Anthony Bailey ([info]anthonybailey) wrote,
@ 2007-04-16 07:39:00
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Entry tags:machinima

New angles
Fotowoosh is a service to extract 3D models from 2D images, seeking beta users.

This kind of math is not new, but I've not seen it productized and sold before - seems to be a pretty exciting technology development for machinima-makers. Model asset generation is probably the biggest remaining expense in our medium, expecially films that want to be set outside the virtual world the engine they were made in comes with. (Seen at TechCrunch - the article there has a good pictorial summary)


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[info]zs_overman
2007-04-16 01:43 pm UTC (link)
Great find, I've been wondering what would become of this technology. Thank you!

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[info]anthonybailey
2007-04-16 06:17 pm UTC (link)
Something I didn't have time for when blogging it this morning: of course, as you can see from the demos and from using some basic common sense, one picture can't give you all of the angles. If one wanted to make all faces of a complete 3D model, one would have to picture the thing from various directions, and use some special software smart enough to join the dots. It's very doable, but another level of complexity.

However, I wanted to note that constructing scenery for virtual film-making is one of the few 3D applications that does not need a model that looks good from a wide variety of angles. If you know enough of your shooting plan, you can make do with something much more skeletal like a movie-set. (There have already been many machinima productions that took these kinds of sensible frugalities with their custom sets, all the way to using still images on billboards for backgrounds in shots where the camera doesn't move at all.)

So machinima sets might be one of the killer apps for this kind of technology (albeit probably not one that will slaughter thousands.) Find suitable pictures of a real world scene you want to shoot in front of, woosh them into 3D, and avoid having to get out the world-building hammer.

So, who'll win technology innovation awards at the Mackies by being the first machinima-maker to do produce props using SketchUp, sets using Fotowoosh, and animations using a homegrown mo-cap studio based on their iToy, then?

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(Anonymous)
2007-04-18 10:58 am UTC (link)
"So, who'll win technology innovation awards at the Mackies by being the first machinima-maker to do produce props using SketchUp, sets using Fotowoosh, and animations using a homegrown mo-cap studio based on their iToy, then?"

Probably Jantol guy from Croatia, one with Carnival video. I met him when I went to Dubrovnik earlier this year. He is smart and crazy beyond everything. And damn he will do anything for good scene. He went to war to make pictures he needed for something!?

Adam

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