Hugh / Cairmen

HOWTO: Demon Summoning, My First Live-Action Film After 20 Years of Animation

cairmen — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 13:41:38 GMT

IT'S ALIIIIVE! Yes, the thing I've been trailering all week is here.

Summoning a demon using a YouTube tutorial. What could go wrong?

Find out now: watch Cthulhu Horror-Comedy HOWTO: Demon Summoning, my first live-action film after 20 years of making animated movies.

And please do spread the word! Shares, comments, social media submits all much appreciated.

An Image

cairmen — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 14:39:00 GMT

Fight The Filter!

cairmen — Tue, 19 May 2015 16:28:16 GMT

I've just released something that I've been working on for a while, which many of you may find interesting, useful or both.

You may know that I'm pretty concerned about the "Filter Bubble" effect of social media on everyone's world-view, as we all end up in separate little silos of information.

So I've developed a small tool which might help inoculate you against it. Read on to find out more and follow Rando:

http://www.strangecompany.org/how-to-fight-the-filter-bubble-new-twitter-app-thing/

cairmen — Mon, 18 May 2015 13:34:40 GMT

'Carcosa' - a comic series. 'HOWTO: Demon Summoning' - my first live-action narrative short film. 'Cellar And Tower', and more.

For the first time in over a decade, I've actually managed to get things seriously moving over here. I'm working on a lot of exciting projects - have a read to find out the full list of what's going on at SC.

Many of these probably feature people you know, since you're seeing this on LJ!

http://www.strangecompany.org/my-upcoming-projects-may-2015-carcosa-howto-demon-summoning-and-more/

Winter's Sun

cairmen — Tue, 05 May 2015 15:54:37 GMT

New live-action piece from a day running around with a new 3-axis gimbal stabiliser in Princes St Gardens:

Winter's Sun | Edinburgh's Princes St Gardens | a7s, Nebula 4000 from Strange Company on Vimeo.

Good News On The Clickbait Front?

cairmen — Wed, 04 Feb 2015 11:21:36 GMT

VERY interesting: WoW Insider, the biggest blog covering WoW, was shut down by its owners, and the staff responded by running a Patreon to keep going - which has immediately been successful.

This will mean that they're a professional organisation, paid for by subscription to deliver news with no paywall. That's veeeeeery interesting. I think they'll be the first such journalistic organisation - the first I'm aware of, anyway.

Also very good news for those of us concerned about clickbait and its effects on society - as Ryan Holliday notes in "Trust Me, I'm Lying", it was newspapers moving from the "yellow journalism" mode to a subscription mode that signaled the change from sensationalism to more substance in print journalism, at the start of the last century.

https://www.patreon.com/blizzardwatch

Pretty videos

cairmen — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 13:23:59 GMT

So, it seems that I'm moving into a rather live-actioney stage of my career.

More details on that soon, but for now, have some pretty videos:

Stone And Sorcery

cairmen — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 14:29:33 GMT

Yep, first episode of a new series!

Possibly not to everyone's taste, but let me know if you enjoy it!

Ello

cairmen — Sat, 27 Sep 2014 10:03:47 GMT

Over at Ello, the new soshal meeja networky thing, as @hughhancock

Hearthstoning!

cairmen — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 12:43:02 GMT

Hurrah!

It might not be Legend, but I'm reasonably pleased with it:

Hoy crap.

cairmen — Wed, 19 Mar 2014 22:37:37 GMT

If you want to have a future-shock moment and have a reasonably powerful iOS or Android phone, search your phone's store for "Epic Citadel" and install it.

It's the tech demo for Unreal Engine 3 - the same game engine that powered XCom, Arkham City/Asylum and Spec Ops: The Line amongst other games.

It - more or less current-gen gaming tech - runs perfectly smoothly on a PHONE.

Obviously, there have been some optimisations, but nothing particularly obtrusive, or indeed visible.

(For a second bit of future shock - you can buy a source code license to the updated engine, Unreal Engine 4, for $19 a month as of today.)

IT'S OUT!

cairmen — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 12:41:00 GMT

IT'S FINISHED! (well, the first half :) But it's now available for viewing. )

Featuring Hollywood stars (Jack Davenport, Anna Chancellor, Joanna Lumley and Brian Blessed), made using the same motion capture tech as "X-Men First Class", and written and directed by, well, me (director of "BloodSpell" and founder of Machinima.com), this really is a World of Warcraft fanfilm like absolutely no other.

Watch it free right now at

http://www.deathknightlovestory.com/

And if you'd like to help me spread the word - which would be REALLY appreciated - we have a resource page for doing just that at

http://www.deathknightlovestory.com/share/

What stops you watching a film online?

cairmen — Fri, 03 Jan 2014 19:10:02 GMT

Help me out with this: you've just seen an ad / a mention of a new fantasy animated film.

What STOPS you watching it? What thoughts do you have that make you go "nah, can't be bothered" or "I don't think I will watch that"?

