Captain's Blog: New Projects Underway!

Yes, I've at last sat down and started something 😁

First, a The Movies project, inspired by Biggsy's Last Day in Justice silent short. Very cool little short with some clever editing work and appropriate music, it inspired me to metaphorically punch some Nazis, so Fortune and Glory is on the designer's desk right now; no real mods (as my TM install saved folders appear to be pretty corrupted, and didn't install properly after moving from the (apparently) damaged backup drive I had them on.

Next, a project from an unfinished script I started writing years ago for TheBiz collaboration project, which I've now started filing in Moviestorm; Privateer, a steampunk tale of adventure and derring do in the clouds and on the battlefields of an alternative earth...  I just need to source a decent couple of airship models (as the ones available on Sketchup didn't really come out that well on import).

The second one has enabled me to reacquaint myself with very rusty skills and relearn how to do stuff in MS, so the first set of shots are a bit choppy :)  I don't really have much time to go back and reshoot these at the moment but will do so eventually; I just want to get the shots down and done first then see how it looks, then worry about the rest later.

I'm about halfway through the written script as it stands at the moment and I even remembered how to import Sketchup props so was able to find and bring in a horse-drawn carriage that enabled me to shoot the first scene and not have to completely redo it (I did cut a bit of dialogue out as it was getting very long and talky, so chopped a chunk out which a) doesn't add much and b) didn't actually take away anything from the story anyway, so it's all good 😆)

Deep War is currently on the backburner; just as Mr DeBoing agreed to start building some mods for me, his external drive went poof, taking with it all the remaining bits of Tank and any enthusiasm at present to do any mod work (despite his first attempt at the "hero sub" looking extremely cool!)  So commiserations to Mike there as he lost quite a bit of personal data, which is more important than him catering to some old hack in his kitchen writing scripts and coming up with little movies!

I'm also toying with finally getting around to Shadows of Albion, the long-teased and never really started sci-fantasy script I was going to do as my "between seasons" project (which instead turned into Conquest: Blackstar Rising", which I don't regret one bit.  Mixed blessing, as in the intervening years, MS now has sufficient proppage and costumes etc for me to finally be in with a stab at making this, so that's floating around in the back of my mind, too.

And the ever present, niggling beast of Odyssey that never seems to want to completely go away...

So, lots to keep me occupied... I just need to finish scripting and shooting all these and then see what's next 😊

Captain's Blog: In which I go all "Youtubey"

Well, I've only just gone and done it!

I've finally updated my Youtube channel after years of neglect, and those who have an interest can find the entirety of the completed Odyssey episodes uploaded there if they have any desire to watch or rewatch them.

 The playlist comprises -

• The initial subtitled pilot episodes (in all their "gory glory" 😉), all combined into one long video;
• The 6 part finale (my first endeavour to include voice actors), again combined into one long movie;
• Episodes 1-7 of Season One;
• Episode 1 of Season Two;

I've also included the Interlude Episode that was due to sit between Episode 1 and 2 of Season Two... and which now stands as the last existing Odyssey episode, effectively.

Well, enjoy or not as you desire; once again, even after all this time, honoured and humbled by the experience of working with a stellar voice cast which I was lucky enough to get for this, from the regulars to the guest stars... love yah all, guys, and thank you for allowing me to make my imagination reality with this, even if we never got to finish it!

As an addendum, I'm still toying with the idea of an "Oddyseymentary" to act as an overview of the series and outline what the actual plan and end was supposed to be; an insane, massively ambitious end it would have been, too, and with enough hooks that there could have even been a follow up (mostly planet-based, think more DS9 than S:NG)... but that's potentially a tale for another day... which is edging closer as I went back and reviewed the episodes when I uploaded them and got all nostalgic again...

Captain's Blog: Lament for Times Past and Whither Hence?

 ...which is just pretentious double-speak for "what shall I do now?" and "where have all the flowers gone?", in effect.

Well, there's Deep War that I'm intending to make (underwater sci-fi mini-series; I don't have the resources, either voice actors nor time, at the moment to commit to a longer option), amongst a few other half-baked ideas whizzing around in my brain, but if there is no audience these days (with TMU seemingly all but abandoned except by a few die-hards and the movie site effectively slowly ageing away like a fine wine.... no surprise as the dearth of regular content over the years that's been uploaded seems to suggest), is it worth expending some much time and effort as I used to?

I'm being honest, here; I used to love making movies and a lot of that was satisfaction that the finished product struck chords with a lot of people who made some very nice (and, I'm pretty sure, overly nice) comments (that I'm almost definate in some cases were a lot nicer than the product actually deserved!)

