Animation: Extraordinary facial animation

Over the years, the animation quality in both games and movies has increased dramatically, something which undoubtedly can be attributed to the large increase in processing power and flexibility to both computers as tools offer today. These two factors combined with motion capture can produce truly great results, as is the case with this facial animation created by people Janimation study. If something like this comes to video games, the jump in quality is impressive.

When the Avatar movie made its debut in 2009, everyone was amazed by the visual quality of it, but who have accumulated a high degree of exposure to video games and computer animations, we received a much smaller impact. Cameron needed to wait ten years to make the film. And in ten years, the processing power of computers has increased exponentially, with the blessing of Moore's Law still in force in the middle. One of the most important advances in video game animation could be displayed on the "Prince of Persia" in 1989, when its creator Jordan Mechner used his brother's videos as a reference for animation. It was not what you would call a pure motion capture, but things were very different from there.


And now we find this video posted by the people of Janimation, a study has had involvement in movies like Iron Man, Lilo & Stitch and The Lion King. Facial animation before us is simply fabulous. Motion capture combined with a bit of ZBrush, ICE, and use the rendering engine known as Arnold made this work possible, taking into account of course the work of actors and artists. If you look carefully, you will not even have missed the detail of the flash. While many games strive to achieve perfect lip sync, something as basic as the flicker usually ends ignored, but in this case is not so.

The video was posted on YouTube a few days ago, but for some reason has remained off the radar. Imagine for a moment, the level of animation in games with a lot of scenes in the foreground. Not only would a "Crysis effect" struck again, but we should also run around our computers with similar processing updates that enable animation. Janimation official site still has nothing published about it, which in part increased the silence around the video. However, it is worth every second of it, and hope to see something like this in our systems as soon as possible.

A common disorder among the stars

Jim Carrey, Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Downey Jr, Mel Gibson, Ari Telch, Alejandro Bracho and Miguel Pizarro made his illness public

Following the British actress Catherine Zeta-Jones recently confessed to suffering from bipolar disorder, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez think they also suffer from this condition.

Zeta-Jones said openly suffering bipolar affective disorder (BAD), formerly known as manic-depressive psychosis, abruptly alternating periods of excitability (mania) to other depression.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this condition affects about 4 percent of world population and is the sixth leading cause of disability.

A few days ago, the wife of actor Michael Douglas, recognized the importance of asking for help early, plus if your bipolarity has helped others to attend, then it will be worthwhile, since she was admitted to a health center mental for five days.

Jim Carrey, Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Downey Jr, Mel Gibson, Ari Telch, Alejandro Bracho and Miguel Pizarro, are some of the personalities who have been affected by the TAB, as well as Oscar winner.

The actor Jim Carrey, who in such films as "Irene, me and my other self" or "Liar Liar" gave life to the mentally ill, and his life is not so foreign to these roles. According to the declaration of a friend of the actor, his break with Jenny McCarthy was caused by his mental condition.

Elizabeth Taylor, one of the muses of the Seventh Art, died April 23, married with seven men who never achieved stability and though he never spoke openly of their illness, some people have commented that their depressive episodes his addiction to alcohol led to multiple failures sentimental.

Russell Brand, Katy Perry's husband, has been affected by this evil, suffering from two diseases: bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Thanks to a very thorough follow-up can lead a normal life.

The stepmother of actor Robert Downey Jr., told an international publication that was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, although he has repeatedly denied.

For its part, Mel Gibson admitted in the documentary "Acting class 1977" I was manic-depressive. Many psychologists have said that was shielded by his illness to justify his violent outbursts and narcissism.

In Mexico, Ari Telch, last year, was rushed to a psychiatric hospital in this city due to a crisis product of bipolarity. The actor has been affected by the disease since age 13.

Alejandro Bracho has also had to walk on the hospital for this disorder, who because of a project that did not materialize and which hoped to succeed, was depressed to such a degree that led him to consider suicide.

His face haggard, his voice breaking and even with the conviction to try again, the actor Miguel Pizarro struck in 2004 to discuss her illness and her suicide attempt.

Solar Panels has been improve with virus

Viruses can help build better solar panels that capture and process more efficient solar energy into electrical energy. This has been demonstrated at a Research Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT for its acronym in English) that has used a type of virus to restructure the carbon nanotube solar panels and increase their efficiency by 30 percent, from 8 to 10 , 6 per cent.

That the efficiency of solar panels is still well below their potential is more than evident. What was not known so far is that something so small and is sometimes dangerous as a virus, could hold the key.

The virus called M13 coordinate gets rolled carbon nanotubes in graphene that make solar cells so that the electron transport more efficient and therefore produce more electricity. Basically, the M13 gets the two types of nanotubes (semiconductors and cables) that form the structure of solar cells, do not interfere with each other and impede the flow of electrons, but the structure becomes smooth.

