Hasta La Motion!

[NEWS=”http://www.cgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/nick_glass_thumb.jpg”]26759[/NEWS]A new package of four intensely cinematic identities for Nicktoons, created by motion graphics + live action studio nailgun* are guaranteed to raise the eyebrows, (and quicken the pulse), of pre-teen boys watching everywhere.

”Nicktoons recently underwent a major redesign, but wanted us to take it to another place with these identities,” Michael Waldron, Creative Director says.

”Each ID targets their primary audience of pre-teen boys with concepts that explore the mood and tone of the brand and evolves it to a more a mature place.”

If there is a unifying concept to the four IDs it is that Nicktoons — the kids’ network featuring such boy-centric programs as ‘Wolverine’ and ‘The X-Men,’ ‘Speed Racer: The Next Generation,’ ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ and ‘Danny Phantom’ — is an expansive and larger than life world where adventure lurks just beneath the surface. It’s exciting and engaging like a great theme park ride or videogame.

”They wanted an aggressive, cinematic look that would really pull viewers off the couch and into the content,” Waldron adds. ”Each ID needed to be unique, not feel like a campaign, but each have its own aesthetic and idea.”

”Thunder,” which features an intense marriage of cell animation and 3D, begins with a violent wave demolishing a dock. Struck by a lightning bolt, the water takes on added intensity as letters suddenly emerge from the water and form a colossal Nicktoons logo.

”Popcorn Type” features a cityscape where the asphalt ruptures spewing forth the letters from the Nicktoons logo, bouncing violently — so much so, it knocks the camera on its side. The ID ends with the camera still on its side filming the logo.

”Glacier Cave” begins with a shot from within an ice cave where a beam of light shatters a thick ice wall which imprisons the letters of the Nicktoons logo.

Perhaps most surreal of all is ”Pull The Carpet,” which begins with an overhead typographical shot of a desert-like environment that has suddenly been pulled like a carpet out from under itself. As the carpet undulates, random letters tumble like a stampede toward the camera. The spot ends with the fully formed logo literally breaking the proverbial ”fourth wall” as it seemingly shatters the viewers’ TV screen.

”This project allowed us to flex our 3D muscles,” Erik van der Wilden, Director of Editorial and Animation says. ”Most of the time 3D is used to make something — a product, a person, a logo – look great. For this we used it to tell a story, a compressed one to be sure, but definitely a visceral story with a beginning, middle and end.”

While the project allowed the studio to stretch creatively and technically, for Waldron the real fun comes from working with a client like Nicktoons, who are so confident in their brand that they allowed nailgun* to play with their logo.

”Nicktoons, and Nick in general, really know their brand and because of that they’re comfortable letting us push creatively,” Waldron adds. ”They’re very collaborative and willing to let you go, and know instinctively when to pull you back. It makes for a satisfying process.”

About nailgun*
Founded by Michael Waldron and Erik van der Wilden in 2003, New York-based nailgun*, is a collaborative of artists – designers, writers, photographers, editors, producers, animators, filmmakers, illustrators, strategists, painters – who’ve come together to create unique visual solutions for clients that include ESPN, HGTV, Spike, VH1, E!, Versus, TV Land, Universal Channel, Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, Publicis, McCann-Erickson NY and Ogilvy & Mather.

CREDITS:
Client: Nick/Nicktoons
Project: Nicktoons identity package: ”Thunder,” ”Popcorn Type,” ”Glacier Cave,” and ”Pull The Carpet” (all :10’s).

Design: nailgun*, New York, NY
Creative Director: Michael Waldron
Director of Editorial and Animation: Erik van der Wilden
Senior Producer: M. Shane Dolly

”Popcorn Type”:
Design: Kyung Joo Lee
2D Animation: Ronnarit Lueangwattanakij
2D Animation: Dae Hyuk Park
3D Animation: Santiago Castano
3D Animation: Roger Hom

”Pull The Carpet”:
Design: Sooa Chung
2D Animation: Jong Soo Kim
3D Animation: Jackie Liao
3D Animation: Sung I. Sohn
3D Animation: Haowei Hu

”Thunder”:
Design: Sooa Chung
2D Animation: Cyprian Sadlon
2D Animation: Dae Hyuk Park
Flash animation/Illustration: Tristan Balos
3D Animation: Santiago Castano

”Glacier Cave”:
Design: Ronnarit Lueangwattanakij
2D Animation: Ronnarit Lueangwattanakij
3D Animation: Ronnarit Lueangwattanakij
3D Animation: Roger Hom

RELATED LINKS:
http://nailgun.tv
http://nicktoons.nick.com
www.nickpress.com

Hi there,

we are going to open a brand new VFX training school here in Beijing aiming at providing world-class CG education therefore looking for individuals who would be interested to come over on a short term contract
base (3-6 months) to teach various topics related to VFX.

If you are a graduate of VFS, Gnomon, Bournemouth and others and want challenge yourself living in a booming 20m city you are definitely welcome too.

What we can offer you is:

– comfortable and international (bi-lingual) driven environment with competitive salaries depending on your previous industry (teaching) experience

– a return ticket

– a working visa

– a comfortable appartment satisfying your daily necessities like internet, close proximity to convenient stores, bars :niceone: and international restaurants

– the opportunity to become full-time employed

etc.

What we expect from you:

– a proficiency with 3DSMax, Maya, Nuke, Zbrush, Houdini, Realflow, Photoshop, Blastcode, Rayfire, Cebas pyrocluster (thinking particles)
– a big plus is professional knowledge with fluid Dynamics, rigid body, hair/fur development and particle simulations, Ncloth, NParticles
– top would additional experience in Mel/Python scripting, Renderman basic level

Not all the above mentioned skills are necessary but to give you an brief overview what we are going to teach.

– you don’t need to be bi-lingual, teaching is in English with sequential translation into Chinese

Our first terms start on Oct. 25th and we are expecting a 300 students per year. Average class size is going to be 15-20 max.

Happy to hear from you guys and if you would like to know more, please send me a PM.

Thank you and have a nice day.

Hi guys,

I have already ask for the pic single image import in the Nuke, NukeX and noting visible in the view port and i tried a lot for this still didn’t get any solution can anybody help me in this. please give me brief explanation in this. thanks in advance

I have this piece of geometry which is a city. I am trying to texture it via projection. I want to do this projection separately on each building but the model seems to be one big mesh. Is their a script or node that will separate this mesh into individual meshes? I know this mesh has separate meshes because when I open it in a 3D program, I am able to move the individual boxes.

Got any ideas?

Attached Thumbnails

 

Plugin developed in C++, still in beta testing.
It allows to express directly the three mathematic formulas that drive the new position of each point of the geometry: x’ = Fx(), y’=Fy(), z’=Fz().

Parameters that you can express for each formula:

x,y,z=the previous position of each point
index=the point index
t=additional external parameter (useful to let the deformer be animatable).

Supported functions:

sin, cos, tan, abs, ceil, sqrt, pow, exp, log and so on.

Critiques and comments are welcome.