prepare for your mind to be blown. maybe.

Are you familiar with the software called "Massive" that was developed for the Lord of the Rings trilogy and then re-invented for Avatar and James Cameron would like us to think that it didn't exist before Blue Pocahontas Dances With Kitty Cat Ferngully? Da be dee da ba dah? (Slow down Leah, there's a time and a place for every rant. This is not it.)

What Massive does is design "agents"- or little virtual people (or, now, plants) that can be programmed to think and act in certain ways. This is extremely helpful if, say, you want to film an epic battle scene but don't want to hire and co-ordinate thousands of extras. You just program thousands of little digital people, give them a mood and a direction, and let them go! There are hilarious stories of test runs where agents would either chill in the background, refusing to fight the enemy, or just flat out RUN IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION! Too real.

I bring all this up because I was researching for a class and came across a slew of commercials that have used Massive on their website. It knocked off my mind socks...

(Clicky-click on the "Read More")





The dancers aren't real! I remember seeing this commercial. I suppose in retrospect it was silly for me to think they were real. BUT STILL. I'm torn. I want to geek out over this, it's so incredibly cool. However, I also am a huge advocate for live performance. I hate to think that even artists are being replaced by machines. Is nothing sacred?

More Examples Here


are we human or are we dancer,
Leah