artist research

3d animation studios

Fons scheidon

“But along the way there is danger”

A 3d animation created for the opening sequence for pictoplasma. The animation is digitally creating using a program that is similar qualities as cinema 4d, a program I am using in this module. The character in the animation constantly changes its for and is very surreal, this interests me as I want to create a character that is unusual. In the final stages of the creation of this piece they overlaid many layers of red and cyan 3d to work with glasses designed for viewing images in 3d. however they stacked so many purposely on top so that it induces harsh images on the eyes, so many that it induces migraines on the viewer. 

Feel like a rocket – Voicst

Looks to be 2d characters in a 3d environment. I like the characters a lot, they are simple yet have a lot of uniqueness to them and personalities. More specifically the panda like characters, there long lanky forms relate to my task to make a long lean character. I will think about incorporating these features into my character designs. Not many intense textures are used in this piece and are mostly flat colours with shading on the 3d objects to define them. The video in the second half becomes quiet visually intensive and loud with a lot of changing scenery and different types of views and 3d animations coming into play.

Made for each other

At first glance I thought that this animation was 2d, however when the main character crosses the road you can see that it is 3d due to the traffic in the scene, most prominently noticeable when the lorry turns over. I didn’t really understand the animation very much, only idea was at the end and it seemed as if I t was advertising something. I like the character design and its very cute, the eyes only concept reminds me of walle, however the character is unsuitable for my designs as its quite bulky whereas mine is to be lean.

Tokyp plastic

Zune Art - tokyo plastic

A 3d animatied short created for the advertisement of media distributor zune. One of zunes main outputs is in xbox services so 3d would work well on such a high graphics system. The characters are quite odd and surreal in this, also I wouldn’t guess that this was to do with zune. My only link would be that zune is the creature with many eyes and is sharing its ability to view stuff and share what it watches. The characters are nice and look like they could have been created in blender or some other 3d character building program. The characters are very wacky, likely aimed at younger audiences that would view them while gaming.

tokyoplastic - Electric Koi

a short 3d film animation by Tokyo plastic, looks to be created in a program similar to cinema 4d. The narrative is of a girl in a lonely town discovers an electric koi whilst fishing. To me it was quite boring and normal compared to their other pieces. Nothing really stood out to me. The animation style was in that of cel shaded characters. Most commonly found in Japanese anime animation. It didn’t look that appealing to me and I wouldn’t consider it for my work.

Opera Dude – Tokyoplastic

A sound base 3d computer generated animation. The characters in the scene look to be mostly mirrored in visual aspects and feature wise, however they do move at different times to the rhythm of the music being played. It is likely that this animation was created for the music specifically and not that the music was created afterwards. I like the colour theme in it as it relates well to the Japanese themed characters. Theo only aspect of it that I don’t like is the character in the middle, he doesn’t seem to fit in very well and I can’t relate him to anything in the video. Although I like the animation overall I wouldn’t take any of these aspects into consideration while crating my own character other than trying to keep him symmetrical. 

David oreilly 

Please say something

A short 3d computer generated film, very geometric and sharp in shapes. There is no smooth surfaces and everything is rather angular. I think this enhances the themes and narrative dealt with in the story. The theme and story deals with domestic abuse and the lead male character hurting and beating the lead female character. This is rather odd as he is a mouse and she is a cat which goes against the general food chain in animals. Its very sad and dark. What intrigues me the most is the way the characters move. Each step is slow and deliberate and heavily pronounced, the characters move almost like robots. It emphasises the notion that the abuse drags on. Looking at this I will think more carefully on how my characters move and how that effects the atmosphere and feeling my character gives off.

External World

A 3d computer animated short my David oreilly, after seeing a few of his works I notice the reoccurring use of greys and blacks, dark moody colours. There is much crude humour and cartoon violence. Some of the characters look to be inspired by early Disney animation such as Oswald and steam boat Willy, black and white animal characters. However its not fun or bubbly as one character can be seen to be getting cut in half. The program used look to be similar to that of cinema 4d, one of the characters designs I noticed that his legs had use the “spaghetti” style of bone structure because of the curve in the leg bend. 

