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Radiohead's House of Cards Video Rendered in 3D Using Lego
Posted by Adam Frucci at 1:48 AM on August 7, 2008
Radiohead's latest music video, as you may have heard, didn't use cameras, instead using lasers to capture data that could be presented visually. They then released all that data, allowing people to fiddle around with it. Ian Mackinnon took that 3D plotting data and created this Lego version of the House of Cards video. It's totally awesome.
[Ian mackinnon via Brothers Brick]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
notfred
Posted 2:25 AM 7/8/08
Agree with hu_hu_cool. The lighting is all wrong, it's computer rendered and composited. But it still looks very cool, and he did it first.
notfred
hu_hu_cool
Posted 2:23 AM 7/8/08
that has to be done by computers.....
hu_hu_cool
aseriesoftubes
Posted 2:22 AM 7/8/08
One time I made a house out of Legos. I thought I was the shit.
Anyway, awesome remix of an already awesome video.
aseriesoftubes
Hectorvex
Posted 2:21 AM 7/8/08
@deadrobot: That is a feat in itself.
Hectorvex
Kaiser-Machead's BSDM Shenanigans
Posted 2:16 AM 7/8/08
@Gann: Your Clarkeian conclusion holds truth.
Kaiser-Machead's BSDM Shenanigans
deadrobot
Posted 2:11 AM 7/8/08
Amazing video! They made Thom Yorke look good!
deadrobot
robbo
Posted 2:10 AM 7/8/08
Geez - all I made was a little car with wheels.
robbo
Gann
Posted 2:08 AM 7/8/08
They can now shut down the internet, as it has served its purpose.
Gann
zydeco100
Posted 2:06 AM 7/8/08
How the HELL did he do that?!? By *hand*?
zydeco100
Kaiser-Machead's BSDM Shenanigans
Posted 2:02 AM 7/8/08
!!
That's all I got to say.
Kaiser-Machead's BSDM Shenanigans
PDRIFT
Posted 2:02 AM 7/8/08
ufcking awesome!!!
PDRIFT
Kaveh
Posted 1:59 AM 7/8/08
Holy crap! That was ama... that was the.... I'm buying you, a pizza.
Kaveh
PC+Mac Coexist
Posted 1:55 AM 7/8/08
Very impressive! White Stripes, eat your hearts out!
PC+Mac Coexist
meggman
Posted 2:40 AM 7/8/08
of course this is done with computers. the laser scan that they used is called LIDAR (light detection and ranging), which generates a "cloud of points". These are individual points in space with 3D coordinates, which can be imported into a number of 3d modelling programs. I imagine he just bound lego objects to the point cloud and ran the animation such that the legos followed the motion of the individual points. i actually think the lego video looks kind of awful compared to the raw data that radiohead used in their video, but that's just me....
meggman
bjacobel
Posted 2:38 AM 7/8/08
@hu_hu_cool: Naw, judging by the pile of bricks at the edge and the fact that his hand is in one of the frames (in the last 20 seconds or so), I would say that at least the general outline was built by hand. The rest *might* be computerized.
@Ariel_Wollinger: The compression can be blamed solely on Youtube. Phail.
bjacobel
Ariel_Wollinger
Posted 2:35 AM 7/8/08
he could use some better lighting though... and less compression...
Ariel_Wollinger
ALT
Posted 2:27 AM 7/8/08
Pretty fuckin crazy but they can't compose a shot like Michel Gondry
ALT
Karinabob
Posted 3:12 AM 7/8/08
@Kaveh: Oh, The Cheat! I don't remember which one that was from, but good job. <3
Karinabob
Curves
Posted 3:08 AM 7/8/08
Spooky cool. The infinate patience of some folks amazes me.
Curves
Nakko
Posted 3:03 AM 7/8/08
=) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =) =)
One of the coolest things ever to appear on Gizmodo, hands down.
Nakko
AdmiralQuesadilla
Posted 2:56 AM 7/8/08
@AdmiralQuesadilla:
Erm, it doesn't work on embedded videos here, though.
AdmiralQuesadilla
AdmiralQuesadilla
Posted 2:55 AM 7/8/08
Append &fmt=18 to any YouTube URL to watch a slightly better quality video that isn't butchered by the compression. The audio isn't mixed down to mono, either.
