Lately I’ve been spending my nights of insomnia toying around with endorphin, NaturalMotion’s 3D animation tool. What makes it awesome is that it employs a technology called “Dynamic Motion Synthesis”. Basically, it’s similar to what you see in GTA IV: realistic movement that is animated dynamically. It’s a great time waster, and it’s great fun to see the simulation characters get smashed to pieces. Basically, they’re crash dummies that will stumble and try to stay balanced, all of the good stuff. It’s always hilarious to see these fellows trip on their own feet. To see what can be done with this fun little animating software, all you have to do is search YouTube and you’ll be entertained for quite a while. Playing around with endorphin is actually also educational. You gain a greater perspective on animations in video games, and after messing around with Stagger 3 and Body Foetal 3 (sic) for hours, you’ll start to see the blending between animations and simulations.
Actually, I’ve lied: prior to the release of GTA IV, I was messing with endorphin. But ever since I got the game (special edition no less), I’ve been playing for hours upon hours. And that’s what my next post will be about, if I ever get around to it…damn Niko Bellic and his ability to entertain me.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m not a console guy, so I can’t wait until the PC release of GTA IV. Looks like a very fun game.
By the way, are you looking forward to Mafia II? The first game was great.
Gary.
I sure am. I used to be a PC guy as well, but then I found it costly to keep upgrading to keep up with the latest technology. For example: Crysis. I can’t play that on medium settings for crying out loud. I was tempted to purchase a new computer that was capable of running Crysis on high, but I rethought the idea and came to the conclusion that some day, the hardware necessary to run the game will come down in price, so I will be waiting for that day.
GTA IV is great, I should be writing about it soon. I’ve been slacking on it, I know.