DIY is the new black for the gaming industry which has adopted not only the DIY but also the craft culture in its new game for Playstation 3, Little Big Planet. In little big planet, users create their characters (their mascot) with textures, zippers, colors, attitudes and their own levels, events, design their difficulties and can then share their designs with their peers and play online.
The level creation is the most intriguing, because you got to design triggers and events like switches and buttons. It can be pretty simple if it is just to open a door to the next level but pretty rad ;) when designing a multi-phase boss fight against millions of tech spiders! Also the sharing component is pretty elaborate as other users can rate your game and offer descriptive keywords to your creation, from "brilliant" to "repetitive". So be sure to invite the right friends who can understand your style!!! You can also invite guest mascot stars! Isn't that amazing?!
You are only allowed to create 3 levels that you share on the server side. If on the server the company deems that you are good at creating levels, you can then create some more. If the company decides that your levels are not good enough, then you are stuck and you need to cancel these levels until you are being granted the right to create some more! So that is interesting because it shows that the company is afraid that users aren't gonna design levels good enough and that this game relies heavily on people's ability to create neat levels. If users are not gonna create brilliant designs, then this will be a failure because it only comes with 3 small levels ... This is like a creation suite for gamers that welcome creative individuals into playing, creating and sharing! I cannot wait to try it. If only they would send a free copy to designers, they would have great levels designed!!
In the meantime, here is a video of the trailer:
Sunday, October 05, 2008
DIY, this new black!
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Graffiti revolution
In the series I love animation, I found this graffiti animation that is really fun to watch.
MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.
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Blog Jouons 
For the beauty of the eyes ...
A video on the beach by Keith Loutit that resembles stop motion (effect Tilt Shift) found on this super neat French blog Fubiz. The video animates beach lovers that shape like sharp color points using the fashionable effect called Tilt Shift, effect I used a lot to present my sculpture work, playing with a unusual depth of field, to create optical illusions and to give it a maquette look and feel. This effect is apparently also called smallgantics, popular effect based on a Thom Yorke music video.
For the amateurs of the animations with the beach, don't forget to check “la plage” by Bokanovski.
Beached from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.
Another video by Keith Loutit where the effect is even more stunning!
Bathtub III from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.
A very satisfying video of human motions within the light. Large format camera and filmed in high definition, the video entertains the viewer with light coordinated with motions. It is pleasing and becomes satisfying to watch the dancer twisting and jumping throughout the streets, playing with water and flowers. The soundtrack is a nice add-on by M83 (You appearing, Lower Your Eyelids to Die With the Sun), Sigur Ros (Staralfur) et Besnard Lakes (Devastation). Enjoy!
Human Movement in Light from Jordan Clarke on Vimeo.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Animating the city
Nicolas Lelièvre experiences images, spaces and sounds. He created this movie with dancer Jean-Baptiste André as a focus on the "overinvestment" of urban space. Characters in the movie become puppets with urban objects pseudo-animated. Music by Mils.
Posted by Cati Vaucelle
♥ Architectradure
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Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Painting on real objects
Deepak Bandyopadhyay, Ramesh Raskar, Henry Fuchs have built a prototype system for virtual painting on real movable objects. A project from 2001 that should by now be easier to democratize!
Imagine a world where all the objects around you can be animated and augmented interactively in real time; where you can, for instance, paint virtual designs on objects in the environment, which then stay in place as you modify or move them around! This opens up new possibilities for interaction in augmented environments, and gives rise to new applications in tele-immersion, medicine, architecture, art and user interfaces.
Check also Kimiko Ryokai's digital paintbrush. Her brush allows artists to draw digitally with an "ink" they just picked up from their immediate environment.
Posted by Cati Vaucelle
♥ Architectradure
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Wednesday, December 26, 2007
A sponsored post of my favorite Japanese animes!
Akira
Anime are usually perceived either for children, teenagers or pervert adults. In fact, a lot of them are really good: cinematographically inspiring, with rich character development and epics stories. Each of them is a wellspring of interaction design ideas for innovative products. I find them refreshing. From Akira, Ghost in the Shell, to Blood: The Last Vampire. I cannot wait to watch Karas! A few manga series maintain these high standards with similar qualities.
