Moviestorm Releases 1.5.4 Update

     Some of you may remember that in the not-too-distant past Moviestorm was in open beta, and free to download and use, with extra content you could buy and use.

     Then Moviestorm went to a full release and access went to a subscription model. There was some outcry over that, from the people who never want to pay for software to those like myself who were concerned with how that might affect the future of the program. Don't get me wrong, I was and still am all for software developers getting paid, just as much as I'm for software developers going open-source. They were a business and wanted to get paid, which is kind of necessary when you have professionals that are working for you on promise of a salary.

     I had the thought that Moviestorm could offer the base program for free and sell content to make their money, and allow third parties to sell content through the Moviestorm site, taking a cut from those sales as well, much like DAZ does.

     With the new business model the situation was created where people who had already spent money on content for the program were now required to spend more money to use it. I was worried that people might find it wrong and Moviestorm would lose traction in a rapidly growing market (at least in terms of other developers working on their own versions of dedicated machinima software).

     Eventually I was proven wrong as the company has continued to grow. Adding the lifetime subscription offer, which was essentially the same as buying the software outright, eliminated the perceived stigma of the word subscription, and everything was right in the world again.

      With the new update to Moviestorm, there is a return to "free". According to the release notes:

"Moviestorm is now usable for Moviestorm users whose account does not have an active subscription. Such users may not use the modders workshop, mods, or non-free content packs they do not own, and will have a watermark on any renders they do."

     So, if I understand this correctly, if your Moviestorm subscription lapses you can continue to use the program and official content you have purchased for free, but you cannot create your own mods or use third-party content, and you're renders have a fairly discreet watermark on them.

     Sounds fair to me!
  
     I'm still standing by a suggestion I made a long time ago, which was to offer the program and all official content for one subscription fee and/or sell the program and content separately, just in case any of those MS peeps are reading this ;)

     Regardless, I think this is a great move by Moviestorm and a wonderful boon for loyal users.

    There are some bug fixes too. You can read the complete release notes here.

Machinima Expo 2012 Is On! Prizes Announced!

     Screener reels are rolling at the 2012 Machinima Expo. The virtual doors are open! Go check out some awesome movies!

     You can visit the Expo in Midnight Manhattan Reverie in Second Life or on Livestream at the Machinima Expo site.

     Also, the Expo recently announced the prizes for award-winning films. Thanks to the sponsors, there are some great prizes to be given away...fitting for the quality of the films that are up for nomination. View the list of prizes here.

     The screening reels will play 24/7 until the Expo officially starts on Friday, running through Sunday. Hope to see you there!

