I'm not even sure how long it's been since I first met Tommy Tallarico at one of the San Jose GDCs way back when...  Coming from the animation side of things (and knowing how a well-timed bit of great audio has often saved a sorry shot of bad animation) I was very interested to find out how the top folks in game audio went about the job of creating music and effects that make game visuals pop.

I remember talking and jamming with Tommy along with a wild assemblage of other game music musicians and composers, and realized that I was waaaay behind the curve in understanding the impact of game audio.

From there it's been many years of GDC's, E3s and not nearly enough weekends at George Sanger's (the Fatman  and another Game Audio giant) Project BBQ - the premiere thinktank for all things Game and PC Audio, many hours of serious and not-so-serious gameplay. After all that, I've come to realize that game music is much, much more than a mood creator - it is actually just as deeply embedded in the gamer's psyche as the game characters themselves, with video game soundtracks flying off the e-shelves of online music stores.

Tommy &  Jack are the folks who dreamed up and provide the heart and soul of Video Games Live.  And if you've played anything from Pong to Mario Bros. to WOW or are anxiously waiting for the next mega game release - VGL is a show that will not only take you back - it will take you to places you can't even imagine. And you WILL have serious fun getting there.

Intel has proudly sponsored several of the VGL shows - and I hope we will be sponsoring many, many more!

- Pitz

In this project we are researching an increasingly popular trend -- stitching photos from standard digital cameras into 3D models. There is a lot of interesting work going on in this area. One you may have heard about is Microsoft's Photosynth, which is capable of searching the whole internet to find different people's photos of, say, the Roman Coliseum, and create a 3D model of it. Recent advances in computer vision algorithms to register and align 2D photos into a 3D space combined have made this possible, and more and more companies are creating tools based on this concept.

Our researchers at Intel Labs China are working to further advance this field. Why is Intel doing this? Two reasons, primarily. First, we need to understand emerging software algorithms in order to tune and adapt future Intel architectures to run them more efficiently and in a way that can be readily programmed. Second, because this lab is a center of expertise in computer vision research, and they have some ideas on how to make these algorithms run faster and with better visual results. Here's a demo of the work.

Why do we think this is an important capability? For one, in the labs we see the increasing popularity of online games like World of Warcraft and virtual worlds such as Second Life as the foreshadowing of a transition to a full 3D Internet. However, many barriers remain to making these experiences as appealing as, say, YouTube is today -- they need better graphics, more natural interfaces, and ways for people to create user-generated 3D content with the same facility that blogs are written and videos are edited.

Photo-based 3D content creation tools such as the one from Intel Labs China are one way to simplify content creation. Just snap some photos from different angles and you will be able to scan a real world object to put it into a virtual world. There are still some hurdles to overcome, such as reducing the polygon count (if you view the video you'll see the result is a very detailed mesh), animating the model, and neutralizing the real-world lighting present in the source photos. However, these appear to be tractable problems and a lot of institutions are working on them.

The result will be that, just as almost anyone can be a video editor today, almost anyone could become a 3D designer/animator in the future, using real world objects as a starting point and morphing them into cool avatars or simply pieces of 3D art. These tools are already becoming available for professional animators -- as they advance they will give these artists a new way of creating interesting, realistic visuals.

This is only one of the cool things happening in Intel Labs. I’ll blog about them regularly to share more new developments and how we think they could help to shape the future.

What's the most annoying part of modeling and animation? What do you hate doing the most? What's the part you look forward to?

What would you like to learn about modeling and animation that no one seems to talk about?

Jump on and join the conversation - and above all, be animated!

- Pitz

The method I show in this tutorial is only one of many ways of modeling musculature. Rather than model an entire character out of a single subdivided cube, this technique involves connecting many muscle-shaped loaves within a torso template or outline to achieve the same goal.

Why try it this way? It can help overcome three painful muscle modeling problems:

1) It forces you to really think about anatomical landmarks of the body and how they interconnect (helpful both in modeling and animation).

