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Direct X 12 and the studio behind ‘Final Fantasy’

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During Microsoft’s BUILD dev conference, Square Enix showed off a real-time DirectX 12 tech demo called WITCH: Chapter 0 [cry]. True to its name, this demo includes a crying woman. WITCH features 63 million polygons per scene, “six to 12 times more” than what was possible with DirectX 11, Microsoft says. Check out the real-time demo below. While it’s pretty, and it will be AWESOME for in-game play, it still doesn’t sell me on that this is a real human, if only because it’s possible that her ‘design’ was made up by someone who doesn’t truly understand HOW to build a human face. They took parts they liked or gravitated towards, or even used a model to go from but it still doesn’t loo to me like a person.

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Jean Texier

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What is your name and your current occupation?

My name is Jean Texier. That’s French, so it’s not Jean as in JeanHarlow, but Jean as in Jean-Claude Van Dame. I’m living and working in France and  I’m what you call a story artist, or a story-boarder. I also occasionnally do designs and illustrations.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
A long time ago, I worked as a bell-boy in a big parisian hotel. The high-point of the job was a conversation I had in an elevator with Burt Lancaster and I also remember serving a hot chocolate to Kim Wilde at 2 in the morning. Prior to animation I worked in a Fish n’Chip shop in Dublin, Ireland, which was great fun.  One could write a sit-com on the goings-on over there.
How did you become interested in animation?
My dad used to take us to see old Disney flicks in the cinema, and  as early as I can remember I was being very selective about what artwork was good and what was less good. Also in France there’s a Continue reading
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“Battle Deadline” by John Cody Kim

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Check out this brilliant short film by Cal Arts senior John Cody Kim that follows 4 animation students trying to hit their deadlines for their films which goes horribly awry when discarded drawings attack! It was well directed, sweet and I was enthralled with the story. Such a great lil’ piece of film for a student. Enjoy!

 

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“An Object at Rest” by Seth Boyden

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Cal Arts student Seth Boyden‘s final thesis film is a fascinating view into the life of a stone as it travels over the course of millennia, facing nature’s greatest obstacle: human civilization. This film had me actually interested in it and it drew me in which isn’t always easy to do with the billions of other things to attract my attention> it’s wonderfully animated, well designed and the color palette is whimsical. I’m quite sure we’ll here more of Mr. Boyden very soon! Enjoy!

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Coca Cola: “Man and Dog” commercial

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X2m2WueNcU

Check out this beautifully 2D animated spot for Coca Cola done by Psyop Studios!

The Duncan Studio was commissioned to do the 2D animation/efx and ink/paint who collaborated with Psyop, from rough sketches and blocking down to inked and painted final cels. In addition to the characters being hand-drawn, colors, shadows, and highlights were also added in the final hand-drawn animation phase. While animators at Duncan Studio focused on character animation, Psyop added additional effects, color trails, smoke, dust, and more, all in 2D.

Mark my words, very soon some studio exec is gonna suddenly have a genius idea of bringing back 2d features. Wait for it… it’s coming any day now!

You can learn more about the Man and Dog Coca Cola spot here.