Note: I'm talking about expectations or fears here BEFORE you start watching - "It'll be very worthy and arty" or "it'll be too long" or "the acting will be bad".

Please be as honest as you like, even if you're talking about stuff that has put you off MY films in the past - I won't be offended!

Paleo Diet: the Almost-A-Year update

cairmen — Sat, 14 Dec 2013 18:06:55 GMT

I've now been on the Paleo Diet for 9 months or so. For about 3 of those months I've been meaning - and promising to - write a lengthy update about how I've been finding it.

Well, I seem to have consistently failed to write a long one, so with Christmas looming I figured it was about time to write a short summary, at least.

People familiar with my "short" summaries will be able to predict what happened next...

Anyway, hope it's interesting!

Health

The Paleo Diet so far seems to have produced unalloyed positive results.

I've lost about 6kg, dropping to something in the region of 15-20% body fat, which is pretty much exactly where I want to be. I've seen significant reduction in my systolic and diastolic blood pressure. I've also lost several inches around my waist and am now back to fitting into 36" jeans.

My cardiovascular fitness has notably increased - even at the moment, when my exercise regime basically consists of about 15 minutes of Pilates a day plus a few pullups and some walking. A few days ago I visited my lawyers and was able to climb 16 flights of stairs non-stop without ever losing the ability to carry on a conversation about international company formation. Or at least, without getting any more incoherent on the subject than I was to begin with.

I've still got more stamina for aerobic exercise in general, too. Neither low-intensity or high-intensity exercise tire me out anywhere near as much as I'd expect them to, and in both cases I can keep going for much longer than I'd expect before I need a break.

I'm also continuing to notice that I don't get ravenously "I MUST EAT NOW" hungry any more. Of course I get hungry, but it's more controllable than when I was eating high-GI foods, and I don't get shaky or faint if I don't immediately eat when that happens.

On a more minor note, both Becca and I are also noticing that our skin's clearer than pre-Paleo, and neither of us get bloated after meals unless we've been eating non-Paleo food. And in a particular relief for me, I've discovered that avoiding both grain and dairy means my sinuses get much, much less clogged.

Energy levels are infamously hard to measure reliably, but over the last month or so I've been working very hard, and haven't had the sudden "ohgodIcantdothisanymore" moment that I've experienced in recent years. Indeed, I've not been able to work this hard for a sustained length of time since I was about 24.

Convenience

Yup, Paleo is still expensive. However, we've managed to optimise considerably, and our food bills are now only about 10% higher than they were pre-Paleo. Moving to online shopping with Waitrose was a pretty significant factor there, and has reclaimed us about an evening a week to boot.

That gets us at least 4 portions of fresh veg a day plus fruit, organic meat (sometimes), and generally lots of very nice stuff.

Paleo food continues to be absolutely bloody gorgeous, from rib-eye steak to red onion and leek sauteed in lard. And eating pork scratchings as health food really hasn't gotten old yet...

Eating out continues to be a bit of a challenge, although less so than it was initially.

We've identified several styles of food that are very Paleo-friendly (Nandos is something of a blessing, as are Brazilian barbecue restaurants), and the main problem these days tends to be finding a way to get enough energy from a meal out (usually supplied by fat in Paleo) rather than not being able to find anything to eat. Deserts are a bit of an "aww, those look really nice but..." moment, though.

Cooking times are still a bit of a pain, because Paleo-friendly pre-prepared meals really aren't a thing in supermarkets, so everything has to be prepared from scratch. I think we'd be finding Paleo a lot more of a challenge if we didn't both work from home.

What If We Break The Rules?

We have both relaxed our Paleo rules a bit from time to time. Becca's discovered that milk has no obvious negative effect on her, so is now drinking it regularly.

I, meanwhile, have discovered that milk-based products DO have a pretty significant effect on me, but sometimes have them anyway, because I like cheese, dammit. The ensuing couple of days of blocked nose is worth it.

We occasionally eat potatoes whilst we're out - which are only slightly contraindicated in Paleo anyway - and feel fine afterward. The main trick seems to be using potatoes as another vegetable rather than the bulk of the meal.

Eating significant quantities of sugar tends to hit me like a jittery, overly-sweet truck. I avoid the stuff like the plague now, barring special occasions, as even a high-sugar Chinese meal will give me an unpleasant comedown about an hour later.

Likewise, heavy gluten content is no fun at all. We had a pizza meal a few months ago, which tasted fantastic, but afterward we had several hours of feeling like we'd eaten a significant portion of coarsely chopped bowling balls.

So What Now?

Paleo. More Paleo.

I'm extremely happy with the results and planning to stick to it for the indefinite future!

