Unveiling of the "Anilmation" logo animation video!

After considerable amount of delays and lots of scripting, the Anilmation logo videos are now live on Youtube!
This gives an unique identity to all the videos created by me, including the ones already created [like the lamp animation and dragon flight].
The art of animation as a whole has such a large scope that there are virtually no limits to what we can create! The making of 3D animation is also such an exciting one and its only fitting that the "Anilmation" logo is shown zooming around in 3D!
There are so many ways of creating the 3D effect, and one of the easiest ways is by taking 2 images of the same object(s) from slightly different angles.
And once we can cross our eyes and adjust to the image, it can create that effect of objects coming out of the screen!

And coming to the learning aspect of this video, its been completely done using scripting, which is based upon maya embedded language.
Everything including the glow of the characters in the end is done using expressions/code which is really interesting and one of the most powerfull features of the maya software!




With love.. Anil

UV Unwrapping-- A kind of puzzle!

Yesterday, working on the project, unwrapping was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Its more like solving a puzzle full of lines and putting them together to create a good layout for applying colors using photoshop later.

Unwrapping of the forest landscape and 2 of the floating mountains is complete and probably the more challenging part comes in the character modelling and giving the right textures to them!

For those who doesnt know about UV unwrapping in animation, it is the process by which all objects in a 3D environment are converted into a normal 2D plane so that applying colours to them using external files could be easy.

Once the objects are all unwrapped, they could be editied in any image editing software and reapplied to the object with all the colours.

With love.. Anil 

The business of movies on tv!!

There is an exciting line-up of latest movies coming soon on Telugu channels! Leading the pack is Maa tv which acquired the satellite rights of 6 new movies, followed by gemini!
Simha- Maa tv
Namo Venkatesha- Maa tv
Adurs- Maa tv
Leader- Maa tv
Josh- Maa tv
Kedi- Maa tv
Aarya2- Gemini tv

With no doubt the most exciting of the lot like including "Leader" will be on Maa tv, except for Aarya2.
Probably Ramcharan's upcoming "Orange" is going to Gemini's kitty, though there is no confirmation about that.
It would be really interesting to see what Zee Telugu will be upto as it had the rights of as many as 24 latest movies in 2009!
With HD services coming up in India in a big way, one thing that would really spice up things would be a genuine HD version of Telugu channel like maa tv.
It would enable in experiencing movies like Magadheera in the best quality possible and give a theatre like feel!
Talking about Magadheera's premiere on Maa tv, it was surprising to see how quick the movie returned after a break[ranging from 4 minutes to 9 minutes] as well as the countdown that started 1 minute before the movie resumed! [most channels take atleast 10-15 minutes of break!]
Of course the experience of watching it in theatre is the best, and cannot be compared to watching on the small screen!


With love.. Anil

A team of creative talent: "Creative Cruisers"!!

 new team of animators has been created with the title "Creative Cruisers" on monday[10th may 2010].
The aim of this 9 member team[including me] will be to produce a small film/video complete with live action and special effects using software like Maya, Adobe After Effects, Photoshop[for texturing] and probably some software to edit audio.
And the team's logo has already been designed, with the script in the development stage.
So a small beginning has been made to understand the process of film making and learn the art!
All the best to our team!!

With love.. Anil

Over reaction and immature media

As expected, the media is heavily agog with criticism of Indian cricket team. But how much of it is fair?
The other day, star news aired a program titled something like "Sharm ho.." Some of the comments like the above are highly objectionable.
No doubt, the team has havily under-performed, decisions on the field backfired, and lots of mistakes happened. But its too foolish of these so called pillars of democracy to show them as some kind of villains or careless people. They need the support when things go wrong.
As supporters of Indian team, its our duty to be with the team during crisis or bad times rather than spew venom like hyper-aggressive beasts.
The players have complete freedom to give importance to whatever they want.
If they think IPL is more important to them, then they have complete right to do so.
All that they need to do is take a firm decision like Sachin, who has decided not to play international T20s more than a couple of years back.
There has been many blunders beginning from the selection of WC team before the IPL even began.
Some of the best Indian players in the IPL have been resting at home whereas underperformers went to the windies with the comfort of past performances.
No doubt media is meant to collect, analyse and present news to the public.
But at the same time, its important to give a constructive feedback and not to always create "bouquets or brickbats" situation.
We are with you Team India. We have a world winning team and all it needs is the maximum utilisation of our resources!


