Cinemagram converts short film clips into a single, animated image. It also offers special filters and photographic effects that can be layered onto the resulting animations. You can even select only a part of an image into a GIF, making it look like a video is embedded in a still photograph. Here are a couple of examples produced with the app:

You can get Cinemagram from the iTunes App Store for $1.99 (USD), and check out more Cinemagrams on Cinemagram’s Tumblr site.

[via designboom]

Brilliant animation there, Joel. Now if only Nintendo would make this into a game…

[via Destructoid]

The cartoon is called Om Nom Stories. In it, Om Nom pops out of an iPad when the person isn’t looking and goes exploring. He happens on a tennis ball and tires to eat it, but we all know those things don’t taste good. He spies a bag of eats on the counter and goes searching for candy, when on the way, he encounters the family cat, and wacky hijinx ensue. Check out the cartoon below and see for yourself.

Not an Oscar-worthy plot, but still good fun.

The GIF Player is a mechanical device which displays the images from an animated GIF by spinning them in sequence on a rotating disk. The machine was created by Pieterjan Grandry, and is based on a 19th century animation gizmo called the phenakistoscope.

It’s really a rather simple concept, in which images from the animation are spun in a circle below a window which only exposes a single frame at a time. With enough speed, the images create the illusion of movement.

The cool thing is that each animation can be printed onto a single record-like disc, so you could have an entire library of animations at your disposal with this.

While Pieterjan doesn’t provide build instructions for the GIF Player, I can’t imagine it would be that difficult to make your own. Heck, you could probably just hack one together using an old record player and putting that inside a box with a circular cutout.

[via It's Nice That & Coudal Partners via Laughing Squid]

You’ve probably seen the flurry of photos animated thanks to GIFs. It seems old school, but there’s a lot you can do with GIFs. Check out what Vancouver-based French artist Nicolas Sassoon does. Some of these are pretty cool.

His work uses computer-based aesthetics to generate strange and surreal visions of architecture, landscapes, and environments, that are quite hypnotic. His art is styled as pseudo-retro, which includes bright colors, moving patterns, and that bitmap-quality that is so cool. I’ve put up a couple of examples of Nicolas’ GIFs in the gallery below:

The undulating pixels might disorient you due to their movement, but it’s all in good fun. You can check out more of his art over at his blog You Make Me So Happy.

[via designboom]

The guys at MinecraftA2Z built this Tetris level using the Minecraft engine, but they did cheat a little bit. That’s because the video below was put together using stop-motion animation, and it’s not actually a playable level.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Still, it’s pretty impressive and worth checking out if you have a minute. Plus, I can never get enough of that original Tetris theme… Especially this version…

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Second, note that Pac-Man only goes up against one of the four ghosts, and does so in an open world instead of a constricting maze. And yet… just watch:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I think that’s the saddest way to lose – when the enemy isn’t even trying. But you have to give it to the video’s creators, Sergej Hein and David Moya, for the special effects on Inky. You’ll barely notice it but it’s a great touch. But as Vimeo member John Veloso pointed out, this Rémi Gaillard classic is still the undisputed champion of real-life Pac-Man videos.

[via Kuriositas]

Videographer/Photographer/Motionographer/Virtual Mario noob Jeremiah Warren made this delightful recreation of World 1-1 using After Effects. To make it extra special, he used an orchestra version of the iconic background music. Watch and cringe as he misses goodie after goodie:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Not even the flag? Still, that was fun to watch. Perhaps Warren will have improved his skills in controlling Stop Motion Mario in the next World. Or maybe there is no secret 1-up block in Stop Motion World 1-1. Who knows? I’ve never played it.

[via Geekologie]

This video was made by Balazs Kalocsai and it shows you exactly what the game might have looked like in the 80s, on an 8-bit console. Would this game work for real this way on an Xbox 360? Probably not, but the video is still fun to watch.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The art looks way better than any 8-bit console I’ve ever seen, but you get the point. The characters sort of like voxels which have been flattened into two-dimensions, which is a strange way to describe them, but that’s what they look like to me.

[via Olybop]

The tattoo was created by Paris-based tattoo artist Karl Marc. As the barcode tattoo was completed, it became the target for an augmented reality application. The whole thing was streamed live while he worked on his friend Marco’s chest for about four hours. Once finished, the tat resulted in a little augmented reality animation on the guys chest.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The only question that remains is what to do once you get tired of that little animation? Probably just tattoo something else over it. Or, you could just create a new animation, I suppose. Adding an interactive element is something that some people will enjoy. I wonder if someone will end up covering their whole body in augmented reality targets.

