Category Archives: Games Artist and Animator

Train2Game News Presale for breakthrough physical character animation tool

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DeepMotion, a pioneer in the field of Motion Intelligence, announced today that DeepMotion Neuron, the first tool for completely procedural, physical character animation, has launched for presale.

The breakthrough cloud application trains digital characters to develop physical intelligence using advanced AI, physics, and deep learning. With guidance and practice, digital characters can now achieve adaptive motor control just as humans do, allowing animators and developers to create more lifelike and responsive animations than those possible using traditional methods.

DeepMotion Neuron is a Behavior-as-a-Service platform for developers to upload and train their own 3D characters—choosing from hundreds of interactive motions available via an online library. Neuron will enable content creators to tell more immersive stories by adding responsive actors to games and experiences, and the service will free up time for artists to focus on expressive details by handling large portions of technical animation automatically.

“DeepMotion Neuron is designed to help developers close the gap between reality and digital representation by making high-fidelity, interactive simulation accessible and easy to use,” said Kevin He, CEO of DeepMotion. “By granting characters true motion intelligence we believe we can greatly reduce the ‘uncanny valley’ that has haunted those of us in the entertainment industry for over 50 years.”

The core technology of DeepMotion Neuron is built upon state-of-the-art techniques revealed in a research paper presented at SIGGRAPH 2018 by scientists from DeepMotion and Carnegie Mellon University. The paper applies reinforcement learning to the growing domain of sports simulation, specifically basketball, where real-world human motor intelligence is at its peak. After training and optimization, the researchers’ characters were able to perform interactive ball handling skills in real-time simulation. The same technology used to teach digital actors how to dribble can be applied to any physical movement using Neuron.

In the DeepMotion Neuron prelaunch, developers can register for early access and discounts. Those that back the campaign will get first access to the Neuron cloud service, personalized onboarding, in addition to receiving an exclusive demo package and free training time. Developers and animators can learn more and participate in the campaign at deepmotion.com/neuron_prelaunch.

DeepMotion Neuron’s cloud platform is slated to for release in Q4 of 2018.

Train2Game News 2D Animation Engine 

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​Midas Touch Interactive, a groundbreaking physics based animation and VR/AR interaction technology studio, today released its latest product, Midas Creature – a Directable Automated Animation Engine and workflow for quickly and easily creating complex 2D animations for video games and other creative applications. 

As part of the product rollout, the company is also launching a new website that contains product information along with a purchasing shop.

Midas Creature was developed by Jiayi Chong, a former Technical Director at Pixar Animation Studios whose experience includes working on many feature films, including Toy Story 3, Wall-E, UP, Brave, and Monsters University. Chong’s role at Pixar spanned ten years and involved developing physics simulation tools and engines, including simulations for rigid body dynamics, deformable solids, cloth, hair, fluid dynamics, and skin simulation tools. In his role as Technical Director of Animation for Midas Touch, Chong leads his team on creating cutting-edge animation pipeline and service, such as Midas Creature, that is made available to both internal projects as well as licensing partners.

“Midas Creature is the ideal pipeline for game developers and anyone else looking for a more powerful, efficient, and easy-to-use 2D animation process,” said Kevin He, CEO of Midas Touch Interactive. “The Directable Automated Animation Engine of Midas Creature allows you to create animations you might have previously thought impossible with key frame or flash animation. This includes motion like hair and cloth fluttering in the wind, as well as 3D-to-2D Mocap transfer.”

Video game developers and others can use Midas Creature’s powerful Skeletal Rigging and Animation tools to build, pose, warp, and bring their art to life. These tools are made to streamline the user’s workflow, reducing time and money spent while maintaining high-quality results.

“We’re very excited to have Jiayi on our team as he brings tremendous passion and expertise,” continued He, “which he utilizes to build and implement our next-gen AI driven physics based animation pipeline helping to further establish Midas Touch Interactive as a burgeoning immersive entertainment technology expert developing cost effective and deeply interactive content creation services.”    

Midas Creature caters to 2D developers of all sizes with its “Creature Enterprise” and “Creature Indie” levels. Enterprise is a premium offering that gives users everything they need to get started using Creature for their company and projects. This is the full-featured version of the tool and gives users a license for Sprite Bump, a normal mapping tool that gives 3D lighting effects to 2D images. Unlimited support tickets are included in the Enterprise package. And for first-year Enterprise customers, a Creature Lead Engineer will offer one hour a month of feedback on their projects. “Creature Enterprise” is offered as a subscription, renewed annually.

