Draft 3d Reel

Why Houdini rocks my nerd world

Epic trailer for Dead Island - Beautifully animated, rendered, directed and scored. without doubt the greatest piece of video game cinematic i've seen. Hopefully the game will be half as atmospheric!

Fantasy Funk Festival

Relaxing in a hammock whilst listening to a storming set from George Clinton and Parliament. I'm pretty sure life doesn't get much better.

I can say with all confidence that out of my illustrious 13 year festival career, Glastonbury 2010 was by far the best.

Too many good bits to list in my pezzy blog, epic in every way.

Perhaps i'll do a more comprehensive review once the post-festival blues have passed....

Sammy / Banks / Stooge - in the above pic, West holts Stage Glastonbury 2010

Another Hoo-Doodle

Proof of concept still. My plan is to do an animation where cherry blossoms float gently along in a thick, viscous oily goop. Early modelling and material tests. All done in Houdini.

 

F**K you Mini Babybel!

I must start by saying that I'm a huge fan of Morris' work; I've listened to / watched everything of his I could get my hands on - from the deliciously trippy Blue Jam on Radio 1 right thru to Brass Eye, I think the man is incredible. So to have your already high expectations blown (pun intentional) thru the roof with a film of such ferocity and sheer stupendous brilliance can only make me love Morris more.

This is a great film; funny, surreal, shocking, insightful and thought provoking. The lead, Omar is fantastic his determination, intelligence and charisma make him a very powerful influencer of his inept band of brothers - that is what makes him (and other like-minded Mujaheddin) so deadly.

The film is packed with unmistakable Morris dialogue which is so absurdly beautiful at times it just loops in your head all day long (the title of this blog post being an example). Everyone must see this film.

Also - Has Paddy Considine ever been in a bad film? What a hero.

Banks.

New Old Zbrush Tutorial...

Fun with ZSpheres II, basic use of ZSphere in ZBrush - for beginners only.

If its any use - please leave a nice comment.

http://www.vimeo.com/11431911

Banks

Hit Girl and Kick-Ass

Great film and totally not what I expected, the story was pretty standard stuff but it was executed with style. Especially Hit Girl, who totally stole the whole show. I know everyone is saying how great she was, but did you ever think watching an 11 year old go on a murderous rampage would be so freaking awesome?! Neither did I. Highly recommended.

Aside from the film which I really enjoyed, this was the first film i went to see at the new Vue at Westfield shopping centre in Sheperds Bush. At this moment in time I'm still in a state of shock, it was by far the greatest cinema i've ever been to, this is the future. Lets forget for a mo the crystal clear lenticular projection screens and razor sharp digital image; or that my £9 VIP seat was vibrating from the LFE and stunning digital sound. forgotten all that? ok, I paid £9 for all this - the local Hammersmith fire trap / flea pit charges the same! Other cinema chains are going to have to up there game, and in the mean time, I have a new default cinema.

The next step is to test out the 'Scene' screens which apparently up the luxury ante even more (the mind boggles), for an extra couple of pounds you have access to a private bar, concierge service, reclining seats and pretty much a gauranteed chav free cinema experience. I'll report back as soon as i have tested. Can't wait.

Vue Westfield - check out the 'Scene' Section