Do you use any of the Star Wars books and guides when working on your designs? Do you look at the "Expanded Universe" at all?

As designers we look at all kinds of stuff for inspiration and we have a crack research staff to help us with that. The Star Wars books serve as a starting point and guide for certain types of questions that arise in respect to certain cultures or technologies that have already been established in the movies. The Star Wars Chronicles book is our bible, the Incredible Cross-Section books provide a great starting point when we're adding to existing locations. We usually don't refer to the Expanded Universe materials specifically unless our research team finds something that directly corresponds to our assignment.

For Episode III we're going to a lot of new places and George Lucas has really pushed us to come up with new looks for vehicles, environments, cultures and characters. When we receive an assignment that deals with an aspect of the Star Wars universe that hasn't been nailed down in the movies, George likes us to keep a completely open mind and leave behind our preconceived notions or expectations for that culture or character. That freedom, coupled with the fact that we are such fans of the movies, can lead to some very interesting solutions.

The biggest single source of inspiration, though, are the movies themselves. We design for the that medium, for how things will look up on the screen, as part of the story.

Posted: by Jedi Power

The latest Homing Beacon has arrived, and today we get to talk about the Star Wars: Clone Wars animated microseries. The advantages and impacts of computer-rendered three-dimensional animation were made clear to the public consciousness with Industrial Light & Magic's dinosaurs in Jurassic Park and are now well-known to Star Wars fans who followed the development of Jar Jar Binks and Episode II's digital Yoda. With Finding Nemo leading the 2003 box office, 3-D computer animation itself has even become its own popular genre.

Less widely known is that the same familiar three-dimensional modeling and animation techniques that made possible the visuals of Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones have been adopted by two-dimensional animation productions as well -- from the spacecraft of Lilo & Stitch to moving cityscapes in "Futurama."

With ambitious stories to be told starting this November in the Star Wars: Clone Wars animated microseries, creator Genndy Tartakovsky decided to borrow some of the computer-generated efficiencies used in the new Star Wars films. "If the animation is simplistic, then we'll do it in 2-D," Tartakovsky told Star Wars Insider. "If it's an element that just kind of flies through the scene and doesn't do a lot of turns, we'll do it in 2-D. But if it's got a lot of complicated moves, then we'll make it 3-D."

To make the Republic or Separatist forces flip, spin, dive and explode, Tartakovsky turned to Rough Draft Studios -- an Emmy-award-winning group specializing in a seamless blend of traditional cell artwork with computer animation for such programs as "Futurama", "Grim & Evil" and "Samurai Jack". Using standard 3-D animation techniques, Gregg Vanzo and the Rough Draft team can compose a complex scene and iteratively change speed, timing, trajectories and camera angles without the time and cost that would be associated with making changes to hand-drawn sequences.

When a movement is finalized, it can simply be rendered without the complex shading, texture and reflections associated with a photo-realistic animated style. The result is simple solid shading and basic black outline of the shapes. "It looks as if it's been hand drawn and colored," noted Tartakovsky. "They'll look exactly the same."

This November, starwars.com Hyperspace members will have the first online access to the Clone Wars microseries, along with member-exclusive behind-the-scenes features. Join today for unprecedented inside access to the countdown to Clone Wars and Episode III.

Posted: by Jedi Power

Posted: by Jedi Power

"Sorry to barrage you and fill your email with Stuff, but check this out. It's chock-full of Star Wars spoilers and secret information, apparently gained by an insider at TheForce.net. Majorly spoiling content, I myself haven't read it all. Hope you enjoy it!"

Thanks Aragorn! Well if you want to be spoiled, then this document will give you a pretty good dose. Click here for the summary of Episode III to date.

Posted: by Jedi Power

Posted: by Jedi Power

Aragorn sent in another report for Episode III. "I have extra information for you. This is from TheForce.net. It really does shed some light on goings-on over in Sydney. They seem to have a spy working inside the studios, and have pieced together parts of the plot. I've picked out the interesting parts. Full of spoilers!"

"It's hard to believe how quickly the weeks of shooting are flying by. This week saw a combination of scenes featuring Spoilers - Highlight to read: both starfighter battles, and some wet and wild action as Obi-wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, our trusted and tragic prequel heroes found themselves swimming in the big mysterious pool set. Rick McCallum himself says that Obi-wan ill be fighting a droid underwater, and Anakin sounds to be up to his neck with trouble as he is stuck in a room that is filling quickly with the wet stuff."

"Some great spoilers from Mr McCallum this week for those so inclined, and his webchat revealed that the script is much longer then when they started, almost 30 pages longer. Jumping from 102 to 129 since filming began 7 weeks ago. He mentioned they were ahead of schedule with about 80 pages covered so far."

Also:

"Samuel L. Jackson was on talking about Star Wars. He said that it takes a lot of athleticism to play a Jedi Knight. He also mentioned that it took three days for him to learn a 88 move lightsaber duel."

Spoilers - Highlight to read: "He also mentioned that he was the one being attacked in the duel though he didn't say by who. He also mentioned that the fight area covered about 400 yards and that he jumps off steps and various other things."

There you go. May the Force be with you,

Aragorn

Thanks Aragorn for another great report! If any of you fans have any news, be sure to send it in.

Posted: by Jedi Power

What do you miss the most from the pre-digital age of sound and picture editing?

The smell of workprint and the 35mm magnetic film stock. It used to be the sweet ambiance of the cutting room. It probably wasn't healthy but it added to the charm of the work.

Posted: by Jedi Power

Posted: by Jedi Power

Posted: by Jedi Power

Posted: by Jedi Power