Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Surrender your gnomes to me.. NOW!

Update: My gnome hunting is going great, currently the (body)count is 43 gnomes from both EU and US!

Also, the gnome hunting got mentioned in WoW Insider.


Almost right after No Point is completed and released, I will start to work on a music video. It will be something that I've never done before.

And therefore, I need your gnomes!

I'm gonna be honest:
that poor gnome of yours is going to get killed on the video.. with style :)


Olibith righ there is an excellent example for everyone!

In order to get your gnome to me, do the following:

  • Get yourself a copy of WoW model viewer
  • Create your gnome in it, make sure that he or she wears the correct clothing on your realm (no custom mixed up sets or classes please) and has the correct face
  • If your gnome is wearing a headpiece which covers the entire face (for example the warrior t6 helm) consider leaving it off
  • To get your gnome to me, save your character in model viewer and send that file to me (using rapidshare, megaupload, filebeam etc), put the link to the comments of this post or send it as a private mail via YouTube, WCM or IRC
  • No level restriction on the gnome, lowlevel alts are fine
  • This is important - name the file like this: Nameofgnome_Server_location (for example: Fluffypuff_EU-Gnomeregan, Legolashunter_US-Magtheridon etc) - this is for crediting purposes. Yes, you will get your name on the credits.
  • I can't guarantee that every gnome will get to die in the video, but I'll do my best. The biggest issue is be that the new model viewer shows some of the glows & particles wrong which leads to mmmrggllgglgl with chromakeying.

I won't reveal the song or anything till the music video is released. The dying gnome thing is just a small (pun intended) part of the video :)

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Cartoonr + WoW testing

Warning! A very image-heavy post ahead!


So I did some more testing with Cartoonr. As it is free, it is a damn nice little plugin - but not perfect in all cases concerning WoW machinima.

Best results are achieved on still shots, without any faster or notable camera movement (though this can be fixed by tweaking the plugin's settings).

On the moving shots, some "liveliness" (in lack of a better word) can be seen on the backgrounds. I've still to try using both Cartoonr and Magic Bullet together. It makes the rendering slow, but the results may be pretty.

Cartoonr will not create cartoons nor anime for you, but it can give a nice graphical style to your video - when used with taste.

One of the things I found using Cartoonr that it's not recommended to use the same preset throughout the movie. This said, I am definitely not going to use it on No Point. But I will definitely use it on some future machinima.

[to get most of it, view in fullscreen - or download it here (257mb, devils fileformat)]


Speaking of which.. if YOU have a plot idea for a machinima (short one, music video length - max. 4 min) taking place in Grizzly Hills - lemme know. I like that area a lot and it seemed to work pretty OK with Cartoonr.

Post it in comments, if it rawks - I'll make it and credit you!






















Stop press?

Thanks to Moomoney, I got my hand on this really interesting, FREE (yes, legally free) plugin for Vegas (it works with other video editing programs as well).

The plugin is called Cartoonr and you can get it here (registration is required). And here's a video of Cartoonr in action.

What Cartoonr does that it cartoonizes your footage. Quite the same trick which is easily doable on Photoshop.

I just installed it, played with it and here is one test - the first picture is before the filter and the second one after.



I'll test it more with No Point: Stretching Time and maybe consider giving the movie a very interesting look.. we shall see :)

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Invaders must die!

My machinimaking PC has been invaded by spawns of Xenu! It started with a mysterious WoW crash, then came the blue space waves and now this..

Everything got deleted. All machinima projects and mp3s.
Even the murloc pornog-- oh, nevermind, I did not say anything.


I lied about the files. They are safe!

Oh well, I guess it's time to buy a new gfx card - if that is the problem. Testing and making sure tomorrow.

If it is not, then I foresee a huge delay with all machinima releases. This is the first omen of the apocalypse - next step is being forced into an airplane which is gonna be stuffed into a volcano.

"Shit happens" said the fly to the priest.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Fourth place!

Fourth place for To Home For Christmas!


I'm very satisfied with the result in the contest. THFC was the machinima that I spent the most least time making on - I completed it even faster than The Device Has Been Modified.

First place went very deservingly to Firebolt Productions' Northrend Wonderland which is made of pure, unaltered win.

Congratulations to all the winnners + honorable mentions!

See the full list of winning entries + review video here.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

On air!

I'm gonna be on WoW Radio tonight! The show, PUG, starts at "Saturdays at 3:00PM EST, 8:00PM GMT" according to their web page.

The show will be available later for MP3 download - put it on your iPod and hear me making an ass out of myself eternally!

Tune yourself in at www.wcradio.com

The show is over, but it will be uploaded as a podcast to WoW radio's site.
I'll give you a link when it's there :)
Thanks to TotalBiscuit + the crew for inviting me to the show!

Friday, January 2, 2009

First Photoshopping of 2009

Let's start the new year with some photoshopping!

I got the idea for this poster when I realized that I do not have a copy of "The Shining" in my DVD collection. Some oldskool DnB was playing on the background and it was -10c outside.


LE2 is currently a not-too-finished idea in my head. I do hope to get it filmed and done this year.

But in a nutshell, these are some things to be expected from it:
  • a gorloc sidekick
  • rickrolls to end all rickrolling
  • Pulp Fiction parodying (with gnomes)
  • stolen weed
  • introduction of AAEPD (Azerothian Anti-emo Police Department)
  • a great deal of information about Space Oniontology and things being stuffed into volcanoes
  • possibly a black yellow-outlined horseman
  • the gnovibrator kicked down to water

Releasing LE2 is not a new years promise, but my new year's decision is to greatly reduce randomity in my machinimas (which does not apply to LE2 as it's randomity level will be over 8999) and make them more solid.

2009 will be the year of trying out new things.

That said, the numbering of posts will end starting now.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

269 - Foreseeing the future

So ok, happy new year!

In my pagan country we have this tradition or occult rite of foreseeing the future. You smelt tin (no skill-ups) and then toss it into a bucket of cold water.

Things are produced and they tell your future. Or so they say! don't know what people in other countries do but you know the rules and so do I.


The first one on the upper left is definitely an epic 2H weapon. Melee or caster? Prolly melee since my main is a retardin. Whitelabel is currently using Cryptfiend's Bite - so that thing must mean that either Ashbr.. Astleybringer or Frostmourne will drop for me.

Next to it is definitely a shield! You see, I'm leveling a protection paladin too. WHAT KIND OF A SICK WEIRDO AM I? The kind that likes the sounds and sights of dropping and flying hammers who are never gonna turn around and hurt you.

On the upper right corner, there is definitely something. I think it is a messenger of Xenu! Which translates to a scene of a draenei talking about people being stuffed into mountains and blown up to create these things that I've been thinking of.

At lower left - that thing is clearly something that resembles a dragon. Epic flying mount incoming! Or a trip to somewhere warm. I'm actually thinking of traveling somewhere, the destination, time and funding are still a mystery though.

A PILE! THERE IS A PILE! That means many things - most likely it is resembles forecoming rickroll victims. Or dead murlocs. Or machinimas to be created.

But most likely all these things are just tin without any deeper meaning!

Now.. there is one thing left to do as the year has started.

p.s.

I'll be most likely awarding people with machinima awards. No, you won't be getting anything real for them and all nominees + winners are based on my VERY BIASED opinions.