for now I leave you with a… metal thing. Popping lines and bad resolution but… hey, it’s NPR.

- Do you see this tree, Colin ? he asked
- Yes I do.
- Are you sure?

Edwige Lelièvre is developing an npr MMORPG. As you know, I find this to be a venture well worth pursuing. Many popular games have been fighting the realism of their own engines to take advantage of stark visual looks, and the rare developer has even developed a dedicated NPR engine – Eskil’s LOVE.

What I like about Edwige’s work is the literary enhancement that plants her world on solid footing, and works well with the ‘drawn’ aesthetic. (I would like to see the designs pushed further. ) Head over to her production blog and check it out. I very much look forward to seeing this progress!

Visual effects houses can be the best, most fun and high-tech sweatshops on earth.

Lee Stranahan writes to James Cameron in a bid to raise public awareness of this issue that will – unfortunately – be nothing new to anyone working in the industry. I have to praise Lee for leveraging his own considerable reputation for this cause. Not convinced this is an issue? Listen to another industry giant Scott Ross.