3D Performed By Small Segment of the Population

[Psmith]

Anyone monitoring the situation out there in the 3D trenches, (me), can verify that our 3D creation population is approaching what some might label an "inbred" clan, of sorts.

Too many of the same kinds of people producing too much of the same stuff.

I think this has been bad for the industry, at large, and really detrimental to 3D software development, specifically.

Very little is happening to attract "new blood" to the field, new creativity or new content - in everything from static 3D content, animated 3D film, all the way to game content. Look anywhere that 3D "art" abounds and you will see the same, tired themes. Men with little heads dressed in Big Suits, Scantily clad females in Little Suits - (unnecessary tubes, rivets, orifices and gears adorning their costumes). Steroid ingesting half-humans, the living dead, and lots and lots of Monsters - BOOOOOO!

As a father and a grandfather, I can find very little that I would even consider "feeding" to my offspring. Not only is it just plain gross and destructive - but, more importantly - boring, lacking originality, engaging characters, plot and interesting back story.

To this day, the best animated content can be found in the Disney and Warner Bros archives. What happened to the kind of people capable of creating this calibre of true entertainment? This kind of variety? This kind of character creation and development? These kinds of brilliant examples of story telling?

A lot of the blame can be laid at the feet of those who, erroneously, determine what it is that "makes money" by drawing audiences. This applies to those who make the software that equips the creators of 3D content, as well as those who determine what kind of content will be produced by the creators who use the software.

Mostly, 3D software is made to appeal to our inbred 3D clan. And, the only time this standard is broken is when MIT or someone makes a new application "For Kids" - which is stereotypically and incoherently "dumbed down" by those same kind of mistaken managers who determine what "will sell".

To boil it down a little more: The 3D market is perceived to be profitable only to those who belong to "our clan". Our inbred clan, by virtue of nature and the deep ruts we have carved in the terrain, demand the same tools to make more of the same tired content for the same tired audiences. The whole situation smells of iron poor, tired blood.

It's a cryin' shame, I tell you.

Greg Smith

[Tony Nemo]

I will do my best to introduce a couple of granddaughters to producing what comes from their imaginations. I see a bright future for content that was impossible to produce by individuals until very recently. Small studios and collaborations will come out with things that are not even on the grid at this point.

[Mykyl]

I agree whole-heartedly with your comments. Sick of seeing the same thing over and over again as I browse the net. Roll on real originality and some risk taking.

Cheers

Mike R

[Psmith]

Well, now that I've trashed the status quo, I'll have to provide a little hope.

Here are some clips of new, 3D content made by guys and gals who "know" and "remember":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I_269gfKIs

Somehow, amid the stagnant jello lakes of torpid sameness, these folks have risen above. They get it.

Greg Smith

[Mykyl]

That clip you just showed made me smile. My kind of thing. Hopefully I will be able to show some of the characters from the next ios game I am developing very soon.

By the way hopefully my messages are making sense as I am giving my wife a rest from my three month old son who is full of the cold and coughing like a good un. Normally I would be in bed at 2:40am.

Cheers

Mike R

[michalis]

+1 Psmith

Its even worst.

-Men with little heads dressed in Big Suits, / naked and in most cases castrated.

-Scantily clad females in Little Suits. / naked, not castrated of course, but... in most cases... with gigantic phallic swords, the size is important.

-robots, living dead and other monsters are less disturbing but extremely boring.

The old school of animation and comics is great but its the old academy now.

What is missing is real art, a deeper meaning of design, of composition, of structure.

we have to understand what classical and modern art has created.

We have to be brave, if we want to call ourselves artists. We can't keep hiding behind muscles, scales, teeth and pores.

Recently in ZBCentral a fight took place again. People didn't approve mods choice for top row stuff.

"Z-Brush top-row _is_ a show case row. Both artistically in a gallery sense, to get recognized by the community and for people looking to hire skilled people to find them."

and my answer

"If this forum is considered as an art school, if this is the case, then all this about 'hiring', will kill it. I saw it happening in 'real' art academies. Unfortunately.

Some may prefer to see a fresh version of classic animation figures.

Others waiting to see the real monsters, the real nightmares, beauty, peaceful landscapes.

We have to act like brave humans for these. Money have nothing to do with it. These will come sooner or later (if they exist) LOL

[Psmith]

Demonstrating how low and limited the imagination of this inbred clan has become, there is a lingering thread on the CGSociety discussion section entitled,

"How Do You Do Dismemberment?"

Whaaaa? I just can't believe what has become.

