Announcing: The Generics v1.0

/

So I finally managed to get one out the door. A personal project that is.

In the space between work for others and a bigger project of mine, my day job and two rambunctious daughters, I finally managed to get this shipped! (As they say in the tech quarter).

Meet The Generics! This is a Flash Puppet that contains enough parts to make almost any pose or animation. It's made up of high resolution images imported directly from the Photoshop file I drew them in. So if you really need to modify a layer it should be fairly easy if you have Flash CS5 or over. I've saved the file to be compatible all the way back to CS3 if you need it. 

The Genesis

I watch a number of 'explainer videos' each week. Some are remarkable, so forgettable. But what they most have in common (except the REALLY remarkable) are the horribly drawn representations of humans. This isn't a knock agai-- OK, it is. Most of the time, the graphics are great, the timing bang on, things are all Whiz-Bang, but then a 'person' comes out to represent the target customer (hopefully the viewer) and for me, this is where things grind to a halt.

A sickly, shaky sketch of a stick (wo)man slides from off screen and plays their part. This rendering of the most basic humanoid probably took over an hour to sketch and was the last thing the designer touched. I know. I've been there.

We all have deadlines. To some degree we're Jacks-of-all-trades. Some trades are easier to learn the basics of than others. Or at least there's a button that'll help us out.

Such a button is below. 

The Gen...trification ?

The GenericsHD v1.0 represents the first iteration of, hopefully, an on-going project. If it takes off, then the buyer can expect updates to include new assets such as new clothing, props, hairstyles, etc. for free for this version. Much like a piece of software. How cool is that? 

If you've been thinking of learning Flash but don't have any characters to work with, this is a good place to start.

I've been working in Flash for years. I know the process for rigging a puppet well. I've worked in many different studios and they all have slightly different ways of doing things. Some don't nest their animation, some too much.

All pieces of art in The Generics are set to their logical rotation points. All you need to think about is posing and animating.

As I have never seen a Flash Puppet for sale, I have no idea how to price this. So, to celebrate, I'm introducing The Generics for $2 US. So if you're a student, the risk is minimal. If you're a pro, BONUS! Think of the profit windfall coming your way! And this is a business expense to boot! You get to write it off! Everything's coming up Milhouse! 

Support

Questions, comments, swooning appreciation, links to your work that makes use of The Generics can be sent thru this site. You can reach me thru the Aboot page. 

Worried about copyright? Don't be: 

The Generics by Sean Wickett is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.tobor68.com. 

Use it, remix it, but don’t resell it. 

Happy Animating! 

Soylent: The Future of Food→

/
It's NOT people!!

425% passed their goal with 19 days to go. I can't get any because it's US only at the moment.

They claim not one bit of your Soylent meal is not wasted by your body. I think what they're saying is they've solved the problem of pooping. This alone makes me eager to try it.

Of course it could be the slop they were serving on the Nebuchadnezzar but they also claim it tastes great.

We are living in the future people. Now if some a-hole would just kickstart a flying car...

The Future of Movie Distribution: A Band Called Death→

/

A great looking film with a smart distribution plan.

Before Bad Brains, the Sex Pistols or even the Ramones, there was a band called Death. Punk before punk existed, three teenage brothers in the early '70s formed a band in their spare bedroom, began playing a few local gigs and even pressed a single in the hopes of getting signed. But this was the era of Motown and emerging disco. Record companies found Death’s music— and band name—too intimidating, and the group were never given a fair shot, disbanding before they even completed one album. Equal parts electrifying rockumentary and epic family love story, A Band Called Death chronicles the incredible fairy-tale journey of what happened almost three decades later, when a dusty 1974 demo tape made its way out of the attic and found an audience several generations younger. Playing music impossibly ahead of its time, Death is now being credited as the first black punk band (hell...the first punk band!), and are finally receiving their long overdue recognition as true rock pioneers.