overcast #038
This week Ricky talks to Brad Kolacinski from Antics3d, one of the leading independent machinima platforms who made a big splash last year by offering a free version of their basic software for the first time. Brad takes us through the latest improvements to the Antics program in version 4, including a much improved lighting system and a new pricing structure, and he gives us a taste of what to expect in version 5 (FACIAL EXPRESSIONS!) - which may have been released by the time you listen to this show!
If you’ve ever attended one of the live Antics training sessions, then Brad’s voice will be familiar to you. If you haven’t, I highly recommend you keep an eye out for the return of those sessions once the next version of the program. In 30 minutes, Brad takes you through all the major features of the program, and you get a very accurate feel for how quickly one can put together sets and scenes with practice and experience in the platform.
Thank you for listening! Keep that feedback coming so we know what you like and want!
This Week’s Itinerary:
- Music Credits for this show:
- Opening music is by Nine Inch Nails, from the album The Slip, the track title is “Demon Seed.”
- This musical selection is used under the Creative Commons license graciously chosen by the artist. Please consider supporting them with a music purchase if you enjoy what you hear.
- Male Restroom Etiquette / 2 year Anniversary Video
- Cambridge Film Festival
- FILM: Folie a Deux
- Anymation
- Antics3d
- Wikipedia: Antics3d
- Google Warehouse / Google Sketchup
Pingback by Overman’s Blog » Temper Temper — October 3, 2008 at 12:11 pm
[…] Ricky spoke with Brad Kolacinski about the most recent and upcoming versions of Antics3d in this week’s overcast episode. Some very exciting things coming to that platform, both lately and in the very near future. Give […]
Comment by Russell — October 7, 2008 at 5:51 am
Interesting to hear from the horses mouth about their product.
For somone just dabbling in these tools, I’m interested to hear about the features and pricing structure. Even at 295 bucks it is still a big investment for the hobbyists. It makes Moviestorm a lot more attractive for playing with being free for the ulimited core plus one free addon. However, having the ability to import from Google Warehouse is amazing!
Thanks, Ricky and Phil, this type of short interview about different tools is very helpful.
All these interviews are good natured, polite and generally praise the interviewees. Have you thought about, when talking to commercial people trying to sell their products, maybe making the questions a little tougher? Or is that being gay
Or maybe invite someome from each of the main competitors for a commensurate interview?
Just a couple of cents worth. Keep em coming, please, your work is most appreciated.
Pingback by Overman’s Blog » OverByte #11 — October 13, 2008 at 7:34 am
[…] Antics V5 Released! - Antics have rebranded themselves with a new logo and look, and version 5 features facial expressions and other new features. See also: overcast #038 - Interview with Brad Kolacinski […]
Comment by Ricky Grove — October 14, 2008 at 12:49 am
Thanks for your comments, Russell. I know what you mean about asking tougher questions and I’d like to do that for future interviews. Keep in mind these are guys I interact with all the time, so I like to be considerate with them in interviews. Written reviews are another thing entirely.
Not sure if I agree with you about the $295, although I’ve just found out that Antics canceled their free program (why?). It’s about the price of a medium/high level graphics
card or 6 PC games. I suppose it’s a matter of perspective, but if I was very impressed with a particular program, I spend $295 for it.
I’m working on a large scale review of the four major non-game machinima programs: iClone, Moviestorm, Antics3D and ZenCub3d using a “creating an entire short film” approach. This will take some time, but I’d like to give it a shot.
We had planned to present a panel at the now defunct (thank you, Mr. Montreal Arcadia Games guy) Montreal Machinima Expo where we’d have them all sit down and comment on each others programs. Competition has led to a lot of innovation in these programs, to my mind. Can’t do it for the Virtual Expo, but possibly for the future.
Ricky
Comment by Russell — October 14, 2008 at 4:42 am
That would have been an interesting panel discussion! I can’t wait to hear the next podcast to get some background on the Montreal Arcadia and their attititude to Machinima.
And yep, the value of $295 is a matter of perspective, of course. I should have said it’s too expensive for me personally to afford, even though it is a reasonable price for a professional piece of software. This is why I’m glad that I can play a lot with the free core of Moviestorm. I don’t know how it compares to Antics but it does the job for experimenting.
I look forward to your review of the 4 products - that will really be helpful to get a side by side comparison.
There is still the big question of the potential audience for non-game machinima and if it is worth the effort to move away from the game audiences that we already have. That question hasn’t being answered properly yet and that’s a whole other topic.