2) The muscles will automatically have well-defined edges (these can be smoothed out and hidden as needed).

3) The muscles will have a natural flow in their most common direction of deformation or movement.

Do I admire the folks who can just sit there and model some fantastical character out of a single cube? Absolutely!!! But we've all seen those tutorials, and a lot of folks, like me, hit at least one point where we say, "how the heck did they get from there to here???"

Try building your character out of meatloaf just once - I think you'll actually find it's a fairly intuitive process.

And...as an added bonus... you can download the torso model to use as a torso primitive for your own work. All that I ask is that you upload your improvements to the model or show us what you've done with it so the entire community can share!

As always - please feel free to offer any additions or alternate methods by commenting on this Blog, commenting on the tutorial itself, or by submitting your tips, tricks and tutorials to the Animate This! Tutorial Challenge (http://software.intel.com/en-us/contests/animatethis/contests.php)! You'll win points toward our Black Belt program - and the 5 best tips, tricks and tutorials each month receive $100 in vouchers at www.gnomonology.com !

- Pitz

Check out Yeong-hao's interview in the Featured Artist area of the Artist/Animator site (http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/artist-animator/) to learn what it takes to be a professional concept artist and level designer from a real pro.

You'll also come away with some insights into the Offset Editor - one of the tools created by the magicians at PO that give this project its unique look and feel.

For you mega-fan's and artists -send your modeling, texturing, lighting and animation tips to the Animate This! Tutorial challenge (which will also add to your Intel Blackbelt points btw)!

- Pitz

Okay folks, I started out with an arm...and then got carried away and built a torso using the same method. So check out Modeling a Torso One Meatloaf at a Time...

Check in later this week for a companion tutorial to the upcoming "Animation and Muscle Morphs" guide.

One of the biggest challenges of character work (outside of facial animation) is incorporating "believable" muscle movement into your animation.  Notice that I said believable, which is not necessarily real. You don't need every fiber and sinew - just enough contour to suggest what's lurking beneath the skin.  It may be your character was purposely designed with tube arms, or very poor muscle tone - but even in those cases, a hint of muscle movement can add that extra spark of life.

To do that - your model needs to have a few thoughtfully-placed muscle and bone landmarks.

This tutorial isn't about building the perfectly sculptured Greek athlete - but it should give you the basic tools to go as far as you need to with your character.

If you haven't already had a look at the Artist/Animator site - check it out! If you have any alternate methods - or even additions to the existing tutorials - be sure and join our Animate This! challenge. Submit a "How-To" of your own and you could win $100 worth of downloads from Gnomonology.com!

- Pitz

Be on the lookout for two new modeling and animation tutorials this week that go, well hand-in-hand (except that hands won't be a part of either tutorial...)  One "Animation and Muscle Morphs - Using Blend Shapes for Muscle Animation" deals with using morphing techniques or blend shapes to handle some of the nasty creasing, bulging, and intersection problems that happen naturally during animation.

If you've built and used blend shapes or morph targets for facial animation - you're already familiar with the technique, but chances are you haven't worked with blend shapes for dealing with muscle contraction and bulging. Or, if you have, you've run into a problem or two.  Check the Artist/Animator site (www.intel.com/software/artist/) later this week and, as always, if you have a better or alternate way of handling the problem - or another step that will improve the tutorial - be sure to write that up and enter it in our Animate This! challenge. The 5 best tips or tutorials each month will win $100 worth of vouchers for downloads at Gnomonology!

- Pitz

These 3D "How To's" are pretty simple - one graphic to show what's being covered in the tutorial - and then a list of steps to make it happen.  Although you can feel free to add as many pics as you like or even videos, you don't need to add any at all (although, heck we're talking digital art here, so we like graphics :) ).

Both of these tutorials really cover the same thing - a simple character setup to help you animate eyes.  They're both valid entries though - since each handles the same problem but in different ways.

