Extreme Martial Arts
If you have even the slighest interest in martial arts (or 3D animation) then definately make sure to catch this show airing on Discovery channel this month. They did an amazing job of mapping fighters from a number of styles and with a variety of weapons, and then converted that into skeletal models that show the impact of strikes to the bone and muscle.
Let me break it down for you like this…. If you thought that Dojo Scence in the original Matrix was rad, don’t miss this!
Here’s a link so you can check out some clips on Discovery’s site. From the looks of it, I’d say that they were about halfway to making the next Mortal Kombat when they finished this show.
January 17th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
If you are referring to Fight Science, I saw it and was very impressed. However, the show may give a false impression of the martial arts to the general public. Statements like “Kung fu fighters strike 5 times faster than a snake” or “Tae kwon do fighters react twice as fast as the blink of an eye” are not completely accurate.
Not every stylists, no matter what system they study, is going to have the same results. For example, the Muay Thai fighter on the show was able to generate a knee strike with the force equivalent of a 35 mph car crash. This does not mean that every Muay Thai fighter, regardless of their level of expertise, can achieve this. Nor does it mean that this particular fighter will perform this way at all times…..
All that Fight Science showed is that….
1) This particular martial artist…
2) Who happens to practice this particular style…..
3) Achieved this particular result….
4) During this particular test…..
5) At this particular time
The most enlightening feature of the show was when they used computer animation to show the internal science behind these techniques.