With love.. Anil

How to save yourself the horrors of Indian WCT20!

For those who is breaking their heads watching the batting of Indian side in WCT20 2010, some simple tips to save yourself those horrors
1. Temporarily shift your team to the opposition. Since almost the whole life you are going to support India, it does no harm to support the opposition for a match or two. Bet on the other team..If opposition wins, you win quick bucks. Else, India wins! :). So its a win-win situation for you!

2. If you get goosebumps to see the batsmen coming and going like a procession, switch to another channel and avoid any Indian news channel, as they will be concentrating on the scores all the time! Atleast for the next 1-2 days, alienate anything related to cricket!

3. Turn off the tv, take a deep breath and practise yoga even if it is 11pm!

4. Watch the horror movies like "Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna", and other dumb KJohar movies which are much horrific than India losing in cricket. You will get fed up of those movies soon and will surely feel better once you come back to the match!



With love.. Anil

Big movies coming soon!!

Many big movies are coming up this summer like Iron Man-2, Prince of Persia, Rakta Charitra-1 and 2, etc..
Having a look at Rakta Charitra's trailer on Maa tv yesterday evening, it seems to have lots of politics apart from the expected gory scenes, but all of that create lots of curiosity about the movie which is a great package for promotion. One thing is unique about this movie--Never did we see a movie trailer coming with part 1 and 2 names at the same time! Of course the movies will be released with gap of few months, but their trailers with strong narration create a powerfull feel and make us guess what to expect from them!
And yes..today is the release of the Iron Man-2 and its fans can hardly wait for it!


With love.. Anil

Magadheera..The Blockbuster..on May 15[Maa tv]!!

Finally the suspense over Magadheera's Satellite Premiere is over and its coming to your Maa tv on May 15th!

Its been more than a month since promos have begun on Maa tv. Similar to the movie's mega success, this premiere too will surely be the most exciting one for a lot of people. Ironically, Telugu movie is coming on Maa tv while the tamil version[dubbed and re-shooting a few scenes] hasnt released yet!

The movie has that look, feel and awe that makes you go to the theaters and watch it rather than take a DVD.

Remembering the time when I watched it in a theatre nearby, I was blown away with the experience after deciding to watch it on the big screen based on a small preview! You may say "wow!..it looked so good on DVD. Why not see it in theater?" and thats exactly what worked in the movie's favour- Bringing people to the theatres in this age of cheap DVDs.

Its story may not be too fresh, nor is there much of comedy, but the cinematography, action, and entertainment factor rocked big time and the passion of the director Rajamouli is clearly visible. 

Coming to the visual effects, its hard to find out which part of the frame is VFX and which one is real, and that is something we may not have seen in any Indian movie yet.

Hats off to all the team of Magadheera for their spectacular work. 

Eagerly awaiting for the satellite premiere on May15th!

With love.. Anil

It was on September 15th that I watched Magadheera on the big screen streamed in high digital quality thanks to UFO[United Film Organizers] Digital Cinema which ensures only the best quality in every screening of the movie. Movies are beamed to theatre directly from satellite..somewhat like DTH. So it is after a gap of exactly 8 months that it is again coming from satellite directly to tv in digital quality!

Talking of Digital Cinema in general, it works something like below:

A phenomenon happening on twitter!!

Yesterday evening, got to know that someone is creating ripples in the twitter! He has got thousands of followers within the first couple of hours of joining it!
And it is the "Emperor of Cricket" and the ideal ambassador for cricket, and goes by the name- Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar!
Well, it would be like praising the greatness of sun's brightness, but let me tell you that he is the perfect example for not only aspiring cricketers but anyone who wants to achieve something in life!
Its amazing to see how a simple middle class citizen kept chasing his dreams and showing the world what could one achieve with perseverence and passion. And all that without much gimmicky and a cool manner!
Personally I feel he will have the most followers for any Indian, and up there with the most famous celebrities of the world!
Keep going Sachin!


With love.. Anil

"Animators need to act!!"

The other day was full of fun and laughter as an acting session took place in the institute. Animators after all need to know the nuances of acting in much the same way as actors do, so that they can apply the same expressions and body movements to the characters that they create with a lot of hard work. Giving facial expressions is not at all an easy task! Avatar must certainly have had a sigh of relief as more than 95% of the performance has been given captured directly from the real actors by the special camera that was designed specially for the movie!
Coming back to the acting session, the dialogue "Find my angel of demon and kill him!" turned out to be funny..Funny, because it had a completely different kind of reaction from colleagues/friends who were present there! 


