HC-8+ In Action -- Hollywood Style

[JonnyMac]

One of my friends and an EFX-TEK customer is legendary character creator, Steve Wang. On display this week are two new characters his team created for the game "League of Legends" -- if you're in Seattle, pop over the PAX Prime gaming convention and check them out.

This character, Tryndamere, uses a single HC-8+ for animating the "shimmer" of all the crystals in the armor and in the sword. I wrote a special bit of code for the eyes which needed a different treatment.



For those wondering, the character is about seven feet tall (without helmet and off the base). BTW, here's the artwork for that character from the game web site:




The second character, Ryze, uses two independent HC-8+s. One is pretty straightforward controlling the animation in the base and for the eyes.  There is a second HC-8+ in the energy sphere that he's holding in his right hand. The inner core that holds the HC-8+ is covered with 94 RGB LEDs (see attached).  I wrote a Propeller object that will control up to 170 of these LEDs (nearly a full DMX universe).

What you can't see in a still image is that there are two animations running in the sphere: a swirling pattern that changes from green to blue and a smoke-ring that bounces from top to bottom that reverses the color (blue to green).  At the mid-point of the animation both have the same color.  Finally, the outer sphere is supported by several clear rods.  In the base of those rods are super-bright white LEDs.  I wrote a lightning simulation that runs on the six outputs (two were needed for the RGB driver).  One of the neat things about the Propeller is that you can launch the same code into multiple cogs (processor); we did that with the lightning code to provide more density. 



Here's game artwork for Ryze:



As you can see by the finished product the client wanted realistic characters -- boy did the get them.  Steve and his crew are incredibly talented.  I watched them build these things from scratch, starting with armatures, hundreds of pounds of clay that was sculpted over several weeks, silicone molds and casting, custom eyes, electronics (where we come in), costumes... they're some of the best in the business and we're happy they call on us for electronics.

When I was young -- and even though I knew my focus would be on acting -- I always hoped I'd get to work with my technical skills with special effects artists.  And now I do!

[JackMan]

WOW, Very cool Jon, great job! I would say so far it looks like sky is the limit for the HC-8+!

[JonnyMac]

This is the control panel for the Ryze base and eyes animation. The base outputs are about 1.5A each and the base skirt is 5A (hence is connected directly to the power supply) so the power supply is rated for 25A.  Even though the current is in spec for the HC-8+ transistors, I mounted a fan on the plate to keep them extra cool. Once the display is put together this is sealed up and doesn't get a lot of natural flow.

[bsnut]

WOW, Very cool Jon, great job! I would say so far it looks like sky is the limit for the HC-8+!

Every bit agreed.

[Jeff Haas]

Holy moly!  That is awesome.

Please link to videos if you get any.

[JonnyMac]

I've attached a couple pics from inside the shop just to show you how big these things are. Both characters are over 7 feet tall when not on their bases.

Steve (blue shirt) is 6 feet tall and Cleeve (green shirt) is 6'4". The Tryndamere and Ryze characters are big!

[JonnyMac]

Here's a video of the Ryze character in progress showing the "spell globe" in action. Note that this is not the final animation, but it does show how what we can do with the HC-8+ controlling a chain of RGB LEDs (94 of them) with indifivual color control.

-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuSMKciw0J8&feature=plcp

[JonnyMac]

Here's the latest addition to the Riot project: Katarina. The lighting control (two HC-8+s) is in the base.



BTW... while those swords are not sharp, they are dangerous. In the last minute rush to button everything up for the show-and-tell I walked right into the tip of one -- still have a mark on my belly to show for it. There's no danger for the public, though, once the sides are up the swords are out of reach.

[JonnyMac]

Here's another picture of Katarina from the Riot Games event over the weekend (photo by Steve Wang). This lets you appreciate the scope of the character and the base they built. Note that the lights we off in this shot.



Here's a facial close-up. The hair is punched and a special makes the eyes. After the basic silicone is painted a make-up artist (Tom) takes care of the rest.

[bsnut]

This lets you appreciate the scope of the character and the base they built.

Every bit. It looks all to real and she isn't bad looking ;D.