spotlight stories app 3D Scanning Google ATAP Spotlight Story ‘HELP’

Google Brings Its 360-Degree Movies App, Spotlight Stories, To iOS

SCANable helped bring the Google Spotlight Stories fourth animated film to life by capturing all of the sets, locations, actors and vehicles in 3D for recreation of each item as photorealistic 3D digital assets. These assets were used by the VFX teams to create the final version of the film.

Source: TechCrunch.com

Google Spotlight Stories, a mobile app featuring immersive, 360-degree animated films originally developed by Motorola, has now made its way to iOS devices.

When viewers watch the movie, entitled “HELP” they can look anywhere, set the pace and frame the shot by moving their mobile device. Previously Spotlight Stories was only supported by Android but is now available to users of iOS 8.0 or higher.

The app itself is intended for entertainment purposes, as it offers stories built using 3D and 2D animations, 360-degree spherical “cinema-quality” video, sound sphere audio and “sensor fusion techniques,” explains Google. In short, what that means is that viewers can look around inside the animated content by moving their body and the phone to see different parts or angles of the story taking place.

Basically, the app can take advantage of the device’s sensors like its gyroscope and accelerometer in order to offer an immersive viewing experience. However, it doesn’t let end users create these sorts of movies for themselves.

One of the original animations featured in Spotlight Stories when it debuted was a film called “Windy Days” by ex-Pixar moviemakers, which appeared on Moto X phones when the Android app rolled out. This, as well as the other content previously available on Android, is also available in the new iOS app.

The app includes films like “Duet” from Glen Keane, “Buggy Night” from ATAP, and “Help” by “The Fast and the Furious” director Justin Lin. What’s interesting is that this latter movie, unlike the others, is noted as being “free for a limited time,” which indicates that Google may be planning to sell movies through this service in the future.

The technology for making these artistic mini-movies was first developed by Motorola Mobility’s Advanced Technology And Products (ATAP) moonshot division, but Google continued to fund its development in the years that followed. However, because the app was originally intended for Motorola devices (like the Moto X), it didn’t immediately support a wide range of Android devices when it launched. Some limitations on Android continue today, as the Google Play version still indicates that Spotlight Stories is “not yet compatible with all smartphones.”

However, the new iOS release will work on any device running iOS 8.0 or higher, notes Google.

The app is a free download, here on iTunes.

Nissan Super Bowl ad

Emmy Nomination for Nissan “With Dad” Commercial

Do you recall the emotional Nissan television ad that was introduced during Super Bowl XLIX earlier this year? It made the list of 2015 Emmy nominations for Outstanding Commercial, and we are not surprised. Refresh your memory and watch it again.

This sentimental commercial, titled “With Dad,” certainly caught the public’s attention. After it premiered during the Super Bowl, the ad was voted the Favorite Super Bowl Commercial of 2015 and received more than 22 million views on YouTube. Nissan definitely made a bang after opting not to advertise during the Super Bowl in nearly twenty years!

As you can see, the commercial takes viewers through the lives of a loving family working its way through tough times and struggling to stay close despite the circumstances. Nissan took the opportunity to introduce two new Nissan models, the GT-R LM NISMO sports car and 2016 Nissan Maxima sports sedan.

Nissan #withdad campaign

The popular commercial ran as part of Nissan’s #withdad campaign, aimed toward reminding the public how much more fun and exciting life can be with dad. In addition to the Super Bowl commercial and other YouTube videos, Nissan also donated $1,000,000 to a couple organizations that help individuals make better lives for them and their families–Habitat for Humanity and Wounded Warrior Project.

Source: Sorg Nissan

Shade VFX logo

Shade VFX Nominated for an Emmy Award for Daredevil

Daredevil, The Netflix Original Series, has been nominated for three Emmy awards in 2015, including one for Shade VFX in the category of Best Supporting Visual Effects. SCANable partnered with Shade VFX on this project by providing 3D scans of sets and actors used for camera tracking and matchmoving.

Source: Shade VFX

At the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards the Best Supporting Visual Effects category will award seamless, invisible effects in a television series and we’re utterly thrilled to be in the running alongside American Horror Story: Freak Show, Boardwalk Empire, Gotham, and The Walking Dead.

Daredevil, as we’ve discussed previously, was a unique opportunity for Shade VFX to expand both into New York and into the world of exceptional television working alongside Netflix and Marvel.

We created invisible effects that were a showpiece of the series, propelling the gritty and dark crime story forward and making your palms sweaty with action along the way.

Congratulations to the whole team that worked on Daredevil; Visual Effects Producer, David Van Dyke, Visual Effects Supervisors, Bryan Godwin and Karl Coyner, as well as Senior Compositing Lead, Steve J. Sanchez, Visual Effects Coordinator, Julie Long, Visual Effects Editor, Pedro Tarrago, Associate Compositing Lead, Neiko Nagy, CG Artist, Moshe Swed, and FX Technical Director, Kjell Strode.

Best of luck also to the Shade VFX team and all the other vendors for their nomination for Best Visual Effects for Black Sails! Particular congratulations of course to Chip Baden, who will be representing the Team Shade in this category.

Sincere thanks to Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Marvel and Netflix.