Thoughts On The Future Of Star Wars

     As I've mentioned in the past, anyone who knows me knows that when it comes to Star Wars I get pretty geeked out.
     And unless you've been living in a cave the last few days, I'm sure you've heard about the announcement on Tuesday that Disney has acquired Lucasfilm for a tidy sum and are planning to make Episodes VII, VIII, and IX.
     I've spent the last couple of days trying to wrap my head around it, and frankly I'm still stunned. I had already accepted that there would be no more new Star Wars films. But the saga is to continue, and that means new films, and that's good!
     Right?
     My first reaction was dread; Star Wars becoming even more commercial then it already was (The 6-movie saga does, after all, constitute the most successful group of independent films ever made, and now they are property of a true corporate studio), diluting the universe to Hannah Montana standards, etc.
     After some research I learned how Disney buys studios and then lets them do their own thing, and have been largely successful. They bought Marvel and then produced The Avengers, arguably the best superhero film ever made. Pixar never missed a beat when Disney bought them.
     That's not to mention that Kathleen Kennedy, who will now head Disney's Lucasfilm division (how weird it sounds to say that!) has been involved with Lucasfilm for several years, knows the mindset behind the saga, and has a pretty impressive resume.
     So that should set my mind at ease, and in a large way it did. But there is still some doubt, and it involves the idea of continuing the saga by making Ep. VII-IX.
     I'd be more then happy and content if Lucasfilm just started making one-off films set in the Star Wars universe or even started an entirely new trilogy. The SW universe has the potential for infinite stories, some of which could be even more epic then the original saga (The Sith Wars, anyone?), so they could make cool, awesome films for all eternity, and I would happily and enthusiastically be trying to figure out how to become immortal so I could watch them all on opening night.
     But continuing the original saga? What could be said there that hasn't already? It was, after all, the story of Anakin Skywalker, his fall and eventual redemption. It perfectly portrayed the joys and pitfalls of humanity in a way accessible to people of all ages and origins, and used mythological archetypes to really drive it's concepts home. It was complete.
     OK, right here is where I usually start to hear people talk about the last three movies, how awful they were, and how only the original trilogy is worthy of consideration. Some even suggest Disney redo the entirety of the prequels so that they provide a "true" beginning for the originals.
     I have to admit, when I left the theaters after seeing The Phantom Menace I was pretty disappointed. Some of the stuff was completely unnecessary, like Jar-Jar Binks. like the whole midichlorians thing. Did how people connect with The Force really need explaining, and if it did, did it really need to be done so clumsily? It was something that could remain a mystery. I remember George Lucas once saying he would never reveal what species Yoda was or where he came from because some mysteries are better off left as such. I wish he had listened to his own advice.
     But the more I watched the movie, the more it grew on me. It's still the worst of the six, mainly because of Jar-Jar Binks, it is exposition rather then action from the start. Remember the first Star Wars movie started in media res, starting and ending with a bang. Episode I was setting up the premise of the entire saga, a very large task, and one ripe for disappointment.
     Attack of the Clones came out and I was starting to get enthused. People most often complain about wooden acting and stilted dialogue. I liked it because it foreshadowed everything that was going to happen in the entire saga, and finally we could see what this Clone Wars thing was all about. It was cool, and it made Episode I better. Where people saw poor writing, I saw Lucas masterfully, if a bit clumsily, weaving the entire tapestry of the saga.
     Prior to Episode III, my favorite was Empire Strikes Back, but Revenge of the Sith took it's place. Dark, brooding, it neatly wraps the prequels and creates a whole new context for the original movies...not to mention it was a fun movie. It is the keystone that completes and supports the entire saga.
     They aren't perfect. Lucas will never win an Oscar for writing or directing, but no movie is perfect, and you have to admit Lucas performed a Herculean task. Give them an honest watch again and if you don't love them as part of the whole, if not individually, then your issue is not the movies, but nostalgia.
     That nostalgia thing is more powerful then the dark side. It's hard to fight against the expectations bred by years of enjoying the original films and imagining what happened before. That really was the the whole reason why I hated The Phantom Menace so much....it was not one of the original movies I had grown up with and watched a few hundred times. It wasn't what I expected. It's not a coincidence that once I realized this and got more comfortable with the idea of new Star Wars movies I started appreciating Episode I.
      In the end, the saga was complete. 
      And that brings us back to the present. What would be the point of continuing that story when there is just as many other possible stories as there are stars in the sky? Why continue with a new Luke, Leia, and Han? Can you imagine the firestorm that will create? Nostalgia will have a field day!
     I'm finally getting to a place where this news is becoming exciting and I'm looking forward to it. I may get nervous, but in the end I think Disney will do wonderful things with the franchise and I will love all of it.

Things I don't want to see Disney do:

• Plush toys of Disney characters dressed as Star Wars characters;
• Elton John (or anyone else who is not John Williams) doing music for Star Wars films;
• A Star Wars TV show on the Disney Channel starring the next generation of Miley Cyruses, Selena Gomezes etc. 
• Any kind of Disney character/Star Wars crossover cartoons.

     As long as we can avoid these things, I should be fine. Maybe.
     So what do you think about the future of Star Wars?

Machinima Expo 2012 Programming Schedule Now Available

The 2012 Machinima Expo will take place Nov. 16-18 at the Manhattan Reverie sim in Second Life and on Livestream through the Expo's site. Screening reels will start playing on Nov. 12 and will play 24/7 until the Expo starts, and will start playing again after the Expo end until midnight Nov. 26.

There are lots of great topics that will be covered and other great events within the event, not to mention lots of great movies. You can download the PDF of the complete schedule here.

Machinima Expo Submission Deadline Extended

For those of you who haven't yet found out Ricky and Kate over at the Machinima Expo have decided to extend the deadline for submissions to this year's expo by one week.

That means that now you can submit your film at any time up to October 7 at midnight. This gives you plenty of time to put some extra polish or finish up that film that you want to show the world.