Indie is designed for small-scale development teams who prefer more flexibility without an annual commitment, while still offering product complete features and support for indie teams to realize their animation needs. The “Creature Indie” license is available to those with less than $100,000 in gross revenues in the current year, and can be purchased for $19.99 per seat for a 30-day license and to be renewed month-by-month. Committed to inspiring young and aspiring creative developers, Midas Touch is also offering students a version of Midas Creature that allows them (with proof of enrollment/student ID) to use the tool free for one month.

Midas Creature is a blend of traditional tools and new technologies. Both premium levels will have comprehensive customer support to aid user needs.  Early adopters have used Midas Creature and seen positive benefits, including a 10x increase in speed of art pipeline performance (source PlayStudios).

Midas Creature is available at the shop page: http://www.creature.midasphysics.com/shop

Train2Game News Student looking to swap the broom for the paintbrush

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Michael Bird is a supervisor at an industrial cleaning firm but his dream is to ditch the cleaning and move into creating art in videogames

Since finishing the Art and Animation course with Train2Game Michael – who is 41 and lives in Kettering – has been on the hunt for a job in games but not had any luck so far. He firmly believes that given the first chance at a studio, he could develop into a great asset for any company.

Michael is from a family of artists, his father is a traditional artist and his mother is a colourist. Michael trained in sculpture and art before moving into video games.

He had a really positive experience with Train2Game and now wants to go professional. He’s now contributing to student studios and also created his own website to show off his work.

‘My name is Michael Bird I am an Artist, Animator. I have spent the last five years or so dedicating my creativeness to the gaming world with the dream of one day being able to work within a gaming studio and help make the games that are yet to come.’

‘I finished my Train2Game course in May last year. I would say that the overall experience with Train2Game was good; they always tried their best to help me with any issues or problem that I may have had. They wouldn’t tell me how to do it instead they would guide me in the right direction so you would end up learning what I needed to know myself, in truth I saw this as a better way to find the solution to whatever it was that I needed help with.’

‘I got into gaming art as a sort of natural progression to being a traditional artist as in using pencil, paints and clay. All my life I have been playing video games, from the modern masterpieces of today right the way back to the originals like Pong and Pac-Man, and everything in-between. It has always plagued my mind as to how it was done; those images that you see on the screen that excite the eye and make you want to play more. How do they do it, how I would love to find out and maybe see if I could do the same. It wasn’t until I got the flyer from Train2Game that I saw my chance to follow the dream of learning how to make what I had seen on the screen. So the opportunity that was presented was taken and I ran with it to a new horizon that has beckoned me for so long.’
 
‘Working with sculpture,  I think that it has helped me immensely as most of the time with gaming art you have to think in three dimensions as you would do when you sculpt. You get to understand movement, structure and how something should look from all sides. It’s like a 360 degree canvas where every point has to look right from every angle. So really what I create within a computer is just a digital version of what I would create in clay.’

‘To create something out of nothing never gets old to me be it stills or animation, they are both as exciting as each other. If a had to choose then it would have to be stills. More to the point of the environment and the props that populate it is it internal or external. . To create a beautiful game you need to create a beautiful environment to play that game in. You could create the best most iconic character in the world with the most stunning and realistic animation ever but if the gaming environment they live in isn’t believable then it will never work.’

‘Both my parents are artists in their own right. My father is a traditional artist where as my mother is more of a colourist. At first they thought I wasn’t serious but as time progressed they began to see that this was something that I craved with every ounce of my being. Sometimes they would say I should get a proper boring job and forget my dream but it never deterred me from this path to my true calling.’
 
‘I would love to say that my art is my job but unfortunately that is not the case yet. Despite the constant application for art positions within the gaming industry I have so far been unsuccessful in my efforts. All I want and need is that one person to take that chance on me. In the meantime bills have to be paid so I am a supervisor for an industrial cleaning company, but when I’m not working there I’m always creating pieces for my website michaelbird74.com it’s there to showcase my work for any potential employers.’
 