It was meant to be a serious dialogue where a king dreamt of an angel which is going to kill him and therefore he orders all his ministers to find that angel of death and kill him. 


[Similar to King Kansa who killed the elder siblings of Lord Krishna because he was told by a Goddess that he would die in the hands of his own nephew]


Later on, felt that it would have been more funny if the word "laka laka laka laka" from the popular 2007 film Chandramukhi [remake of a malayalam film] had been added to it!, which goes well with the king's order to kill someone who could end his life! "Find my angel of demon and kill him! Laka laka laka laka!"


With love.. Anil

The Scroll of fun

Recently TRS celebrated its anniversary. what will be the main event in all their celebrations? Singing..Because they are Telan"gaana" Raastra samithi!..So now we also need to bear with KCR n co. as if Himesh Reshammiya isnt enough to break our heads and make all ppl mad!..uhhh..brace yourself for the torture!


Guess what Saakshi channel people will sing to compete with Himesh if he gives a live concert in Cuddapah [pronounced Kadapa]?..."Jagan ka surooooooooor!!" repeated a 1000 times, since they hardly know anything else to sing better! And by the time both their concerts end, they will be very popular among doctors. Why? because people forget everything due to severe brain damage and get admitted to the hospitals ;)
Our scroll sympathizes with all those who would have suffered!!

Raavan music--An interesting and eclectic mix of energy!

Listening to the music of the much awaited "Raavan" which has been released on 24th April, it seems to be an interesting compilation of songs which gives an impression of an action packed movie with a fresh take on Ramayan!



The music has an exotic feel to it with A R Rahman's stamp all over, matching with the amazing visuals that we have already seen in it's latest trailers.

Music usually gives us a preview of what to expect in a movie[the general look and feel of the movie rather than the story!] so we can hardly wait for the movie releasing on June 18th!

The first track "Beera" and "Behene De" have that fresh feel to them which keep getting better with every listening!


For now, the music gives us a lot of imagination to guess whats in store from a maestro like Mani Ratnam! His "Bombay" was an amazing take on love and how it wins over everything else in the end. The best movie ever on religious unity of India. Sad that some narrow minded people made an issue out of it.


Raavan though is said to be an inspiration from Ramayan with a twist in the tale!
Just got some of the lyrics[for the favorite songs "beera" and "behene de"] from the net!: Enjoy!
****************

Song : Beera

Music : A R Rahman
Lyrics : Gulzar
Singers : Vijay Prakash & Mustafa Kutoane
Annkhon mein jaan
O ho ho o ho hohooo

