Nov
28
Renderman is 30. Woah.
Posted in: Animation
For VFX Voice, I talked to some of the legends at Pixar about the history of RenderMan, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Includes some old-school pics.
Nov
28
Cosmos-Maya, a renowned name in the kids’ content appoints Adi Shayan, Kalyani Rane and Ashutosh Tipnis as the new COO, CFO and HR director respectively. Shayan served as a COO at Xentrix Studios prior to joining Cosmos-Maya. He has an experience of almost 20 years in VFX and CGI and has also been at a position of studio manager at DreamWorks Animation.
Adi Shayan, Ashutosh Tipnis, Kalyani Rane
Rane will be joining as the CFO after serving JSM Corporation for 10 years. She is an experienced persona in industries including food and beverage and retail. With over two decades of experience, Tipnis started with Crompton Greaves and has been the head-HR at Hindustan Times.
Cosmos-Maya has 16 shows on air/in-production, including three European and one Brazilian co-production under its banner.
Cosmos-Maya CEO Anish Mehta told Indian television dot com, “Cosmos-Maya is poised to make a leap into the next orbit of growth, both in the domestic sphere as well as a global player. In the coming two quarters, we aim to up production from the current 35 half hours per month to 50 half hours per month. We also plan to reach the 2000 employee mark during this time.”
Cosmos-Maya is increasing its C-level staffing considering the company’s future growth.
The post Cosmos-Maya takes on-board new COO, CFO and HR director appeared first on AnimationXpress.
Nov
28
Take a look at how these beer cans were designed for production, and later ended up featured in TIME Magazine for their eye-catching design.
We talk to designer Eileen Tjan of OTHER studio and Chad Ashley about the creation of the Peekskill Brewery beer cans recently featured in a special edition of TIME Magazine.
Learn about the process in designing product labels and imagery, then take a glimpse into the making of 3D product renders.
Image via TIME Magazine.
Designing Labels for Products
Michael Maher: Let’s start with you Eileen. Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Eileen Tjan: My name is Eileen Tjan and I’m the Owner/Creative Director of OTHER, a multidisciplinary design studio based in Chicago, IL. We’re about 4 people now! Small but creative and powerful. I’m also the Design Director of Grand Circus Magazine, a Detroit Arts and Culture publication.
I was born in Singapore to Chinese/Indonesian parents, but I was raised in Michigan which is also where I attended university for Fine Arts at the University of Michigan.
Image via OTHER Studio.
MM: Where did your creative career begin?
I came to Chicago in 2010 when the economy was… not so good. After college, I interviewed in New York and Chicago, but I ended up just taking the highest paying internship I could find out of panic. That started my career down the digital path, but I’ve been able to explore many other corners of the industry.
I worked as a web designer at first, made my way into advertising, spent some time at Digital Kitchen which is where I met Chad! I grew my traditional graphic design skills at a boutique design studio in Washington DC and I also took on art direction as a role. The sheer intensity of project managing my own projects, designing and art directing across multiple jobs at the design studio definitely trained me for running my own practice now. Oh, I also did a little time out in Silicon Valley.
MM: Tell me about your relationship with Peekskill Brewery, and how this all came about?
ET: The start of the relationship sounds confusing but isn’t! A friend from University, Ellen Rutt, recommended me as a designer to one of her friend’s from University, Matt Levy, who was the head brewmaster at that time (he has since left). And during this time another one of my friend’s from University was maybe working there? Anyways, Peekskill was ready to embark down the exciting road of canning their beers vs only being on tap at the brew pub, and wanted to introduce some rad new label designs.
Image via OTHER Studio.
MM: That’s interesting, something I often forget about – going from tap to can. What are some of the biggest challenges when it comes to designing imagery for physical products like cans?
ET: Physical products have shape, dimension, they’re 3D! And sometimes the shape of the vessel itself can warp design in ways that were unexpected! There’s also always challenges that come with printing, physical materials… but what I honestly think is most challenging is less about whether it’s a physical product but more if it’s a commercial consumer good and what expectations we have for that product.
Sometimes doing consumer packaging can feel limiting because there are decisions that are just made for you. For example, if you are making something organic and it needs to read fast and true on the shelves, the brand colors will be green or oatmeal colored. That’s a design choice already made for us because it calls back our relationship of those colors to earth!
Image via OTHER Studio.
But, with Peekskill we get away with hyper creativity! Partially because they have much more creative freedom over their products since they are sold within the brew pub partially because the beer scene is already one that embraces art and creativity. What we did have to do though, is design this packaging that didn’t deviate too far from Peekskill’s original branding which we did not design. We had experimented with more playful type, not as art, but on the actual label. Although fun, was not very on-brand for them. So, there was a bit of a learning curve there in finding how far we could push and pull the brand but with the intent of expanding on and leveling up the brand.
