Biniman Island

Moving to a new blog

2010-12-03T20:30:00.002+01:00

Hi everybody,

for various reasons I moved my blog to tumblr, and it's now accessible under

www.biniman.de or biniman.tumblr.com

Grab all the fresh updates and bad jokes under the new adress!
Thanks and best wishes,

Biniman

Rock and Roll ain't "Noise Pollution" !!!

2010-05-02T21:08:00.027+01:00

Here are a few images of our Trailer "Noise Pollution" for the Animation Festival in Stuttgart that takes place this week. It will be screened as an intro to the "Young Animation" screenings, among others.

It's about a young office worker dreaming of being a rockstar, jamming the guitar, seducing women, taming dragons, you know basic RocknRoll stuff. Everything's meant to be a bit over the top, like the passion, the energy and fun of the music we love. Oh, and of course it's named after a classic ACDC song :D Hell yeah!

The team consisted of Nick Saradopoulos, Pascal Flörks, Johannes Peter and me, Producer was Daniela Pilz. Sounddesign (and Music Production) was once again done by hard-rocking Dennis Kopacz, and the awesome music was played by Stuttgart-based Rockers "Royal Rodeo". Might get loud!

Thanks to all the people that contributed to the production: Jan Lachauer, Martin Flores, Moni Tenhündfeld, Cordula Langhans, Raphael Kretz, Mark Meyer and Jolle & Jakob!

But all dreams come to an end and his cute office co-worker wakes him up. Maybe the real world isn't that bad after all... ?

I will post some preproduction work after the festival, here a short glance at some drawings I made during the project.

Rock and Roll ain't Noise Pollution!
Bini

Cars and Chicks

2010-04-24T21:04:00.000+01:00

Here comes the sun

2010-04-13T15:50:00.007+01:00

It's been quite some time since the last post... In the meantime, I started studying Animation at the Filmakademie in Ludwigsburg. I mainly worked on a Trailer for the Animation Festival ITFS, that will take place here in Stuttgart in May. But since I am not sure if I can show anything yet, I will step by step, fill the blog with other stuff from the last months.

Up there's another commissioned picture for my former university HdM.

Edit: I finally managed ;) to upload the little film I made for the 72h Entrance Exam at the Filmakademie. The task was to animate (design, model, rig..) a six-legged creature (esp. walkcycles).
Dennis Kopacz once again used his magical sound-design skills for this film.

Here comes the sun, here comes the summer!
Bini

Bridges

2009-09-20T10:16:00.003+01:00

At the moment I'm spending the month in beautiful Vienna, just to get a break from Stuttgart where I'll return to in October, to start studying at the Filmakademie in Ludwigsburg.

Vienna seems to be a calm and gentle place in September, the dry heat builds up between the old facades and fills the streets with a slightly dusty scent. It's semesters break, so a lot of the students in Vienna aren't here; relaxing, sleeping, cooking, going to the parks or the library to read, or visiting one of the many museums here are apropriate activities :)

The Library in Vienna

TV-DVD-MP3

2009-07-09T21:57:00.000+01:00

I'm Ready! Promotion!

2009-06-02T13:11:00.002+01:00

I think I'd buy a costume like that. =D

Animation Reel April 2009

2009-04-29T12:27:00.000+01:00

Here is my updated Animation Reel

Hope you enjoy it!
A Reel Breakdown of what I did in the specific shots can be found here.

Getting sunny again.

2009-04-23T02:10:00.004+01:00

Below is Ryo from supercool but superslow Manga "Mugen no Junin/ Blade of the Immortal"

Serious girl is serious.

20 Years of Games & Boys

2009-04-07T16:56:00.007+01:00

Unbelievable but true, the original Game Boy gets 20 years old in 2009!
Like a lot of kids in my age, I got mine in 1990, and it's still working, despite having suffered the strains of a wild childhood. Trusty little fellow...
To another 20 years!

Escalator Escalation

2009-04-01T22:43:00.005+01:00

"Escalator Escalation", the trashy little film I animated this winter is now available on Vimeo. Enjoy!

Escalator Escalation from Biniman on Vimeo.

The sounddesign is by the incredible Dennis Kopacz, who can be found under http://myspace.de/denniskopacz

Stereowonderland

2009-03-21T23:10:00.002+01:00

Drawing together is fun! Started a new blog with Sandra (and Jan will hopefully join right after finishing his ITFS Trailer)
at stereowonderland.blogspot.com.

