This year at the SMASH! Sydney Manga and Anime Show held in Sydney, there was an entertaining event for cosplayers called the Cosplay Battle Royale. This particular event was held outside of the event-hall on the patio and saw costumed combatants duke-it-out in a sort of turn-based pokemon-esque battle.
This might sound a bit strange, but you had an arena drawn on the ground and on each side of the battlefield was one cosplayer. The cosplayers took turns enacting moves announced by SMASH! personnel in a knockout style tournament. It was a bit confusing to watch, but it would have been a lot of fun to participate in.
Hopefully this event evolves into something grander in coming years. It’d be great to see this kind of event up on the Main Stage at the show.
At the SMASH! Sydney Manga and Anime Show this year there was a panel on armour making held upstairs in the Siren Visual panel room. The panel was presented by a Matthew Klimenko, who is an expert in the armour making process.
The panel was a discussion on the armour making process and also included a live demonstration of a cold casting session. Cold Casting is the process of making plastic feel and look like metal. There was a discussion on plastic over fibreglass which ended with fibreglasses being not durable as much as plastics can be. Therefore it better to use plastics.
The discussion of adding nickel to plastic was pretty interesting. But I was immediately lost once the mathematics got introduced. However, Matthew made a point to say that his ratio was something that you can vary from.
Interestingly, plastics natural colour is of a yellow variety. The hardening agent used in the demonstration was of a clear colour and the metal compound was a brown colour. It was also stated to never mix all of the ingredients together, only do two parts first. There was also a point made about not stopping the stirring process as it would stop the molecules and they would sink down into the batch. Which would make it spread oddly and ruin the process.
Someone during the panel brought up the issue of using latex over silicon to use as a mold. Matt responded with something along the lines of: if you’re using Latex over silicon you will need a releasing agent of some kind. Avoid using Wax molds. The construct will heat as it is being made, and so using wax will cause the mold to melt and disfigure.
Below are a couple of resources that Matt advised checking out for various products to assist in the process.
At the SMASH!Sydney Manga and Anime Show this year, fans were treated to an excellent performance by the talented Haruko Momoi pop singer from Japan. What was interesting about this particular performance was that fans were given some great concert programmes before the start of the concert.
Over the course of the concert Haruko Momoi performed some great songs, including Wonder Momo-i, Ai no medicine, Romantic Summer and more. Her concert was great to watch and had fans getting up and dancing along. The tunes were really memorable and catchy, which is also great. One song that was clearly memorable was God Knows, as seen in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. This was a personal favourite.
There were many songs played from various series that the singer had performed in, and while I could recognise the tunes, I couldn’t tell you where I recognised them from. If anyone could let us know in the comments, that would be great!
Fans were not left disappointed, except for having to see the concert end. It was a great time for all, I would like to see her perform again.
You can also check out the performance highlights from the show below.
Paul Caggegi was the special guest and host of this particular panel. Paul has been a freelance motion graphics designer for over a decade. He has also worked as a media demonstrator, video editor, and in-house designer for a number of boutique studios. He begun his own podcast, The Process Diary, in 2007, where he interviews local filmmakers, artists and writers about their work and process. In 2010, he released the first issue of his sci-fi action/adventure web comic Pandeia, four issues of which are currently available in print, as eBooks or through Comixology.
Paul’s workspace in Blender
Paul takes advantage of the free software Blender for its rendering capabilities in order transform 3D objects into 2D-looking illustrations. Modelling, UV Mapping, Texturing, Rigging and more can be done using this piece of software, as an alternative to Maya, which is a paid software. It is fully featured and easy to get into, especially if you follow Paul’s advice and take a look at the resource site Blender Cookie. He stated that he prefers creating an object in 3D as opposed to drawing it, because he can reuse that asset for different shots instead of having to redraw it for every new scene. The same can be said for camera angles, as another camera can simply be dropped into your scene.
The finished page, in black & white and then final render
Paul went on to compare the layers of Photoshop to the nodes of Blender, stating the major con of the former being that everything underneath the top layer is affected by it, while in a nodal system, it’s much easier to bring every element in as a separate effect and choose how to apply them for the final render without hassle. And in terms of lighting, Paul finds it simpler too; necessary in most cases to only have one spotlight alongside your fill light, which can of course be rearranged on the fly.
Moving on to the rendering, Paul explained how he gets his 3D work to adopt a Manga/Comic book visual by having diffuse and specular values set to Toon, which is a high-contrast shader that takes your light information and efficiently splits it to acquire the desired effect. Stuff that can be difficult to draw by hand, such as glass, can be “cheated”, as Paul put it, by messing with the material’s properties and transparency settings. Another pro is that highlights and shadows can be easily adjusted to your liking with the click of a button.
Paul gave us a great look at his process in the panel. It’s unfortunate, being more of a visual demonstration, that we can’t do justice to it by trying to describe it all as the above is just a basic look at what’s possible with Blender. But, for more of Paul’s work and our SMASH! 2013 coverage, click through the links at the top of this article (contact him with any queries, we’re sure he’d be happy to answer them). If you’d like to try out the software for yourself, please visit the official Blender website.