Beera
Beera-Beera Beera Beera
Beera-Beera Beera Beera Beera
Beera-Beera Beera Beera Beera
Beera-Beera Beera Beera
Beera-Beera Beera Beera Beera
Beera-Beera Beera Beera Beera
Beera ke dus maathe
Beera ke sau naam,
Chede jo beera ko
Dhama dham dham dham
Beera Beera Beera Beera Beera
Are beera uthi aandhi
Beera ek Toofan
Saansan mein ugle angi
Beera jalti jaan
Jalti jaan jalti jaan jalti jaan
Janam na pooche
Jaat na pooche
Poocho jo pehchan
Beera ka abhimaan hai
Abhimaan hai abhimaan hai Beera
Beera Beera Beera Beera Beera
Dhana dhan dhan dhana dhan dhan
Beera-Beera Beera Beera
Beera-Beera Beera Beera Beera
Beera-Beera Beera Beera Beera
Beera ke dus maathe
Beera ke sau naam,
Chede jo beera ko
Dhama dham dham dham
Beera Beera Beera Beera
Beera-Beera Beera Beera
Beera-Beera Beera Beera Beera
Beera-Beera Beera Beera Beera... (2)
************************
Song : Behene De
Music : A R Rahman
Lyrics : Gulzar
Singers : Karthik & Mohamed Irfan
Are aankh se boond gira koi
Chingari ka tukda jala koi
Umeed ko aag laga zara
Sehra ki pyaas bujha zara
Umeed ko aag laga zara
Sehra ki pyaas bujha zara
Ghan itna baras ke galne lagoon
Mein paani ke upar tarne lagoon
Behene de mujhe behene de mujhe
Behene de mujhe behene de
Ohhh
Behene de mujhe behene de mujhe
Behene de mujhe behene de
Behene de ghangor ghata
Behene de paani ki tarah
Saagar mein jaa girna hai
Behene de nadiyaan ki tarah
Shart lagi hai mar jaane ki
Jeena hai toh pyaar mein
Dil kahin bhi ho mera
Jaan rakhi hai yaar mein
Behja behja hai saagar ka kehna
Behja behja hai nadiyaan ko behna
Patte se tapakti boond ki awaaz sunai di thi
Nadiyaan mein tapak aur gum ho ja
Beh gaya beh gaya jo reh gaya reh gaya
Beh gaya beh gaya jo reh gaya reh gaya
Behene de mujhe behene de mujhe
Behene de mujhe behene de
Ohhh
Behene de mujhe behene de mujhe
Behene de mujhe behene de
Behene de ghangor ghata
Behene de paani ki tarah
Saagar mein jaa girna hai
Behene de nadiyaan ki tarah
Mera pal pal ang ang bhar diya
Tune jaan pe junoon saa kar diya
Mera hai kya jo mein haar du
Jaan teri hai tujh pe vaar du
Doob gaye jo suna hai saare
Tere dere aatey hai
Dil ko chulu mein bechare
Doobkiyan ghante khaate hain
Beh ja behja chal todh kinaare ko
Behja behja dhar le majhdhaare ko
Chingari udha ke raakh se
Ek boond gira ke aankh se
Chalne ka ishaara kar gaya
Kar gaya kar gaya sab bhar gaya bhar gaya
Kar gaya kar gaya sab bhar gaya bhar gaya
Behene de mujhe behene de mujhe
Behene de mujhe behene de
Ohhh
Behene de mujhe behene de mujhe
Behene de mujhe behene de
Behene de ghangor ghata
Behene de paani ki tarah
Saagar mein jaa girna hai
Behene de nadiyaan ki tarah
Behene de mujhe behene de mujhe
Behene de mujhe behene de
Ohhh
Behene de mujhe behene de mujhe
Behene de mujhe behene de
Behene de ghangor ghata
Behene de paani ki tarah
Saagar mein jaa girna hai
Behene de nadiyaan ki tarah
***********************************

Raavan Album Art

--With love.. Anil

The Scroll!!--of fun

A small note!!--

The other day, KCR called CPM "Communist Party of Muurkhulu!" Probably he didnt realise that people call TRS "Telangana Raastra Somaripothula" Party!!

Disappointed..Not even one of my favorite 3 teams won!

Disappointed. Not because Mumbai Indians lost or CSK won, but the fact that all the 3 teams which were the favorites didnt win the IPL3!! Expected at least MI to win it, but its not to be..
Actually things got reverse!.. Wanted the following standing:

1. DC
2. RCB
3. MI
4. CSK
But it turned the other way round ;)..

Any way, a kind of emptiness is created in the entertainment world after 6 weeks of non stop bombardment with all the glitz, cricket and hype.. The controversy of IPL continues though!
And all the best for all teams for the next edition..
 --Anil

Expressions in Maya!--The most amazing tool in animation!

As the "anilmation" promo takes shape, its worth mentioning that the animation is being made completely of formulae that controls each and every element in the video! Whether it is the sine and cos waves that shows the way letters move around, the smoothstep() function, exp() function, etc.. they all have been heavily usefull in giving a very smooth output. Another important aspect of expressions is that they can be linked to the colours that you see on the screen as well! So we can see the dance of colours which creates an illusion of manual animation where as all that is done by just few lines of code like:


"if ((frame >=300)&&(frame<=360))\r\n{\r\nsetAttr \"ramp2.colorEntryList[0].color\" -type double3 -sin(frame) -sin(frame-90) 0 ;"



With love..
Anil

2 new Telugu channels on Sun Direct! Finally got rid of an irritant "Sakshi"

2 new Telugu channels on Sun Direct! Finally got rid of an irritant "Sakshi"

It was a surprise on tuesday, the 20th of April 2010 as TV 5 news and ABN Andhra Jyothi[via DD Direct feed] came on board Sun Direct much earlier than expected.


Also to be noted is the fact that it brings to end the terrible waste called Sakshi tv, which is more of YSJ's "personal secretary" than any meaningfull news channel as it calls itself[and thus cheating people].


News channels need to realize that just calling themselves "HD Ready channel" doesnt give them the respect from the public.


Its like creating an irritating music with empty bottles instead of bringing out the truth with journalism.


