Awesome video. Two times I've been about at half the distance as that. I think that means four times as much sound energy. I have my computers on UPS's, but the lightning reset them all last time nevertheless. (And killed a hub and a motherboard while at it.) It ended a match of Battlefield-2 actually between friends at the house.

It is because of a cell phone tower in the adjacent lot. It is a highly effective "neighborhood sized lightning rod".

Now that i know there is no hope. I disconnect cables from tv, xbox and comps when the signs look right.

It's indescribably loud. First the !!!boom!!! and then you'd look up and every one of our dogs we had would be standing in front of you . It seemed like they realized -- this is way out of normal parameters, please take over. Doggy warp core overload.

>> ^redyellowblue:

Looks nice enough, This reeks of console, and the modern notion "players need their hands held". The obsessive cluing the player on whats going on. From glowing guns, boxes, doors; to the button diagrams that never disappear. I also get steamed up about those action cut scenes that choke an enemy for you. ughh.


I'm not sure about the animations for the special moves, but the highlights and other "clues" can be turned off in settings (thankfully).

I've been messing around with the leaked beta for an hour or so. It definitely needs some optimizations (drags my comp pretty hard) and some work on the key bindings (doesn't detect some of my extra mouse buttons) but I generally like it. The music and atmosphere are great and the conversations system seems to work well.

I haven't had much chance to test out the combat system yet so I can't comment too much on it. So far weapon accuracy has been terrible, which is actually a compliment! I was afraid there would be too much Rambo action, but it rewards stealth pretty heavily. I won't pass judgement on the cover system until I test it out some more.

Yeah, some of them are very gpu and or CPU bound - Fairlights particle based rendering in particular are a strain on most systems - but to be fair most demos are designed to work with medium hardware - the trick is getting a lot out of it without resorting to 8 CPUs 3 GPUs and a tonne of memory

(this demo runs just fine on a 260GTX for example - this demo is GPU heavy)

most of the time the demos will run just fine without you needing up to date HW etc

DirectX10 is what we use (it, amongst other things has less dependancy issues than DX9)

you should definitely have a look at some of the newer stuff from last year and this year, so good demos

>> ^TheGenk:

They are still pushing. And I'm sorry that you missed the glorious demo years of the 2000s
I, sadly, lost a bit of an interest when my computer could no longer handle the processing needs of demos a year ago.
>> ^VidRoth:
Wow, Demo comps are still going on? I used to love these things back in the '90s when they were pushing the limits of pre-hardware-accelerated graphics.

They are still pushing. And I'm sorry that you missed the glorious demo years of the 2000s
I, sadly, lost a bit of an interest when my computer could no longer handle the processing needs of demos a year ago.
>> ^VidRoth:

Wow, Demo comps are still going on? I used to love these things back in the '90s when they were pushing the limits of pre-hardware-accelerated graphics.

Wow, Demo comps are still going on? I used to love these things back in the '90s when they were pushing the limits of pre-hardware-accelerated graphics.

This looks really good the Cg / mat paintings / comps look fantastic.

Still have to remember to stop a trailer after first 10 seconds so i don't know the whole bloody film by the end of it.

Well, this is one of those "Tragedy of the Commons" scenarios, where, sure it'd be nice if the one guy with one sheep could graze for free, while the people with 10 or more sheep would have to pay some sort of maintenance fee, but it doesn't work like that. This is precisely the same argument as why universal health care must force some people who'd like to press their luck to buy insurance. Pretty soon a whole lot of guys with 'one' sheep are grazing for free, and one of the owners of the larger herds are whistling away in the corner, with seemingly zero sheep. Should the number of 'comped' appearances one can have before having to join AFTRA be raised? I dunno. I'm sure that number didn't come out of someone's ass. While it might not seem so, AFTRA is indeed looking out for you, as it does anyone who works in the industry. You might not appreciate it as a lowly peon, but you would if you found yourself being 'requested' to be an extra, over and over, for less and less pay each time. Remember what Chris Rock said about minimum wage ("If I _could_ pay you less, I would")? The same premise holds for any exchange between an impersonal employer and a faceless employee. AFTRA's trying to give you a face.

