CBS drama CSI: NY and the Electric Sheep Company partnered to wrap up the Virtual World killer plot line in recent episode "DOA for a Day."
The first part of the episode titled, "Down The Rabbit Hole" originally aired, Wednesday, October 24.
In "DOA for a Day" the CSI's, working with an anonymous tip, travel to an abandoned warehouse and back into the virtual 3D computer world where they hope to find one of the city's most-wanted criminals.
The Electric Sheep Company, a leading virtual world services company, was hired to supply the animation for both episodes. The machinima was produced by the former ILL Clan, machinima pioneers acquired by the Electric Sheep Company in January 2007 to head their machinima animation division.
"Speed is what distinguishes machinima from all other forms of animation," says machinima animation director Kerria Seabrooke. "In spite of the extremely tight deadline, we still had time to focus on details such as seamless animations, the richness of color, the flow of fabric, the metallic reflection on a gun, which bring the virtual world into the realm of high-end 3D animation."
Machinima (machine + cinema) animation differs from traditional 3D animation because it is similar to shooting film or TV. It is shot in real time without the long rendering times that traditional 3D computer animation requires. The real-time aspect of machinima animation was very important on this project, as there was a two-week turnaround time from script to completed animation.
In addition to the animation, an ongoing cross platform experience was created last fall in the virtual world of Second Life by the Electric Sheep Company in conjunction with CBS and Anthony E. Zuiker (creator of the CSI franchise). The experience includes a virtual lab where users can recreate the experiments and tests from the show as they solve one crime per month.CSI: NY is produced by CBS Paramount Network Television in association with Jerry Bruckheimer Television.
The Electric Sheep Company (ESC) is the leading creator of 3D virtual world content and solutions. The company specializes in providing software products, interactive design, and integration and production solutions.
Founded in April 2005 and headquartered in New York City, The Electric Sheep Company is dedicated to the complementary tasks of bringing relevant social and information products to consumers, and helping major organizations find ways to use virtual worlds to realize operational, marketing and educational goals. Customers include AOL, MTV, NBC, Nissan, Sony, Reuters and many others. To learn more about The Electric Sheep Company, visit www.electricsheepcompany.com.