If you hadn't previously thought about submitting a film to the expo, this extension means it's not too late to submit a recent work. The more the merrier!

To recap: October 7 at midnight. As Larry the Cable Guy likes to say, "Git 'er Dun!"

New Moviestorm Update Greatly Improves Product

     Usually the folks at Moviestorm reserve major updates for the the 1.x versions, and the version 1.x.y versions are just the bug fixes and various code changes for future upgrades.
     However, the latest version, 1.5.3, which was released today is a doozy that could be considered version 1.6 in spirit. It's a big update with multiple feature upgrades, memory fixes and a ton of little upgrades to the interface and how the program works. Individually each upgrade don't pack any particular "wow" factor, but combined they all make this program exponentially better.
     If you want to see everything you can read the release notes here. Some of note include:

• Added Eye Motion animations (originally from Moddingstorm) which has 27 new animations, including being able to have the eyes look in multiple directions, dramatic blinks, various saccades, rolling eyes, moving eyes from side to side, cross and boss eyes, and widening and narrowing the eyes. Obviously this allows for much more expression in characters.
• Look At now has a customizer which allows you to change the duration of the look at blend, where on the target the character is looking, and to do the look at with just the head, just the eyes, or both the head and eyes. This has often been requested by users and to see it finally implemented is great. This also allows much more creative freedom in directing your characters and creating mood. Combined with the new eye animations, these are in themselves quite a major upgrade.
• In the Camera View or Cutting Room View, there is an aspect ratio option on the Camera View large button triangle menu. This lets you see the camera framing with a different aspect ratio. Rendering is still 16x9, however. It's unfortunate that you can't render in different ratios, but at least with this you can properly frame your shots before cropping to the ratio you want in an external editor.
• Improvement of the Flirty Look Over Shoulders animations and improved skinning on multiple costumes.

     I could go on and on, but there are literally so many updates, especially under the hood, that this post would require it's own server just to stay on the net.
     Ok, maybe not that big, but this is a huge update, and a big win for anyone who uses the program.
     Kudos to the MS staff, and to Chris Ollis of Moddingstorm for allowing them to put his eye animations into the core product.

Welcome to the new Dark Lord Productions

Once I had a site called Dark Lord Productions. One say I woke up and realized that I could do the same thing without paying what amounts to a new guitar every year for hosting. Don't get me wrong, the host for the site was great, but new guitars!
So then I stopped that and I didn't have a site. But with updates to the site I blog on, totally awesome customization, and telling my domain name where it really wants to go (because it knew it wanted to), I have a site again.
So welcome to the new Dark Lord Productions web site...new packaging, same great taste!

How about a tour? On the left you see the "pages" menu that takes you to other oddities of the site. To the right are the ramblings of some madman and links to other places where we can connect. I heartily recommend clicking every link you see.

Totally Semi-related News: I, Zombie is in back in full production. Recently redid and rerendered a scene and am composing and recording the main score. Release is set for Spring of 2013. This is turning out to be pretty something, and I'm getting excited about sharing it with you. More details as they develop.

Moviestorm Announces Version 1.5.3 Is Near Release

Moviestorm announced on it's Development Blog that they are hoping to release the latest version, 1.5.3 by the end of the week, provided the build passes QA testing. A nice list of features and bug fixes includes:

New features

• Look At now has a customizer which allows you to change the duration of the look at blend, where on the target the character is looking, and to do the look at with just the head, just the eyes, or both the head and eyes
• Switching between the Cutting Room and the Camera View or Director's View keeps the timeline position, if the Cutting Room is showing a view of the scene.
• Ceilings now cast shadows, provided Interior lighting is disabled.
• The Script Editor now has a 'clear timeline' option when right clicking on the current scene, which removes all activities in that scene.
• The prop customizer in the set workshop now has an option to stop a prop casting shadows. This will also stop it reducing shadowmap quality, which can otherwise happen for props near the edges of your scene.
• The 'Home' key now centers the view.