Street Fightaaaaaaa

2009-02-21T01:21:00.004+01:00

There's a new Street Fighter for home consoles, for the first time since the release of SF 3 Third Strike in 1999 (!). I tried the new one in the Arcades when I was in Japan last year, and it seemed like a very solid game. In particular the graphics are very impressive, and I think it's the most beautiful and expressive 3D Fighter to date.
Naturally, not all of the animated details from the 2D SF3 (which I still consider the best animated videogame at all) could be transferred into three dimensions, and some characters' animations (most notably Chun Li's expressive walks and idle animations) seem to be more "generic", but it's still very cool looking, and 3D Graphics have other advantages of course.

Unfortunately I don't own a fitting game console for SF 4, but since they will (as always) release more, finely-tweaked iterations if the game over the next two years, I could just as well wait a bit for the obligatory inital fixes in game design, balancing, price drops and to see if the game proves itself among the Street Fighter Fans. But the game already is entertaining as hell.

Bini

Toilet Riding Nazi Girl save the World

2009-02-19T21:18:00.002+01:00

...
...
...

Sometimes I find old drawings and can't remember drawing them at all. And I surely don't remember what I was thinking, these six years ago.

Healthy new year.

2008-12-30T00:34:00.002+01:00

An eventful year is slowly coming to an end. Best of luck to all of us in the new one.

The words of famous astrophysician Carl Sagan, hopefully, will be an inspiration.

You were almost a Jill Sandwich!!

2008-11-15T00:12:00.004+01:00

Inbetween rendertime, there's always that little free spot to mess around with nerdy videogame insider jokes.
In tribute to one of the worst voice acts in the early CD-era, a sandwich featuring Resident Evil (Playstation) protagonist Jill Valentine. Click on Link to see the original scene and context of the quote.

Youtube

Flieg Junger Adler hinaus in die Freiheit,...

2008-09-07T14:27:00.003+01:00

Don't forget: Japan offers Healing in ice.

I love in particular the overwhelming variety of healings they offer.

Blanka

2008-08-28T22:27:00.005+01:00

Electro-cutie doodle before going to bed!

Back from Japan.

2008-08-23T05:47:00.006+01:00

Hi there,

arrived two days ago from a two-week trip to Japan, and it was funny and interesting as hell. Met a lot of funny new people and was encouraged to travel a bit more. I had the chance to go to the Hiroshima Animation Festival, which was a blast, and and the same time, discover a bit of this, well let's say, unique country.
I'm still tired and jetlagged and can't sleep properly, so here's a new post, a commissioned illustration I finished just prior to my holidays.

And here's my favorite sign from Japan, urging the subway/metro passengers not to rush to their trains.
"Please do it at the beach"

WTF?

Curse you, Jack Sparrow!

2008-07-10T00:05:00.001+01:00

Flohmarkt

2008-07-01T19:58:00.004+01:00

Another color sketch for exercise, as seen (roughly) on a fleamarket.

Betthupferl

2008-06-18T00:11:00.004+01:00

A few minutes of calm relaxation after a long day.... ;)

Er rollt.

2008-06-13T00:24:00.007+01:00

Two quick color doodles before going to bed...

Unbekanntes Pferd lauf heim

2008-05-15T19:12:00.004+01:00

Yeah, so ITFS and FMX are over, and again it was funny and interesting. Met a lot of cool people and got inspired to do more work. But the weather is becoming so nice at the moment...

Instead, some Mario Bros. fanart. :D

Biniman

Woohoo! New Post!

2008-04-15T16:10:00.006+01:00

Hi there,

been busy with my Bachelorthesis for the past months, and the occasional doodle over the world´d been reduced to some side projects. So here's a slow start into doodling again, some headdresses.

2008-01-16T00:01:00.001+01:00

Sean Galloway kicks multiple kinds of asses. I wanna be an asskicker too.

2008-01-13T21:49:00.000+01:00

2008-01-05T22:01:00.001+01:00

2007-12-29T23:43:00.000+01:00

War is Peace - Freedom is Slavery

2007-12-29T19:12:00.001+01:00

return of the 80s

2007-12-12T02:20:00.000+01:00

I like 80s-Manga's drawing styles (in general) better than the more recent styles; somehow the characters feel more solid, more physical. But then again, this drawing doesn't really resemble the work of Takahashi, Shirow or Izumi Matsumoto (oh I just stumbled upon Project A-Ko, long time no see...). It just looks like a hamster :D

Wassup?

