The Art of Machinima by Paul Marino.

Machinima (pronounced mah-shee-ne-mah) is a rapidly maturing medium. According to The Art of Machinima by Paul Marino, machinima has been around in one form or another since the mid 1990s, when the original first person shooter PC game Doom was released. Clever Doom players recorded bits of gameplay, overdubbed some audio and a new art form was born. Marino goes on to detail the history of machinima, showing the art form some considerable, well deserved respect along the way. This is no surprise as Marino points out early in the book he is a founding member of The Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences (www.machinima.org). This section of the book is quite entertaining and informative. Marino’s chatty writing style is well suited to this sort of brief history. I would like to read more about the early machinima artists and their efforts to create in this new medium.

Once the book gets past this brief history it jumps right into tutorials. More computer graphics books should follow this example of hitting the ground running. Within a few minutes of cracking this book open the reader is instructed to install Fountainhead Entertainment’s Machinimation software demo included on the CD-ROM. It’s worth noting that the only way to get this demo version of the software is with this book. It’s not available for download like many other demo apps. One minor critique is that in order to complete some of the tutorials in the book you’ll also need a copy of Unreal Tournament 2004. Considering this game is readily available, not terribly expensive and really fun to play, it’s not a big deal. Once you get Machinimation installed it’s play time, or more correctly, it’s directing time. The software puts you in the director’s seat and lets you “direct” rather than animate or some other less apt title. The book takes the reader through various tutorials to acclimate to the Machinimation environment. This is well done and easy to follow. Readers should have some computer experience but need not be experts. As with all games utilizing a 3D engine, a decent PC system is also required, including a high quality modern video card. These things could be more carefully pointed out on the cover, but then again any reader interested in machinimation is most likely not a beginner and will understand the requirements of a 3D engine.

Later in the book the focus shifts to UnrealEd and Matinee, the Unreal level editor and it’s included camera control system, called Matinee. These tutorials are deeper than the Machinimation ones but also not terribly difficult. What is difficult is putting all of the pieces together within UnrealEd, but again Marino does a thorough job. He is able to explain sound triggers, animation cues and character acting collectively without losing the readers interest or confounding them. This is important for newbies and seasoned filmmakers alike because these technical pieces are the foundation of machinima production. This is a solid part of this book and sure to be referenced continually throughout machinimation productions.