To add an image in the body of your tutorial, you'll be asked to create a folder on our server - and then upload the pic to that folder. From there, use the option "add to the editor" to bring the image into your tutorial.

The Bob3Dguy tutorial on Orient Constraints also has a neat little thumbnail image in the title - which is a separate option on the entry form.

One other thing to note - there is a comment on the Joe3D tutorial that adds functionality - or, in this case, takes care of another issue related to Joe3D's tutorial.  I call a comment like this an "Adder," and yes, it's also a valid entry for the contest and eligible for the Gnomology tutorial vouchers we give out  if it's one of the better entries made that month.

So go ahead! Submit away. You can even upload .pdfs and Word Docs if you'd rather not play with our entry editor.

All the best,

- Pitz

I'll be in the booth manning our Concept Art kiosk much of the time (Intel is booth #2217) stop by and say "Hi!"  But - for a REAL kick. Come and say "Hi!" to all the Dreamworks Animation FX and animation wizards who'll be speaking in our booth theater or, in the case of the amazing Jono Gibbs, actually presenting at our FX kiosk the middle of each day!

Other Dreamworks masters of all things FX:  Ron Henderson, Terran Boylan, Dave Walvoord and Andrew Kunz will be featured speakers in our booth theater.  Here's a short schedule - but check out http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-software-network-at-siggraph-2009/  for all the theater talk times and updates.

Quick update & time change: Today, Wed, Aug 5 - Jono Gibbs will be at the FX kiosk in our booth from 12:30 - 1:15.  Thurs he'll be back from 1:00 - 1:45. 

Dave Walvoord & Andrew Kunz
Interactive Lighting At Dreamworks Animation
Aug 4, 12:30
Aug 5, 1:00
Aug 6, 11:00 AM

Ron Henderson
Visual Effects for Animation
Aug 5, 10:00 AM

Terran Boylan
BOB - Breaking Ordinary Boundaries of Animation
Aug 4, 3:00

Intel Booth - FX Kiosk
Jono Gibbs
Monster FX at Dreamworks Animation
Aug 4 1:00-1:45
Aug 5 12:30 - 1:15
Aug 6 1:00-1:45

Hope to see you here in N'awlins!

- Pitz

I just watched Khang Le run through (and I mean run - he's fast!) his process for creating much of the stunning concept art you may have seen for Project Offset (if you haven't yet checked out the site - have a look)! Khang takes you from thumbnail sketch through a fully realized concept painting - and geez, it's all done in Photoshop!

The video you'll find on the Offset site - also linked to from the Featured Artist area on Artist/Animator (www.intel.com/software/artist/), is the first of a 2-parter Khang is creating, and, in short - it's amazing.  I learned a lot the first time through - even more the second time, and I could probably wear out all the bits and bytes on this computer re-running it and learn more every time.

BTW - www.projectoffset.com is a wealth of art/anim/modeling info! They also have a very cool contest running where you can submit your artwork - and...possibly have it rendered with the Offset engine! So definitely get over there and check it out soon!

- Pitz

We agreed that artists & musicians have a heck of a lot to deal with - much of that related to time.

Sure, as an artist your wife, girlfriend, kids have to deal with YOU - but not with what you're going through as an artist.

Artists HAVE to create art. It  isn't something you "like to do," it's something "you have to do."  Even very, very gifted artists can spend a lifetime mastering their art - but most also spend a lifetime learning and working a trade as well. As an artist, you'll almost always have two lives to live - but only enough time for one.

With a lot of luck, you may have made the creation of art your living. Sadly, most artists don't - which means sleep, a family life, any sort of normal existence, is out the window. If you're an artist making your living at anything other than creating art - you still create art - you just do it in place of sleep and everything else.