I'm in a public sector union, and a co-worker's spouse has a job with an employer where most of the staff are union, and he's not, and no one knows that he's not. He gets a lot of work on the side, but he also gets a lot of crap jobs that no one wants, and he can't turn them down, because they'll find someone else who WILL do them, for a cheaper rate. She complains to me all the time about how the boss treats him, and, quietly, I'll ask her if the boss treats the union guys the same way. "No," she'll reply, thinking. In truth, she thinks he should join, but they've gone so far down this road that to admit that he'd never been a member would cause real problems in the workplace. I never told her, but I think that if he went to the shop steward and said, "I now know why unions exist, and I'd like to join," they'd have him in a heartbeat.

and the answer is: because i work in the field, somewhere in the middle of alt treatment and mainstream treatment. i'm quite mainstream in many parts of the world, alt in others. it's really pretty stupid.
i work mostly with fairly severe spinal issues. i'm particularly fond of somatic theory, from a structural perspective, and i practice and teach manual therapy utilizing a neurological approach focusing on rotational distortion. On the whole, what is often dismissed as alternative in treatment turns out to be the most innovative, that pushes mainstream treatments into new and more effective territory. "Touching" a person was pretty out of style in the accepted medical practice until late, -- PT's are actually starting to get a clue.

i'm quite aware of the fluff that is out there, the weird, the barbaric, the hippy dippy, the downright stupid. both the alt side of things, as you might define it, and the mainstream side of things, often fall into these categories. There are however, powerful lobbies that make one form of treatment more acceptable than others.... Big pharma is insanely powerful, and insanely profitable... we're drugging our kids for fucks sake.
and lets put it this way, the profit margin is very small in what i do. it's just too time consuming and labor intensive.

And while the business side of things has thoroughly poisoned mainstream medicine, there tends to be more, but not necessarily all, of "alt" providers, who purposely shy away from it. we'd all be better off in a socialist medicine system that was not for profit. In every socialist system, some form of what i do is commonplace, mainstream, accepted science...goddamn common sense.
anyhoo..., would you like some figures on iatrogenic death?

I worked in an acupuncture clinic for a bit, mostly treating cancer and HIV. The acupuncture was most effective for treating nausea, pain, and other symptoms that came with the chemo.
In china it is combined with herbs to treat the cancer. I don't know the success rates. i know they take their acupuncture very seriously, and very scientifically... and western docs are starting to wake up to it.
For chronic pain issues (back, neck, pain) etc...i probably bat somewhere in 80-90%. That destroys mainstream. I'm an anomaly, but i shouldn't be. more talented people should be in this field. and being able to spot and work with spinal issues at young ages would save billions of dollars in lost labor, workers comp, SSI, medical expenses, drugs...a shit ton of pain and suffering.

foresight. preventative medicine.

>> ^FlowersInHisHair:

I'm not arguing for the sake of arguing, I'm arguing because you seem to think "alternative medicine" is superior to medicine. What point are you trying to make about chemotherapy, exactly? In many cases it's a very effective treatment. Do you know what the success rate of, say, acupuncture is for treating cancer? How about therapeutic touch? Or chakra realignment? Or ground turtle shell? Or homeopathy? Or vitamin megadosing? Or evening primrose oil supplements? Or magnetic wristbands? Nil. Nothing. No demonstrable effect. And there's a reason for that. There is no alternative to medicine. There's medicine, and there's "crap that doesn't work".
You're right that the major difference between scientific medicine and "alternative medicine" is the degree that it is run purely as profit generating business. Except that you have it completely the wrong way round. "Alternative medicine" has no chance of curing you, and costs money. Medicine has a chance of curing you, using products and medicines backed up by science, and costs money. I know which I'd rather go for. "Western medicine" (as you call it, though you should note that the practice of science-based medicine isn't limited to the Western world, thank goodness) is interested in cures because the effective interventions are the ones that get used, thereby generating income. It's only in the field of "alternative medicine" that "crap that doesn't work" can be sold for a profit without anyone ever questioning it. If a medical intervention or treatment doesn't work, the scientific method roots it out eventually, but tellingly there is no such self-regulatory framework in place when it comes to "alternative medicine", and the practitioners don't care.
Put it this way: if it were true that science-based medicine didn't "know their ass from a hole in the ground" when it comes to chronic pain then what the hell would make you think that the pseudoscientific bullshitfest that is "alternative medicine" would stand a chance at solving the problem?
>> ^criticalthud:
alright there. not really getting the gist of the statement, are you?
you're arguing for the sake of arguing.
do you know what the success rate of chemo is for curing cancer? pretty much the same as not having it
back surgery? the same
there's plenty of crap out there, and no "medicine" is immune from it. the one major difference between what is labeled as alt and what isn't is the degree that it is run purely as profit generating business. Do you get it? western medicine isn't necessarily interested in cures. doctors might be, but the biz side of it ain't. it's quick fix, in and out, write the latest scrip that has been peddled to you by big pharma, and do the treatments and tests that you are allowed to do by the insurance company.
western medicine doesn't know their ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to chronic pain, because treating something that typically has it's roots in the structure of the body isn't profitable.