MM: When it comes to alcoholic beverages in particular, how did you plan your artwork knowing you’d have to include a specific information, like government regulations and warnings?
ET: We created the labels to be a template where all the key information exists on a flat color band that wraps around the can. The artwork or pattern is free to change behind that band with each new beer introduction.
MM: I see, and what are some of the most challenging aspects of this project?
ET: Sometimes reinventing the art with each beer can feel almost like trying to make a mark on a blank sketchbook page. You want each beer to be even better and cooler than the last, all the pressure builds up! But then you start diving into it, and you realize it’s just an insane amount of fun to be designing graphics for a brewery and that’s the best job.
Image via OTHER Studio.
MM: It is certainly a fun client to have. How do you approach the design of each can. Did you have an overall theme in mind, or do you let each can take on its own look?
ET: We will receive a name, usually from Keith Berardi who is the owner of Peekskill Brewery. And their names have always been super solid, very creative, and had stories tied to them. Whether it’s based on the character of the beer or maybe a special ingredient, Keith always provides us with a little bite of something to go off of that gives the name context.
Then, we’ll go and create moodboards to describe a visual concept we have. There are a few beers that are Peekskill staples. Those fundamental beers are more of a standardized can with either flat color or very slight, non-disruptive patterning. We really get to go wild on the special beers. For example, Amazeballs design has been well received and it’s definitely got an ethereal color scheme and more abstract, surreal graphic pattern.
Image via OTHER Studio.
MM: What are the tools you use when working on one of these projects?
ET: I constantly have open and live inside Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop. I just started teaching myself After Effects (wish me luck!). Suitcase Fusion manages my fonts. I use TextEdit or Sticky Notes to make my personal to-do lists (haha yikes!). I also email myself OFTEN. Is that weird? To Eileen, Love Eileen.
Image via OTHER Studio.
MM: How do you tackle color schemes and layout knowing that your work will appear on an aluminum product?
ET: In most cases, the label color is opaque and wraps most of the can, so we don’t have much issue. Sometimes, we embrace the aluminum! It depends on how Peekskill chooses their label printing method.
Image via OTHER Studio.
In the case of Unique Taste of Millions, we were able to utilize the cool metallic sheen of the aluminum can to create an added depth to the artwork. We left out parts of the art uncolored so the silver could come and interact with the psychedelic label design.
MM: That’s such a fine little detail. What is your workflow in terms of design and creating a final label like that?
ET: I have to finalize designs for print on a dieline which is essentially the labels’ template that directs me to where the label will be cut, safe areas for art, sizing, etc. I outline all my fonts, double check my layers, the colorspace, and package that sucker up for delivery. At that point, I’ve got enough to pass on for 3D rendering.
Image via OTHER Studio.
MM: That’s the perfect segue. Anything you’d like to add before I let Chad fill in the 3D portions of this interview?
ET: Should we all go out for a beer after this? Let’s get a Mezcal shot at Lonesome Rose.
MM: I mean, I don’t want to just look at the labels. I need to know how it tastes. But it has to be good if it was featured in TIME Magazine’s special beer edition. What’s it like knowing that one of your cans was specifically featured for the artwork?
ET: It’s an honor to see our can design next to some other great beers mentioned in that book. We work hard on each can art to make something unique, that’ll stand out, but also make Peekskill feel their hard work is well and accurately represented. So, it’s awesome to know the Time Magazine is giving some love to Peekskill’s great beer and taste in design!
Creating 3D Renders with Cinema 4D and Redshift
Image via OTHER Studio.
MM: Now Chad, can you tell us how you take Eileen’s artwork and bring it to life in 3D?
Chad Ashley: It pretty much starts when she sends me all the project files for me to create a texture map. I’ll take her Illustrator label file and then break it down into the layers I will need. For example, for the most recent Super Stario can, I first removed all the government warning and unnecessary text, then made sure I had the logo, label, and artwork separated.
Image via Chad Ashley.
I was also fortunate enough to get a can from the client for reference, so I took a photo of the can with a color checker card to accurately get the proper colors. Then it comes down to finding all the little imperfections from printing to help make a more realistic render. In Photoshop I’ll add some Gaussian blur to the text, some noise and grain to the colors, and other little details like that. I’ll also create a bump map to help define certain features you would see in the real can to help sell the authenticity of the 3D render.
MM: It’s always the slightest imperfections that really sell a look. That and setting the right mood with the lighting.
CA: Exactly. Once I have my texture map ready, then it’s all about lighting and getting the right look in C4D.
Image via Chad Ashley.
MM: How did you light this project?