?????

A very bizarre digital 3d animation, two rather demon like creatures climb up a mountain and remove a covering from the top. This results in a cat head floating out and splitting open to reveal a floating 3d head of walk Disney. The two main characters are then turned into having Walt Disney’s face. The only logical explanation that I can get for this is that Walt Disney was infectious to those who had families. I like the two main characters. There simple design made them stand out and unique, they also had a similar walking cycle to that of the characters in please say something.

Codehunters 

An animated series created for mtv. The story follows a bunch of travellers enforcing their own brand of justice in a fallout like world facing an apocalyptic aftermath. The type of 3d animation is beautiful and reminds me a lot of the style found in the video game boaderland with the thick black lines around the characters shape creating an almost silhouette effect. This helps pronounce the fore ground from the background and works well with the light shades of colour making detail more definable. I would say the characters are semi realistic, they stick to proportions but the shape of features are irregular. I like the way the brown shades work and faintness of colour, when coming up with a colour scheme for my character I will think about this aspect. 

Siaman chow 

Adicolor black

3d animation using stop motion techniques. Follows the story of a depressed and manic panda. Looks to be created from a range of materials including plastic, fur and fabrics. It’s shot in black and white emphasis on the feel of sadness and dark themes or drinking, death and depression. The fact that the panda has no real expression makes it more dark as you can’t see what its feeling and its up to the viewer to determine what it feels, if anything at all. I don’t really like this animation, probably because it’s too dark for my liking, I want my character to be fun and crazy, not dark and depressing.

Cadbury Screme Eggs: Last Stand - Stop Motion Animation

A stop motion 3d animation created as an advertisement for Cadburys cream egg Halloween edition eggs. A rather quick stop motion animation as none of the characters had tp be reposed or have faces as such, al they had to do was to be crushed and moved. The new filling eggs were supposed to be zombies because of the gross colour they had as filling. Its amusing as such but doesn’t relate to my work. 

Dig your own hole

A 3d and 2d animated music video created for musician gotye. Presumably the train in the video is 3d because of its structure and the differencing between itself and the obvious 2d background and character object. Although the visualisations are nice I think the characters design is horrible and I would incorporate any of these themes and ideas in my work.

Pepper melon 

Mama Luchetti – Molinos

I 3d animation created using computer based programs for advertisements. I love this animation, its comical and funny and the characters are designed brilliantly. There so plain yet there forms are great and how oddly shaped they are just makes them seem perfect for animated comedy shorts. The story is based on how the mother of the family deals with everything in her own way. The texture of the characters are so smooth but each part is slightly different, such as the hair being smooth like the skin but oddly distinguishable from the body.  All the elements are in computer generated 3d however some live action pieces are added, such as a live animation cut out is digitally added to the video. 

Fright Of The Orkonnon – Shots

A high end 3d computer generated animation with hyper realistic shapes and textures, the type of animation that isn’t cartoon like but almost of the verge of being real, the only clue to that it not real is the futuristic characters involved. The story is based on a alien life for invading a planted and disrupting the creature who inhabit it. Although the animation is very visually appealing and looks amazing it doesn’t bode well with my aim to create a simple character and if I took any aspect of this into my work it would stray for its aim and become to in depth. However this doesn’t deny the fact that its very impressive and the level of detail is incredibly high.

Gola Mondo - The Guardian

A computer generated 3d animation based on the real company the guardian. It tells of how quickly the get news out and how they are first before others and how they go about it. The character design is great and they really stand out, there odd shapes and lack of necks make their movements all that more pronounced. One feature I like specifically and will most likely incorporate into my own character is the bug eyes. It seems to work so well for these characters on showing their reactions and emotions and that one aspect I really want to pronounce in my work

Partizan lab 

UFO Bears Mountains - Numero 6 - Partizan Lab

A cgi based 3 d animation. Its very short only lasting a few seconds. It uses live action recording combined with cgi effects to create some sort of alien spaceship or ufo to fly through some moutains. Theres not much narrative other then the obvious. One thing is that the level of 3d and the lighting and shading on the craft is very impressive and it does look like its in the environment. However it dosent relate well to my wont and the shading is all I can really comment on. Other then that theres not much I can relate to.