Grätzel cells
Each virus controls between five and ten nanotubes, using about 300 proteins. In addition, viruses have been genetically modified to produce a layer of titanium dioxide, a key component in Grätzel cells, a type of structure they use this compound to improve electron transport.

Xiangnan Hyunjung Yi Dang, MIT students along with Professor Angela Belcher successfully tested this new virus in Grätzel cells, but explained that the technique could also be used for other types of solar cells, including organic.

The virus also solubilized nanotubes making them easier to incorporate the solar panels at room temperature, significantly reducing the manufacturing cost.

Movies on YouTube after a deal with Sony and Universal

The streaming video service YouTube would be close to allow users to watch movies on your site. Some of the largest companies in the industry, such as Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Brothers and Universal, will lend their productions for this project, which could begin this week or next.

The movie industry is finding new ways to distribute their content and prevent piracy affecting this sector. There are several initiatives in this regard, as the service offered by Apple and Netflix, a company with a strong position right now in the online video market. Even Facebook has reached an agreement with Warner to rent movies through the network.

However, the most visited site in streaming video on the Internet, YouTube, I still had some way to go, take some time despite offering movie rentals through its site. Now it seems that the platform gathers momentum in this market. According to information published in The Wrap, the Google website has reached agreements with Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Brothers and Universal to offer access to their productions.

Apart from these big companies, YouTube would have signed other agreements with more independent producers such as Lionsgate and Kino Lorber, sources close to the negotiations. In this way the site would be ready to launch its movie rental service this week or next.

The agreements will expand the catalog of movies on YouTube, making it a competitive service that can compete with the supply of systems like Apple or Netflix. The great mass of the platform gives users the ability to boost this sector site, supporting a new form of distribution for films.

According to The Wrap, other producers such as Paramount, Fox and Disney have rejected the agreement with YouTube to offer movies through the site. On the other hand, streaming video company has issued a statement after meeting the information published stating "We have been adding more and more titles strongly since we launched the YouTube movie rental for more than a year, and now we have thousands of titles available. Beyond that we do not comment on rumors or speculation. "
Renting movies on YouTube

YouTube videos usually have a short duration. It is a place where you can see larger productions, in fact they tend to be divided into several parts. In fact the platform has never promoted the movie rentals as such.

At present the company has seen the business niche, according to a source close to the deal, manager of one of the producers who signed: "We believe this begins with VOD (video on demand), but will be expanded to include sales over time. We are very excited because we are happy to see new participants in the transaction model rather than a subscription model. "

It is unclear how YouTube will charge for the rental of films, but behind it is a market of 130 million monthly users to monetize the new service.

The future of maps on the internet

There is no doubt that the map uncharted territory is man's best friend. To this end, Nokia has released a tool that promises to raise to the next level guidance systems on the web.

"Have you heard the news? The world is not flat, it's actually quite three dimensional. So what about online maps? are flat or three too?", published in the company's blog announcing the new product.

Easily accessible from mobile devices, Ovi Maps features 3D models of major cities around the world, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Miami, Toronto, Madrid, Prague, enabling the user to explore the three-dimensional view after installing a plug-in in your browser. http://maps.ovi.com/3d/index.html

The technology used to generate these maps requires each object captured from 100 different angles, then adds texture using an image processor.

Watch the video with a demonstration:

Panic at playstation network.

Sony Network playtation fell, and while his desperate attempt to find out exactly responsible for why, the more than 70 million registered users is pulling their hairs watching the error messages that throw their PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3. The case, which has already been a day of existence, seems to have roots in an attack by hackers and according to spokesmen at the disaster of entertainment, the problem may be one or two more days to resolve.
Users of the online service for Playstation 3 and Playstation Portable-eat breakfast or snacks according to the time zone, a few days with various error messages on gaming services, including streaming video provided by Sony through its platform . Angry at the situation and above all flooded out of frustration, users attended a show of indifference, because since Sony gave no sign of life for a long period, which ended several hours later with a notice more than obvious in blog: Sony PlayStation Network had fallen and services do not respond at the moment. Since Sony is urged patience and then verify and try to detect the cause of the problems may be suspected of an attack by hackers, the spokesmen announced that the network would remain closed for a day or two before servicing and return to players the field of play.

Source: TechCrunch

Lindsay Lohan Back to Jail

This time for 120 days, a judge in Los Angeles he downgraded on Friday to actress Lindsay Lohan the charge that was pending for stealing a necklace of $ 2,500 from a jewelry store in Venice, a misdemeanor, but two hours later put to jail for 120 days parole violation that was pending for driving drunk in 2007. She also must meet 480 hours of community work, but his lawyer said he would appeal the decision.


http://youtu.be/bUce0qTYRzw