Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Recreating the Matrix In Legos

Posted by samzenpus on from the better-than-the-sequels dept.

LoneHighway writes "Salon.com has a write up of what is being called an epic feat of Nerdity, the "Trinity, Help!" scene from The Matrix has been recreated using only Legos. It took 440 hours for Trevor Boyd and Steve Ilett to create Lego Matrix Trinity Help, which is a perfect shot-by-shot remake of a short but memorable scene from the Wachowski Brothers’ masterpiece, executed via stop-motion animation and a nearly infinite amount of Legos. They even provide a split screen comparison to the original. Very cool!"

21 comments

  1. So awesome, so conflicting by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

    Great work, but it would be nice if there were a non-evil product to make it with.

    400 hours though - the surface characteristics of Lego plastic seem ideal for 3D rendering. Great practice of patience, guys.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    1. Re:So awesome, so conflicting by iamhassi · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "it would be nice if there were a non-evil [nytimes.com] product to make it with."

      Lego is not evil. The generic blocks are evil. I bought a box of the Best-Lock blocks mentioned in the article, which are supposedly "blocks compatible with Lego's", because the Star Wars kit they sold was about a quarter of what the Lego kit sold for.

      It was absolute crap. I tried to build the kit following the instructions but the blocks don't fit well and the design instructions didn't overlap pieces so entire walls would not be connected to neighboring pieces and a slight touch would bring it crashing down. Best-Lock is absolutely horrible and I'll never buy another best-lock anything.

      I can understand why Lego sued, if I made a successful children's toy and I saw competitors bringing crappy copies to the market I'd sue too.

      --
      my karma will be here long after I'm gone
    2. Re:So awesome, so conflicting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      blocks compatible with Lego's

      Why doesn't block's have an apostrophe if lego's does?

    3. Re:So awesome, so conflicting by RichardJenkins · · Score: 1

      He's talking about blocks which are compatible with Lego's blocks.

      If this is true then the blocks that are Lego's own ('Legos' if you will) are compatible with the blocks of some other company.

    4. Re:So awesome, so conflicting by TomXP411 · · Score: 1

      Lego is the name of a company, not an individual piece of an individual product. Lego bricks shouldn't be called "Legos" or "Lego's". They should be called Lego pieces, Lego bricks, or Lego blocks.

      The article could read: "...recreated entirely from Lego blocks." and be grammatically correct.

    5. Re:So awesome, so conflicting by darthvader100 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      correct, in fact even lego discourages calling the bricks Legos

    6. Re:So awesome, so conflicting by iainl · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Well, you could use K'Nex blocks or Mega Blox, if you consider them less Evil.

      Of course, then you just have to deal with the minor issue of them also being Shit.

      --
      "I Know You Are But What Am I?"
    7. Re:So awesome, so conflicting by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Lego is not evil. The generic blocks are evil. ... I can understand why Lego sued, if I made a successful children's toy and I saw competitors bringing crappy copies to the market I'd sue too.

      I won't defend the low-quality blocks (that's why I used the negated form in my wish) but Corporations aren't granted patents for all time, they get to profit for a while, then they have to give back.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    8. Re:So awesome, so conflicting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, shut the fuck up moron.

  2. Official Web Site... by antdude · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://www.legomatrix.com/ for the details, behind the scenes, more videos, etc.

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    1. Re:Official Web Site... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... as was obvious at 1:19 in the video....

  3. Sorry... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As an ex-child I find it really hard to sympathize with the creator of Mega Bloks, as much as I am against patent abuse. They shamelessly cash in on childrens' misfortune and Lego's good name.

