Gibbs likes Xtranormal but it needs more work
I’ve been meaning to write about this Web service for some time because it’s weirdly entertaining. The service is called Xtranormal, published by Xtranormal Technology.
Launched in mid-2008 and still in beta, Xtranormal allows you to select a virtual movie set with virtual actors and then script what the actors say along with the expressions and gestures they use. Your script is turned into audio by a text-to-speech system and you can choose which voices each actor uses.
A scene can have either one or two actors which are all 3D cartoon renderings. The current choices for actors include robots in an alien industrial planet setting, Larry King interviewing Sarah Palin in a studio, soccer players in a stadium, and a George Washington that looks like a Lego character in front of the White House.
The online service uses a Flash interface to enter scripts as well as specify the character movements and camera positions and you can select an ambient soundtrack and a music track.
Currently the service can be very slow to render a movie (it’s been suffering from overload for a few weeks) so your other choice is to download the Xtranormal State application for Windows that allows you to create and render movies on your desktop.
Your online movies can feature either one or two actors but the desktop version allows you to buy a “Shopak” from Xtranormal’s marketplace for a one-time fee of $9.95. Here’s the odd thing: Xtranormal doesn’t make the same default characters available in the desktop version as they do for the online version and the online version has no access to the Marketplace. Another oddity is that one of their best characters, a crash test dummy, is only shown in one of their promo reels, users have no access to what is one of the best characters.
When you’ve entered the text and behaviors for each character you can then render your movie. While the result is hardly even a Hollywood “B” feature, there is a tremendous entertainment potential in the concept.
Online you can watch movies published by other people (so far most are pretty lame) but I suspect that’s a result of the limitations of the current products because the idea is terrific.
What is needed to make this service a real success is simply more development. The online and desktop versions need to be identical in functionality and features and users need to be able to create their own characters and gestures (or, at least, more gestures should be available) as well as add their own sound and ambiance tracks, and their own sets. An API would also be a good idea to allow other Web sites to generate interactive, on demand movies.
So, nice idea, potentially powerful but unless Xtranormal gets on with it, someone else is going to steal their potential market.
