Awesome Cgi

Simulating the movements of realistic characters in CGI can be a very processing-intensive task. Two Minute Papers shows us an innovative method developed by NVIDIA engineers that speeds things up by 100x or more. The trick is using a low-resolution model and interpolating the detailed features and movements using AI.

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ mind-blowing exhibition Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema examines the impact and influence of the sci-fi subgenre in films like Blade Runner, TRON, eXistenZ, The Matrix, and Ghost in the Shell. To accompany the exhibition, Magnopus created a unique mixed-reality virtual production.

This thrilling computer-animated short film is best described as a Raiders of the Lost Ark meets Cars. Arthur Baum’s TukTuk Tango imagines what might happen if Indiana Jones’ Jeep got tired of hauling his lazy butt around and set off on its own archeological adventure. The setup is pretty silly, but the cinematics and action are brilliant.

Director and visual designer Hiroshi Takagishi created this mindbending short film, which takes the organic forms of succulent plants and imagines how they might move if they weren’t stationary organisms. It first glance, we thought it was photographic macro footage, but it was created with CGI.

We’re impressed by the artistry and smooth motion design of Joonmoe Park’s animated short film. LOOP drops us into a world that evolves from unspoiled natural beauty to overdeveloped and ultimately destroyed by war. After the fall of civilization, the cycle repeats itself.

This short film by Santiago Menghini and a team of talented artists follows a pair of smugglers who must traverse a dangerous border under cover of night while transporting a hostage. Made using Unreal Engine, Rally is a tense and exciting mini-movie that also shows off what a modern 3D engine can do when it comes to lighting and atmosphere.

A king hires a freelance knight to take care of his dragon problem, but he just can’t satisfy his demanding boss. This amusing animated short by Luciano A. Muñoz Sessarego and Tumblehead might remind creative folks of what it’s like to deal with a client who doesn’t know what they want until they see it. (Thanks, Rob!)

Ben Quaniche of Macro Room returns to YouTube with a bang. Instead of his usual close-up shots of everyday objects, EDEN is a short film made of montages that question humanity’s trajectory and priorities. As revealed in the post-credits reel, each scene overlays Ben’s distinctive slow-motion shots on CGI landscapes.

We recently saw a tiny steam engine that could fit atop a pencil eraser. That was small, but this video from MetaBallStudios shows some objects that are much, much smaller, including machines, computer circuits, and structural materials. The engineered items are impressive, but it’s those handmade sculptures that really blew our minds.

Most locks on doors and cabinets are pretty ordinary. 3D animator fkt likes to dream up designs for unique lock mechanisms, which make the process of locking things much more interesting to observe. Here’s a playlist of some of fkt’s amazing concept locks, each of which looks like it could be turned into a real-world lock with enough maker skills.

NVIDIA hijacked the term “ray tracing” to market its GPUs. But it’s actually a CGI technology that’s been studied for almost 40 years. The stellar tech YouTube channel Branch Education applies its expert narration and 3D animation skills to explain the basics of the technology, the different forms of ray tracing, and the hardware required to conjure these visuals.

Bosnian Ape Society is back with another silly yet slick promo video for a non-existent vehicle. This time, it’s for a track-focused forklift, “developed by Toyota Gazoo Racing in response to the problem of slow, unmaneuverable, and underpowered forklifts in grand tourer racing.” Yep, that is indeed the issue with today’s forklifts.

Filmmaker Uri Lotan’s compelling animated short film tells the story of a teen who visits a water park and panics about riding its most daunting slide. But the trip through its dark and twisted passageways represents much more than a fun ride for the boy as he processes his fears and grieves a loss at home.

2001: A Space Odyssey holds up incredibly well for a movie made in 1968. A big part of that is the brilliant scenic design that predates CGI. Ironically, OTOY’s tribute was made by a team of talented CGI artists who replicated the film’s iconic environments to accompany the documentary 2001: Creating Kubrick’s Space Odyssey, which is a must-watch.

Ant-Man showed us what it might be like if humans could shrink to a subatomic size. That doesn’t make Epic Spaceman’s latest video any less fascinating. This amazing educational video shows our astronaut host shrinking to 1/10th of his size every 21 seconds. Along the way, he stands with a grain of sand, a tardigrade, a blood cell, and even tinier things.

Freelance 3D artist XieBoLi spent a year and a half creating this 3D animated montage of some of the climactic and intense scenes from Attack on Titan. They made everything from scratch, from the character models to the environment. It may be achingly short, but they did a great job at transferring the anime and manga into 3D.