Well, there's always a market for smart, intelligently told stories, so I'm told, so we'll see 😜)

Which segues me into my long point; whilst it's sad to see the old girl (TMU and the attendant community) slowly ebbing away, to be honest it's not a massive surprise.

Some left when their passion to make movies left them...

Some left when the cost of making movies became too high (either in terms of cash to purchase the needed resources to make the films they wanted to make, or in terms of time they could spend on such projects)...

Some have moved onto bigger and better things (mainly the iClone community, which appears to be the only one of the "Big Three" of my time still surging ahead, with The Movies slowly withering on the vine, harder to get working with each iteration of Windows, it'll eventually die off completely when the last user can't get it running on their machine, and Moviestorms left to rot as Short Fuse drop what could have been a world-class, easy to use animation engine into the dust to concentrate on their new VR pre-viz tool)...

(/rant on

In an ideal world, MS would have been kept running alongside the development of this, but sadly this ain't an ideal world; I can still vent my frustration at the company for not prevailing with it, even in the face of the obvious need for them to move on to other things to keep their company afloat.... but, still charging £150 for the full product (and a load of packs I don't need as I bought them with points years ago) as a permanent license is ridiculous, given the complete lack of support and development the product has had in the last few years.  I'd buy it in a heartbeat, I like it that much, but not for that price.  And there's no option for a permanent license other than that; everything else is "rent for x period of time".

Drop the cost and I'll think about my last purchase from you in deference to the initial efforts you put in to creating a decent tool whose future was let slip by lack of development and promotion, despite a glowing start.... 

/rant off).

It's a shame, but I suppose it was idealistic to expect the "old crew" to still be hanging on in there, 9 years after I had to withdraw, still soldiering on with the same passion, wit and intensity as when I left.

I salute, applaud and respect the efforts of thebiz, JohnnyEx, Mac, Bezzer, Biggsy and the crew (not to mention the Big White Bwana, Ken himself, without whom our little "haven of insanity in a crazy world" would have long ago sunk to the bottom of Davy Jones' Locker) to still keep the old ship a-sailing, even as the leaks sprang open and she slowly began to slip beneath the waters, but am resigned now to realising that those heady days of fun and laughter, tears and anger and late-night movie production meetings til the early (very early in a lot of cases, thanks Chris, K4 and Norrie😉) hours are long gone, never to return.

I've spent many a happy and nostalgic hour pouring over the forums and re-reading some of the old threads; remembering faces old and new, conversations, dramas, jokes and above all the hours and hours of effort we all threw into our passion..... making movies.

Well, for me at least, that passion has experienced a resurgence and I'm back at in, in some form or another, for a while at least.

It'd be nice if there were a few more of the old crowd still around who'd like to take a spin around the block with me as well, if only the "once around" for old time's sake...

Wow, that was a lot more melancholic than I was expecting to write, but "nostalgia weighs heavy on the soul and mind, as age weighs heavy on the body" as someone should have said (if they actually haven't already, and I'm just paraphrasing without realising it 😏)

Damn my stream of consiousness writing :)

Captain's Blog: Eldritch Part Three (Rough)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I managed to dig out some old bits and pieces of stuff when I started looking at getting back into movie making; one of these was the unfinished rough of Eldritch Part Three (available on Vimeo (and embedded above), as apparently the TMU movie site is borked these days and I can't upload or embed it there).

It has little to no music, is exceptionally rough round the edges and is definately showing it's age (don't expect a lot if you want to watch it!), but it showcases (I hope) where the story was going to go.  Featuring the acting talents of the esteemed Macwemyss, Norrie, Bezzer and the less esteemed me, I'm uploading for posterity if anyone has a hankering to see the unfinished article.

Captain's Blog: False starts and new beginnings...

After a false start... or two... or three.. years(!), I'm finally in a position to start thinking about machinimating again... but doing what?

I've managed to finally get The Movies working (as far as I can tell) on Win 10 (still need to check how it renders, etc), and recovered some mods, textures and even script files from an old hard drive I checked recently, so I've got at least a basic start.  But what to do with it?

Moviestorm appears to have shrivelled on the vine (sadly, as that had massive potential, but ShortFuse nowadays seem to be focussed on their new VR app and have left their former flagship project to wither on the vine like a red headed step child (shades of Lionhead there, I feel).  If they ever decide to drop the price of the perpetual license (I own most of the content packs and with a 4 year old in the current financial climate, shelling out £150 for a piece of software that I used to love, which has effectively been abandoned, isn't an option, plus I need the modding workshop which, last time I checked, I couldn't get to work, so that's not an option), I'd probably pick it back up like a shot.

iClone I just can't justify; while I have v4, I never really gelled with it and just don't have the time to devote to learning how it all works these days, plus the amount it'd cost to get what I'd need to do half what I'd probably like to with it just isn't an option.

