Two Things I Learned Today about YouTube

Item 1, is that the FLV files from YouTube are playable using the latest version of Media Player Classic as packaged in the Combined Community Codec Pack. This is a lot easier than fooling with a separate FLV player, and seems to give more playing options.

Item 2, possibly related to item 1 if you are that sort, is that virtually any song ever recorded is available on YouTube. Now, when looking for a song that's running through my head, the LAST place I ever thought to look was on YouTube. However, I ran across a site called Songza, and was using it's music search when I noticed that whenever it played a song, there was a YouTube URL being connected to. Sure enough, their engine just adds a recommendation wrapper to the search features of YouTube. Once I figured that out, I went to YouTube, and started finding all the old fogey songs I normally can't find. For example, Stevie Wonder's excellent 2 album recording "Secret Life of Plants". I will grant you that the version on Pandora is better, but Pandora won't let me choose to play it any time I want. Plus, with YouTube's licensing deals, I am not ripping off an artist as I would be if I DL'd an MP3 torrent.

Which is my one comment on all this. We are increasingly coming to a point where if you want to listen to music, and you have a decent internet connection, you don't need to own MP3s any more. We've somewhat quietly arrived at the Celestial Jukebox that has been talked about for many years. I'm not sure what that does to the iPod, but that may explain why it was important to morph it into an iPhone.

Alpha's Cafe - Finale

Alpha's Cafe Chapter 9 is based on the One Who Sees, Walks, and is Delighted chapter of YKK - Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (quiet country cafe)/ manga by Hitoshi Ashinano. Alpha and Sensei meet for the last time in this heartwarming chapter that deals with aging, loss, and the hope for the future. This is the finale for the Alpha's Cafe series, and features a full vocal track as well as musical accompaniment. At the end of the episode there are the normal chapter credits, and then a very special Series credits with images that weren't used previously in the series.

Alpha's Cafe - Chapter 8 (Crimson Mountain)

Alpha's Cafe Chapter 8 is based on the Crimson Mountain chapter of YKK - Yokohama Kaidashi Kiko (quiet country cafe)/ manga by Hitoshi Ashinano. Alpha decides to go out on a trip, when the weather catches her by surprise. There are no vocals for this chapter (that's the way it was written), but there are sound effects and musical accompaniment.

Alpha's Cafe - Chapter 7 (Moon Rings)

Alpha's Cafe Chapter 7 is based on the Moon Rings chapter of YKK - ヨコハマ買い出し紀行 /Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō (quiet country cafe)/ manga by Hitoshi Ashinano. Alpha visits with Ojisan for the last time in the series. A heart-warming discussion held on a moonlit night. Fully voiced and with musical accompaniment.

Why Software and Sucks go together

I'm gathering from a couple emails I got that a lot of folks are not familiar with the concept that all software sucks. Which surprises me a bit since I wasn't aware of that many folks who never had a program or a computer crash on them, or not do something they expected it to do, or...

None of the packages I reviewed are a total waste of time. In fact, if you're working a "normal" project with 2-5 characters and a similar number of sets, you will probably find that any of them work. However, if folks are ever going to be able to do real episodes and/or movies, then it's going to be necessary to do things like Camp Handiba with them.

At the moment, I'm going to try and do the first three scenes again in both MovieStorm and Antics. I will make changes to scripts and shots to actually complete the scenes, and then see which tool lets me get "closest" to the story I was trying to tell. I am also making an appeal to both user communities to see which (if any) can provide me with additional sets. Good support is often as important as a good tool. If I had time I'd do the entire project in both tools just as a full demonstration. But I have a lot of other stories I hope to tell, and those are more important to me at this point then figuring out which tool is "best".

FWIW...

Top 5 3D Animation Suites and why they all suck

OK, here is my review of the current state of the industry based on what I've been able to find so far. Apologies if this is a bit long.