‘The last piece that I have only just finished was a Private Detective’s Office set in the style of 30’s America. It was more a case of being able to show that can create an interior set piece and fill it with relevant props and create the right mood with the lighting and textures. Since then I have two projects that will be starting on, one will be a Deep Forest Ruins scene and the other will be a Derelict Lighthouse. I haven’t decided which one I will start first so you will just have to wait and see by checking out the Work in Progress on my website.’
 
‘I think that Train2Game has taught me apart from the skills that I will need to fulfil my dreams, something that I will never stop learning as you can never know everything. Also I would say that they taught me to never give up no matter how hard and stressful it can get, there’s always a way to figure something out and make it better than you thought which in turn makes you better at what you do.’

‘What can I offer a professional studio? That is a difficult question as I could just put the usual things like my skills, my passion for gaming and so forth. In truth all I can offer is myself and what I have learnt from my life experience. How I see the world around me, how I have played so many games in my lifetime that they have all influenced the way I create my art, I have seen how the industry has grown and developed over the years to give me the foundation that has helped me to the stage that I am now. I have followed the way gaming itself has changed with the technology and it has made me realise that I can create anything and everything that I ever thought possible within a game as well as some that I could never have dreamed of. Just to have that power at my fingertips fills me with excitement and a driven determination to be the best gaming artist I can be. That’s what I can offer a professional studio, sounds a bit cheesy I know but it’s the best way I can describe it.’ 

‘In truth there is no one studio that I would like to work for or with, for me it’s all about creating beautiful game art, be it for a mobile, handheld or a AAA title. When I’m playing a game all I can think about is I really want to be the guy who build that, the guy who will spend hour after hour to get it looking and acting right so it fit the game. I often study the screen to figure out how they did it and see how I would go about creating it.’
 
‘I would say that my long term aims are to keep creating more and more stunning work, to learn new skills and improve what I already have, To maybe end up being a senior artist within a studio, that would be nice but for a start I just want to get my foot through the door and then see where it takes me. I will never stop doing what I love doing at the end of the day I’m an artist and the desire to create, build, sculpt, paint and draw will only die when I do. Being a videogame artist is where I see myself and I will do everything I possibly can to get there.’

Found out more about Michael’s work at michaelbird74.com

Train2Game, bringing City & Guilds to the Games Industry
Train2Game is a proud supporter of www.plasisgamesportal.com and www.gamatier.com

Train2Game News Design an Adventure Time character

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World-wide video game publisher, Little Orbit, announces a “Design an Adventure Time Character Contest” and challenges fans of the hit Cartoon Network series to create their very own Adventure Time character with the winning design appearing in the next soon-to-be-announced Adventure Time console video game.

Beginning January 27th, fans can submit their artwork and short character description, for a shot at joining Finn, Jake, Princess Bubblegum, Marceline, Ice King and all their favorite Adventure Time characters on their next epic video game adventure.

WHAT: Design a new Adventure Time character for the next soon-to-be announced Adventure Time video game published by Little Orbit.

WHEN: January 27, 2015 – February 17, 2015

GRAND PRIZE: The winning design will appear in the next Adventure Time video game!

HOW: Email your design in a .jpg file no larger than 5MB to atcontest@littleorbit.com and include name, birth date (must be 13 years or older to win), address, phone number, email address and a two sentence character description. You must be a legal resident of the United States to be eligible. The winning character and artist will be announced on the Little Orbit Facebook page in early March.

For complete details and contest rules, please visit http://www.littleorbit.com/atcontest.html

Train2Game News Versatile student finds home at T2G

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Student who tried many careers finds Train2Game is the place where he can accomplish his life’s ambition to work in the Games Industry You name it, he’s tried it.

James Hardman has attempted many directions in his life: Seven years in Education, Franchise Manager, The Navy, Tattoo Artist, Events, Bank Employee and many more. But he’s finally found where he belongs, creating creatures and art in the Games Industry.

It has been an interesting journey for the 30 year old who has roots in Prussia and Egypt. James Hardman has tried everything to get a job and a career that he enjoys, but it took him a great deal of time and effort to find his ideal arena of employment.  Working in hotels, events and working in data processing in a bank. He tried work experience with Jenny Clarke Design Ltd as a Flash Tattoo artist and Aphelio Ltd as a Creature Designer (3 month unpaid internship). He tried to join the Navy and also trained as a franchise manager.