    A poor parent sees this noticeably cheaper Lego-looking thing (hey it's all lego right? Hmm looks just like any other lego I've seen...) and buys it for their child, happy they've finally found a gift they can afford. On their birthday/Christmas/whatever the child finds out THEY GOT LEG-oh wait, Mega Bloks. Which don't quite work with Lego. And only have generic large-block parts, like early 80s lego. Uh, thanks mom, hehe yeah this is great. No my poverty-stricken childhood is awesome, I'm really happy, this'll go right along with my Brick Boy and AM Zony Walkman. Child goes in their room and secretly cries. They know they shouldn't, it's the thought that counts, but they can't help it, their last hope for a while of having some cool toys is shattered. Child can only make toys...from scrap...again...and stare longingly at neighbor kid's awesome stuff, which seems totally out of reach.

    Parent may also secretly cry. Mega Bloks laughs all the way to the bank.

    Posting anon because that is a first-hand account :(

    1. Re:Sorry... by da5idnetlimit.com · · Score: 1

      Well, I do remember my father telling me about playing Cow Boys using sheep jaw bones as pistols, because they were poor.
      He also told me about using old wheels to run along with a stick and a nail to direct them.

      One thing that you could look at to understand the situation is the change in expectation in Bhutan since they "opened up" (The only country in the world that calculate Gross National Happiness...)
      Now they have TV. And ads. And higher expectations about what they "need". And less happiness...

      --
      It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
    2. Re:Sorry... by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      Why doesn't the poor parent just buy the Legos then? Oh, right, because they charge $25/lb for moderate-grade injection-molded plastic. Who hates the poor kids again?

      There's some weird triangulation between marketing, entitlement and corporatism going on in that story.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    3. Re:Sorry... by mrslacker · · Score: 1

      > Oh, right, because they charge $25/lb for moderate-grade injection-molded plastic.

      And yet, it will last 30+ years, making exceptionally cheap compared to most other toys.

    4. Re:Sorry... by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      And yet, it will last 30+ years, making exceptionally cheap compared to most other toys.

      indeed, yet the poor rarely buy on value. I get my kids nice quality used toys at the second-hand store, yet somehow it seems the box opening experience would have been important for the GP.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    5. Re:Sorry... by v1 · · Score: 1

      There is just no comparison between LEGOs and the cheap knockoffs. I remember having a giant amount of LEGOs and I was only interested in the functional ones. The men, windows, and other random parts quickly were thrown away.

      I made things like a coin box with a functional three tumbler keyed lock. (if I would have glued the blocks to prevent disassembly, you'd be hard pressed to open it without the lego key) I wish those hadn't been given away to a relative when I got older.

      I picked up a box of blocks a few years back, not realizing they were the crappy knockoffs. Can't make anything like that, the blocks catch and jam, don't fit well, have very little holding power, it's a mess. I remember being able to take the 2x4 LEGO blocks and make a stick almost six feet long held horizontally from the middle before they separated. Just try that with imitation LEGOs.

      Many things you do get what you pay for. And LEGOs are one such example.

      --
      I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
  4. Nice trailer... by hallux.sinister · · Score: 1

    now where is the rest of the movie? I made a whole bag of popcorn, and... WTF, just one scene? Seriously though, this is just about the nerdiest/geekiest thing I've seen since the Matrix itself, and I mean that as high praise.

  5. 440 hours?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Holy hell that is some very slow stop animating. What were they really doing?

    That segment in the the original movie is approximately 1080 frames.

    That means were animating one frame every 24 minutes at best (I'm guessing the Lego version has much less frames).

    Wow, you guys would get fired if you were working on a commercial project. You would be looking at 6 years of raw time (probably way longer in actual time) to create a 90 minute film. Sloooooooooow!

    1. Re:440 hours?! by clone53421 · · Score: 1

      Uh, 1:24 at 30 frames per second is 2,520 frames, not 1,080.

      Anyway, the 440 hours would also have to include the time it took to crop and align the photos, probably colour-adjust them where needed, and make them into a video. Professional equipment would have taken some of the intensiveness out of the post-processing, but professional equipment is expensive.

      --
      Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
  6. The Plural of Lego by GrahamCox · · Score: 1

    The plural of Lego is Lego, just as the plural of sheep is sheep. Fuckwits.