Amazing modelling software!

Before you get too excited, yes I'm still on a break from film making. However, I saw this demonstration of software which can create a 3D model from a 2D photograph which I thought you should check out. If this software is anything like as easy to use and powerful as it appears then I am truly astounded!
As a film maker I always need to bring in props for set dressing. It's paying attention to the details which helps give a film it's polished feel. However, I'm not much of a modeller myself, and rely on those who are more talented than I am to come up with complex models. I have had some success making simpler models (e.g. the interior of a railway carriage for Ruth), using Sketchup. That software is reasonably easy to get the basics right, but I'm not prepared to invest the time to become an expert. That said, this 3-Sweep software looks like it has learned from the ease-of-use that we see in Sketchup and applied it in a jaw-droppingly brilliant way.
Of course, there's no word in the video as to how much this software might cost, and I fear that if they are targeting professional users then it will be placed firmly beyond the reach of us amateurs. But I've got my fingers crossed just in case!
(Thanks to Primaveranz for posting the link to this)

Why so quiet, IceAxe?

As you know I have been tinkering about with iClone, and I started getting quite excited about it's possibilities. However, real-life events have got in the way of my film making as my job was recently made redundant by my employer. For now, movie-making is on hold while I concentrate on finding a new job.
BRB!

Don't Say I Didn't Tell You So!

Smug. That's me. If you've seen The Chapelside Deception, you'll know that I saw this coming!

What I've been up to...

Since winning a full copy of Unity at the Machinima Expo I've pretty much had my nose buried in Unity 3.x Game Development Essentials. Obviously, my interest in Unity is not actually game development, but harnessing the engine for film making. I'm about half-way through the book, and I've reached the conclusion that I won't be making any films in Unity just yet. The main reason being that while the platform is really powerful and highly controllable, there are no film making tools as such; I'm talking about basic things like a time line, and camera controls - what to look at, when, and how to focus etc. Perhaps someone will develop some scripts which will give us Moviestorm-like controls within the engine. Also, I've no idea if Unity supports things like lip-synching for the avatars (a ruffle through the book doesn't throw up anything.) Perhaps this is something that Moviestorm themselves could develop? After all, the under-development iPad version has been realised within Unity.
I've also had a quick look at iClone 5 Pro (another prize!) Yes, it looks like it should be up for the job, and after spending time in Unity the notorious iClone UI doesn't look half as daunting as it used to. And iClone has some beautiful water effects, and it is really good for creating natural, organic environments (something that Moviestorm is rather poor at). But there's just something about how things are rendered onscreen which doesn't appeal. Part of me sees it as a challenge - after all I spend a lot of time trying to make my Moviestorm stuff look like it didn't come from Moviestorm, so I guess I could do the same with iClone...