What the man behind the curtain is up to.

Modular Character System – Feature Demo from Jan Berger on Vimeo.

This blows me away.  It’s got a lot of things riggers love plus what animators need.  I believe at first look it’s a strong tool, but may be a little unintuitive for animators to figure out at first.  When it comes to posing, scaling, squash and stretch, matching, foot control, IK, and FK animation, it looks like a breeze.  The rig seems so easy to set up with kinematics built in and readily customizable along any stage of the animation process given its modularity.

 

Vidiots Annex – Film Studies - Anime Mythology

Instructor: Crispin Freeman

Adolescenece of Utena

Synopsis from Vidiots Website:

These are elaborate and humorous Power Point-style presentations with slides and video that explore the differences in animated and video game storytelling in Japanese and American cultures.

My Perspective

I really had a great experience at a smaller gathering of anime enthusiasts at Vidiots Annex this Tuesday.  Watch this video to get a sense of what happens during Crispin’s energetic and informative presentations.  It’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what one of these presentations actually consist of.  Highly metaphysical and based on Jungian theories of archetypal figures and Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey, Crispin delves into the cultural aspects and differentiations of anime and western animation with clarity and style.

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