It has been now a year that I started watching Bleach, a manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. In Bleach, a high school student, Ichigo, has the ability to see ghosts and interact with shinigami or death God. I absolutely adore the soul society made of handsome and complicated post-human characters..jpg)
The Quincy in Bleach.
I watched Death Note, an anime written by Tsugumi Ohba. A high school student decides to rid the world of evil with the help of a supernatural notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it. The shinigamis in Death Note resemble apocalyptic Goths. What strikes me in these anime is the ability the characters have, good and bad, to stick proudly to their initial moral values.
L, my favorite character in Death Note
I adored Noein, a short science fiction anime television series directed by Kazuki Akane and Kenji Yasuda. Two timespaces fight with one another: La'cryma, a possible future of our own universe, and Shangri'la, a dimension intent on the destruction of all space and time. The “dragon Torque”, the child version of a character from the future, is the key to stop Shangri'la's invasion.
Karasu in Noein
One Piece presents the adventures of “the Straw Hat Pirates”, formed and led by a captain named Monkey D. Luffy. The characters try to obtain the world's ultimate treasure, One Piece. With each character’s back-story, the adventures become entwined with one another.
One Piece
I am an anime fan. I saw fans gathering at conferences with splendid anime costumes. The Halloween Costumes' web site proposes a selection of characters costumes. I must say, I was disappointed by some of them, mainly by the feminine outfits. The Nico Robbin costume looks kind of tacky while she always appear to wear the latest couture piece in the anime!
On the contrary, the Bleach’s simple shinigami costumes are quite good. I had a good laugh at the execution ground outfit for Ichigo (from Bleach). Who would want to wear a broken arm outfit while he/she could enact the bankai form!
By Architectradure
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Music videos: after the e-baby ...
E-baby Produced by Pleix / Chased by Cowboys. Music: Bleip. 2003.
Beauty kit Produced by Pleix. Music: Bleip. 2001.
Music videos that mainly deal with the question of the influence of technology on our lives such as biotechnology, media and plastic surgery, etc ... Pleix is a virtual community of digital artists -3d, musicians, graphic designers- based in Paris. I like their progression from the beauty kit, the e-baby: how to order a baby online, to birds as flying dogs: the imagery is stunning, to the complete human assimilation of freaky gigantic robotic-plastic rabbit.
Birds Produced by Pleix / Blink. Music: Vitalic. PIAS. 2006.
All their videos.
Check also Régine Debatty's report on Pleix's talk.
E-baby video
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Issey Miyake by Etienne Mineur
Stunning interactive graphic piece for Issey Miyake by Etienne Mineur. Jean-Jacques Birgé talks about la derniere valse of this work.
Spring summer 2007 women collection.
Spring summer 2007 men collection.
Collections designed by Naoki Takizawa for Issey Miyake.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Une histoire pour voir
After a series of exercices, I decided for my final animation, une histoire pour voir, to use sand as main medium. Even though I find sand much harder to animate than pencil drawing animation, I find it much easier to express with.
Screenshots from my animation
Watch the animation here (38 mb)
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Selection of short animation movies
Yesterday during our weekly screening, I particularly enjoyed watching movies from Gaelle Denis, Lisbeth Svarling, and especially the work of Emily Mantell 'To Have and to Hold'.
From Gaelle Denis I watched the very beautiful City Paradise, a journey through a very atmospheric London.
screenshots from the animation
She also is the author of Fish Never Sleep a very cute but intense story of an insomniac.
The cute Cloud Cover animation from Lisbeth Svarling can be watched here. The story features beautiful drawings and a story that can be interpreted in many ways. A little girl followed by her black cloud, looking for cure, looking for love... very touching and sweet.
Finally, I literally adored the work of Emily Mantell 'To Have and to Hold'
An alternative world based on a companionship fantasy where women take the lead.
