Support needed by Moviestorm users for comic kickstarter project

Moviestorm users are being encouraged to pledge their support to an exciting new kickstarter project.

The kickstarter idea by Sam Midwood, or 'Zuckerman' on the Moviestorm forums, is for a comic based off an old Moviestorm short movie.



Sam spoke to Moviestorm recently to tell us about his kickstarter. He said: 

"I’ve written a mini-series called The Projectionist and I need your help, your generosity of spirit, to breathe life into issue number 1.
"That’s 24-pages of supernatural detectives, tough-as-nails cops, poltergeists, clairvoyants, goo-guns, and shadowy corporations."
"With this kickstarter we will be producing the first 22-page issue of The Projectionist six part mini-series in digital and print formats.
"The script is all ready for art, we've got a good price on a small but quality print-run, and we are beyond excited to get this first book out to you fine souls."

Sam created a short Moviestorm film entitled the Paranormal Transit Authority, which he based his new comic from.

Watch the video here

WHY MOVIESTORM?

Sam added: "Some years ago, before the story of The Projectionist fully came together, I began to play with the idea of the Paranormal Transit Authority. 

"I’d had these dreams where I was a ghost and was being chased by something. The dreams lead me to create The Paranormal Transit Authority which in-turn lead me to create The Projectionist.
"Around that same time, I was using Moviestorm quite a bit. I'd even entered a few contests with short films I’d made using Moviestorm, and won said contests.
"Moviestorm is an excellent 3D animation tool for hobbyists and professionals alike."

FIND OUT MORE AND MAKE A PLEDGE

To see more about the project or to make a pledge click here: http://kck.st/1mpDtEt

Moviestorm features in MTV teen drama Degrassi

Today we're posting to share some more good news - Moviestorm was recently featured on two episodes of MTV teen series Degrassi!
Degrassi: The Next Generation, which was renamed Degrassi from the tenth season, is a Canadian teen drama television series set in the Degrassi universe, which was created by Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood in 1979.

Screenshots from the Degrassi series

Degrassi is the fourth fictional series in the Degrassi franchise, following The Kids of Degrassi Street, Degrassi Junior High, and Degrassi High.
Degrassi: The Next Generation follows a cast of students at Degrassi Community School who face various challenges, such as self-image, peer pressure, child abuse, sexual identity, gang violence, self-injury, teenage pregnancy,drug abuse, death, suicide and more.
Moviestorm features in series 13, both episodes 33 and 34 of the programme.

The producers of Degrassi used Moviestorm to mock-up a fake fantasy game called 'Realm of Doom'. 

In episode 33, Moviestorm is featured in the time frames 10 minutes through the episode and again at 17 minutes and 35 seconds through the episode.

You can watch it here:

In episode 34, Moviestorm can be seen at the very start and 8 minutes 32 seconds into the episode. Watch that episode here:



Matt O'Sullivan from the Degrassi series art department said Moviestorm was chosen for the show due to its its 'combination of great looks and ease of use'. 

He added: "We needed a fast and intuitive tool to create something that looked like a real online 3D game, and our first thoughts were either to make machinima of some kind or to use a professional tool like 3D Studio Max, but then through some online research we found Moviestorm and realized it was the best of both worlds and perfectly suited to our needs. 

 "We loved the intuitive, movie-maker style and the wide variety of premade characters and locales. It all came together quite nicely. As a creator of “digital props” and various graphics and VFX for film and TV, I can say I’ll use Moviestorm again in a heartbeat if similar script requirements arise in a production I’m involved in. Thanks, Moviestorm!".

For more about Degrassi, you can visit the website here: http://www.mtv.com/shows/degrassi/series.jhtml.

Harb40 Passion Competition set to return this year!

Good news film competition fans! Moviestorm are pleased to announce the return of the Harb40 Passion Competition, which will take place from August this year.

The competition urges contestants to make a film set to a specific theme of passion. There are usually some restrictions on content, but films could be made using any animation program, video game or live action technique.

This year, the specific theme for the competition will be released on August 2, and the submission period will run from August 23 until October 11. 

All submissions will go through a specific thread on the competition forums which will be opened at theme release.

Competition winners will be announced on November 22/23 during the Machinima Expo (which is run by a group that includes Kate Fosk, aka kkffoo, and an actor named Richard Grove, aka Ricky Grove).

See below for the first promotional video for the 2014 competition, by Moviestorm user Joseph Kwong, aka JosephKW:

The

Competition creator, Craig (Harb40) began experimenting with animation back in 2005 after playing a game called 'The Movies'. After following a website called The Movies Underground, he was introduced to other games animation tools such as Moviestorm. 

Today, Moviestorm is now one of his primary animation programmes.

Competition creator Craig told Moviestorm:

"Animation programmes like Moviestorm, The Sims and iClone are taking over in the competition.
In 2013, BiggsTrek (Pioneer) took top honours with an iClone creation but has used Moviestorm since it's inception.
"Second place went to JosephKw, using Moviestorm, while fourth and fifth places were MysterysGames, aka mystery_egypt, and Nahton, both using Moviestorm.
"Also, in 2012, Animatechnica took first place with an iClone creation and Chatnoir Studios took second with a Moviestorm film.
"One of the nice things about the prizes like Moviestorm is the winner is given a choice of a free user license or to receive credits to purchase more gaming assets and enhance their animation video skills
"Clips from the winning films are shown at the Machinima Expo which in turn puts the name Moviestorm out to wide audience of machinima and animation creators.

