HPE I.T. Monster LIVE! BTS

Publicis and HPE teamed up with Creative Technology & VFX Studio The Mill to create a one-of-a-kind LIVE experience that debuted at HPE's Discover event in Las Vegas last week. The interactive installation, featuring a giant red monster, is an evolution of HPE's global digital 'Tame the I.T. Monster' campaign.

Check out the BTS: here 

The I.T. Monster, nicknamed 'Glitchy' is the personification of the issues you encounter when dealing with I.T. Management.  It's all 'Glitchy's' fault.  He was brought to life and performed by the incredibly talented puppet team of David Bizzaro and Jake Bazel.

DreamWorks Animation, IBM Watson and The Mill Among AIS Tech Award Winners

The Advanced Imaging Society will recognize 15 honorees during its 9th annual Technology Lumiere Awards, which will be held during December in Hollywood.

They are Apple, for its ProRes Raw codec; IBM Watson computer incorporating AI; DreamWorks Animation, for VDM data structure system; NVIDIA, for its GeForce RTX graphics cards; Google VR; Cisco, for its broadcast production virtualization system; and Felix and Paul, for its dynamic projection workflow for stereoscopic 360-degree live video.

Read article here.

Seanna's Ocean Buddies is LIVE!

Today I'm proud to announce the premiere of our first CG animated short film performed-realtime.
Ryan Sias and I co-created/directed this project for Sesame Studios produced by the Mill NY.

It was fully "animated/rendered" in real-time using our Mill Mascot animation tech.
Check it out:



SEANNA’S OCEAN BUDDIES | MILL MASCOT

• This is The Mill’s first collaboration with Sesame Workshop’s digital platform, Sesame Studios
• Sesame Studios is a YouTube channel brought to you by the makers of Sesame Street that offers up new original stories and songs with an educational theme. The Mill’s Creative Director Jeffrey Dates and his creative partner Ryan Sias developed a video titled Seanna’s Ocean Buddies that was generated using The Mill’s newly launched technology Mill Mascot. 
• Mill Mascot is an animation system that combines real-time animation and game engine technology with motion sensors; enabling a digital puppeteer to control animated characters through hand gestures. This gives directors, creatives and clients the ability to ‘direct’ CG character performance live on set.
• Using this technology, Dates and Sias were able to generate a full video (2 ½ minutes of fully animated CG content) in just one day. This marks a revolutionary step in the way animated content can be generated for entertainment brands and franchises.
• Seanna's Ocean Buddies is an educational concept that follows Seanna Shark, a shark video blogger, as she teaches the audience about her friends under the sea. In this episode, kids will meet a seahorse and learn about this underwater creature. 
• In traditional animation terms, after asset creation, this project would have taken up to two months to complete. However, using The Mill’s proprietary animation system Mill Mascot, the team were able to perform the entire project in a day.

A preview of a project we just wrapped up and will be showing off shortly!

We're in Las Vegas at the #HPEDiscover Conference debuting our proprietary #MillMascot tech, which enables you to direct, animate and puppeteer CG characters live in real-time! @kungfukoi @HPE pic.twitter.com/O4Gtg1Splk

— The Mill (@MillChannel) June 20, 2018

Epic shows off Mill Mascot Tech done in Unreal

Epic has posted Mill Mascot's Vonster project in thier Project spotlight!  Check it out here:

Mill Mascot was presented at Epic's Enterprise Conference in Stockholm 2018

A few weeks ago, the Mill was out in Stockholm presenting The Mill Mascot at the Unreal Engine Enterprise Conference 2018.  We took our Vonster out and showed him around to the attendees.

Lots of fun interactions, and we always love performing for a crowd!

Check it out.  I think the Mascot bit starts around: 2 minutes.  Enjoy!

#MillNY hosted an #EmergingTech Showcase today ft. a series experiences & tech demos, including #MillMascot (A proprietary virtual production method that allows filmmakers to animate & direct CG characters live on set in real-time) #AICP2018 @kungfukoi pic.twitter.com/fjCfiDZbWi

— The Mill (@MillChannel) June 14, 2018

I was asked to Write and Direct this piece for PwC's sponsor trailer in this years Tribeca Film Festival.  It was a great bit of fun to create and am super happy to have worked on it for PwC and Tribeca.   I hope you enjoy it.


Written By:
Jeffrey Dates
Eve Grissinger

Directed By:
Jeffrey Dates

Cinematography:
Adam Carboni

Production:
Mill+

Well lookie what we have here? Thanks @cartoonbrew !! https://t.co/hJr2klcVoM

— Jeffrey Dates (@kungfukoi) April 6, 2018

The Real-Time Animation System is Live!

The Mill’s Real-Time Animation System from The Mill on Vimeo.

Ever wanted to direct, perform and animate CG characters in real-time? That's what Mill+ Creative Director Jeffrey Dates' brainchild allows you to do. The Real-Time Animation System (RTAS) utilizes real-time rendering technology and a custom-built, CGI virtual production pipeline to create any character. Find out more about the tech and how it was used for Monster.com's 'Vonster' campaign:

themill.com/millchannel/1582/the-future-of-virtual-production---the-mill%27s-real-time-animation-system