Since birth he’s loved gaming but struggled to make it his career. After many attempts in other directions it was when he joined Trai2Game that he rediscovered his love of gaming and found the passion to get into games.

“To enter the game industry is more than a job to me; it’s a sense of identity and my place in life. I noticed through each job role generates a certain type of person. I am specific type of individual needing to be a specific type of environment to really take off. I feel mis-understood in many job roles due to my style of thinking and how I approach subjects to produce solutions.

It is really important to me to around great people who support each other and understand each other without constant questioning of one’s self. I’ve had seven years in education and two at T2G. Proving it’s not just qualifications but you also need experience, that is why I am now looking to work and gain experience in art.”

“My experience with Train2Game has been the best course I’ve entered. The course not also teaches essential techniques but provides many opportunities of job placements. Also get your name out there. The course itself already has done so much for me, I am forever grateful. They have really improved my self-esteem and I can see hope finally. The content is up to date and explains all vital processes very clearly.”

James is now completing his studies with Train2Game and looking for an internship/employment at a games studio. James is a great conversation; ask him about his roots in a country that no longer exists or how he created an energy loop that he was going to build with a team of Belgian Nuclear Physicists.

You can find James on the Train2Game Forum or reach him through the Train2Game blog.

Train2Game News Student offering her artistic skills

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LUC52101Train2Game Student and three time game jam winner, Chloe Martin is offering her artistic skills and knowledge to those in need.

Chloe is on the art and animation course and was previously a member of Digital Mage, along with my self, who were featured at The Gadget Show Live in 2012 as part of the Make Something Unreal Live contest sponsored by Epic Games.

After her continued success through previous game jams Train2Game invited her to be a mentor at the last game jam in April which she did an excellent job as. Using her knowledge and talents to help new students.

She is now looking to update and improve her portfolio by offering to help other Train2Game students with their coursework or any projects they may be working on. Chloe is a highly talented artist and will be a huge asset to your work.

Chloe is primarily a 2D artist but also can do 3D work if need be, dependant on what you are looking for in your project or coursework. This will be something she will be doing in her own spare time as she does have a full time job and is continuing to study on her own course.

You can find samples of her work on the forum by following this link: http://www.forum.train2game.com/album.php?albumid=485

This is just a very small fraction of the work she can do and she will provide more examples on request.

If you are interested and want to contact Chloe you can email her at booya127@live.co.uk

Train2Game News Visual Effects and Animation Festival

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BFXVisual Effects and Animation Festival returns to Bournemouth UK for 2014
The BFX Festival returns to Bournemouth this summer to celebrate British talent and creativity in animation, computer games and visual effects and inspire the next generation of people to enter the booming industries.

Last year’s BFX Festival was a fantastic celebration of visual effects, animation and games and this year’s event is aiming to build that success, with experts and enthusiasts from across the UK and beyond presenting an amazing selection of material and leading a range of Festival activities that will appeal to all.

Tickets are now on sale for the Festival, which will take place across four days from 24-28 September 2014, hosted at the Bournemouth International Centre.

Talks featuring movie titles such as The Lego Movie, Gravity, Maleficent, Godzilla, Guardians of the Galaxy and The Edge of Tomorrow will be on offer, giving delegates an insight into the range and quality of visual effects needed to create such blockbusters. Legendary computer games, such as the new instalment of Elite from Frontier Developments, called Elite: Dangerous will also be presented.

As well as talks from industry experts on some of this year’s best VFX and animation there will also be a large concept art exhibition direct from the vaults of Walt Disney Animation Studios and Walt Disney Pictures; featuring concept artwork from the movies Sleeping Beauty and Maleficent.

A series of workshops will be available for those wishing to explore animation and VFX techniques further and a number of family activities are also on offer, including children’s animation workshops and public cinema screenings. Talks and workshops have been created with all levels of expertise and knowledge in mind, and the Festival is open for all members of the public to attend.

The Festival is being organised by the International VFX Hub; a collaboration between the award-winning National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA) at Bournemouth University and the Faculty of Media and Performance at the Arts University Bournemouth (AUB).