The SMASH! Sydney Manga and Anime Show is not all about, well, just that…anime and manga. It’s also about celebrating some of Japan’s most beloved gaming franchises, with Pokemon, Super Smash Bros. and Street Fighterall having a presence at the convention this year, and all of which were played in tournaments on the day.
The Street Fighter IV competition was played over the course of two hours and featured many expert players. The rules were simple: single elimination with a ‘best out of three’ format in place, except for the semi-finals and finals, which would become ‘best out of 5’ match-ups. Characters could be changed between rounds with no real restrictions to speak of. Being one of the most successful and popular fighting franchises of all time, there were dozens of players arriving to sign-up and enter the tournament. Many even brought their own fighting sticks. There were many blow-outs and fewer technical battles, truth be told, but a couple players stood out amongst the pack.
…before Balrog made the sub for Seth and got the “Victory!”
The champion of the day, Tony, had been consistently demolishing his opponents with boss character Seth. But once he got to the finals, it was neck and neck against Vega, whose acrobatic cross-screen combos were stifling his adversaries and doing major damage. It was 2-2, and Tony decided to make a risky move and exit to the character select screen to swap to Balrog – an understatement to say that he is not the most utilised character amongst the large roster. But, the Mike Tyson-inspired boxer took it out and Tony walked away with a prize pack, courtesy of Mindscape, which included – as the pièce de résistance – a PS3 copy of Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk.
Vega, Sammy and Ryu seemed like favourite choices amongst the entrants, but in that barn-burner of a final, an unlikely challenger ended up winning the crown. On a side note…man, Seth’s combos do low damage!! What a pathetic final boss! Anyway, you can also check out our coverage of the Pokemon Black & White tournament!
From Left to Right: Roland (1st), Darren (2nd) & Luke (3rd)
The SMASH! Sydney Manga and Anime Show is not all about, well, just that…anime and manga. It’s also about celebrating some of Japan’s most beloved gaming franchises, with Pokemon, Super Smash Bros. and Street Fighterall having a presence at the convention this year, and all of which were played in tournaments on the day.
The Pokemon DS tournament lasted for nearly two hours, featuring 16 game competitors vying for a prize pack generously sponsored by Beyond Entertainment. Players could use their copies of either Pokemon Black & White or Pokemon Black & White 2, but there were a fair amount of regulations in place. Infrared Double Battle was the match format, with a maximum of only four Pokemon per team. There were no time limits, and all Pokemon were either auto-levelled up or down to Lvl. 50.
The Bushiroad TCG Room was packed withVanguard and Pokemon competitors
Players were allowed to use Pokémon from the National Pokédex – No. 001–649 – that were caught in the game, transferred from a previous Pokémon title, or received at an official event or distribution. However, the following list of Pokemon were not eligible to be on any team: Mewtwo, Mew, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Celebi, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Jirachi, Deoxys, Chatot, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Phione, Manaphy, Darkrai, Shaymin, Arceus, Victini, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, Keldeo, Meloetta and Genesect. The complete list of rules can be read here.
The Grand Prize: 4 DVDs, a Black & White Card Game Team Plasma Box, a TOMY Basic Figure 4-Pack, Black & White Pokedex Training Kit and a Transforming Oshawatt/Pokeball Plush.
Being a double elimination bracket, the winner of the ‘winning’ bracket – in this case, Roland – and the winner of the ‘losing’ bracket – Darren – would face off in the finals. If the winner of the ‘losing’ bracket were to win, then an immediate rematch would take place, giving them the handicap of having to win twice…and this is almost what happened. Darren took out the first round in a tight match, leading to the second round per the stipulations. However, Roland worked hard to ensure a repeat result was not in his future and closed out the tournament for the win!
You can see a photo of the winners at the very top of this article, and also remember to check out our coverage of the Street Fighter IV competition!
Gunpla, a word combining the phrase “Gundam plastic model”, is recognised not only in Japan but overseas as well. Gunpla Builders World Cup events are held all throughout the world. Just like last year, SMASH! once again played host to the talented Gundam model builders of Australia, giving the rest of us some awesome works of art and dioramas to enjoy.
Right across from the Gundam HobbyCo Workshops stood a spectacular array of display cases and set pieces for the models that made it to the World Cup. Everything from the classic RX-78 to the Musha Gundam, and even some original creations, all were set up and looking fantastic. My favourite would have to be that Dom crushing his downed enemy!
First prize winners won return trips to the 2013 Gunpla World Cup Finals representing Australia along with trophies and product hampers from Bandai. Other winners received trophies and hampers as well.
The amount of work that goes into these things is hard to comprehend, so check them out for yourself below! Be sure to check out the official SMASH! site and the rest of our coverage of this year’s event.
