Co.Design | business + design: Here’s how Hollywood works today: Somebody writes a script. And especially if it’s an animated feature--a piece that will take hundreds of Pixar artists years to produce--there’s almost no chance it will be made. So filmmakers turn to low budget YouTubing, or even playing out their stories inside video game engines (machinima) in lieu of professional production and distribution.
Plotagon (free) is an ingenious alternative. It’s screenwriting software that’s been merged with 3-D animation software. So as you type actions, lines, and settings for your characters, those characters will actually play out your vision on screen, complete with auto-directed cuts.
9 comments:
"Plotagon" is such a crazy software. I am blown away by the advancements in film making that have brought this software to us. Although the voice software is not amazing, the sheer fact that this software can take these words, make a animated character say them, and find specific camera angles to make the film work is insanely awesome! If they have already created this, I can't wait to see what the 2.0 version of this program will be. One thing I noticed that will most likely evolve, but was not the best option so far, was the few locations that you could choose. I am sure the next version will add many various locations and eventually make them infinitely customizable. I don't think this software will ever take over peoples jobs, because there is definitely a difference between real animation of movies and this, but this can act as a really great planning tool to use!
This software is so interesting! I could never come up with an idea of typing a word and it creates an animation automatically. It is amazing how the software has some kind of recognition and understanding in words, so that it can create action or movement based on that. I understand that there are a lot of limitations in terms of reality in motion, voice, and visualization and of recognizing certain slang or word, but I still think this is a brilliant idea and will definitely help people in education and interest in writing scripts. I think teenagers and many people will find intrigue in seeing their scripts turning automatically into an animated movie in just a short amount of time without any struggles or effort. Also, I really want to applause for their acknowledgement in limitation and promise on further development. I hope that in five years, it will be widely used and also be developed further to be photo realistic as they promise in the article.
This is a brilliant idea, and yet another great example of the positive impact that technology can have on the arts. The stage that this program is currently at means that its use is fairly limited, and more appealing to amateur aspiring filmmakers than people with experience who are trying to get their work out there. It sounds like Plotagon will, eventually, be sophisticated enough to turn out fully fleshed-out stories, which sounds exactly like what aspiring filmmakers need to push them forward. I could see it being used by non-screen/play writers too, who might want to see how their stories play out. All in all, a great concept!
And I just downloaded it, so now I get to see for myself just how good this thing really is.
This is a great concept, but if you watch the video of the program in its current state, it doesn't look like it's going to replace the movie industry any time soon. As it is, the animation and voice-overs are very robotic and non-realistic. I'm sure with years of development it will become more sophisticated and realistic, but it doesn't seem like a threat to animators everywhere yet. One of the best things about animated movies is the artistry behind the animation- I love seeing all the different styles of each movie and how the animation choices affect the movie as a whole. It's as important as costumes, set, and every other aspect of design. I don't think any real, marketable, movie would be made with this. I do think this would be useful for movie proposals and for planning out scenes, but I don't think that this is exactly the "FUTURE OF FILMMAKING"
I think that the "platagon" software is ground breaking and such a fascinating concept, but the software is in the developing stages and needs a ton of revision. This software allows for any person with a creative mind to see their concept come to life with simple characters and blocking. The program is restricting and limits the creativity of the writer. I watched some videos of scenes people made and the characters a robotic and inconsistent with their emotions. The facial expressions aren't too accurate and look awkward, but i guess thats what you get for a free software. The camera angles get annoying really quickly because when a character talks it shots over the shoulder of the other character. Its too much camera angle switching and is super distracting. The software also restricts the writer to construct scenes with only two people and in the standing position. Good idea, but there is a ton of work to be done. This software has the potential to be huge.
Plotagon is definitely quite impressive, and while I can certainly seen how it might be helpful in visualizing an initial plot and demonstrating it to others, but it seems far too limiting in a creative sense. There are only so many places and people, and I think I would find the robotic voices extremely distracting. Personally, I think the overall "feel" of a place is important, and it doesn't seem like specific tweaking of the environment is something that is possible just yet. Of course there is development underway, but even the photorealism that is mentioned might not be enough -- the software would definitely need to have a lot more customizability before I could see it being very helpful.
This is great! I played with this for almost 2 hours.
If this software was just a little bit more refined, it could be a great tool for visualizing scenes and transitions. It looks lit it could also be a great tool to explore the use of virtual space as a scenic designer.
I’m really interested to see how easily this software can be deconstructed and integrated with cad visualization software, which a designer could use to literally create walking talking analogues of their proposed design.
As soon as I read this article I went to the site to download the software, and when I finally have free time I'm going to have a lot of fun with it. It seems like such a great concept for a free software, and yes, I'm sure it has is limits, but what do you expect from a free software. Besides, it could be very valuable to people who are trying to storyboard a concept to be able to see it roughly animated at zero cost and with minimal time spent. Hopefully at some point the technology will grow to a point where it can give the user much more control, but until then it's a fun and free(which may no longer be the case if it becomes a much more polished program) software.
Plotagon reminds me of the Sims.
This is a crazy idea but it's amazing.
At first I didn't understand what this would be good for. And then I thought maybe they could use it to sort of plan out movies. But then I understood that you don't really choose the camera angle so I don't really know if you could use it to plan movie shots.
Maybe future versions of the software will make a bit more sense. For now, it just seems interesting but not really usefull.
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