GMF Insurance "Bonus"

An advert created for an insurance company. It uses stop mtion animation. The objects are not recorded in such close a frame so they stop motion is very obvious. To record objects such as the paint spilling it looks like they’ve used a much thicker material such as plastercine so that they could spread it manually and not have to keep cleaning and rerecording actual paint flowing. Theres a lot going on at once however ithink it would have looked better if it ran just a bit smoother so some of the lines appearing outside the garage flowed down a lot quicker and seamlessly. 

Duracell Marathon

Mostly live action shots however they is a small 3d cgi segment. The animation advert follows widely known character the duracell bunny. The characters is modelled in a 3d computer program likely to be similar to the mechanics found in cinema 4d. however I think it would be more based on the program blender because of the natural fur texture used on the bunny character. I think that the character design is nice and is more interesting than that of a humanoid character. This makes me think more about the nature of my character and are they actually going to be human? Maybe it would be better to base it on an animal or object instead. 

Pysop 

Panasonic “ anthem” 

A live action short video developed for the advertisement of Panasonics new 3d tvs. Pysop developed some cgi in 3d to be used specifically when someone was viewing the tv in a shop so that they could see the no glasses technology. This relates to nothing in my current project however it is a good example of 3d specifically created for advertisement. I do however think that they could have added more cgi developed scenes as its mostly live action.

BECK’S SAPPHIRE “SERENADE”

A computer generated 3d animation created for the sole purpose of odvertising becks new alcoholic beverage. It seems that all the aspects of the animation are digitally created and no live action apects were taken into it. However it is possible that for the bottle they could have used a 3d scanner to get the hape then igitally enhanced it. The main theme of the animation is smooth to describe the texture of the drink. There for shapes that can be described as flowing have been used within the clip. For example the main character focus is that of a fish with its fins constantly flowing in a very relazed smooth shpe and pattern. It think tht the animation is well executed nd its aesthetical properties serve its purpose well in selling the product. 

MIO “NAKED MOLE RAT”

Another 3d cgi animated advertis,emt, however its to opposite to anthem, its mostly cgi but with little bits of live action cutout implemented into it. The characters in the video are animals in humanoid forms, I like this idea as their proportions can be exaggerated to fit the animal, such as the bulky rhino character, I will take this idea and develop it further in my character creation stages.  The live action aspects ae the glass and product at the end, which mke sense for them to show the actual product hterre advertising, the was the 3d character works with the rea l time object is impressive and makes me wonder if they use live action actors with green screen 3d proections. 

Hornet inc

GOOGLE CHROME by Noah Harris

A 3d stop motion developed by noah harris from hornet inc developed for the advertisement of the new version of google chrome. The narrative and main  focus of the stop motion is to show what google chrome does. It takes old toys and makes them work better, quicker and smoother. The three toys can refer to videos, games and art programs, some of the most used utilities that need to operate smoothly. Although I love the story and representation of the product, it doesn’t relate well to my main focus which is that of character development. 

Freeview 

A live action advert that uses 3d cgi on top of it. The animation is used to advertise free view boxes for TVs and the balloons that are digitally created are used as a metaphor for the excitement and happiness created when we win sports with more appearing as we get closer to winning. Although visually impressive and it works well with the environment around it, I don’t think it represents the narrative well and much more could be done, to me its not colorful enough and doesn’t really show the excitement of winning.