Bug fixes

• The 'Dead' mood now prevents any automatic look at activities, or any improvisation.
• Very long (eg over 6 min) clips now display correctly on the Cutting Room timeline.
• The say record buttons are now play/stop buttons rather than having a separate stop.
• Loading a multi-scene movie that was saved in the Cutting Room will go straight to the Cutting Room rather than asking which scene to go to then going to the Cutting Room.
• Having a broken video in your movie no longer stops it from loading.
• When changing the duration of a walk, it should move later activities along to provide space.
• When using the image browser, images over 4 megapixels now warn the user to resize them, rather than risking breaking Moviestorm.
• Remove mark now works on marks that do not have an associated walk.
• When taking screenshots in the Camera View with the snapshot button, the resulting images now include depth of field.
• The cel-shading tick box on the lighting settings no longer overrides the movie cel-shading tick box on the script settings unless you tell it to.
• Memory leak fix: Moviestorm no longer holds onto copies of videos that were used as previews, or that were used on the Cutting Room timeline, or that were deleted.
• Modders workshop: changed the 'Move to' menu so that you can scroll through the list of addons.
• Modders workshop: fixed the 'Browse' button so that it works for props that have spaces in their folder names.

I know that the new "Look At" feature is something that people have been wanting for quite some time and it's great to see that it is now being added.
Hopefully everything goes well in QA and all the "stormers" out there can go crazy ;)

Poulet Noir releases Urban Decay pack

Poulet Noir, a prolific and respected modder for Moviestorm, recently got permission from the people who created FPSC Pack 36 for the First Person Shooter Creator.
The Urban Decay pack is just that: run-down buildings and street decor/debris to give your sets a more gritty look.

Here's the original demo of the conversion to Moviestorm:



Looks great, don't it? Download it here.

The Mechanic

Recently, Moviestorm's Bonus Content Pack, free to subscribed members, was updated to include a flashlight, something that has long been on the wishlist of many "stormers".

Seeing that the MS staff hadn't made a movie demo showing it in action, I thought I'd have a go at it. Over the course of an afternoon, out popped "The Mechanic".

There is a problem with the power. The mechanic goes to fix it, but finds the problem is too much for him to handle.

It lights things up pretty well, despite the lack of shedding ambient light, and it has a nice halo effect. Kudos to the MS staff for making Moviestorm just a little bit cooler.

Vol. 3 of 'Making Better Movies..." Released, and other Moviestorm News.

Moviestorm has released Volume 3 of their excellent "Making Better Movies With Moviestorm" e-book series, written by Matt Kelland.
If you missed my last blog post, this series is a great asset for all filmmakers that gives you exercises to find and improve your own style, without imposing any preconceived rules or attitudes.
Volume 3 concerns sound and lighting, and as usual the content is both revealing and instructive.
If you've been using these ebooks to improve your skills, then this volume is a worthy addition. If you haven't checked out this series yet, then I heartily recommend it. It's free and it's good. What more could you want?

Download Volumes 1 - 3

In other Moviestorm news, it was announced on the company's Dev Blog that they are aiming for an early December release of Moviestorm 1.5 , which is loaded with a great many new features and enhancements. Soon after the release, the much-anticipated Swordfighting pack will be released, along with a pack themed on Indian culture (as in India, not Native Americans).

More on these as they are released. Exciting!

Moviestorm releases second second free netbook, "Making Better Movies With Moviestorm, Vol 2"

I like to think after making a few movies that I have a little understanding of the art of doing so. Not necessarily an expertise, except maybe on my more delusional days, but a bit of understanding that allows me to make something that passes as good film.
But I'm always looking to improve and learn, and I often read articles that analyze the styles of other directors and different techniques that can be used. Helpful, to be sure, but never presented in a way that allows me to easily understand the "whys" of each technique.

That's why I love the new net-books written by Matt Kelland and released for free by Moviestorm. They're easy to get through and understand, but more importantly they give concise, easily digestible explanations about the techniques. Better still, it's real mechanic of getting you to understand technique is by giving you scenarios and having you film them in many different ways, then making comparisons and drawing your own conclusions. This method allows you to both understand how to perform a technique and why you would use it, but more importantly does so without stifling you with the notion of imitating someone else. On the contrary, it allows you the freedom to create, explore, and expand your own style and technical palette.
And that is a good thing for any artist, even those who think they know something.

Go now and get Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, then click on the fancy banner on the right to get Moviestorm. I guarantee you will improve your art.

Camera got you down?