Sofronis Efstathiou, Senior Lecturer at Sofronis Efstathiou and the BFX Festival Director said, “We are delighted to be hosting the second BFX Festival this year and to celebrate the best VFX and animation in the world. There is truly something for everyone; from industry experts to hobbyists, animators to technical directors. Come and learn more about this amazing industry and the hard work that goes into creating some of your favourite movies and computer games.”

Companies such as Animal Logic, Framestore, Double Negative, The Mill and MPC will be speaking at the Festival, along with Festival partners The Foundry, Chaos Group, Next Limit and AMD.

At the heart of the Festival is the BFX competition – where students from around the country will be competing to create the best animation and visual effect from a selection of briefs and screenplays given to them. The competition, which is held on Bournemouth University’s and Arts University Bournemouth campus, replicates a film studio with participants working in groups of up to six to create a short visual effects or animation sequence. Teams are mentored throughout by industry practitioners, with a panel of industry judges picking the winning team and awarding prizes.

The competition is currently underway, with teams from 10 higher education institutions taking part, competing for a variety of award and prizes across a number of categories, with winners due to be announced during the Festival itself.

Tickets for the BFX Festival can be purchased on Eventbrite with Early Bird discounts available.

More information about the BFX Festival (including ticketing), and the BFX Competition, can be found at www.bfxfestival.com.

Train2Game News Artist required for Student Studio

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Train2GameTrain2Game Student Liam Young is on the developer course and is just getting his own studio off the ground but requires an artist.

Liam is covering all the design and development side of the company himself but requires a talented artist to turn some concept art into in game assets and he is prepared to pay the right person for the work they do.

The right person would not be taken on as an employee of the company but would receive full credit for the work that is done for the game further helping the portfolio and CV of the decided on artist.

It is important you be a dedicated worker and reach a mutually agreed upon deadline at a satisfactory level of quality.

If you are interested in helping Liam with his work you can get in touch with him by emailing lyoung536@yahoo.co.uk

You can view the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ZombieBoffinStudioLtd

and the twitter page at https://twitter.com/ZombieBoffinLtd

Train2Game News Organic Motion improves MoCap Market

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Organic MotionOrganic Motion has taken another giant step forward in the motion capture market with their release of OpenStage 2.4.

In addition to multiple usability features added to the product, OpenStage 2.4 boasts a real-time frame capture rate of 120fps; double its previous mark of 60fps. The increase in frame rate means a substantial increase in tracking quality for users of OpenStage 2.4. Quicker character actions, such as kicking, punching or swinging a golf club now track better than ever. Brent George, professional animator and beta tester of OpenStage 2.4, has already recognized a noticeable improvement.

“At 60fps, OpenStage drastically improved the efficiency of my motion capture pipeline. The increase in frame rate opens up even more possibilities to further leverage OpenStage to save money and improve overall animation quality.”

In addition to animation, the upgrade also substantially impacts the system’s versatility within life sciences.  Dynamic Athletics, an Organic Motion partner and the leader in the application of 3D motion capture in human performance and musculoskeletal health, is excited at the possibilities that exist with OpenStage 2.4.
“The advancements that Organic Motion has made with version 2.4 allows the applications of motion capture to expand into new arenas.” explained Patrick Moodie, Chief of Science and Co-Founder of Dynamic Athletics. “At DARI, collections start with simple movements and progress to the more complex. From golf swings to pitching motions, the possibilities with OpenStage 2.4 are now endless.”

In an effort to allow everyone to witness the new features of OpenStage 2.4 live, Organic Motion will be hosting an online live demonstration from their headquarters in Manhattan on July 15th at 2pm ET. Those interested may register via the following link – Organic Motion Live Online Demo Registration.

Train2Game News Autodesk drops price of Maya LT 2015

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Maya LT 2015The 2015 edition of Maya LT has seen its price slashed by $20, making it more affordable to indie devs.

The animation and modelling software from Autodesk is now available for $30 per month, down from $50 – which, the company points out, is less than a dollar per day. Unless you’re in February, of course. In the UK, it now costs £25 per month.

Maya LT was first launched as an entry-level version of Maya, designed so that indie developers and smaller studios could afford one of Autodesk’s leading tools. The tools provider recently released Maya LT on Steam as well, allowing hobbyists to create their own content for titles like League of Legends.

This is the latest in a series of moves to make Autodesk’s products more accessible to indies.