2007-12-12T00:27:00.000+01:00

wish it were that sunny

2007-12-08T19:45:00.000+01:00

2007-11-25T21:38:00.001+01:00

Old character stuff

2007-09-10T08:46:00.001+01:00

2007-09-03T19:01:00.000+01:00

Painting without a plan is fun, but also leads to unpredictable results.

2007-08-31T11:27:00.000+01:00

Rocking all over the world

2007-08-29T17:30:00.000+01:00

Have been busy with several things (e.g. traveling) in the last weeks, so no new updates. Hope to post some sketches/ scans soon.

Workers goin´ home

2007-08-01T17:23:00.000+01:00

No thinking, just painting. No construction, no composition, just sittin´, paintin´, waitin´,wishin´.

Paprika

2007-07-31T21:55:00.000+01:00

Just saw "Paprika", the latest movie by Satoshi Kon.

I liked the wild, exuberant images, and many clever and surprising ideas in the movie. At times, story can be partially predictable,
but the execution and the transition into the images is fresh
and convincing.
Music had a very individual imapct due to its unexpected sound.

Recommended!

Biniman

Re-Starting to paint

2007-07-30T14:36:00.001+01:00

achwiesüß

2007-07-30T14:31:00.001+01:00

2007-07-18T17:56:00.000+01:00

Some girls + dancing me

2007-07-10T15:41:00.000+01:00

I need a scanner BTW

Mehr Ferien!

2007-07-09T20:24:00.001+01:00

Woohey! Quick doodle in Painter. Picture is in my opinion a serious contester for "Stupidest Subtitle". Don´t matter.

Ferien!

2007-07-05T11:00:00.000+01:00

Yeah! Time for resting! Our newest short has been presented at last week´s Media Night here at the Hochschule der Medien (www.vampire-film.de) and will be showcased on the website as soon as we have regained our strength. Let´s see..

2007-06-20T23:37:00.001+01:00

Wahoo!

2007-06-10T20:14:00.000+01:00

So today I´m starting my new blog, in which I´ll randomly be posting sketches or other more or less interesting stuff.
Have fun, let´s dance!

Nachts in den Karpaten

2007-02-16T15:14:00.000+01:00

Luna

2007-02-16T15:13:00.001+01:00

Noseville

2007-02-16T14:50:00.001+01:00

loewenzahn

2007-02-16T14:03:00.003+01:00

droelfmeterschießen

2007-02-15T14:37:00.001+01:00

diverser Kram

2007-02-12T12:33:00.016+01:00

Info about me

2007-01-01T13:37:00.005+01:00

Here is some information about me and excerpts of my work

Course: „Audiovisual Media“ at the Hochschule der Medien, Stuttgart (University for applied sciences for media) with focus on Computer Graphics and Animation

Projects:

„Luna“ Spring 2006

This student project was my first experience with 3D Animation. A short movie produced within 3 1/2 Months. which shows the lively imagination of a young girl, as she travels, with a robotic friend, to the moon.

The team consisted of Alexander Balling (Link), Tobias Müller, Markus Nagel, Katja Beck, and me.

While the production in general was tackled by the whole team, I was responsible for the storyboard, general Art Direction and Background design

- during my internship at Studio Soi (Link) during Winter 2006/ spring 2007 I worked on multiple projects, some of which are:

"Spongebob Combots Animation"

For the Combots Web Applikation, I animated a number of short clips of character animation. These include Patrick and Thadeus of „Spongebob Squarepants“, as they perform small activities as walking in circles, reading a book, etc.

"ARTE Christmas"

TV Channel ARTE provided Soi with a dozen of children drawings, which were transformed into small films that explain the childrens` personal wishes on how to create a better future. Visual elements were taken directly out of the pictures, and animated in a variety of animation styles, including paper cut animation and 3D.

I worked on multiple of these short TV idents in animation, modeling, texturing and background design.

"Annie & Boo"

For the preproduction of a „Annie & Boo“ concept, I painted three moodboards that depicted scenes and characters from the script. All images were painted in color in Adobe Photoshop and a graphics tablet.

"Nasen"

For a series of short clips, animated in a 2 ½ D style using paper cut-like animation in Maya, I worked on animation, background- and Propdesign. The clips featured antropomorphic noses in various scenes of daily life, and represented the different target groups of tissue-manufacturer „Tempo“.

My second student project was

„Nachts in den Karpaten“ („ANight at the Carpatians“, spring 2007), an 8-minute long mixture of stop-motion puppetry and CG-Backgrounddesign about a young woman entering a vampire's castle in the snowy cliffs of the Carpatian mountains.