All too often I see machinima movies that contain weird camera issues that never appear in professional films. They are annoying in a sense, not only because they are blatantly obvious and easy to fix, but because they immediately take me out of the story and tend to lose interest (which is a big oopsie if you are looking for views, and who isn't?)
I've never been able to name them, and describing them often was more of frustrated grunts and groans then anything.
But Kate Fosk over at MachinExpo managed to do both quite nicely, giving great advise with a great sense of humor. Even if you're an experienced director, it's worth checking out:

Kate Fosk on Machinima Camera Problems

Star Wars Fan-Fic archived online!

Those who know me know I'm a pretty big Star Wars fanboy. Yes, I tend to quote the movies a lot, have several comics, novels, collectibles, etc. littered throughout my house. I believe there may even be a photo of myself playing pattycake with my youngest daughter (around 2 years old at the time) while I was wearing a Darth Vader mask. Did I mention the same daughter when she was even younger had a onesie with a picture of Darth Vader and the quote "Who's Your Daddy?" on it?
Yup, big-time fanboy.
Back around 2005, in excited anticipation of the imminent release of "Revenge of the Sith" I was spending a lot of time on the forums the Star Wars web site, speculating on what the final movie may bring, the finer points of each movie and their characters...you know, fanboy stuff.
Anyway, along the way I met a few like-minded individuals and we developed friendships among us that carry on to this day. We had similar tastes and POVs, but we were a literal rogues gallery of personalities, the sith (myself), the jedi (Aaron Sinner aka Ki-Aaron-Mundi), the mercenary (Erick Osuna, aka N11ORDO), the rogue (Tim Dunlap aka Echo7Solo), and the soldier (Enver Klychak aka KilledBeforeAction of KBA for short). We called ourselves, fittingly, the Rogues Gallery, and we would choose topics we would become engaged in and pretty much take it over, debating with each other (and occasionally against) in an effort to show the other fans there, well, what made sense and what didn't, why we were right, etc.
All in good fun, and we did have fun! We soon expanded our correspondence to emails and phone calls. One year we exchanged gifts during Christmas.
After the movies release we had some questions that we debated, like who was Darth Plagueis the Wise, how did Palpatine become a sith...you know, hardcore fan questions. We also wanted to keep having fun and were seeking ways to do it.
Somebody (don't remember who, I think it was Aaron) sent us an email with a couple paragraphs of a story (they are the first paragraphs in the fan-fic, but I'll get to that), and next thing you know each of us had devised a character and were taking turns, back and forth, adding to the story.
Before long we had a pretty good fan story that added a lot of answers and kept a few mysteries.
Every fanboy is familiar with a site called TheForce.net, a great archive of both canon material (from the films) and Expanded Universe material (from the novels, games, etc.), and they also archive fan fiction.
Aaron began the process of getting our fan-fic archived, submitting it, coordinating with the test readers on the site, and taking their feedback and letting the rest of us know what they had to say. Aaron did a lot of rewriting, I added some new ideas, proofread for continuity and did some rewriting, and Erick did the cover art (Erick is an artist and founder of Urban Myth Studios.)
Today I got the email that all the work payed off, and the story is now online for all to enjoy. Take a read, I hope you like it!

Dark Side Rising

It's a fun, dark story that fills in some holes from the movies, uses some EU (expanded universe material), and shows our love for a galaxy far, far away. It's something we're all quite proud of, and we hope you like it.
Special thanks to Aaron for getting the ball rolling, keeping it rolling, and being the driving force.

The Moviestorm staff are such teases!

Although many have felt that the relative quiet (in terms of updates and new official content) over at Moviestorm Towers was a bad omen for the future of the software, recent posts in their development blog indicate that anyone's fears could not be further from the truth.
Today, our intrepid heroes posted another look into a long-awaited content pack that is finally nearing release, the sword fighting pack.
From the Dev Blog:

"The last couple of weeks have been pretty exciting here at Moviestorm Towers, with the checklist of bugs and features for the next version of Moviestorm being slowly crossed off.
One major piece of functionality that we've been promising for a while is the ability for two characters to interact with one another whilst using held props. Moviestorm uses animation blending to fill in the gaps between poses so that the characters don't "snap" from one pose to another, but when a character moves out of position and has to blend back to "Idle" all sorts of horrible things happen. Add the extra complexity of held props claiming a characters joint resources and the system often gets confused ...
Well, the times are a-changin'.
The code is now in place to support the Fantasy Swords pack (among others), meaning that held prop activities can be used to their full potential!"

