Hey everybody, nothing new to release yet, but here's the lowdown on what's been happening:
TUTORIAL GUIDE:
A big reason there haven’t been any Civil Protection releases lately is because I’ve been contracted by Noesis Interactive to make a supplemental machinima video for a tutorial they’re making. It’s a short comedy that will be released as a promotion when the guide is closer to done. The guide itself will be on using the Source engine to create machinima the way I do. As it turns out, I’ll be creating most of the tutorial as well. It will be a video tutorial with me writing and narrating it. It’s my hope that when the guide is done, anyone interested in creating their own machinima will be able to with it. I’ll make an update here when it’s done.
MINI-EPISODE:
I was contacted recently by Machinima.com to make a short video for them that will be part of a collaboration video they're making. It won't be very long, but it will have Mike and Dave and it should be pretty enjoyable.
BIG EPISODE:
Work is still in progress on what will be the longest CP episode so far. Unfortunately progress is slow due to all the other stuff I'm dealing with, but I haven't given up on it.
POSITION OPENINGS:
1. I'm still in dire need of someone (or two) who is proficient at the program "Face Poser" for the Source SDK. Your main purpose would be animating Mike and Dave within the game. You don't have to be an expert, but you do have to be patient and reliable. Some knowledge of Hammer is also a plus.
2. Alternately, I need someone (or two) to work on the head-bobbing animations you see when Mike and Dave talk. Honestly, this is a pain to do and very repetitive. You need a lot of patience in order to do this, if you have obsessive-compulsive disorder you might be perfect. You do NOT need to already know how to use Face Poser for this position; I have made a tutorial that teaches how to do this. You probably will have to redo some of your work at first, but it is not difficult to learn.
As always, this is volunteer work. If you're interested in helping out, please email me at rscott31@radford.edu.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
April Fool Fallout
Wow, judging by yesterday's comments this was a winner for April Fool's. I tried to make something strange enough that people would realize it was a joke, but I think some people regard me as insane anyway, so who knows what I'm thinking. Since a few of you got pretty confused, here's a quick FAQ for you:
Q: Is Civil Protection cancelled?
A: No. Production is underway on what's going to be the longest episode so far.
Q: Will you continue making the Halo videos?
A: No. Trying to get 3 people online at the same time reminded me why I work in single player to film.
Q: Did you delete my comments?
A: No, but I held back the ones saying it was April Fool's Day to see how many people fell for it. All the comments are back up now.
Q: Did you stage fake comments?
A: No. Those are all by you internet people.
Also if you missed it, for April Fool's Day last year, I took down the site entirely and put this up instead:
Link
Speaking of the website, I’m leaning towards relocating the homepage for a couple reasons. The main one is that I’m making videos aside from just Civil Protection (though that will still be my main focus), so a different name might make more sense. Another is that I want to add extras like subtitles, alternate shots, etc., so more flexibility would be nice. Finally, everyone who’s helped me try to edit the website seems to hate using blogspot. I don’t have any definite plans yet, but I’m looking into different options.
I'll make another post when I have something to update, but right now everything's still in production.
Q: Is Civil Protection cancelled?
A: No. Production is underway on what's going to be the longest episode so far.
Q: Will you continue making the Halo videos?
A: No. Trying to get 3 people online at the same time reminded me why I work in single player to film.
Q: Did you delete my comments?
A: No, but I held back the ones saying it was April Fool's Day to see how many people fell for it. All the comments are back up now.
Q: Did you stage fake comments?
A: No. Those are all by you internet people.
Also if you missed it, for April Fool's Day last year, I took down the site entirely and put this up instead:
Link
Speaking of the website, I’m leaning towards relocating the homepage for a couple reasons. The main one is that I’m making videos aside from just Civil Protection (though that will still be my main focus), so a different name might make more sense. Another is that I want to add extras like subtitles, alternate shots, etc., so more flexibility would be nice. Finally, everyone who’s helped me try to edit the website seems to hate using blogspot. I don’t have any definite plans yet, but I’m looking into different options.
I'll make another post when I have something to update, but right now everything's still in production.
Monday, March 31, 2008
New Series
Due to an overwhelming number of requests and the amount of production time involved, I’ve decided to discontinue Civil Protection and will be filming exclusively in Halo from now on. To kick things off, we’ve a made a pilot episode for a currently unnamed new series, so be sure to check it out:
Youtube version:
High quality version
Youtube version:
High quality version
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Portrait
I was able to get access to a webcam recently, and thought some of you might find this comparison interesting. I've seen some comments for Freeman's Mind saying how my voice doesn't sound like how they think Freeman's should, well at I at least look the part:
It's not exact, but Freeman has about 2 years on me, plus he's fictional. Anyway, work is progressing on the next Civil Protection episode and I'm hoping to have another Freeman's Mind episode before the end of the month.
EDIT: I don't think I'll have a new FM episode out by March afterall, but only because I'm working on the next CP episode.
It's not exact, but Freeman has about 2 years on me, plus he's fictional. Anyway, work is progressing on the next Civil Protection episode and I'm hoping to have another Freeman's Mind episode before the end of the month.
