Tag: SpaceBase: Infinity

Attempting twelve seconds of dialogue and completing four…

After taking some time off, the production of SB:I resumed with a whimper today.  After two hours of computer hassle, we learned ourselves some lessons and have barely anything to show for it…

  • Do not use 8MP stills, they each take up 8 megs and my laptop is like 7 years old.
  • Do not bother acting out the scenes, or at least, not like we attempted – it produced very little actual animation.
  • Do not move the heads while they are speaking, the computer animated mouths will either look silly or take 10x as long to produce.

Also on our to do list:

  • Remember to bring the prop miniatures to the “studio” next time, Cliff needs his tools!
  • Figure out a new way to mount the camera.
  • LED lights!  Christmas lights!  The one overhead position-able lamp is functional, but not producing the shadows and colors we want.
  • Make the mouths.

Enjoy the video, but don’t blink!

Finally, The Name is penning a fourth original tune.  The live show will have to be delayed, but maybe it’s time for a second EP…

-Mike

Enter the DSLR

So we (Steve) have finally gotten serious about photographing Spacebase.  “How serious?” you ask.

After fiddling with some options, we were controlling focus and avoiding automatic white balance with ease and precision.  Cue proof video…

 For additional content, follow this link to see why Steve chose the camera he did.

Only a week or two left until filming of the episode will begin.  We’re making some adjustment to the body construction after melting the Melting Man in the video above (weights in the feet?) and finishing up wall decoration.  Mmmmm… progress.

-Mike

We're still making SB:I, and here's the proof!

We’ve had to take a few weeks off from Spacebase: Infinity for a variety of reasons, but progress is still being made.

We made some decisions on how to create bodies for the characters. After some testing, I think we’ll be modelling a torso out of clay and baking it before adding twisted wire for the arms and legs. In testing, this should give us stability and control without making their movements overly stiff.

We tried making the bodies completely of wire, but found them to be a little too deformable (as evidenced by the Cliff’s Doppleganger murder scene.) We also tried modifying a wooden model we found at Michaels, but the proportions weren’t right.

Next week we’ll hopefully finish the final set and at least a few character bodies. From there it should only be another week or so until we can begin filming the show. Exciting!

In other news, The Name has written and mostly recorded a new track. Add in one more cover in the next month or two, and the set is up to six songs. Time for an open mic?

Until then, mind the heavy drops…


Murderer's Identity Revealed…

The following video evidence, Moon Log #432:21, shows the killer to be a no-handed man.  Also, he has a wire loop head.

Cliff’s Doppelganger was murdered outside of his miniature wood cabin near the forest.  The only eyewitness, a gigantic deer, has yet to be found for questioning.  More as it develops.

Vocal sessions begin… and end!

Steve's happy with our progress!

UPDATE: There’s even a remix to bump in the car.

For about three and a half hours on Saturday, we got all of the voice actors in my dining room to lay down the vocals for SpaceBase: Infinity’s pilot episode.  After filling our stomachs with golabki and pierogies from Cracovia, we went through a table read of the script.  Looks like the final running time will be between 15 and 20 minutes.  Clips below…

Act 3, Scene 4

Act 2, Scene 2

 


Next, we’ll hopefully bring Josh on board (voice of Nat) to help push the project forward.  More sets, maybe some bodies for the characters, and hundreds of hours of small movements and photographs.

Until next time,
-Mike

The Name Invades SpaceBase: Infinity's Communications Satellite, I Guess!

There was craziness this weekend as rock/funk/ridiculous duo The Name hijacked SpaceBase: Infinity’s communications system and rocked the house… or the base, as the case may be.  Watch as Stack Dump and Cliff’s doppleganger grapple with a terrifying barrage of self-sampled mayhem!

As you can see, there are tons of mistakes in all areas – planning, photography, sequencing, editing, rendering… you name it, we messed it up.  Things on our to do / remember list:

  • Make sure when starting a new stop motion project, set the camera recording settings to an HD picture quality and aspect ratio.
  • If characters are going to be talking with their backs to the camera, make them move when they are talking rather than jittering randomly.
  • Adjust any sampled (aka YouTubed) footage to the same aspect ratio as the stop motion stills.
  • Try normalizing (?) the color balance and contrast on all stills before constructing the final scene.
  • Find a render setting that won’t screw up the 3d transformations.

That’s it for now!

-Mike

The Technology of SpaceBase: Infinity – The Communications Room

Seeing as it is the most expensive and technologically advanced SpaceBase yet, it seems fitting that we take a tour of some of the latest gismos and gadgets available to its crew.  In this installment, we’ll focus on the Communications Room.

The Comm Room is of a fairly simple design, featuring at its center the communications window.  A top of the line Organic MicroCrystal Display augments the clear polyfiber window in order to render a WQSXGA (3200 x 2048) resolution image.  Streaming video calls are piped in through a specially constructed satellite array orbiting the moon.

Comm Control Panel

A conference with SpaceBase: Beta or SpaceBase: Omega is as simple as navigating the HC6 interface on the comm room control panel using gestures, touch, or voice.  The latest HC6 OS has been specially designed by the software engineers at SUMO Inc. subsidiary InterTech.  The GUI allows for dynamic manipulation of data, video streams, and lunch delivery orders.

Around the room are controls for a variety of SB:I’s systems.  A pressure valve allows for emergency aquafication should computer AI subsystem fail-safes ironically fail to activate.

Safety Valve
Safety Valve

Door and security hatch controls respond to touch, voice, and motion using InterTech’s HC4 mobile OS.  To leave or enter a room, simply walk up to the threshold to open the doors.  Alternatively, you may touch the panel or simply say, “Computer, open door.”  Door panels also hold up to 2000 hours of music purchased from the proprietary Inter-Tunes store.

Door Control Panel

Finally, each room of SB:I is equipped with a euxygen system sensor.  Malxygen readings are taken once every four minutes and compared with the central scrubber system in the basement.  Hazard indicators will sound if malxygen reaches unsafe levels.

Euxygen Panel

More animation tests next week?  Maybe!

-Mike

Set Design Begins!

So we further delved into our non-existant arts and crafts background by starting work on the sets for SpaceBase:Infinity. As you can see from these pics, the Comm Room is starting to take shape. First came the color scheme:

As you can see, the walls were clearly more suited to be grey, in order to contrast the star-field we will show through the windows. And that brings us to SB:I The Making Of, Pt. 2…


I worked on scavenging parts for props/decor:

While Mike rediscovered his knack for high school trigonometry:

And look, we even caught Stack Dump hard at work crunching numbers as well!

-Steve & Mike