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RWBY Season 2 – Poser Powered Animation

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The butt-kicking warrior students from Beacon Academy are back! RWBY season 2 is just around the corner (online premiere 24th July). Just yesterday the trailer for the 3D, beat ‘em up and RPG inspired anime premiered at Rooster Teeth’s very own convention (RTX). Obviously, as posted above, the trailer is now available online. The second seasons boasts better visuals – gone are the black silhouettes that constituted character extras. This in itself will please many, but visuals have been improved in many other areas including shadows and greater utilisation of Poser’s physics engine for hair and cloth (perhaps other stuff too – not sure).

RWBY Production Diaries – Interesting Tidbits

During development a number of “Production Diaries” were filmed and offer some interesting insights into how the anime is put together. Areas covered (albeit far too briefly) include: modelling, uv mapping, texturing, motion capture and animation, voice acting and sound effects. Though us 3D nerds would have sunk our teeth into deeper production diaries, there were some areas clarified from earlier technical discussion that took place at the previous RTX and elsewhere online.

I found the section on animation particularly interesting. It has been known that the RWBY team use a mix of motion capture and keyframing, but it was never clear how much of either was used. As it turns out much of the fight sequences are animated with traditional methods. Motion capture, on the other hand, seems to be heavily used for scenes that are heavy on character interaction, where emotion and subtle nuances are more important. Given Monty Oum’s previous projects this approach is not so surprising. This guy has built a cult following with his rapid paced hand-animated fight scenes.

RWBY: Inspiring and Guilty Pleasure

The work Rooster Teeth do with Poser on RWBY and Red Vs Blue continues to be inspirational, and I have to admit I have become a little intrigued with the plot. What are The White Fan up to, and is going to what about them? Any bets the young women with their male sidekicks (makes for an interesting change of pace, doesn’t it?) won’t be pushed to the fore of the coming conflict? No, I thought not. Of course a bunch of children with insane weaponry and magic will once again save the world. And why not? Adults are far too busy playing Politics and Tycoons™ to get involved with such noble endeavours.

Catch up

If you haven’t yet seen RWBY season 1 you can catch up at Rooster Teeth’s website and on their YouTube channel. You can also pick up RWBY season 1 on DVD/Blue-ray at Amazon.

RWBY Series 1 Wraps Up

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The first series of Rooster Teeth’s Poser Pro powered anime, RWBY. wrapped up on the 5th of this month (November 2014). Production continues on the project, but there is little official word on what comes next and when. The series has been released on DVD and Blu-ray, and the soundtrack is also out.

It has to be said that Monty Oum is one stylish devil and I must further admit to having become something of a fan of his work since a press release from Smith Micro popped up in my inbox. To be 100% honest I’d never heard the name Monty Oum till I started digging into just who was behind RWBY. I’d seen a snippet of the Haloid (Halo/Metroid) fan animation, so I had at least had a run-in with his work. I’d also seen a couple of episodes of Red VS Blue but hadn’t relised that seasons 8+ of the show were made with Poser. It was only after hunting down all Monty’s low-fi but incredibly produced and choreographed action animations (Dead Fantasy, Haloid), that I developed an appreciation of the mad skillz (as the kids say) this guy has as a director, editor and animator. This work also gave me a deeper respect for the animation potential of Poser.

It’s hard to write about RWBY without being all Oum be a god. It’s his baby. He’s responsible for the concept, directing, and large parts of writing, animation, and character design – basically all the stuff that us 3D people are interested in. But let’s not forget the awesome talent of Shane Newille too. For a look at what he can do just check out his awesome Megaman X Fanimation, for which he also did the soundtrack. It is great to see what creative, ambitious people can accomplish with a budget (though apparently with no official figures out there who knows what the budget really looks like), and basic tools.

RWBY certainly isn’t to the tastes of everyone. First and foremost anime is one of those things you either love or “can’t get”. Some are weary or outright snobish about westernised anime, and then there are the clipping and other minor animation flaws. For the most part animation shortcomings didn’t bother me, but every now and then there were instances where hair would phase through apparel and weapons sheathed on the back, or feet would slide. …but I’m not really writing a review here.

So, lets just cut to the chase. Watching RWBY has been entertaining, with some of Oum’s signature intricately choreographed fight sequences, and for me it has all been about the seeing Poser in action for a relatively high profile project. Oum’s work with Poser is inspiring, and his message of working with the tools you know and have at hand (not worrying about the tools and wiz-bang you want or think you should have) is refreshing.

RWBY is now part of Poser history. It is a rallying call to all of us that use inexpensive “hobbyist” software. The success of Rooster Teeth Productions should be equally inspiring – a production house that has its roots in no/low budget, but innovative Machinima. It really is a whole new world here on the internet. If you’re smart and you are driven you can accomplish anything with virtually whatever comes to hand.

I am looking forward to getting a copy of the RWBY DVD, watching all the episodes back to back without the distraction of ads. Most of all, I’m looking forward to Oum’s commentary. You can watch all the episodes for free at Rooster Teeth’s website and on their YouTube channel.


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