[via Make:]

Before you let the kids watch this clip, however, you ought to know that this isn’t your wholesome old 8-bit Mario. Perhaps it’s the fact that he was born on the edge of a razor blade, but he’s just a wee bit more destructive in Eric’s version of the Mushroom Kingdom. But that doesn’t make him any less entertaining. Here, take a gander and see what I mean:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

See, that wasn’t so bad, was it? Of course, that part where Mario eats Toad is a little disturbing. And burning down the entire forest with the Fire Flower is just wrong. Still, Eric created the Paper Mario clip in order to raise awareness about a new feature-length animation, based on a far more bloody short about Ninjas that he’s working on. If you’re interested, head over to his Kickstarter page and show your support.

The video was created by Mike Scott along with a 14 pixel artists from around the globe, as well as 3D voxel artists, chiptunes and a little bit of claymation thrown in for good measure. Watch the awesome video below, then see if you can name all the different gaming and geeky references in the clip. Bonus points for that voxelized Cactaur.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Right from the the SEGA-ized opening logo and sound, I knew this video would be great, and I’m just glad that the tune is just as great as the animation itself. I’ll be adding this track to iTunes tonight.

[via Vimeo]

Just like Pac and his pals, they’ve created an animated version of the arcade game using building blocks from Minecraft. It looks just like the original game. And though  it’s not actually playable, they did add the requisite sound effects, and it’s still pretty cool. Check it out:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I’m not quite sure what the deal is with the giant “Lockia” telephone to the left of the playing field. Maybe it was to call mom and have her pick you up from the arcade after you’re done playing. Or maybe the extraterrestrial Invaders just need to phone home.

The blue “h” in the vide seems kind of horny and keeps humping the white “h”, you will see what I mean. A couple bricks also get the green “H” to rocking so this is almost like LEGO porn. Still the video is cool and it’s interesting that the bricks are the characters in this case.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Generally, with stop motion we see minifigs as the focal point, so that’s kind of different. If you like LEGO, you will want to check this out, be warned though that there are a handful of sound effects that will make people wonder if you are surfing porn.

[via Buzzfeed]

Here’s the stop-motion video:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

And here’s a jaw-dropping aerial view of Minecrafta2z’s world:

Wow. That’s a lot of work. How does one keep the proportions right while working on such a scale? And yes, that strip along the center is the first level of Super Mario Bros. You can see that one in action here:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I wonder if it’s possible to make a smaller scale Minecraft inside Minecraft.

[via GoNintendo & Minecrafta2z]

While this isn’t an official Nintendo creation, Steve Williams of Australia’s Mass Panic Productions came up with this modern spin on the original Kong, spruced up with new and improved graphics, but preserving the basic gameplay mechanics of the 1980s classic.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Nice touch there with the breakaway ladders and curved girders. I only wish they had included Mario’s hammer to bust up some barrels. Unfortunately, this is just an animation Williams created, and not an actual playable game. Maybe someone at the Big N will see this and get inspired to make a new version of DK for the Wii or 3DS.

[via YouTube]

This video is really cool so watch it. Like now. Right now. Seriously, I’ll wait.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I admit I don’t get around to YouTube much, but this is certainly not the first time that LEGO has been used for stop motion, but this video is very well done. Plus, it has a Troll fighting a Viking in a mech for double win. Me Likey.

[via Gizmodo]

According to the developers, they’ve fine-tuned the character animations to much more accurately react to context. Instead of just having a set of generic animations for the main characters, they’ll have nuanced variants for each scenario they encounter. So for instancei, if Drake steps on fire, he stomps his foot to put put it out. Or if he’s walking towards an open flame, he shields himself from the heat and light. Different levels and scenes will have different contextual animations. It’s all very subtle stuff, but if you watch the example in the demo footage below, you can see the improvements if you’ve got a good eye.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Sure, it doesn’t seem like an earth-shattering innovation, but it’s this type of attention to detail that makes the difference between a good game and a great one. Plus, it’s just great to see a little bit of the game play footage any time I can get it. I for one am really looking forward to playing Uncharted 3 when it hits stores next November.

It’s called Game On and it’s a funny and educational animation created by the Leicestershire Teenage Pregnancy Partnership in the UK. It’s a parody of the 8-bit hero Mega Man. I spent countless hours on those platformers on the NES, but never learned anything about sex by playing them.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

It’s a funny way to let kids know about safe sex. I don’t know how effective it will be though, since most retro gamers are pretty old by now and should already know better.

[via Ufunk]

You see, unlike humans, cats can’t suck liquid. Dogs have the same dilemma, but they have a simpler and less elegant solution – they just scoop up the liquid, using the tip of their tongues as ladles.

The cat way of drinking is more awesome because a) this involves balancing gravity and inertia, which means cats know their physics, and b) it prevents their chins from getting wet. And no one likes wet chins. Except dogs. And toddlers. An article detailing the research is included in the November 2010 issue of Science.

photo by Dave Dugdale

[via Yahoo! News and Wired]