Greg Smith

[polyxo]

Mostly, 3D software is made to appeal to our inbred 3D clan. And, the only time this standard is broken is when MIT or someone makes a new application "For Kids" - which is stereotypically and incoherently "dumbed down" by those same kind of mistaken managers who determine what "will sell".

Greg,

I also find Topics, Creatures and general Aesthetics of Games and Game-inspired Motion-graphics often extremely lame and uninteresting.

Also I see the potential cultural impact of these ubiquitous muscle packed Shrinkheads and their stereotypical busty, childfaced female couterparts.

I also understand sorrow for kids who grow up with poor Entertainment/Inspiration.

That said:

What you call the 3D-Industry is in reality just a tiny part of it. No Car has ever been designed in Maya or Cinema 4D.

All the Software which commonly is in use to create Characters and Animations taken together sell far fewer copies than typical 3D-CAD-Software for

Industrial/Mechanical/Architectural Design. True, also in these areas the exiting digital Toolbox is often used in boring continuation of already worn and

obsolete Design-Concepts. But there's also lots of extremely amazing work being done, which has changed the face of our world and the way we live so rapidly

in the last 25 years.

The problem is not the Tool. It - as almost always - is sitting in front of the Screen.

[polyxo]

Demonstrating how low and limited the imagination of this inbred clan has become, there is a lingering thread on the CGSociety discussion section entitled,

"How Do You Do Dismemberment?"

Whaaaa? I just can't believe what has become.

Greg Smith

You might consider - most CGS-readers (like me too) aren't native English speakers.

Maybe this person just wanted to quit the CGS-Membership.

[polyxo]

You might consider - most CGS-readers (like me too) aren't native English speakers.

Maybe this person just wanted to quit the CGS-Membership.

No, I was wrong here.

[Psmith]

Polyxo:

I guess there is "3D" and then there is "3D".

Industrial CAD really is a different market with a different goal, but driven by a similar set of people. Generally speaking, these people are using their imagination, expressed through software tools to make "real" things.

However, the same dark tendencies can be found in the CAD camp, as well. And, as you said, the problem is with the person sitting in front of the screen, not elsewhere.

What is driving people to create all of the negative entities found in 3D entertainment is driving people to use their imagination and skill to produce draconian things like this:

Man-hunting Robot

and this:

"With a head like a man . . ."

and this:

The living dead

You are right. It's not the tools that make these things, but they certainly empower those souls who sit in front of those screens.

Greg Smith

[michalis]

Artificial intelligence never feared me.

When real people starts thinking artificially, this frightens me. And this is an old story, an ancient story.

[parel]

I agree Psmith. This is partially why I bought 3dcoat. Andrew has a positive point of view and wants to provide a positive impact in the world. I am also attempting to do work that I can share with my daughters- good thread

Working on some illustrations for a kids book- see below.

http://picasaweb.google.com/thomas.parel/Blender25Work#5558368316087587634

Work to create the kind of world you want to live in I guess..

[AbnRanger]

I think you have to take into account the people who are creating the art. Seeing that it's largely centered in Southern California, that tells you something right off the bat. Many of this crowd tend to convolute art and entertainment with their own twisted (sado-masochistic/dominatrix) fetishes and warped ideologies. What's alarming is this bunch expect you and I to pay them to express the filth swimming around in their head.

Contrast that with Disney, Dreamworks, Pixar and maybe Blue Sky, whose sole focus is making a masterpiece of art and storytelling. That's why I "watch what I watch" and avoid playing video games.

[polyxo]

Psmith - seems that we dislike the same phenomens but for different reasons.

We both see a lack of imagination in a wide range of Game-Graphics but I

neither want them to stay stuck, in their obsolete /1960ties to 1980ties

Science-Fiction aesthetics with all its absurd cliches.

Nor would I want them to return to a form of american 1930's storytelling

with Cars and Telephones/gender-roles which Children nowadays can no more

recognize.

I completely fail to see the "Evil" in the Robotic links you posted.

Technology-wise that's hightly fascinating stuff and a neccesary

evolutionary step in Off-Road Mobility. Of course bipeds or quadrupeds perform

better than conventional Cars or Track-Vehicles under these conditions.

It's again absolutely up to the humans to decide on whether to use this

stuff to fight their Neighbours or in order to rescue people from burning

houses...

[michalis]

I think you have to take into account the people who are creating the art. Seeing that it's largely centered in Southern California, that tells you something right off the bat. Many of this crowd tend to convolute art and entertainment with their own twisted (sado-masochistic/dominatrix) fetishes and warped ideologies. What's alarming is this bunch expect you and I to pay them to express the filth swimming around in their head.

