NEC using Mediastation Graphics and Animation

NEC have been using examples of our graphics and animation to show of a new range of scalable display technologies to their best.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter now online

Mediastation are proud to announce our involvement in the production of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter TV commercial & website experience. Both these are to officially launch at the US Superbowl on the 8th February (The most expensive 30 second advertising slot in the world!). Mediastation were commissioned by Rosso Media to produce the CGI and special FX for the commercial along with production of the high-profile website for Universal Orlando Resort.Click this to view our work: www.universalorlando.com/harrypotter

Watch the commercial here:

TV starting to cover it see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHvtpHxQsyk

What’s really incredible is that all this was created with our in-house team, making them one of the only companies in the world which can handle the diversity and quality of production required to achieve all this under one roof. Goto www.mediastation.co.uk to find out more.

Mediastation open new motion capture (mocap) studio

To compliment our dedicated specialist 3D modelling and animation pipeline we are proud to announce the opening of our new motion capture studio.

Using motion capture data instead of key-framed animation not only speeds up the animation of characters it also gets much more realistic movement especially for secondary movements and weight interpretation which is easily recreated. This new expansion will be of real benefit to our customers in terms of realism, cost effectiveness and faster production time lines.

Rendered 3D vs Real Time 3D in Flash

With the latest versions of flash player it is now possible to create environments and 3D objects for use in the standard flash player - Here are two examples of using 3D in flash:

This first version is a rendered video - with the playback (Forwards and Backwards) programmed in flash to give interactivity:

www.mediastation.co.uk/flash3d

Now this version is using the 3D capabilities of the flash player, its much more interactive as we can control the model in real time (note by clicking and dragging you can rotate the object in all directions) and it is a much smaller file size for download. The disadvantage is that you can only use a limited amount of polygons in the mesh (note the round edges are squared off in places) It also suffers from rather flat shading.

www.mediastation.co.uk/flash3d/rt

Mediastation are currently developing out own proprietary flash 3D engine that will bring better shaders and lighting.

Tommy’s Fix your House for Free?

Mediastation have produced the title sequences and branding for Flame TV’s new production for Discovery Real Time: “Tommy’s Fix your house for free?”. Ground Force presenter Tommy Walsh and “scavenger” Liam Collins use materials they have blagged to make major changes to people’s homes.

Visit www.flametv.co.uk for more details.

Large area 3D scanning

Mediastation have teamed up with professional surveyors at www.msasurvey.com to offer a unique visualisation service. MSA use state-of-the-art 3D scanners to scan and survey any environment - from a single room to a whole complex. While primarily this technology is used for fast and accurate environment surveying, the data produced can be used in virtual worlds as well - giving us endless possibilities to blend the real with the virtual.

The scanning equipment produces something called “point cloud data”, the video below shows the detail that is captured.

This technique means we can produce extremely accurate assets for visualisation and animation. Once captured our 3D artists remove any unrequired data and convert it to a 3D model to use in the virtual environment.  The scan also cpatures colour so texturing is much easier and realistic.

This process can be used for any number of visualistation services, it is specifically usefull for visualising how a new building is going to look it the current environment rather than single flat artist impressions. We can put the camera in any position and output videos or stills for marketing and communications.

Mediastation CGI aired on BBC Newsnight

3D CGI produced  by us showing the Future Carrier was used by BBC Newsnight last week as part of a piece discussing possible defence cuts.

Digital Ink Panels

This technology is yet to be released on the market, we currently have the only prototype in Europe. This is called a ‘coloristic’ digital ink panel and looks just like a digital newspaper. Currently this displays static images only, but we have been told full colour and moving images can be achieved in a few years. It is around ½ “to ¾ “thick and runs with low power. It can run very small point size (4) with any font style with no bleed, and it works even better when in direct sunlight. This really is a truly fantastic piece of kit.

Latest digital signage technology

Thought it would be useful to show some of the digital signage technologies we are working with.

We have secure partnerships with the leading AV hardware manufactures, as such we obtain an insight to what new technologies they are working on as concept, below are some of the latest hi-bright digital sign technologies from Samsung.

The picture below show the latest hi-bright, air cooled, LCD panels from Samsung. Basically, these are very high bright (1600 cdm) LCD panels which are placed in a specially constructed, air cooled unit, which can be made in portrait or landscape and finished in the clients chosen livery at very little on-cost. Samsung will launch additional models in July/August.  

Here is their latest multi-touch 70” LCD panel as a picture. This is real multi-touch at affordable pricing but will not be available until the late part of this year or the early part of next. Therefore there are no pictures or specifications from Samsung yet.

70 inch multitouch screen

Here is Samsungs latest slim bezel video wall, a great product that can literally be put up by one person in around 45 minutes (3 x 3 wall). with Mediastation content of course!

At last - a decent looking outdoor touch screen unit:

Mediastation welcomes new Artistic Director

Mediastation is delighted to welcome BAFTA and RTS nominee David Freeman who has joined our award winning studio team as Artistic Director.     

Dave has worked in broadcast and the film industry for over ten years and produced some very high profile projects for BBC, ITV and Channel 4, working with a broad range of TV and film production companies including Endemol, 4:2:2 and Liquid TV. Dave’s recent credits include the new Doctor Who TV series and the current cinema release Franklyn.

His wealth of experience includes branding, promotions, visual effects (2D and CGI), matte painting, storyboarding, concept art, directing, compositing and editing. His experience has already proved invaluable by expanding our service offering, which has been welcomed by some of our most prestigious clients.

Mediastation offers cutting edge corporate presentations as well as amazing CGI for Film and TV broadcast and having recently secured a high profile 3 year CGI contract away from a major US effects house, Dave’s artistic leadership will be invaluable in exceeding our clients expectations in the years to come.

With Dave part of our extremely experienced team and work pipeline, and our continual drive to exploit the very latest technology; Mediastation can deliver to the highest production values and confidently compete and surpass any CGI facility in the UK or US, at a fraction of the cost.