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i'll just leave this here

The Unofficial Portal Film the World Deserves

by Susana Polo | 10:32 am, April 30th, 2012


Alex Zemke is a professional animator and visual effects artist with credits in the Uncharted series, The Smurfs, and a Ben 10 videogame. But no, he isn’t working on an animated Portal short in a professional capacity. He’s doing it for the love of the game. Recently, Zemke released some text renders from the short, and the attention and excitement they drove has gotten him connected with other 3D artists and animators, allowing him to expand the story of the short. We can see why:

While that last pic slips into the Uncanny Valley for me, works in progress are works in progress, and I’m certainly looking forward to seeing how this one goes!

(via Kotaku.)

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  • http://spiderine.livejournal.com/ Arania

    It looks awesome.  I just hope they adjust Chell’s skin tone and eye color properly.

  • http://www.facebook.com/1shewolf JoAnna Luffman

    What is wrong with her arms?

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/HY6FPMFWQ2OHYNW6LH57UWI6OU Cassy

    I guess it’s just the art style or something, but I think giving Chell sticks for arms is a little nuts. Girl’s got muscles!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000655364041 Katie Mitchell

    It’s probably just me, but I honestly hate the idea of this. But hey, we’ll see when they make it!
    I’ve grown up playing this game series, and I’ve always wanted to see it in a live action sense. but I’ll give the 3-d animation a go too, I suppose.

  • http://twitter.com/HeartTyler Tyler Dominguez

    hmmm. Skinny arms and kinda of a big chest. Would love this if he changed up the features.

  • Anonymous

    I like when they choose not to go for completely realistic human looks in an animated film.  By deliberately keeping the look cartoony (See how Pixar does it) it avoids the uncanny valley issue.

    Tintin played with the formula by making the figures realistic, but with enough exaggerated features to keep things cartoony.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=825605200 Greg Orsi

    I don’t think the author knows what “uncanny valley” means.

  • http://www.thenerdybird.com/ Jill Pantozzi

    I’m quite sure she does.

  • Anonymous

    Ummm where’s Chell? All I see is a stick thin white girl with tiny features. Whitewashing and trimming her body are not okay, and I don’t see why this article didn’t mention that at all.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_25LJ6KETIP5DVBAPMUYRGCCDTU Brandon D

    I’m interested in this.  I do agree with some of the other commenters, her skin tone is a bit too light, but personally I think the art style works for Portal.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Emaline-Ellen/100000472073076 Emaline Ellen

    love the idea..but Chell looks all wrong!

  • Frodo Baggins

    And facial expressions.

  • Matthew Hull

    I like how everyone is commenting on her arms, but has yet to mention her feet. I’m cool with it either way though, i think its an interesting idea wither way :)

  • Anonymous

    Looks solid. Draws a lot from the Pixar look.

  • https://twitter.com/#!/asirenblue lolwow

    to armless big boobs?

  • alloy_20

     First thing I thought when reading that last part. It isn’t the uncanny valley effect it just looks a bit rubbish. Like those pre-rendered FMV bits in very old PC games.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=563223409 Vic Horsham

    I like the idea, but I hate her design.  Her arms are bone-thin, and her breasts are huge!  Not to mention… yeah.  Chell has been turned into a white girl.  Sigh.

  • Anonymous

    uhmm.. uncanny valley? You “thought” these images looked anything realistic? It is clearly an artistic cartoonish appearance and would look uncanny no matter how you referenced it to a realistic human model. 

  • Anonymous

    Chell? All I see is that flirtatious companion cube. Smexy.

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  • Anonymous

    Two things:

    1) The fact that the writer of this article completely ignored the obvious whitewashing is not good. Whitewashing is a big problem in the fanart world, and needs to be called out instead of completely ignored like it was here. You can like the basic idea of this short while still calling attention to the obvious problematic aspect of it.

    2) The use of Uncanny Valley was wrong. The concept of the Uncanny Valley involves photorealism, or attempts at getting there. The art style in those pictures is a far, far cry from photorealism, even of a stylized sort. I assume the writer referred to Chell’s awkward and unnatural-looking face, or perhaps her awkward proportions in that particular pic, but Uncanny Valley is simply not the correct term to use.

    Just had to get that out there. :P

  • http://www.facebook.com/reed.kelly Kelly Reed

    The body style is very reminiscent of Elastigirl from The Incredibles. Are you going to complain about that film too? Good grief. It’s a cartoon; one can have stick-thin limbs and still kick ass. 

    Furthermore, the heaviest thing Chell has to lift with her arms is the portal gun. There is no evidence that she should be portrayed as physically strong. She’s been unconscious for years (as of Portal 2); musculoskeletal deterioration would be expected. :D

  • chris

    i think the same except the boobs and white part that i think is fine

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