I was responsible for general Art Direction and Animation Supervision. For the animation of the puppets we devised a rather unusual (and to our knowledge unprecedented) approach to stop-motion: All character scenes were animated/previsualized heavily in 3D (Maya), using character rigs derived from the measurement of the real puppets. These animations were used as overlay with the camera that shot the puppets. Like this, the previsualization served as a direct aid to the animators on the set.

This approach allowed the directors, which had no prior animation experience, to have a close-to-finished cut very early in development (by using the 3D Animation), but also to start with music and sound production early on. Most importantly, most directorial questions could be answered comparably early in the production, based on the Maya-animation, which made it possible for a team with no real stop-motion experience to finish the movie (~5 min. character animation) within 3 ½ months.

For more information and a trailer on the project, please visit the official webpage here.

Bachelorthesis: „Implementation of handpuppet-style Animation in Maya using Motion Recognition“ Winter 2007-spring 2008

In my Bachelorthesis, which I developed at Studio Soi, I devised a toolset that allows control of Handpuppet-like characters in Realtime through camera-based, marker-tracking. Using a simple kind of Motion Capturing with one standard camera, it is possible to control the movement of the puppet in realtime in the Maya Viewport, offering a responsive and playful approach to limited character animation. In addition, small joysticks can be used to control additional features like facial animation.

Using the realtime physics in Maya, it is thus possible to create a small puppeteering stage with Muppets-like characters and movement.

The project was realized for Microsoft Windows, with the ARToolkit(Link) and the wiiYourself!(Link) Library in C and C++.

„Loewenzahn: Robots“ Summer 2008

For Studio Soi I designed and directed two short films that were commissioned by german TV channel ZDF for their famous kids' show „Loewenzahn“ („Dandelion“). In these two films , which are a mixture of cartoony 3D, paper-cut style and handdrawn animation, the star
of the show, Fritz Fuchs, envisions his life with robots as servants.

"Escalator Escalation" Winter 2008

An absurd short film about the dangers of modern technologythat I animated, designed and rendered in Maya as a side project. Sound design is by Dennis Kopacz, while I helped with the voice acting. Can be seen on my Vimeo page.

"Mercury Bird" Winter 2008

For the hand drawn Diploma project of Ina Findeisen at the Filmakademie Baden Württemberg I animated several fog and cloud effects with Maya Fluids. The film is scheduled for July 2009.

"Dodi" January/February 2009

Personal 3D short film project about a funny little masked fellow encountering a surprisingly sturdy plant. I opted for a rather colorful, lush and illustrative look and style of animation. Will soon be available on my Vimeo page.

"Cartoonscum" Trailer for the international Animation Festival Stuttgart March 2009

Directed by friend Jan Lachauer, I helped with the 2D/ 3D-Animation, Texturing and Rendering of this extremely illustrative Trailer. Jan's particular approach to handpainted textures brings a cellar alive, in which a group of animation maniacs await new film to satisfy their hunger for animation.

Showreel April 2009

2007-01-01T11:45:00.001+01:00

Here is my updated Animation Reel

Reel Breakdown of what I did in the specific shots

1. Dodi: All visual elements (incl. Design, Rigging and Directing)
2. Escalator Escalation: All visual elements
3. Cartoonscum (woman): 3D Animation
4. Cartoonscum (coyote): 2D Animation
5. Spongebob Combots: 3D Animation

6. Nachts in den Karpaten: Animation-Previsualization, Setdesign, Textures
7. Dodi: All visual elements
8. Cartoonscum (woman): 3D Animation
9. Luna: Matte Painting, Animation
10. Dodi: All visual elements

11. Nachts in den Karpaten: Animation-Previsualization, Setdesign, Textures
12-14. Cartoonscum (coyote): 2D Animation
15. Spongebob Combots: 3D Animation

16. Loewenzahn Roboter 2: Animation, Character Design
17-18. Puppenstube: Maya Plugin Programming, Design and Animation (Puppeteering)
19. Dodi: All visual elements
20. Escalator Escalation: All visual elements

21. Luna: Matte Painting, Animation
22. Nachts in den Karpaten: Setdesign, Textures
23. Loewenzahn Roboter 2: Animation, Character Design, Background Design
24. Dodi: All visual elements
25. Cartoonscum (woman): 3D Animation

15. Spongebob Combots: 3D Animation