Most of the "old school" team have gone, moved onto other things a loooooong time ago, and my old haunts and hangouts are nowhere near as lively as they once were.  I don't have access to the same talented crew of enthused people I used to work with, and I have a lot less time now than I used to have to devote to such creative endeavours as I once did.

But, I'll do something... even if just to prove I've still got it... but I dunno what, yet :)

If anyone is still around, drop me a comment below or even drop in and visit TMU again, even if just to shoot the breeze (although if you want to enthuse me with something new, I'm all ears 👂)

I'm back, baby :)

Geez... was it really 6 years ago that I made my last post here??

After many years of external issues interrupting my machinima making efforts, lost data, disillusionment, family, birth of a new daughter this year and flirting with WoW again, I've finally ended my self-imposed exile to reconnect with my love of 3d animated movie making.

Sadly, as my one and only PC now has Win 10 installed on it, my days of The Movies are over and done with (as the program won't run under Windows 10, which is a major ball-ache but not unexpected after such a long time).

So, it's back with Moviestorm with a vengeance, it would seem (although I have iClone 5, it's both a little long in the tooth now and I'm no further along with learning it than I was 5 years ago and I don't have the freetime I once had to spend most of it learning how to use it again from scratch!)

Odyssey; well, as much as I'd like to carry on with this, there are a lot of near unsurmountable issues with carrying on where I left off -

1. I lost all the scripts and part finished work on my PC following a burglary a couple of years ago, and would have to restart from scratch... a pain in the arse, but still not completely a write-off (although trying to remember where I was originally going to go with it is a none-starter after so much time!)

2. The loss of The Movies; would mean having to completely redo all the props, costumes etc (which I have little time for, and what meagre modding ability I DID have for MS is loooong forgotten through disuse!), and also precludes some of the alien races as they had specific looks that are probably undoable in MS anyway. Luckily, I have all the original mesh files for the TM props I had, but no way to convert these into MS props, so that's a none-starter.

3. Cast; probably the biggest issue, as most of the incredibly talented cast have drifted away from the machinima scene over the years and are probably no longer interested in spending hours of their time to voice a series that started and never got finished.

4. Time; with a new daughter, new responsibilities and a lot more constraints on my time nowadays, I've got nowhere near enough spare time to devote to filming and writing as I used to, which means a lot less time to devote to such a long term project; again, not a completely unsurmountable obstacle, but one that would delay further production significantly.

So, what IS next for me?

Well, I was toying with the idea of a kind of "documentary" to tie up the loose ends of the Odyssey story and lay out where I envisaged it going over the remains of Season Two and onto Season 3 and 4 to deliver some closure to the project; quite how I'd do it, I dunno (as I lost all the props etc that I originally had on my PC that was half-inched and as mentioned above, without assistance in recreating them, it would be difficult to do without them).

Other than that, I have a couple of other ideas in the fire for movies, just to get my hand back in again after so long, but we'll see what the next project is, as again it would require some specific props I no longer have (and some new ones), and that is something I don't have the time or the skill to come up with these days!

So, I'm back on the doorstep, backpack in hand and looking at the big, open, blank field ahead of me again and wondering what's next; kinda exciting!

Captain's Blog: "We were on a BREAAAKKK!!" Update

...and still am...

Just dropping a note to those who read the tripe I scribble on here and have passed on their good wishes, and those who have mailed me over the last few weeks inquiring about how I'm getting on and so forth; hearty thanks to those goodly folk for your thoughts and support; it's much appreciated.

So, an update... where are we?

Still in the Slough of Despond, I'm afraid!  Life is mad as a brush right now, so I still don't have the time to sit down and write or film or practically anything right at the moment.

Following the estate sorting issue I had to contend with (which left a bitter taste in my mouth and is something I could really have done without; family... jeeeez), there came a mass of stuff from out of left field at work, coupled with trying to find a new job so I can move (as some of you may know, my missus and I have been trying to move back to the North West (my home region) for over a year and, as the wife has already been working up there for a year while I've been trying to get myself something that pays at least as well as my current job (not easy in the current economic climate), we've had precious little time to spend together and the whole thing has been taking it's toll), as well as outside work I've taken on to give us more "pin money", as well as my PC gasping out it's last and being now practically fit only for propping up the shelf in the corner, it's been an irritating and taxing couple of months.

