December 18, 2014 : DBZ Style Disappearing Effect

For the past month, I’ve wanted to reproduce the ‘vanishing’ effect often used in DragonBall Z fight scenes. I always thought it was cool and wanted to figure out a way to create it. DBZ just started replaying on Adult Swim from the first episode, and I just purchased the upgrade to Lightwave 2015. Those were reasons enough. Below is the final product.

I went with two characters from Ninjas Tales because… well, they’re ninjas. It was fun to revisit those models. The animation done in Lightwave was pretty minimal – it was basically a kick. Most of the work was done in After Effects, which was used to create the actual ‘disappearing’ effect. Throw in a few sound effects, and this short took less than a week to crank out.

posted by Pi Visuals at 11:53 pm

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August 5, 2014 : I Christen Thee… Piccolo

To say it was long overdue would be an understatement, but I finally got myself a new computer! This is the first new one I’ve had in 8 or 9 years; and to make sure if fully met my current and future production requirements, I decided to build it from scratch… something I have never done before. Seeing as how I wasn’t very knowledgeable about computer hardware, I had to do a lot of research into the various components.

It took some time and a great deal of effort, but the end result is the computer you see below (with and without side panels). I call him Piccolo.

I am very stoked to have a computer that can easily (and quickly) handle the programs used for production. Granted, I still need to install most of these, but I’d like to think most of the hard work is over. This is technically the third computer I’ve owned that was built from scratch, however the first two were put together by Moridin.

In case you’re curious about the name, I give all of my computers DBZ character names. This is the fourth one. The first one was Vegeta (obviously), who was one of the home-built computers I mentioned above. He was followed by Gohan, which was a Dell. I then received a used, home-built computer (mostly for music recording and additional storage), and it was named Tien.

And now, I can add Piccolo to the list. I considered naming it Trunks but felt the Saiyan race was already well represented. For the record, Vegeta is no longer with us. He died a painful death a few years ago, presumably at the hands of a virus named Frieza. Gohan and Tien are both still in my arsenal and was used to make Ultra. However, they are sorely outdated, and I have been questioning their usefulness for quite some time now. I briefly considered changing their names to Yamcha and Krillin…

posted by Pi Visuals at 9:54 pm

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July 8, 2014 : DBZ Animated Movie Hitting Theaters

Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, came out in Japan March of 2013. This is the first movie in 17 years for the series and will now have a limited English dub release. It is set to premiere in 350 North American theaters from August 5-9. You can check out the FUNimation trailer below:

The plot seems pretty much on par with a DBZ movie – that is to say, ‘meh’ – however, the animation looks very crisp. In addition to seeing a fair amount of 3D in the trailer, I am willing to bet this is the first movie in the franchise to be done digitally (versus the old school cel-shaded method).

While I will go in with relatively low expectations, it will be nice to see some new material from the DBZ franchise. Also on the plus side, series creator Akira Toriyama was involved in the production – which will make me overlook the fact that some people call this movie in-canon (having taken place after the Buu saga but before DBGT). After all, I’ve said it before: the series ended after the Cell Saga… at least that is what I tell myself.

posted by Pi Visuals at 11:33 pm

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September 25, 2013 : Closing The Book On Bleach

Good news! Bleach has finally come to a satisfactory point to stop watching! And it only took over 300 episodes, 7 years, and countless filler sagas. I could (and should) have stopped watching a long time ago, however it became an example of wanting to see things through. By the end of the second season, a story line was set up – sadly they just finished resolving it. While a lot longer than anticipated, it was satisfying to see how everything wrapped.

In many ways, Bleach (the series) is very tragic. It started out so promising – having a cool story and moving at a quick pace. Unfortunately, the anime eventually caught up with the manga, and that lead to mindless side story arcs and incredibly slow paced episodes to allow the manga time to generate new material. This killed the show’s momentum, and I am sure it turned many people off of it. Part of me wonders what might have been had it not slowed to a snail’s pace.

Still, I am glad I kept with it. Of course, I am also happy to be done with it. I believe there are two more seasons, with another 60 episodes; but much like the Buu saga and DragonBall GT, I will pretend they don’t exist.

posted by Pi Visuals at 12:23 am

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April 12, 2013 : Stop Motion With DBZ Action Figures

This video is a little longer than it needs to be, but it’s still pretty sweet. The stop motion in itself is impressive, but adding in the additional effects afterward is just icing on the cake.