Why so in southern california? Why particularly there? I thought this was 'global'.

[AbnRanger]

Why so in southern california? Why particularly there? I thought this was 'global'.

Notice I said "largely"...as in "not exclusively."

[Psmith]

Robotics is fascinating until you realize who will end up monopolizing the technology. And, believe me, they will use it, in its most powerful and draconian forms, to oppress and murder their neighbors.

You don't have to look very far back in history to see this paradigm played out.

Greg Smith

[AbnRanger]

Robotics is fascinating until you realize who will end up monopolizing the technology. And, believe me, they will use it, in its most powerful and draconian forms, to oppress and murder their neighbors.

You don't have to look very far back in history to see this paradigm played out.

Greg Smith

I think you've watched Avatar too many times, Greg. Hollywood just loves to impose this "Military=Evil" shtick on the audience at every turn, and frankly, I'm sick of it. There is a quote from one of George Orwell's books that states: "You and I can sleep in peace at night only because there are rugged men who stand ready to do violence ON OUR BEHALF."

There are plenty of places in the world, where that is not the case. Armies are just like guns, in a general sense. They are only as evil as the one holding/controlling them. You may think they're a menace....until you desperately NEED one (to save you and/or your family's life).

[Veehoy]

Jack Nicholson is in da house. Now, where did Tom Cruise go....?

[AbnRanger]

Jack Nicholson is in da house. Now, where did Tom Cruise go....?

Last I saw him, he was jumping up and down on Oprah's couch...maybe you can check the cushions or something....

[michalis]

I don't think that military=evil was the basic idea of avatar. This was another american western story, thats all.

In our days though, US military=evil became an obsession among non US citizens around the world. Among US citizens as well, it seems so. A great opportunity to make more money I suppose.

It is called politics and economy. "The empire never ended" Just names changing from century to century.

BTW ask people with military service what they have to say about war and violence. You'll maybe surprised.

From peloponnesian war (thukydides again), the only who were brave enough to speak against war were the generals of sparta. Thukydides himself was an athenian general as well.

[digman]

And a poor American western story at that. I still remember my father taking us kids to the drive-in movies to watch those tall men in CinemaScope...

Talking about cowboys, I remember a few years ago being in a small texas town in ranch territory and two young cowboys come in to the store. They have on their rife ammo belts,big cowboy boots,hats plus they were hauling around big knives for cutting back brush. In a big city they would be surrounded by cops in a heartbeat but in the store no one even took notice...

[Psmith]

Ahh, the glories of Texas and those tall Cowboys at the Drive-In. That legend will never die. John Wayne will never die - or Fonda - or Stewart.

Which reminds me to remind you all to go see the most excellent Western remake of all time:

True Grit

What a tribute to real men and real virtue.

Greg Smith

[Veehoy]

Last I saw him, he was jumping up and down on Oprah's couch...maybe you can check the cushions or something....

So that is where he and Demi ended up after a rough day in court? Well, I can handle that truth....

[Tony Nemo]

As the world becomes more prosperous, major war (very destructive of prosperity) becomes less likely. Wars are currently happening in the most desperately poor regions. WW2 started after the Great Depression pauperized many Europeans. The spread of democracy also mitigates, as people are reluctant to bare the burdens and really don't make war on democratic neighbors. A new war in the middle east is a real possibility due to the presence of autocratic regimes where the people have limited access to information and a few at the top have a monopoly on policy decisions.

[michalis]

Oh the problem with guns in US. I know. Something about the constitution if I remember well.

Come and visit greece. No guns here.

Crete is a great place. One still had a german tank (ammo included), RPGs are very popular, all types, No killings though, not much... I mean.

I hate guns but even a stone can do the same job.

If our imagination can give ideas to others to construct some evil weapons... what can we do about it? Remember Leonardo?

[Tony Nemo]

Apparently dystopias are more entertaining than utopias.

[spacepainter]

Hundertwasser would use this modern tech to heal buildings and interiors.

Not to scare kids with zombies and shootinggames.:-)

[AbnRanger]

I don't think that military=evil was the basic idea of avatar. This was another american western story, thats all.

In our days though, US military=evil became an obsession among non US citizens around the world. Among US citizens as well, it seems so. A great opportunity to make more money I suppose.

It is called politics and economy. "The empire never ended" Just names changing from century to century.

BTW ask people with military service what they have to say about war and violence. You'll maybe surprised.

From peloponnesian war (thukydides again), the only who were brave enough to speak against war were the generals of sparta. Thukydides himself was an athenian general as well.

I mentioned earlier that I'm a veteran...so what would I be surprised about?