I've made commitments to people for lines for projects they've started (some quite a while ago, mentioning no names... :P), which I'm honouring, along with lending my weedly skillz to Team Wartechnica where I can again this year, but other than that I'm not in a position either time or technology wise to do any animation work or take on any extra "work" outside of what I've already got.

As far as projects go, everything on my side has come to a screeching halt until the situation improves; no time for writing means no further scripts for Odyssey at the moment (and, if I've got no time for writing, I damn sure can't sit down and try to string a movie together right now), so we're still on hiatus.

I do try to drop in here and there when I have a spare few minutes, but I literally have very scant time free at the moment, so if you're wondering why I haven't posted or responded to emails, that's why (when it comes to emails, right now I'm wading through a ton of stuff I haven't had a chance to catch up with in my "general" mailbox, as well as my "personal personal" mail and that's a ton of stuff to go through!)

Because of the lack of free time and the general slow down at this time of year, the Ollies has also gone into hibernation this time, unfortunately (as if you hadn't already guessed :P).  It does mean that, given the extra time, we'll hopefully bring it back next year in a leaner, meaner full-fighting trim (look on the bright side!); although it's fun, it's bloody hard work for all involved behind the scenes, and I just haven't got the time to take on what is effectively an extra full-time job this year with everything else on my plate.

So, there we have it.  I'm not around right now and for the foreseeable... annoying, especially when I was approached about Eldritch considering being shown at Dragon*Con this year (which was a massive surprise, an honour and a tribute to Mac's scripting and the acting talents of Bezzer, Mac, KV and Tom).  Once things settle down, I'll be back with a bang... or a whimper, dependant on whether I stub my toe or not!

Aloha; auf wiedersehen, adieu, fare thee well, etc until next time!

UPDATE: Eldritch IS being shown at Dragon*Con this year :)  I'm immensely proud of the this fact, more for Mac's work on the script and Mac and Bezzer and KV and Tom and the wife for their work on the voices than anything else; congrats, guys!

If you happen to be there, it's being shown in the block between 10:00am-12:30pm on Saturday, September 3rd at the Sheraton Hotel (MMO Track room - check the program booklet for exact room).

I'm taking a break

Real life crashed in this morning in the form of a phone call with some bad news, meaning I'm taking a hiatus from movie making and community involvement for a while in order to sort it out.

I won't have the time to do half of what I had slated and this couldn't come at a worse time for me, for a variety of reasons.  I'll try and do lines for anyone that I owe them to, but even that might be a stretch time-wise, I'm afraid.  Sorry if this causes an inconvenience to you, but that's how it is, I'm afraid.

I'll be back when I can; in the meantime, in the words of Bill and Ted, "Be excellent to each other!"

Ciao for now...

Captain's Blog: The Sunday Show... with K and K :)

Yes, I succumbed to a huge bribe (well, it was more of a small bribe... ok... it was a teeny-weeny bribe... ok, it was a barely veiled threat, but still...) and the mission I chose to accept was co-hosting duties with Big Ken White tonight on The Sunday Show on TMOA.

Tremble in your boots, all yea who read...

Actually, it should be some fun, as we are kicking off the first full "Knights of the Round Table" discussion this evening (hopefully with those movie maestros Gabe (AKA Animatechnica), JosephKW (Star Recruit, et al) and Harb40 (he of the Passion Competition which, I have to say, is shaping up to be bigger and better this year than ever before)).

We'll be chewing the fat over some of the subjects suggested in the TMU Forum thread, along with whatever else we segue into or is thrown at us from the baying hordes in the chatroom, so come along and join the fun!

Captain's Blog: Eldritch - Apocalypse Then (Part Two)

Eldritch is on the trail of the mysterious girl. A meeting with Rafferty leads to a dangerous encounter...

Starring
Killian
Fospherous
KV
Lanna

Mods
Chris Ollis
Davidwww
PapaG
Pak1234
Writerly
SquirrelyGirl

Contains occasional swearing.

Captain's Blog: TheNobbit.com goes live!

Yes, at long last Gabe (Animatechnica to the iClone community, Gabe to those who have the pleasure to work with him, and "Foul Pornographer" to Ken ;)) has put up the official Nobbit site, replete with piccies, soundtracks, info and more stuff than you can shake a stick at!

We can only hope this means that "The Nobbit: Part Three" isn't far from release :)

Check it out HERE; you won't be disappointed :)