Some artists and musicians make enough money doing "something else" to buy all the fancy equipment they need to create their art - but they rarely have time to use it - even less to learn how to use it. I liken the equipment bought that way to treasure anchored to the bottom of the sea  - you can use it all you want - but only as long as you can hold your breath.  Being an artist, and not making your living that way, is very, very tough.

So what can you do when there isn't enough time in the day?

You can be organized (unfortunately this is a tough call for most of us with Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees) but necessary, and you can also make sure you're using technology that's so fast, and so transparent, that you can spend more time creating with it than learning how to use it.

I'm lucky. I work with some of the top folks who create some of the best technology for art and music in the world. I'll point you to it whenever and wherever I can. And when I hear great tips on organizing your time and life to create more art...I'll pass those along too.

- Pitz

Why?  Because mom loves the early stages of your art - the messed up line drawings, the noodles and doodles - exactly the way they ARE.  Mom is your number one fan...

Okay, love is not a bad thing. Moms are not bad things. But here's the problem: every great piece of art - concept, model, animation - every gorgeous piece of it - went through an "ugly stage."

Yes - truly ugly! I don't care how good your art is now - it was a sad, pathetic, ugly cherry pit once.  The weird thing is that it probably moved into that ugly stage right after an incredibly dynamic "noodle and doodle" stage.

And therein lies the problem - mom doesn't want those noodles and doodles to reach that "ugly stage," she doesn't want you to ruin it!

A lot of would-be great artists have, unfortunately, never thrown Mom from the train.  They came close - they noodled themselves into creating that amazing doodle. But then Mom's sweet Siren's voice cooed from somewhere deep within the coiled recesses of their cortex, "it's beautiful just the way it is."

Man - that is death!

Don't be afraid of the ugly stage. Embrace it. It's the portal to the nirvana of the best art you'll ever create! In fact, it's a necessary piece of any art you'll create.

The great thing about digital art - especially using digital art tools that have layers as Photoshop, ArtRage, SketchBook Pro, and others do - is that you can even keep those cursed noodles and doodles for Mom as a separate layer - and then go through the ugly stage right over the top of them!

No one else has to see the ugly stage - but damn it - you sure enough went through it!

And you can always print out the doodles for Mom.

- Pitz

* Check out Uwe Maurer's talk on ArtRage at our Siggraph booth last year.

Visit www.intel.com/software/artist/ for animation tutorials, tricks and cheats.

Do you hate it when physics and IK collide?  What is it that either keeps you up at night - or just gives you headaches during the day?  Are there any headaches you've cured recently? Give a shout out here - you just may find yourself with a voucher for a free downloadable tutorial from the Gnomon Workshop.

Also - digital artists - have questions?  Check out my friends over at Project Offset! Yes - there are artists at Intel - and they're doing amazing work!  They also just may answer some of the questions you have - and also, just may have the antidote for your digital poison.

Join the Offset Community (www.projectoffset.com/) and check it out.

Also - find modeling and animation tutorials, hints, tricks and cheats at www.intel.com/software/artist/ .

- Pitz

It also takes compute power - lots of it - and...it takes time.

I was an animator and digital tools instructor for the LA film studios and Mattel before joining Intel. I probably love teaching as much as I love animating - and more than anything, I appreciate the results I've seen when powerful tools are put in the hands of talented artists.

There are some very, very powerful tools out there - amazing software optimized and threaded to take full advantage of multiple cores. Animators no longer need to pace through a long coffee break while their workstation chugs through a half-sized test render with half the lights and all the textures turned off.
The hardware has finally caught up to the software. We finally have the time to fulfill our passion and do our work!

But that work still isn't easy!  It never will be. It gets more complex all the time.

The Artist/Animator Resources area (www.intel.com/software/artist/), along with this Blog, are places for artists to discuss those complexities and, hopefully, find ways to cut through the BS and get to a fix. There are many different ways to solve a DCC challenge - few of them will work in every situation, some methods will even break things down the road if you're not careful. So let's talk!

- Pitz

- Pitz