For all packages I attempted to create the characters needed for my first three scenes, and the three scenes themselves. First scene has a brother and two sisters, one of whom is in a wheelchair (Scott, Becca, and Zoe respectively). They have just arrived in a modified van or short bus at the campground parking lot which is a dirt area in a clearing in the forest. They are also joined by one of the female camp counselors before splitting up. Second scene has Scott pushing Zoe to the main entrance of the lodge for this campground where they encounter the woman who runs the camp at a table at the front of the lodge. In the third scene Scott pushes Zoe over to her cabin, where they go inside, meet her cabin mate, and meet up again with the same female camp counselor from earlier.

First up is Google's SketchUp tool. Given the HUGE number of models in it's associated 3D Warehouse, finding anything you need for a set is doable. In fact, with the integration with Google Earth, it "should" be the ultimate tool for creating landscapes and sets. Ideally you could find a location similar to what you're modeling (say a KOA campground in the woods), double-click, and in a while have a full model of the terrain and buildings. Of course, that's not how it works. The search facility is very limited, and there are very few sites that have the natural elements modeled. And when it comes to characters or animating items, there's virtually no support.

Next is a "newish" tool called Antics 3D. This tool comes in a free and a pro version, where the pro version is $600. So my comments are based on the free version :D

Antics allows you to import items from Google's 3D Warehouse, as well as items in their own library. Their base pack of free items and the Google integration "should" give you a huge selection of sets. The problem is that to make their characters interact with the Google models, you have to do a fair bit of tweaking. And their character selection is equally as poor as Google's if you aren't prepared to pony up $4-$7 per character. Which might not be a problem for smaller productions, but I have 12 females and 5 males. I'm not sure even if I could afford that much that they have that many characters, even adding in their ethnic collections I would be a couple short.

Then there is iClone. Problem here is that it is character centric rather than set centric. So it makes it easy to build and animate characters, but finding props is difficult and/or expensive. Sort of like the inverse to Antics, except that iClone doesn't have a free version. Only reason I was able to test it is I had bought the previous version. The new version adds things like being able to associate a character with a wheelchair, but is a substantial investment to upgrade to.

Poser and DAZ Studio are similar to iClone in that they make the character side easier, but the set side difficult. That can be somewhat alleviated by integrating with Bryce, but Bryce isn't free, and finding interior sets to work with Bryce is fighting a bit of an uphill battle. DAZ Studio is free, but you'll need paid models to get enough characters, and even using the free models on the net will leave substantial holes.

Finally, there is MovieStorm. This one has my seventeen characters in full, posable and animatable shape as part of the free base pack. So already I'm ahead of the game. It also has a substantial set of props. Which turns out to be a good thing since it's the one tool that won't let you import models. If it doesn't have it, you can't add it, and you can't make your own.

For the time being, I am probably going to go with MovieStorm. It gets me the closest to what I want to "shoot" for the price I can afford. Given that it looks like I have my voice talent almost lined up, and have my music covered, I have to go with something :-)

Of course, if there's another tool out there that's free or cheap (remember, I'm not charging for the end product) that you think would do what I need done better, PLEASE let me know!

Alpha's Cafe - Chapter 6

Alpha's Cafe Chapter 6 is based on the Regular Customer chapter of YKK - ヨコハマ買い出し紀行 /Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō (quiet country cafe)/ manga by Hitoshi Ashinano. Alpha gets another surprise visit by Maruko at Alpha's Cafe, and the two of them get to understand each other better. Fully voiced and with musical accompaniment. Video below:

Latest Chapter of Alpha's Cafe

Alpha's Cafe Chapter 5 is based on the Two Cups at Opening and Maruko, Maruko chapters of YKK - Yokohama Kaidashi Kiko (quiet country cafe)/ manga by Hitoshi Ashinano. Alpha has just finished rebuilding her cafe, when she gets two surprise visitors. Fully voiced and with musical accompaniment.



Fair warning, this week's episode clocks in at 7 and a half minutes, so make sure you actually have time to watch!