Eschaton: Darkening Twilight is back online!

cairmen — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 14:18:24 GMT

I've been doing some Machinima history digging - and I'm pleased to say that for the first time in many years, you can now see the first film I ever made. It's arguably responsible for the birth of Machinima.com, my subsequent career, and quite a lot of the way that Machinima has developed.

http://www.strangecompany.org/the-film-responsible-for-machinima-com-and-my-career-is-back-online/

Openings!

cairmen — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 14:07:27 GMT

Right.

Next on my Big Plan: Story openings.

I suck at them.

So, I know that lots of Very Clever Story People are reading this: what tips would you give me for compelling openings to a story/series/thing?

Note: this is for a YouTube audience, so slow builds really don't work. Need to hook within the first minute and get the entire thing in the first 5.

Testing Testing...

cairmen — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 16:40:22 GMT

And here's our first new production pipeline mini-test: facial animation, mocap from Xsens' MVN suits, procedural landscape, GPU rendering, the works.

It's got a few problems with animation bits, notably the size of the character and the fact he's floating at the end - but aside from that, what do you think?

Next step: something with a plot.

Well, that took a little longer than expected, but still, it's come out OK.

cairmen — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 18:23:57 GMT

I've just rendered a file called

"Death Knight Love Story Part 1 - Release Candiate.mp4"

Yes, for the first time ever, I have a version of Death Knight Love Story that could conceivably be released.

Now, we watch it, find all the problems, fix them, and then start the epic run-up to actually putting the thing out there in the wild!

Something new - webcam-style animation development journal

cairmen — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 18:08:30 GMT

Trying something a bit new: a quick video to show my latest testing of production techniques. It's all webcammy and not post-produced to within an inch of its life, very edgy for me... ( I'm actually slightly nervous about it. )

In this case, I'm testing out using an XBox controller to puppet the facial expressions of my character - have a look and see what you think! Comments and suggestions extremely welcome.

I'm developing a completely new way to make films. Again.

cairmen — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 18:00:27 GMT

Yep, rather earlier than anticipated, I'm taking Strange Company completely away from game-based films, and into the new world of 2013's independent animation tools.

Here's our first, very early test, and some of the reasons why...

http://www.strangecompany.org/im-developing-a-new-way-to-make-films-again/

Interested to hear opinions: has game development been quietly democratised?

cairmen — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 13:49:39 GMT

My rather startling realisation whilst working with Unity3D for the Oculus Rift VRJam:

I'm pretty sure game development has - like writing and music - been at least partially democratised.

http://www.strangecompany.org/has-game-design-become-a-democratic-artform/

"A Massive Fucking TV"

cairmen — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 17:51:03 GMT

In reference to Jamie Oliver being a dick about people on benefits today:

A 42" flat-screen TV costs £429 from Amazon at the moment. That, I think, fits most peoples' definition of a "massive fucking TV".

A decent one will last at least 5 years. If there are multiple people in the house and they don't have the money for much other entertainment, it's a fair bet it will be watched for at least 4 hours a day.

That results in the total cost of entertainment from that television being 6p per hour.

That's an astonishingly good deal, and an entirely appropriate frugal purchase.

(That's a conservative estimate. If the TV lasts 10 years, and gets 8 people-hours of use a day, the cost of entertainment from it tends toward £0.01 per hour.)

By comparison, the total cost of entertaining 4 people with a trip to the cinema will work out around £6 per hour, and the entertainment value of a nicely-cooked meal made using farm shop ingredients for 4 people will work out around £4 per hour.

First Computer Game Finished

cairmen — Sun, 25 Aug 2013 20:44:32 GMT

More of a "hey, I did this then" entry than anything else: I just finished my first ever computer game, for the Oculus Rift VRJam.

Three weeks, 10 (I think) levels, and a moderately innovative concept.

I'm going to write a blog entry about it soon, but for now, I'll just say - hey, that was fun.

Now off to play, rather than write, computer games for a bit...

BruceS Explains The Present

cairmen — Sun, 04 Aug 2013 23:11:31 GMT

It turns out that if you were a cyberpunk author in the '80s / 90s, you're in a superb position to accurately comment on the world today.

And that's what Bruce Sterling has been doing for many years now. He was one of the big inspirations behind Strange Company with his Viridian Movement, and today he's written another storming essay which does nothing less than explain PRISM, Snowden, Assange, Stuxnet, Bradley Manning, and just about everything else happening right now.

It starts a bit slow, but stick with it - the gold's right at the end.

https://medium.com/geek-empire-1/a1ebd2b4a0e5?

Includes EPIC BUTT CRACK

cairmen — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 13:56:27 GMT

I'm continuing to update the Strange Company blog with fun stuff, and I figured a lot of you might enjoy this one.

It's a look at some of the less-glamorous aspects of motion capture work - from other people's sweat to what happens when a somewhat-overweight director puts on a designed-for-slim-people mocap suit...

Enjoy.

Reshares, Tweets, etc much appreciated!

http://www.strangecompany.org/7-terrible-truths-about-motion-capture-suits-part-1/