Ever since it was launched an year back, it has earned lots of rotten tomatoes from the public and has always been a more of a HD-ready channel hyper-obsessed with following YSR and YSJ now[like "we follow you where ever you go!"]


Take the following instance during a live coverage of YSJ's so called "consoling trip" across AP:


"BREAKING NEWS: YSJ consoling a woman at consoling trip in..."


They have nothing to show than accusing their rivals[especially Ramoji Rao and co.] and glorifying YSJ as the demi-god and born-again-YSR. The above example is just one of the many other instances of its mis-use of power of media.


Even the shameless attack on Reliance by YSJ's supporters in AP has been heavily inspired and aided by its non-stop coverage by creating stories about YSR's death [of course other congress supporting channels also had a small hand in it].


Just by having a mic, a satellite link, a god-father to get unlimited funding, graphic technology imported from abroad and some sympathisers doesnt make a good channel.


Especially in today's world, we have hundreds of channels groping for a space in the TRPs and you need to make an identity for yourself [even if the TRPs may not be impressive] rather than become a laughing stock of many. Getting the trust of the public with impartial, honest coverage of news is the key here, in which Sakshi seems to have failed big time.


Now that this channel is taken off, its good riddance.

Hope sun direct also ends the most useless "vissa tv" soon and replaces it with something fresh like "Sitara tv" or the energetic "Maa Music"

And it was nice to see WB and Nat Geo Wild continuing in the basic pack despite their plans to make them to add on packs[alongwith the less popular FX, Fox Crime and Baby tv]. They are the channels which give sun direct that extra edge in movies and infotainment when compared to other DTH services in India.

ఏం "Maya" చేసావె!!

And when I am saying "Maya" here, it doesnt refer to magic..But the software thats a popular tool in creating 3d/2d animated movies.
And yesterday night, looking at the stars above on the terrace of our home, they looked more like the vertices of an polygon object in Maya!
It becomes so easy to imagine everything in 3D, once you understand the basics, the logic and how Maya works.
And when the constellations kept shining in the pitch dark sky above, it seemed like they can be made into 3D objects and animated as well! Like:
The orion constellation, also called Mriga (The Deer)in India, can be made to rotate to create an illusion of a circular camera shot of the hunter!


















With love..
Anil

Bhagavad-gita As It Is 2.23

One of the most important words from Bhagavadgita..
courtesy: ISKCON Bangalore

***********************************************
Best Regards,
Anil [http://anilreddy12001.blogspot.com]

"Pink Panther-2!"--The mega comedy!!

It was amazing to see Pink Panther-2 on Star Movies last Sunday 11pm.
Steve Martin has that infectious comic appeal that you hardly take focus off his performance every minute of the movie.
He is the soul of the film and Aishwarya doesnt have much to do than go around in her western dress and tell some boring dialogues. Dont know why the media hypes something as trivial as this unattractive role in a hollywood movie.
Talking about Steve Martin's role, he seems to be born for this role! I dont think anyone else has that kind of comic presence or the grace that he brings to the role of a detective.
The first Pink Panther was probably better than this one, but the comedy is superb nonetheless- the story and the plot is slightly inferior to that.
Comercially it may not have been so successfull, but it was enjoyable nevertheless.

With love..
Anil

The sweet tale of "Wall-E" and "EVE-ah"!

The sweet tale of "Wall-E" and "EVE-ah"!

The other day, "WALL-E" premiered on Star Movies.. An amazing piece of animated cinema! Its one of the best animated movies with an engaging storyline and a simple moral embedded in it.
The climax was truly amazing and the whole movie keeps you glued to your seats every minute of the movie. For movies with very few human/animal dialogues like this, it is a challenge to make the body language of the characters perfect! And the hard work of the animators shows in the way WALL-E looks in every scene, and the lovely EVA!
Applauds to them for bringing out the love between two robots in a touching way! Without comparing anyone, Indian films fail to bring out a great narrative with more innovation in the storyline. Exceptions to this are movies like Lagaan, Black, Taare Zameen Par, etc, but we certainly need more of these [and we do have the ability and millions of audiences to appreciate them].
Despite being home to some of the most breath taking locales in the world, the film makers failed to capture India in its whole glory.
In hollywood, every year, we have movies in a wide variety genres like comedy, romance, thriller, sci-fi, action and animation.
If we can watch in awe the beauty of the imaginary pandoras in Avatar, I believe our film makers have the ability to blow us away with the real natural and cultural treasure that we have in India!


With love..
Anil