Quantum Computation is child's play...
http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/schmuel/comp/comp.html
It's the math that kills you!

I'm not saying that this vid has the kind of graphics that would entice me to pay full price at the box office, nor am I throwing down high-fives for sup-par work or uncool people. I'm sure 110 days of rendering time could have helped to give it the kind of polish that could be up to today's standards, and yours.

I enjoyed this piece because I appreciated the story told by this animation. Better graphics wouldn't hurt, but it was good enough to carry that story.

There are countless examples off great storytelling and enjoyable animations that don't rely on billion polygon counts or dynamic lighting. Whether that's Don Hertzfeldt or Dottie Goes to School or Groundbreaking Music Videos.

Nevertheless, you are absolutely entitled to your opinion, and welcome to focus on what you like in videos and animations. I just wanted to share where I was coming from too.

Also, good for you for getting your name out there and getting work in your field. I know a lot of creative-types and I know it ain't the easiest line of work to get into.

peace
~N
>> ^kir_mokum:

i'm a jr. comp artist. it's a day job, not a passion, so i've had no need or interest in doing a pro bono project of any kind. the last film i did comp work on was the new karate kid (i did some roto for clash of the titans, but that doesn't really count). i'm currently working on eureka, which is a silly show, but lots of fun to work on.
comping all CG shots is usually easier as you (generally) don't have to roto, pull green screens, camera tracking, regraining, etc.
this is a whole other league, but it was done by one person and effectively no budget:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHD8Xf5Rnvo

i'm a jr. comp artist. it's a day job, not a passion, so i've had no need or interest in doing a pro bono project of any kind. the last film i did comp work on was the new karate kid (i did some roto for clash of the titans, but that doesn't really count). i'm currently working on eureka, which is a silly show, but lots of fun to work on.

comping all CG shots is usually easier as you (generally) don't have to roto, pull green screens, camera tracking, regraining, etc.

this is a whole other league, but it was done by one person and effectively no budget:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHD8Xf5Rnvo

Oh excellent comeback! I couldn't of said it better myself. Can't wait to see what the reply is. (As I am sure he is no animator.) Thank you for defending the sift!

In reply to this comment by notarobot:
Kir_M, it sounds like you are a digital animator youself. Please post of link to your latest completed film or solo project to show us what decent work looks like if this is not it.

>> ^kir_mokum:

it's totally fair. it has less polys than a current gen. video game, bad models, bad lighting, bad animation, bad textures, bad renders, and no comp. these people would not get hired at a studio as a jr.
you don't need 300 mil and a team of hundreds to do decent work.

Kir_M, it sounds like you are a digital animator youself. Please post of link to your latest completed film or solo project to show us what decent work looks like if this is not it.

>> ^kir_mokum:

it's totally fair. it has less polys than a current gen. video game, bad models, bad lighting, bad animation, bad textures, bad renders, and no comp. these people would not get hired at a studio as a jr.
you don't need 300 mil and a team of hundreds to do decent work.

it's totally fair. it has less polys than a current gen. video game, bad models, bad lighting, bad animation, bad textures, bad renders, and no comp. these people would not get hired at a studio as a jr.

you don't need 300 mil and a team of hundreds to do decent work.

Your expectations are unfair. This is a low/no budget film with almost everything done by two people, not a billion dollar James Cameron film.

>> ^kir_mokum:

pretty weak CG and comp work, imo. unless this was done 20 years ago or by 15 year olds.