EDIT: I don't think I'll have a new FM episode out by March afterall, but only because I'm working on the next CP episode.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Freeman's Mind Episode 3
Youtube version
640x480 WMV version
Well I've finished the project I was working on so now I'm back to work on Civil Protection. I know I said the next release was going to be a CP episode, but there's still a lot I need to do and I hate going so long without releasing anything, so here's the longest and my new favorite episode of Freeman's Mind so far. This one has a little more language in it for those of you that care about that sort of thing. Since the game Half-Life has unavoidable mature content, the episodes for Freeman's Mind will be around a PG-13 to R rating, while Civil Protection will be around a PG to PG-13 rating. I make no promises however.
For those of you still waiting for more CP, thanks for your patience. Multiple episodes are in production along with a cameo appearance in an upcoming Half-Life 2 mod. Believe it or not I want to get the episodes out just as much as some of you want to see them. Just because you don't see frequent updates here doesn't mean I'm not working on it. I'm kind of bad at time estimation, but I will be trying to get at least one more video out this month, so I guess check back at the end of the month.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Current Plans
Well I’m still not done with this project that’s been keeping me so busy, but I’m getting close. Since some people are wanting updates, here’s what I plan to work on or look into once I’m done with the current job I’m working on:
Unfinished Episodes: There are currently 2 episodes that are partially completed that I want to go back and finish before making too many new ones. I have plenty of good ideas for new episodes, I just don’t want to get too far ahead of myself.
Simultaneous Production: One of the animators in a previous episode has gone and founded his own machinima group, who has expressed an interest in helping to produce CP episodes. Since I’m already working with some good people on other episodes, I’m going to try and manage two projects at the same time, letting his group handle most of the production. This is an experiment, but it may lead to good things.
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: I’ve been wanting to play this game since it uses the same engine as Half-Life 2. I’m going to see how much material it has for me to work with and if things look good, I may start a fantasy oriented series within it. If I do, it will also be comedy and will still have Mike and Dave, but maybe as guards in a more medieval setting.
Freeman’s Mind: While the writing is more difficult and the format is less interesting than my other ideas, it has the shortest production time of anything else I do, so I plan to continue it interspersed with other projects.
New Website Design / Subtitles: People are still working on this, hopefully it will be done before too long. Thanks to all the volunteers translating and your patience with this.
Other Game Engines: I use the Half-Life 2 engine primarily because it has better animation tools included with it than a lot of other games. If I have time I’d like to research other options. If anyone has experience doing animation in other games and thinks an engine in particular would be good to work with, please email me with more information. If you’re at this site, you’ve probably seen what I can do with the Source engine, so it would have to be roughly comparable to that.
That’s it for now, It might take about a month before I have anything to release again, but once things get going, I’d say to expect more machinima from me than ever before.
Unfinished Episodes: There are currently 2 episodes that are partially completed that I want to go back and finish before making too many new ones. I have plenty of good ideas for new episodes, I just don’t want to get too far ahead of myself.
Simultaneous Production: One of the animators in a previous episode has gone and founded his own machinima group, who has expressed an interest in helping to produce CP episodes. Since I’m already working with some good people on other episodes, I’m going to try and manage two projects at the same time, letting his group handle most of the production. This is an experiment, but it may lead to good things.
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: I’ve been wanting to play this game since it uses the same engine as Half-Life 2. I’m going to see how much material it has for me to work with and if things look good, I may start a fantasy oriented series within it. If I do, it will also be comedy and will still have Mike and Dave, but maybe as guards in a more medieval setting.
Freeman’s Mind: While the writing is more difficult and the format is less interesting than my other ideas, it has the shortest production time of anything else I do, so I plan to continue it interspersed with other projects.
New Website Design / Subtitles: People are still working on this, hopefully it will be done before too long. Thanks to all the volunteers translating and your patience with this.
Other Game Engines: I use the Half-Life 2 engine primarily because it has better animation tools included with it than a lot of other games. If I have time I’d like to research other options. If anyone has experience doing animation in other games and thinks an engine in particular would be good to work with, please email me with more information. If you’re at this site, you’ve probably seen what I can do with the Source engine, so it would have to be roughly comparable to that.
That’s it for now, It might take about a month before I have anything to release again, but once things get going, I’d say to expect more machinima from me than ever before.
Friday, January 11, 2008
update / need help again
Well due mainly to a bunch of requests I've gotten to continue Freeman's Mind, I guess I will continue it afterall. While I understand it's not everybody, it seems a good chunk of people like it more than I would have expected. I still plan to continue on Civil Protection and focus on that primarily, but this will be nice to release in between the times it's taking so long to get a CP episode out. Unfortunately I'm not working on either right now, I have other work I have to take care of first, but plant to get back to the series soon.
In the meantime, I could still use help on the webpage for any of you that are familiar with blogspot. I had one guy helping me who vanished, and another guy is helping me now, saying an additional person would be good too. So if you know all about html/blogspot, send me an email at rscott31@radford.edu. Also while I was planning to do it myself, I won't have a lot of time to work on the graphics for the site (buttons, banner, etc.) If you do graphic design and want to help work on the layout of the new webpage, email me too. I may want to see samples of your work however. That's all for now, I'll put another post up when I've resumed working on the series again.
In the meantime, I could still use help on the webpage for any of you that are familiar with blogspot. I had one guy helping me who vanished, and another guy is helping me now, saying an additional person would be good too. So if you know all about html/blogspot, send me an email at rscott31@radford.edu. Also while I was planning to do it myself, I won't have a lot of time to work on the graphics for the site (buttons, banner, etc.) If you do graphic design and want to help work on the layout of the new webpage, email me too. I may want to see samples of your work however. That's all for now, I'll put another post up when I've resumed working on the series again.
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