Not sure why Piccolo is fighting Trunks, but you have to love the fact that it isn’t filled with annoying, time-consuming flashbacks.

posted by Pi Visuals at 6:19 pm

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August 16, 2012 : New DBZ Movie Coming In 2013

After a bunch of rumors and a barrage of nerd speculation, it has been confirmed that there will be a new DBZ movie in 2013. The teaser of all teasers was released a few weeks ago:

Unlike the previous 13 movies, this one is supposed to be in-canon: taking place after the Majin Buu saga but before the ’10 years later’ epilogue in the manga. If Akira Toriyama was smart (who will be involved with the writing and production), he would set the movie right after the Cell Saga and reveal everything after that was a dream… a horrible, sub-par dream.

Ultimately, in-canon or not, the movie will probably be alright at best – but still, it’ll be kinda cool to see new DBZ anything. In a perfect world, Toriyama will realize how much he missed the DBZ world and erase the GT episodes from everybody’s memory banks by creating a real 26-episode sequel to this infamous series.

posted by Pi Visuals at 12:07 am

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May 22, 2012 : Toonami’s Return

This Saturday is Toonami’s official return… on Adult Swim, and it is no longer just an April Fool’s joke. Not much of the schedule has been revealed until recently, but two new anime that will be airing are Casshern Sins and Deadman Wonderland. Sadly, I’ve had the displeasure of watching the former, but I do not know much about the latter. Casshern had promise but was incredibly slow. It’s cool color design couldn’t make up for going absolutely nowhere with the story.

Adult Swim has stated they will not be able to air shows like DBZ or Naruto because they are no longer properties of Cartoon Network, but Toonami is supposedly looking at several other shows to air in the future. Most notably, Inuyasha: The Final Act – which will be awesome and will justify the return of Toonami in and of itself.

posted by Pi Visuals at 11:12 pm

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April 9, 2012 : A Pi Sighting On The East Coast

Last week, I spent some time in Boston with Lady Pi, and this included a trip to MIT where I saw Jaume Plensa’s Alchemist. The sculpture is a thinking man comprised of numbers and math functions.

In addition to being an overall cool piece, I found the following symbol:

There were actually several Pi’s on the sculpture, which was pretty sweet to see. Overall, Boston was a fun time. Another fun thing I found was:

I did not eat here, although I was tempted. Rest assured, had it been Vegeta’s Vienna Hot Dogs, I would have been there faster than you could transform into a Level 2 Super Saiyan.

posted by Pi Visuals at 3:11 pm

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April 7, 2012 : Toonami… On Adult Swim

I have no idea how I missed this, but last Saturday’s Adult Swim broadcast aired as if people were watching Toonami. Not only did they have old school Toonami shows like DBZ, Gundam, Yu Yu, and Outlaw Star; but they also created new bumps with Tom the robot. This was apparently their yearly April Fool’s prank (it aired March 31st – April 1st).

Adult Swim asked on Twitter how many people would like to have Toonami return by using #BringBackToonami. It created such a positive reaction among its fans. The result is below:

I’m not sure what a potential return could entail. Toonami was a great programming block… when it was on during the week. They had great shows that filled the desire of anime. I was sad to see it go; but after being relegated to Saturday evenings, it went downhill because the number of solid shows being aired were few and far between. If this means more anime on Cartoon Network, then I say use the Dragonballs to wish Toonami back to this dimension. If this means going back to Saturday evenings with sub-par programming, then maybe we should call off the search for the balls.

posted by Pi Visuals at 8:27 pm

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October 29, 2010 : New Dragon Ball

Dragon Ball creator, Akira Toriyama, has supposedly been talked into creating new material for the series. The story is pretty sparse with the details, but I am torn with the news.

Get Buu out of there, and it's the best poster ever.

Being a huge fan of DBZ, I can definitely get excited about the prospect of new Dragon Ball Manga (and no doubt anime to follow). However, DBZ was starting to sputter at the end – even with Toriyama involved. Dragon Ball GT didn’t have the creator and was awful. However, I think DBZ peaked during the Cell saga (which was awesome). The Buu saga was pretty disappointing, and I’m not sure how much better anything new would be.

Besides, there are countless questions as to the specifics of any new material. When would the story take place within the Dragon Ball universe? Who would be the main character(s)? How much stronger can the bad guys really get?

Ultimately, I would prefer Toriyama create an entirely new series. That would be more interesting to watch.

posted by Pi Visuals at 9:11 pm

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