CA: So this project was done in Redshift, and I primarily used RS lights. I also experimented with some HDRI using HDRI Link.
MM: Interesting, so you didn’t use Light Kit Pro 3?
CA: It didn’t exist yet! Keep in mind, we were still developing Light Kit Pro 3 when I was working on this project. So this was done primarily with Redshift’s lights, with the area light being my go-to for this particular project.
MM: How do you go about creating a mood for the lighting?
CA: I use reference photos a lot. A mix of photography and other renders of cans. When I find something I like, I save it to a moodboard, and then when it comes time to create the look, I’ll use PureRef to keep those reference photos handy. I’ve talked about PureRef before, so anyone reading may want to check out that PureRef post.
Image via Chad Ashley.
I’ll create a few different looks, and the ones I like the most will get sent off for client review. Then it’s all about fine tuning the look to what the client wants.
MM: Anything else you’d like to share about this project?
CA: Yeah, I actually recorded my entire process of creating the Super Stario cans. I wanted to create some kind of training that explains my whole process and workflow. I talk about working with clients, tools I use, and some other tips and tricks throughout the whole process.
We’ve included the entire process in the Greyscalegorilla Guide to Redshift. I think this part by itself is just over 10 hours of training. I walk through Photoshop, C4D, Redshift, and comping in Fusion. There are even parts with some X-Particles training and creating an animation the client used on Instagram.
MM: Can’t wait to check that out. Now Chad, everyone here knows all about you. Eileen, where can our readers find out more about you and your work?
ET: Is this where I do a plug? OTHER Studio can be found on the world wide web at other-studio.com. But, we honestly update our instagram (@_otherstudio) far more regularly. We’re also on Facebook, Dribbble, and Behance.
I have a personal art portfolio as well. This is my illustration, custom type, and pattern work: eileentjan.com.
The post Cheers! Designing Beer Can Labels and Product Renders as Seen in TIME appeared first on Greyscalegorilla.
Nov
27
MPC created an enchanting animated CG aura for ‘The Nutcracker and the Four Realms’
Posted in: AnimationDisney’s The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is a live-action adaptation of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s 1816 novel The Nutcracker and the Mouse King and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker which has hit the theatres recently and made an amazing impact on the VFX front.
The story revolves around a young girl named Clara, finding a Nutcracker doll amongst family gifts and was charged by her parents to take special care of it. In the movie, the only aim that Clara has is to find the key that will unlock a box that holds a priceless gift from her late mother.
Now here is the catch, when a golden thread, presented to her at godfather Drosselmeyer’s annual holiday party, it led her to the coveted key-which promptly disappeared into a strange and mysterious parallel world.
There, Clara encountered with a soldier named Phillip, a gang of mice and the regents who preside over three Realms- Land of Snowflakes, Land of Flowers, and Land of Sweets. Clara and Phillip bravely crosses the ominous Fourth Realm, home to the tyrant Mother Ginger, to retrieve Clara’s key and brings back harmony to the unstable world. Unlike any other fairy tale, it has an enigmatic charisma which was driven by an adventure that was compelling, exciting, and full of equal parts action and heart.
Overall, the movie was lead by VFX supervisor Max Wood and MPC VFX supervisor Richard Clegg along with the artists at MPC, who have crafted more than 1000 shots for the movie.
The scope of the work was wide-ranging, from CG environments including palaces, forests and rivers, to large-scale FX work and extensive digital character builds and animation.
Here is the deeper insight into the VFX front of the movie:
- For creating the Four Realms of the Nutcracker was a huge visual effects task for the team. MPC team created 101 CG assets in total, broken down into several distinct areas: the beautiful, majestic Russian influenced Palace, realms of snow, flowers, and sweets. For the Fourth Realm, MPC’s team built polichinelle clowns, an army of tin soldiers, a giant Mother Ginger mechanical puppet, the mice, the Mouse King, numerous environments and other animals.
- Production Designer Guy Hendrix Dyas and the production art department produced stunning concept art for The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. While the designs were fantastical, there was a strong focus on realism by ensuring real world scale to the environments. For example, the waterfalls had a realistic drop and the mountains were an appropriate height. The world, which needed to be visible from different angles and distances throughout the film, was fully built in CG and rendered, rather than relying on digital matte paintings.
- Then the Mouse King character was one of the most unique characters in the film and was the most complex in terms of development. To create this nine foot creature, formed from thousands of mice, MPC’s team had to find the right balance between creating believable physical crowd simulations of the vast quantity of mice and allowed the base shape and structure of the Mouse King to be directable.