+ Watch video
AdmiralQuesadilla
FredicvsMaximvs
Posted 3:39 AM 7/8/08
@Kaveh: @Karinabob: A trophy full of Brusnswick stew for both of you.
FredicvsMaximvs
Ariel_Wollinger
Posted 3:37 AM 7/8/08
@bjacobel: not always... the video is too short to be that badly compressed by youtube.
Ariel_Wollinger
ravedown
Posted 3:31 AM 7/8/08
guess im the only one who thinks the video is very meh...and im a radiohead fan.
ravedown
scarbrtj
Posted 3:26 AM 7/8/08
I see hands at about 0:59. Hands! It's real!
(The word "Legos" still makes me cringe... but I'm getting better.)
scarbrtj
jrguitar311
Posted 4:02 AM 7/8/08
legomanic!!!
jrguitar311
velvetwoodstock
Posted 4:02 AM 7/8/08
I'm thinking that if they were going to use the plotted points from the video that they would have done the full thing, not just one minute of it. If you ask me it's real.
velvetwoodstock
Mondoz
Posted 3:47 AM 7/8/08
It never ceases to amaze me that some people are always so certain that videos are always faked.
As if it's impossible for someone to have plotted this out and done this by hand. Why couldn't it be done with real Legos? Because it's hard? Because it's time consuming?
I never understood why so many people are so quick to yell 'fake'!!
Mondoz
atomx
Posted 4:39 AM 7/8/08
Wow.
atomx
JackTheTripper
Posted 5:19 AM 7/8/08
Looks like the artist is a stop motion pro.
[another of the artists work]
BTW, in this one you can actually see the "LEGO" printed on some of the nubs.
Via [ianmackinnon.co.uk]
JackTheTripper
crash1105
Posted 5:07 AM 7/8/08
definably real plotted on a computer as to where the bricks go but real wowowowowowow
crash1105
Karinabob
Posted 5:25 AM 7/8/08
@FredicvsMaximvs: Delicious!
Karinabob
JackTheTripper
Posted 5:22 AM 7/8/08
Forgot the link to the video...
Lego Vid - clearer version
JackTheTripper
mushroom73
Posted 7:09 AM 7/8/08
I think that they took a series of still shots and repeated several of the frames throughout the vid. But still.....awesome stuff. The patience alone just to start something like that would have me in straitjacket. But tthey were either VERY creative, or gas prices forced them to stay home ALOT!
mushroom73
BiZarRroBALlmeR
Posted 7:32 AM 7/8/08
cool idea and concept but definitely not stop motion 3d for the face. the rest is, around the face but not the face.
BiZarRroBALlmeR
Rexter
Posted 8:07 AM 7/8/08
its LEGO not LEGOS!
Rexter
Mandatory_Field
Posted 8:59 AM 7/8/08
@scarbrtj: @Rexter: He COULD have used LEGOS... the Operating System....
Mandatory_Field
Yeebles
Posted 9:32 AM 7/8/08
Lego + Radiohead= :D
Yeebles
jimbob6
Posted 10:58 AM 7/8/08
O_O
jimbob6
king_of_fools
Posted 3:00 AM 9/8/08
it might be half impressive if the video was of viewable quality, since it isn't its really not worth looking at.
king_of_fools
parttimehuman
Posted 6:54 AM 7/8/08
Hello people, this animation while clever is not that difficult to accomplish. It can be done in Cinema4D using a plugin called mograph. Basically you can instance one or a couple pieces of geometr, clone and animate them based on the value of an external source like audio levels, luminance values, etc. The singer was likely filmed and the footage was converted to a grey scale creating in essence what's called a displacment map.
parttimehuman
KylejvT
Posted 7:41 AM 7/8/08
Oh and i forgot to add that for this to be a stop motion project would, it would demand a huge amount of time(especially at that frame rate). Taking that into account and that its made in front of a window, you would see a dramatic differance in lighting and shadows as the clip progressed
But again im not cracking on his vid, i still think its brilliant...
KylejvT
KylejvT
Posted 6:26 AM 7/8/08
Well one tip off about the way the vid was made is given the the end.
He points us to a link where he got the data to make it, namely.
[code.google.com]
It explains what it is, how it was made and gives you the data to make things like that with it (link for that is at the bottom).
Im not saying anything bad about this though, its a great interpretation of the video and with the raw data open to all i hope to see much much more :)
Great Work and keep it up!!
KylejvT