Brother

A combination of 3d stop motion and 3d cgi animation. The paper on the wall is stop motion glued down and moved around in different patterns and shapes. However on the paper you would probably think that the pictures and writing are already printed onto them however they are not and infect they are all blue pieces of paper with cgi images implemented onto them .. I think this is a very clever techniques and mores really well as an advertisement however it ties in very little to my work and I cant take much from it.

Passion pictures 

Olympics 2012

I love the physical features and stylization of the characters in this cgi created animation. The characters in it are all Olympic competitor’s for the different events in the 2012 Olympic games that were to be held in Britain. The stylization is visually appealing to me because there borderline caricatures to realistic. They are mostly in proportion but some attributes are exaggerated, and its only very slightly but it does the job on making them unique. This inspires me to make unique traits in my characters so they are definable, but also recognizable to what they actually are.  

The butterfly effect

A digitally created 3d animation presumably retelling the tale of the Chinese butterfly effect and how it would play out in a modern world. The idea is that the simple flap of a butterfly’s wings would lead to chaos in something else. The animation itself if impressive, not so much graphically but rather how movement intense it is, its plays out very quickly and there is a lot going on at once and its very visually intense as about five things are happening over one scene. It’s very impressive and character movement is very realistic and organic, it doesn’t look digitally created making me think that they might have used movement racking off a real human.

Compare the Market 'Fat Sergei'

A comedy spoof on famous tv advert, compare the market, it is a computer generated 3d animation short created for the sole purpose of advertising insurance. I’ve noticed one of the most reoccurring themes in the reason why these animations are being created is for advertising. Maybe its because the weirder something is and how it visually appeals to us makes us take more notice and remember it more. Anyone who has seen this advert or hears the reoccurring lines of “simples” will relate it to this short animation. Unlike most anthro-morphic characters, these meerkats are not physically altered in anyways and are actually rigged with the same bone structure as an actual meerkat, which is quite interesting as most animal based characters have to be changes so they can move around and such. This makes the advert more comical because they do actually look so real. I will take these aspects into consideration when developing my character. I like the idea of animals wearing clothes and being so cultured and civilized.

PUNGA

“Worms”

An awareness campaign created to re-establish the importance of people donating organs when they die. It’s a dark humour narrative with the worms in the video eating away at the organs and messing around, wasting them when they could be used to save someone’s life. It’s humorous in the way there acting and how they jump around, but then you realising there playing with lungs that someone could have used to save a life. So initially humour being used to send a shocking message at the end. This characters are used creating cgi techniques however it isn’t overly obvious and they don’t look real, there almost6 created in a cell shaded pattern with no natural textures like slug skin or flesh for the organs. It’s more cartoon like hinting at innocent fun for the worms but in fact what deals with a serious issue. I like the worm’s facial features and the round mouths give for great expressions. 

STEREN

An advertisement created for a sat nav product. The story plays out as a young woman is lost and doesn’t know where to go. As she tries to ask someone for directions her fear grows and everything starts to manipulate into aggressive monster.  The character movement is very spaghetti like in the bends of the arms and legs. I would compare the characters designs to that seen I early Walt Disney animations seen in the likes of micky mouse and Oswald. Even down to the shapes of the pupils. The 3d is heavily played on in the background however the shading on the characters is very faint and block colours are used giving it an old 2d feel. I like how they incorporated the old styles of characters and remade them into 3d and shows you how they would look. It’s an insight to see what might have happened if we had current technology back what Disney first started. 

Kiko and the hand

A seemingly fun, cute short bright animation in the first few seconds. Initially I had no idea what it was about. A small child like creature seemed to be harmlessly interacting with a hand. Then the hand pointed to the underwear of the child and it screamed and shouted. Only then at the end did I realise it was an advertising campaign against child abuse.  I guess the reason why it is so fun and bright is so that children pay attention long enough to learn and realise what is right and wrong in that situation and what they should go. So not only is it a visually good advert it’s a learning mechanism for children. I think that the way the animators have thought about the presentation of the characters and how they are portrayed, utilising visual aspects to grab the attention of all ages is impressive and well thought out. By taking this into consideration they have created a very successful animation that completes its purpose. The animation was so successful; it won the national animated advertisement award.

