Hi y'all. I have an audition on Monday for a Sony tech demo that includes a head scan. For those of you that do interactive...what the heck is that? There are sides involved, so I'm confused.

Mae

Showcasing new technology. Almost sounds like a corporate gig.

Did you ask them? You may want to google the term

Devin www.theactorslot.com

Casting calls for scans are normally in SF Bay Area. Gaming, Tech, and Pixar are there.

Odd to hear of this in the Midwest. Please let us know more. It's an Industrial.

Spydog, I live in LA. It's being shot in San Diego, and it's for a Sony Playstation videogame. What I've been able to find from googling is that a tech demo appears to be a motion capture type of mini-film that is used as a trailer for a videogame. I guess I should really just defer to my agent on this, but I thought I'd ask here to see if anyone had already done one of these.

Mae

Mae, snag a free new game. Bet you can do it. Curious to hear more about the scan.

They're competing with story-board PC gaming like WoW.

Mini-film gaming trailers took off with Twisted Metal: Black, PS2. The Rolling Stone's "Paint It Black" was the trailer song and end credit song. Hope your footage gets something cool, Mae.

It's just an audition. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.


Mae

Okay, nerdy answer alert.

I work in video games and a tech demo is usually a proof of concept for a system done in the early stages of a new game. The developer may be proving out a piece of their art pipeline (quality of the character models, facial animation, etc), but there is no guarantee any of that will make it into the final game. And, there's no guarantee the game will make it past the prototype phase.

If the project is internal (meaning, developer AND published by Sony) then it's probably some type of new tech they're working on for a new game, or possibly trying things out as they work on the next version of the PlayStation (PS4). If it's an external developer who just happens to be using Sony's mocap space, then they're trying to prove to the publisher (likely Sony, but not necessarily) that they can deliver to an expected quality bar.

I've had the pleasure of working with the Sony mocap guys (both as a producer, and on the actor side), and they're fantastic. If you've got sides, it's possible that they're looking to do both a head scan and some facial motion capture. If you're chosen, the facial animation is done in their motion capture volume, and they'll glue a ton of little dots to your face, and you act as normal as if it were any regular film audition. Then later on, the animators transfer the data to a character model, instead of having to hand key all the lip synching. And that character might look exactly like you (or darn close), based on the quality of the head scan and what changes the artists might make to that data.

To Spydog, there are lots of places in LA that do facial scanning. With free-to-play and iOS games taking off, there are a ton more companies in SF than ever before, but there are still a number of companies here in LA going strong despite the seemingly endless mergers and closures. We've also got some great mocap facilities here, but Sony's is crazy-fancy and very well run.

Mae, if you have more specific questions, you're welcome to send me a note.

I remember the first public viewing of face scanning for commercial use. SGI was near Shoreline Amphitheater, so they scanned the Grateful Dead and showed "morphing" on the screens during a show.

LA & SF have almost always had offices in both cities. What you're saying makes sense. It's unusual to shoot in SD. That would be like shooting in SAC. Weird. Thanks for explaining it.

I'm familiar with programming, up to a point. To do it well, it took all my time. I'd rather focus on acting and film-making. My friends do the geek stuff, vfx, animation, apps, etc. No offense, but actors can't simply jump into programming nor can programmers jump into acting. It takes time, training, and practice to do the job worthwhile.

quote:

Originally posted by SPYDOG:
Casting calls for scans are normally in SF Bay Area. Gaming, Tech, and Pixar are there.

Odd to hear of this in the Midwest.

I know of at least one game development house in the Midwest with in-house motion capture.

quote:

Originally posted by SPYDOG:
actors can't simply jump into programming nor can programmers jump into acting. It takes time, training, and practice to do the job worthwhile.

True that.

Thanks for the info, Renegade. Very helpful indeed.

Mae

quote:

LA & SF have almost always had offices in both cities. What you're saying makes sense. It's unusual to shoot in SD. That would be like shooting in SAC. Weird.

Spydog,
Sony Computer Entertainment has a large studio in San Diego. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCE_San_Diego_Studio
I had the pleasure of working for several weeks there in '05, recording thousands of voice over tracks for NBA '06 for Playstation 2. One morning a limo pulled up and Let Li came out and went over to the MoCap stage to do some kung f-ing fu for some game I guess. That was cool because when I roundhouse kicked him in the shin he gave me a hundred dollars.

I stand corrected.