Obviously, this will eventually open new doors in storytelling and content development.
Along with this bit of information, there was posted a teaser video of the swordfighting content. What little they show us leaves me eager in antici-


-pation!



I know I've said it before, but it looks like exciting days ahead for Moviestorm users.

Chronicles of Humanity

In case you didn't know about this incredible series, "Chronicles of Humanity" is something you simply must see.

"Set in the year  2340, The Chronicles of Humanity follows
Katherine  McDonald,  A journalist and the  only person to
survive  the  destruction  of  a  mining  colony.
Convinced the  government is  behind the  disaster,  she
embarks  on a mission to uncover the  conspiracy."

The series is both visually stunning with an incredible story. It also boasts an impressive cast, including the well-known talents of Rick Grove and Ingrid Moon, and also Felicia Day.
Yes, that Felicia Day.

Check out the site and watch some episodes. I guarantee you will be impressed.

Upcoming new feature of Moviestorm unveiled.

Today at the Moviestorm Dev Blog, the fine folks there shared a video showing the results of playing around with the nearly-developed Terrain Editor. According to the Dev Blog:

"The user interface has now been decided for this feature and the functionality is around 90% complete so it's time to move onto the other areas of improvement. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates!"

On the forums, more information was given, such as*:

• The default mountains are now editable with the new tools so you can keep them if you want or edit them to produce a new landscape.
• (The staff) have been experimenting with a larger grid, and have plans to include it in the next version of Moviestorm. It's worth noting that nav meshes can be used in conjunction with the terrain to make navigable areas outside of the grid if you like.
• Characters are still, unfortunately, restricted to navigating on flat surfaces. However, characters are able to traverse stairs with nav meshes, so you could place a nav mesh under the terrain to make it look like that character was climbing a hill.
• The terrain editor can only be used on the existing terrain mesh (which is relatively large anyway.
• The terrain tools include a raise brush, a lower brush and tools to flatten, smooth and paint textures.
• The terrain will ultimately be saved in stock sets for use by directors and as an example of what is possible with the new editor.

Here is the video:



Looks exciting! This certainly will open up new doors in set design, and the ability to flatten the entire terrain mesh will be of great benefit to those who wish to create more complex sets (such as a cityscape). Stay tuned!

*I largely quoted Amos over at Moviestorm, which explains the better prose. Anyway, the tool is still in development, and all things mentioned may change.

Where is Sigourney Weaver when you need her?

Writerly over at the Moviestorm forums is on a roll lately. I don't know if it's insane ambition and talent or one too many cups of coffee, but he's been releasing new mods for the program almost daily, and these are some excellent mods!

The latest is the Alien from the "Alien" movie franchise. The troublesome terror is rigged to the male puppet rig, which means you can use all the male animations with it (though some just don't look right because of the shape and size of the alien relative to his meal). It looks particularly impressive if you use it with the vampire jumping animation from the "Dark Romance" addon from Moviestorm and some of the action animations found on Moddingstorm.



You can download it here.

The Gift

The latest short by Chat Noir Studios, "The Gift" is an excellent work (as expected from them), and also shows how effective Moviestorm is as a storytelling tool when in good hands.
Have a look!

The Gift from Chat Noir Studios on Vimeo.

Moddingstorm's "Stupidly Easy Competition"

Really, how much easier of a competition can you get?
Moddingstorm is running a "Stupidly Easy Competition". Winner gets three free addon packs for Moviestorm from Moddingstorm!
So how stupidly easy is it? Simple.
All you have to do is visit Moddingstorm's facebook page and click like.
That's it.
Two weeks from today, a name will be chosen at random from the list of people who like the page, and the winner gets the three packs! You get extra chances to be drawn by promoting the competition on your own facebook page, blogs, site, etc.
You do need to prove you've done this by posting links in the competition's thread on the Moviestorm forums.
There is one disclaimer: The headgear bundle pack currently offered counts as two packs since its, well, a bundle!
If you haven't seen Moddingstorm's content yet, check it out. It's all top-quality! And if you aren't using Moviestorm yet, maybe this is a good time to start!
Check it out!
Oh...and while you're over on facebook, don't forget to "like" Dark Lord Productions if you haven't already ;)