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 Filmmakers offered Raindance recognition with Muvizu 3D |
Beginner and expert animators alike can scoop a prestigious Raindance film award by producing a winning clip with free CGI software, Muvizu...
A Muvizu trailer is available for embed/broadcast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh3pbesDk6c
Images are available for publication here: http://www.presswire.com/pr/muvizu/allpix.htm
A User Guide is available for print/online publication, at the foot of this release.
 Muvizu is a free 3D animation application, integrated with an online collaborative community, that gives individuals or groups the power of the Unreal Engine 3 to create compelling videos in minutes, not months. You don't need specialist kit or training, just a good idea.
The joint competition invites anyone to download Muvizu 3D and use it to create an animation of no more than one minute and thirty seconds.
Submissions close on 31 August 2010 and the winning films will be screened at the 18th Raindance Film Festival between 29 September and 10 October in London's West End.
On top of worldwide recognition with Raindance, award-winning makers of high-end 3D systems Workstation Specialists are supplying the following prizes:
1/. A high-end mobile graphics workstation: WSM – Power 15.6" 3D Graphics Configuration with Intel® Core™ i7 720QM 1.60GHz 64Bit Quad-Core Processor;
2/. A high-end graphics workstation: WS1600 High End 3D Graphics Configuration with Intel® Core™ i7 930 2.83GHz 64Bit Quad-Core Processor;
3/. A graphics workstation: WS1400 with Powerful 3D Graphics Configuration.
To enter:
Upload your video to YouTube through Muvizu in 720HD resolution (keeping the .set file) and set it to 'Private'.
Start your film title with 'Submission for Muvizu prize competition at Raindance Film Festival' then email the video's url to raindance@muvizu.com together with your name and contact details.
Entrants must be 13 years or over to enter the competition individually, but a Muvizu gatekeeper account holder can submit an entry or entries on behalf of younger children.
Raindance Founder Elliot Grove said: "Raindance has always believed that filmmaking should be an experience which is accessible to anyone, and true to this, the wonderful people at Muvizu have created software which allows people to make animated videos without specialist hardware, software, or training."
The Muvizu application, which includes all the assets and tools needed to create 3D movies, is available for free download from www.muvizu.com, a portal that enables users to collaborate on film, audio, and drama projects with easy-to-use tools and results you can view in real time.
The philosophy behind Muvizu 3D is for content creators to put less energy into animating characters and more effort into directing them on-screen.
The goal is to foster collaborative fillm-making by uniting people with contrasting skills through Muvizu's virtual workspace and storyboarding capabilities.
The Muvizu website also offers new users tutorial videos to help get then started.
About Raindance
Raindance exists to discover, foster and champion new talent and audiences, the lifeblood of the industry. Since 1992 it has promoted all aspects of independent cinema in the UK, from guerrilla style low-budget shorts to international indie blockbusters.
Raindance Film Festival is Europe's largest independent film festival.
About Muvizu
Muvizu (pronounced 'Movie Zoo') lets users direct pre-rendered characters - who lip-sync to any imported dialogue - then run, jump and even fight their way around pre-built sets, on command.
Characters are animated with a simplified set of commands allowing users to generate comedy sketches, corporate product demonstrations or mini-movies.
All that's needed is a PC (or Mac) running Windows XP, Vista or Win 7, a broadband connection for registration and uploading, and a modern 3D graphics card.
For all media enquiries, please contact:
Richard Powell
Public Relations Director
Presswire
Office: +44 (0) 845 0537156
Mobile: +44 (0) 778 6806951
Fax: +44 (0) 871 433 0534
Email: richard.powell@presswire.com
Web: http://www.presswire.com
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Getting started with Muvizu: A Quick Guide
Download and install from www.muvizu.com
You will have an option to watch video tutorials on launching... We recommend you watch at least the first six short guides: Muvizu Basics, Building Sets, Lights and Cameras, Characters, Animation and Basic Dialogue.
Open it up
To create a video on Muvizu, you will be moving along the Navigation Bar at the top of the screen, from left to right, to complete the necessary tasks to turn your vision into a viral video smash hit (press F12 to toggle).
