Computer generated animation provider Fix8 has joined the US President Primaries season with the addition of Candidate avatars (video example above). The limited-time free software allows users to become their favorite or least favorite candidates and debate each other live via video chat. Users can also create and post Fix8 videos across all the leading social networks as well as video sharing and comedy sites. We’ve covered Fix8 several times before; the service allows users to “spice up video chat” on IM services including AIM, MSN, Skype and Yahoo and videos can also be shared on Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and other video hosting sites. The company has taken $5 million over two rounds. They provided the following screenshot for use on TechCrunch and…well….I’m not sure whether it’s clever or a little scary. You can test it for yourself a fix8.com, no Mac version yet but they promise me they’re working on it. CrunchBase Information Fix8 Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
Very few would argue with the statement that video is hot right now. From the cultural phenomenon of YouTube, through to the rise of live streaming services, money is pouring into startups from content creators through to service providers. Getting into video isn’t as easy as setting up a blog, so here’s some advice of which direction to head in. The basics Obviously you’ll need a camera to get started in video; if you’re a Mac user you might have a cam built in, but if not web cam’s are fairly cheap. Alternatively people like Chris Pirillo stream from a professional video camera, but even a second hand older model can also work, for both live and recorded shows to computer. For camera effects, CamTwist for the Mac is free and fully featured with effects such as text, clocks, image overlays, Picture in Picture, and much more. Fix8 (our coverage here) offers cartoon style overlays if animation or funny faces are more your thing. Recording You’ll have two ways of recording a video: local or to the web. Local could directly on to a camcorder through to Quicktime or something in-between. Quicktime Pro (between $30-$45) does the recording and it’s a quick and easy solution. To the web means recording your video directly to a website; the advantages are that you don’t have to upload it and it’s available immediately, however depending on your internet connection the recording quality can be significantly poorer than recording a video locally and uploading it. YouTube offers the direct recording option and is an obvious candidate, but the Live streaming services also allow you to record to their services and even distribute your video out to sites like YouTube later. I’ve also found that the quality of the live stream services can often be higher in recording than YouTube. Streaming Live Live in the newest sector in online video with venture capital being spread around a range of services. Live offers some advantages over doing recorded video alone (although they are not mutually exclusive); streaming live means you can interact with and network with your audience while creating archive footage than can be distributed later. Companies in this space include Justin.tv, Ustream.tv, Mogulus, BlogTV, Stickam and others. All of the services have strengths and weaknesses and you should explore each one, but if you haven’t got time for that I’d recommend Justin.tv or Ustream.tv. → Read More
Sherman Oaks based online video animation company Fix8 has taken $2 million Series A from SK Telecom. Fix8 offers a service that brings computer generated animation to the webcam. Fix8’s H.E.A.R.T. (Human Expression Analysis and Rendering Technology) digitizes human expressions, gestures, and movements via webcam, enabling users to create, interact, and share their creations across the web, TV, and mobile phones. As part of the deal SK Telecom (Korea’s leading telco) awarded Fix8 a contract “to lead the development of SKT’s 3D avatar animation technology to enhance mobile and online communications.” The new funding comes on top of $3 million Fix8 raised in October 2007 from Vickers Financial Group. See our May 2007 review here for more. (via PE Hub) CrunchBase Information Fix8 Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
Sherman Oaks based online video animation company Fix8 has raised $3 million in a round lead by Vickers Financial Group. We first wrote about Fix8 in May; the company offers a service that brings computer generated animation to the webcam. Fix8′s H.E.A.R.T. (Human Expression Analysis and Rendering Technology) digitizes human expressions, gestures, and movements via webcam, enabling users to create, interact, and share their creations across the web, TV, and soon mobile phones. Fix8 users can broadcast their video creations over instant messaging services including MSN, Yahoo and Skype or save and post creations to YouTube, MySpace and FaceBook. → Read More
Sherman Oaks company fix8 brings the world of computer generated animation to the webcam with software being pitched as “User-Generated Reality”. fix8 combines video, animation and instant messaging that allows users to create their own partial or full custom avatars that mimic human movement. At the heart of fix8 is H.E.A.R.T. (Human Expression Analysis and Rendering Technology), which digitizes human expressions, gestures, and movements via webcam, enabling users to create, interact, and share their creations across the web, TV, and soon mobile phones. fix8 is easy to use and offers limitless creative options. fix8 users can broadcast their video creations over instant messaging services including MSN, Yahoo and Skype or save and post creations to YouTube, MySpace and FaceBook. It would be easy to trivialize fix8, yet this sort of technology would have cost millions to implement 10, 15 or even 20 years ago. The ability to turn cheap webcams into a hub of animation creation can and will spur a whole new wave of user generated creativity and content. fix8 is a little application with a wow factor to it, I’d even go as far as calling it pretty cool, even if I couldn’t get my webcam to play with Vista so I could trial it. For a full demonstration view the video on the fix8 index page. A sample is provided below. → Read More