Hidenori Matsubara was one of the few headline guests at SMASH! 2013 and I was lucky enough to nab a seat and to be there for the entirety of his Q and A Panel as well as his Live Drawing in the Art Room yesterday at the convention. It was quite a small affair, it was held on the main stage of the Art Room, but that’s not to say that the place didn’t fill to the brim with eager Matsubara fans. The place was packed and, once again, the doors of the Art Room were closed and the lucky few got a chance to stay. There was no wasted time at this panel, almost as soon as Mr. Matsubara sat down the questions began rolling in and while there weren’t many questions asked Mr. Matsubara sure did answer them in detail.
He worked on Ah! My Goddess.
He started off speaking about his past and where it all began for him, he took the audience through his work at Gainax when he first started out and how it was quite tough in that day and age to be an animator working on such an extensive series like Neon Genesis Evangelion. Despite his large resume a great deal of the questions revolved around his work on both the Neon Genesis Evangelion series and the new Rebuild of Evangelion Movies. We all got a little insight into the world of an animator and how excruciating the work hours are and how much effort these people put into their work.
Q: How have your daily habits changed since you’ve become a top-level animator?
Matsubara: Back when I was younger it was much harder to leave work and return home. I really only went home once or twice a week. I used to sleep under my work desk…at least I don’t have to do that now, although my days and nights have switched but I love what I do so it is not that big of a burden on me.
Mr. Matsubara also worked on Steamboy.
He spoke more about his childhood and what really drove him to become an animator and a character designer, people where somewhat shocked when he mentioned that his life’s work all came from the simple fact that when he was a child he liked Manga, it was that simple. It showed that the biggest of achievements can come from the smallest of dreams. He kept it fairly light-hearted the whole way through even though he did get into a bit of the tougher moments of his life and his career, he always brought it back with a nice ending to every question in the true Matsubara fashion.
Q. What was the biggest challenge you have ever faced in your career?
Matsubara: Possibly the lack of time and the lack of staff during Evangelion…I used to think that it would be better if everyone worked as fluidly as I did. A long time ago it used to take me many months to make an episode of Anime, now it takes me weeks at a time.
And of course, Rebuild of Evangelion.
He compared working on the the Evangelion series to the movies mentioning that it is hard to find your feet when working on a brand new series or movie because there is a great deal of stress that comes with making it good enough for people to like, if people don’t like the series then you’ve wasted a great deal of time and put yourself through quite a lot of work and hardships. He explains more in his answers to these questions:
Q. How different is it working on the Rebuild of Evangelion movies after working on the original series for so long?
Matsubara: I was never the top animator for the Evangelion series, there was a lot of work to do and nobody was sure how the series would go, it’s different now though because, in the Rebuild movies, I AM the top animator. While my responsibilities have grown I’m finding it more enjoyable because I know how popular the movies are already and it seems to lessen the pressure while making it more fun to work on.
Q. The odd imagery at the end of the Evangelion series: Was that the directors choice or a budget problem?
Matsubara: A bit of both actually. There was an extreme lack of time by the end of the series, we were only given a week or so to finish it off…I think the ending is fairly odd too, like a lot of you, but I also think it ended the series in a good way, it forces people to think and to make their own decisions on what exactly happened. If we had the time we would’ve had it be a lot closer to what you see in the movies.
Don’t forget Gankutsuou!
Just before Hidenori Matsubara finished up his panel for the day he spoke a little bit about writing and drawing Manga. He said that to him Manga is a hobby and he likes it that way, he mentioned that he feels like a lot of the people out there who want to become a Manga artists should think of it the way he does; as a hobby. “Do what you enjoy and do what makes you happy!” is the way in which he answer his final question. After the Q and A panel he sat down once again to do a live drawing for the audience, the drawing would then go on to be put up at the Charity Auction as one of the items that could be won. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any pictures of the work but I can tell you what it was and for all you Evangelion fans out there; it’s a good one! Mr. Matsubara took the next hour or so to illustrate a couple of drawings depicting Asuka (Evangelion) punching the main chracter, Shinji (Evangelion), right in the face with the last panel having Asuke saying angrily; “The End”. A funny way do end a fantastic panel, once again, in true Hidenori Matsubara style!
Welcome back to CC Unplugged! After a minor delay, we are back and better than ever. This week, Dustin Spencer, Joe Morgan, and Travis Bruno have come together to talk about video games and the fun that is the industry. We speak about Pikmin 3, a bit of Wii U talk, Capcom and their grand announcements, as well as a few topics we can sit in that other branch. Its a fun show, so pull up a seat, go get a refreshment, and enjoy the listening.
So grab a power coin, tell your friends, and prepare to get UNPLUGGED!
Be sure to listen to our past CC Unplugged episodes here.
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Special Mention to our partners over at Razer, us here at Capsule Computers are geared by gamers, for gamers. Check them out on Twitter and Official Website.
The best of the best this edition goes to GamersGate’s Summer Sale Indie Week. There are a ton of great indie games on sale and highly discounted Deals of the Day sales.
Get Games is running a Get Loaded promotion weekend featuring Train Simulator 2013 and its huge array of DLC. Those wanting to check out the series can pick up the game for $7.00 and the DLCs featuring new trains and famous routes for a steep discount.