On opening Muvizu for the first time, a blank set will appear. The red dots on the floor are navigation points that help you identify your position on the set.
Left-clicking and dragging the mouse steers the view; right-clicking and dragging moves you around the set (as does using W,A,S,D - think FPS). Holding both mouse buttons together and dragging moves you horizontally and vertically (as does Q, E).
These are the same controls for moving characters and objects around; just select the character or object you want to move around by left-clicking them first.
Control the cameras
The floating camera you can see is going to shoot your clip. Its viewfinder is in a pop-up window on the right-hand side. Position the camera on the set by clicking and dragging it to your filming position.
You can add up to four cameras by clicking Create and Camera. Multiple cameras are useful for filming different characters when they interact with each other, so you can cut between close-ups of them as they speak, for example.
Build a set
You can build your own unique set or choose a pre-rendered one from the opening menu, such as: Board Room, News Studio or Classroom). To make your own set, click Create then 'Edit Environment' to colour and add pre-rendered textures to the air and floor, to add clouds and grass, for example.
You can also add textures to objects and even add moving backgrounds, such as a moving road, as well as coloured Lighting effects to change the time of day, and Point Lights to create shadows and add mood.
Try adding an Effect next, such as the Storm - which automatically adds its own sound effects. Then add some objects, by selecting what you want to appear, from the menus, and move them into position with the mouse, rotating and colouring them if you like. You can duplicate objects as you would with text in Word, by using Ctrl-C for copy and Ctrl-V for Paste.
On any menu, you can use Favourites to save your creations and settings, whether camera set-ups, objects or character builds.
Add some characters
Go to Create then Character. Select a pre-rendered character, who will fall onto the set for you to direct. You can right-click on the character to tweak their appearance and change their name.
You can then prepare some dialogue for your character, by recording some vocals in the Dialogue box or use an imported .wav or .mp3 file – note, the dialogue for all characters is always in the same file, you start and stop them talking to match their speaking parts by clicking Talk or Shush, as we will explain in a minute.
Prepare the animation
Click Prepare where you can select movements for your character from a large library of pre-loaded animations, such as Happy, Scared or Angry. Try moving your characters’ eyes to match their words or actions.
If you want your character to Walk or Run around the set, then select Character Animation and when you press the record button (the clapperboard) you will see a movement area at their feet so you can direct how and where they move via the mouse. If you click ahead of the character and drag, they will chase the dot you create on the floor, walking or sprinting to catch-up, depending on how fast you move it.
To make your characters Fight, you choose the type of attack you want one to make (i.e. Kick, Punch, Upper-cut) then the type of reaction you want your defending character to make (i.e. Dodge, Knock-out, Run away).
You can always tighten up the action afterwards and make it more realistic, by going into the Timeline and dragging the coloured boxes that represent each action, so they start and stop exactly when you want them to. This is also useful in Dialogue so your characters’ lip-sync the parts they are supposed to.
To direct your movie
Click Direct then hit Record (the Clapperboard button).
Your Dialogue file will begin to play, so choose the points where you want your characters to Talk or Shush when you want them to lip sync the dialogue and set where you want them to begin their animations.
You can also use Direct to orchestrate and record your characters' actions, before checking how these are set to appear when you come to film it, in the Timeline.
You can also control where events, characters' eye movements, actions, dialogue and animations start and stop here, to fit the action. You can also delete any of them, and start again.
Finalise your video
Once you've moved the actions and dialogue around in the Timeline, to make the animation fit your concept, you are ready to make your video by selecting Video, where you choose the format you want your clip to be rendered in.
Go to Video and Make Video to set your In and Out points, pick your codec and size - whether you want HD or standard quality - and leave it to render in silence (don't worry, it hasn't lost your audio).
Once it has finished, you can click Upload to push your work directly onto YouTube and choose whether you want your video to be publicly viewable, as well as choose your Title, Description and Keywords.
Finally, you can use the attached application to the Muvizu download 'Video Joiner' to merge multiple clips you've created in Muvizu, if you want make a feature. For this to work, you must save all videos all in the same format. Then select which format you want the merged file to be saved in.
ENDS
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