Studio AKA

Orange – bright top ups.

Firstly when I saw this animation on TV I thought it was all computer generated images in 3d. however further research into the making of it has revealed to me that in fact all of studio aka make their own little cardboard characters that they thought represented happiness and excitement. I actually cant believe that there all just made of cardboard and it’s a stop motion animation, each character moves so fluidly and complex that I thought it would only be physically possible to make with cgi techniques. The advert itself makes me feel really happy each time I see It can I laugh every time. It’s astounding to know cardboard could do that. One of the main aspects I will take from this along with others is the use of colours and patterns. I think it’s this combined with the curious shapes of each characters that evokes such emotions in people.  

Lloyds TSB – Vantage

An ever popular 3d cgi animation advert for bank branch Lloyd’s tsb. The advert is iconic and widely recognised for its background music. The advert became so popular and notable that it caused for the background track to become on of the most popular classical songs ever and most downloaded. I like the shading on the characters in this animation. It’s very soft and natural. It almost looks as if someone had coloured them in with pencils as it’s so soft and has a slight grainy texture. Again this animation features animals with clothes on and I think it look so good visually and builds up so much characters in the smallest of creatures.

Odeon Digital

A short digitally animated clip showing the transition odeon took in its cinemas display from analogue to digital hd displays. The clip is very short but does its job in creating a eye assaulting visually impacting impressive hd video clip that shows the evolution in high definition displays and how they have advanced. I think the characteristics of the video shows this progression well. Analogue is represented by unclear, dark murky water with only a little light to show, then it changes to different shapes flying about in different sizes and colour, its shows that it can display smooth round edges in the forms of spheres then alter to crisp clean sharp edges. So even though incredibly short, this advertisement sends a clear message and doesn’t need a long showing time to get the message across. A successful advertisement animation. 

Panda Panther

Hello kitty gifts of dance and magic trance

An eye assaulting combined animation that utilises both stop motion and digitally created characters. The tree characters hello kitty, panda and panther have obviously been made in some sort of 3d rendering program like cinema 4d. However they seem to be placed in an environment made of cut out animation with materials such as cardboard and fabric. There are also 3d cgi shapes rolling around in the background and artificial; lighting in places, flat 2d shapes and lines have also been animated on top, such as the movement in the water. I really don’t like this animation. At times it’s hard to watch as so much is going on and its hard to keep up, I also find a lack of any real narrative.

Advanced beauty

An interesting take on cgi animation using the sound patterns recorded by computers to influence digital shapes and animation. Artists created shapes in a 3d rendering program and assigned them to a level of sound and tones. When artists recorded music the shapes would flow in correspondence to those sounds and create visually amazing scenes and shapes. I love this idea, though it doesn’t relate to my work of tie in with character creation just seeing that stuff like this has been made is inspiring and amazing. One aspect however that I can take from it is colour themes and mixing colour palettes. The use of certain complimentary colouring in the shapes has made them stand out and contrast to others making the images more appealing and creative.

Skylanders

A video game created for the franchise of sypro in his new game. Skylanders features many different terrains and different species of characters for children to play with. The video game is created completely by digital means and the graphics are of a very high quality to the new capabilities in gaming consoles. The array of characters is impressive and each is unique in their own way. Some look like trees, some are robots and some are even fish. This calls for a lot of different textures and effects to match both organic and manmade metallic textures. These conditions have been met to a high standard in the games cut scenes which feature full cgi animation and even in the low quality gameplay with 3d models. There is over 70 characters in the franchise and they are a perfect example of creating unique creatures that stand out from the one next to them. I myself got to meet Sony representatives when they were explain the new giants game to us at work. The main idea behind so many characters was that so anyone would be able to find at least one character that they liked so it would be suited to all ages and genders. Skylanders has inspired me since its launch as the characters stood out so much and has all their own unique movements, colours and characteristics.