Watch below for the film by Moviestorm user JosephKW that scooped second prize in the competition last year:

The winning films receive software prizes and the creators were interviewed on The Movies On Air Radio show.

Moviestorm will once again sponsor the competition this year. In the past, the competition has received other sponsorship from Sony and Reallusion.

Want to know more?

To find out more about the competition, visit http://www.harb40passioncompetition.com/
Visit the competition Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/211515672195252/.
You can also follow the competition on Twitter @Harb40PassComp

Meet 3DTree; founder of a new 3D asset creation service for Moviestorm

Here at Moviestorm, we're inspired by users who not only use our software and enjoy it, but those who go one step further.
Meet Trevor, or Moviestorm user 3DTree, who recently decided to set up a 3D asset creation service for other animation users.

Speaking to Moviestorm, Trevor explains more about the idea and service he created.
He said: "Since the launch of Moviestorm, I’ve been a fan of it’s concept, form and function. It’s only got better over the years.
"It’s game/director centric storytelling platform so intuitive and fun to direct within."
He told us that CG and Moviestorm is just one side of his work, though a major passion he continues to build on his craft and 'hopefully mixes up something artful at times.'

"I consider my 3DTree output, a CG mix, somewhat like a DJ remix at times, sometimes so transformed that the original source - anything from a drawing or photos is lost and built into something interesting. 

"Many artists and tools may go into building any single creation."

I do hope the fruits of what I have put together will look and play great in the stories and worlds that we build in Moviestorm. 

 

Creation of the service

The big question I had on my mind was how best to foster my 3D CG passion hobby.
 “Patron of the Arts” really suited with my ideal and supported what I like to do, and at the same time my patrons could enjoy could enthe fruits of my labours.

Hearing more about the idea

3DTree describes his project as 'an experiment in artist progressive crowd funding, funding the output of an artist rather than a business.'
"So Patreon is a platform to share creations, where patrons support each creation with a clear budget per month", he adds.
"The KickStarter concept appealed to me in part, though lacked any sustainability in building lots of new assets and focused on a business side rather than on fostering an artist's creativity."
3DTree said the main appeal of Patron of the Arts is that the artist is happy to do their thing and patrons are happy with what the artist creates.

What's in it for the patrons? 

"Newcomers may not be offered every possible add on at first, though there will be a good group of rewards to download."
"There are rewards to higher committed pledging patrons and people who stick with me over time."

"If there is no content one month, nobody need support that and nobody pays anything. There is a plan to get out at least one full Moviestorm add on per month."
Some of the addons will appeal, some may not; though overall I do hope the value will be high."

3DTree said he likes to concentrate on practical and fun content first before getting into less valued content. For example, samurai animations take a backseat to getting falls and conflict animations out for release.

How does it work?

Patrons can’t directly request assets, though through a group voice they can have some practical influence on the projects 3DTree works on.
He adds that he would 'never want to take the fun out of his hobby by working for other people’s needs or wants' above what he is enjoying doing, but he still takes into account what people want.

"It’s not a business, it’s not a voting system. I just don't have enough people to even consider that costs would be met to then develop assets, and prices would be much higher than what people are willing to give for assets.
The solution for me was to go with the old Patreon of the Arts model."

Why Moviestorm?

Moviestorm started by the backing of people and companies that believed in it’s success, says 3DTree.
He added: "I have always been one of it’s core fans and with my patrons hope that I too can continue building on what makes Moviestorm great."



Future plans
"There is still a lot I’d like to do with Moviestorm in 2014, like new characters beyond the Male01 or Female01 characters.
"I and many core fans have liked that idea of being able to have other sized characters in Moviestorm."

I'm working on a plethora of animations, props and some clothing for the standard characters. With hope, my assets will branch off into other engines and platforms. 

Though Moviestorm is where I like to think it all started for me.

How do I sign up?

More information about 3DTree, including how to sign up to his asset creation service, can be seen here: http://patreon.com/3DTree 

New Moviestorm Education 1.6 goes live to further support flipped learning!

Further to the recent 1.6 patch release, we have settled on 1.6.3 as the build to support our education users through 2014.

 

The new 1.6 release includes loads of new features to support teaching and learning, such as:

• The ability to click a button and create a .sharedmovie file is essential for collaborative student projects and for templates for their students to adapt. Importantly too, Moviestorm now manages the import process, advising and director the user to any missing Moviestorm or mod content, and if required, replacing assets with placeholder objects where necessary, to ensure that if you need to open that file, you can.

• Improved UI elements and better auto-improvisation make film creation faster and more intuitive.

• The Modder’s Workshop is now faster, and Modders to assign licences to their packs.
  
  

For a complete list of all the feature enhancements, check out the release notes on our website.

For users with current Moviestorm Education installations, who would like to install 1.6, please follow the guidance on our support website.