- The Mother Ginger marionette was a giant puppet, designed by the art department to be a menacing 40 feet tall and 30 feet wide, with a circus tent for a skirt. In several shots, there was a huge practical Mother Ginger puppet skirt, torso and head, but for most scenes, she was a full CG character, built to perfectly emulate the practical build used while shooting. For shots where the puppet was practical, she was enhanced with CG steam, arms and mouth.
The most complex challenge was designing her mechanics to work for a battle scene where she was attacked by an enormous army of seven foot-tall tin soldiers that swarm around her.In this scene, she uprooted the trees and used them as clubs to beat down the soldiers in an attempt to escape. MPC’s artists animated the army of tin soldiers to climb on top of each other to form a pyramid that raised them up to her height. The complexity of making the climbing and interacting soldiers was made all the more difficult by the cloth simulations that needed to craft, as they push against the canvas of her tented lower body.
- Finally, one of the exceptional characters was the Mouserinks- the small, furry, hero mouse of the story. Mouserinks was the leader of the Mouse King’s army, but also Mother Ginger’s trusted sidekick. MPC’s character lab artists had to find the right balance between anthropomorphism and natural mouse behaviours in his performance to maintain his cute appearance for the duration of the film.
There are a lot of controversies aroused with the launch of the movie among fans but it has reigned over everything as it was visually stunning. At the VFX front, MPC indeed created an enchanting aura on the screen which was pleasing and enchanting to watch.
The post MPC created an enchanting animated CG aura for ‘The Nutcracker and the Four Realms’ appeared first on AnimationXpress.
Nov
26
Have you been on the lookout for someone who might allow you to currently writing a dissertation? Does one discover that it’s too difficult as it includes with writing a dissertation newspaper without the assistance or mentorship? These will be the issues every university student encounter throughout their instructional writing livelihood notably if he or she’s entered within the past session of their academic livelihood. Just before you begin creating your newspaper, do not forget you have to require a mentor or supervisor who might aid you while in the practice of creating.
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Nov
26
The 20th edition of DigiCon6 Asia recently concluded in Tokyo, Japan. With a diverse platter of entries from 12 Asian countries, the platform provided a peek into the creative talents from around the continent.
The event also treated the attendees to an Inter BEE, a show for audio, video and communications, Inter BEE has established itself as an international exhibition showcasing top-level domestic and overseas broadcast, video, audio and lighting equipment as well as peripheral applications and solutions all under one roof.
The TBS booth at the confluence had an interesting set of showcases for the audience, including a sharp VR offering. The event also played host to an insightful chat session with Polygon Pictures CEO Shuzo Shiota.
Following the day of screening of all the regional gold winning shorts, the grand event took place at the TBS headquarters at Akasaka, Tokyo. Donning their country’s more traditional attires, members of all participating countries gathered at the venue.
An enticing performance interspersing light and dance greeted the packed auditorium. The initial set of awards were given under various categories including Innovative Art, Best Technique, Asian Perspective, Rising Star, Audience Choice, Special Mention, Next Generation and Special Jury.
In a first, the India gold for Digicon 6 Awards was awarded the grand prize. With 12 countries like Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Sri Lanka participating in the festival, termed as Asia’s Supreme Short Film Contest, Death of a Father by Somnath Pal received the most coveted accolade, grand prize of the festival.
Says DigiCon6 organiser from India R.K. Chand, “It is a proud moment to have Somnath’s film as the first Indian short to have won the prestigious Grand Jury Prize after 20 years of TBS Digicon6. Death of a Father is a fabulous film with a great technique and story and we are glad that it could impress the Jury in Tokyo. As the Indian organiser of Digicon6, it makes us happy at CGTantra to have supported Indian short film makers to experience this glory after years of efforts. This should surely motivate the indie and short-film makers across India to make more films in the coming years to help evolve the Community further.”
Pal’s film was lauded by the jury and audience alike, post the award ceremony. He took home the bragging rights, the gold trophy, a cheque of 500,000 Yen and other goodies.
The closing party paved way for everyone to network over scrumptious food and beverages.
The 20th edition of DigiCon6 was an absolute success, bringing together and acknowledging talent from a plethora of Asian countries. We hope it evolves into an even bigger platform for creators across the continent, and more countries can become a part of it in the future.
The complete list of regional and main event’s winners can be found on the website of TBS DigiCon6, along with the films.
The post 20th DigiCon6 calls curtains on a successful edition appeared first on AnimationXpress.
Nov
26
Disney has enough reasons to celebrate! The teaser trailer for the new live-action/CGI The Lion King has received record breaking 224.6 million global views within 24 hours of it going live.
Disney shared the good news on Instagram and thanked everyone for watching the trailer. With these views, the The Lion King has become the second most viewed trailer from any studio in that time frame.
The eagerly awaited remake of the beloved animated classic is helmed by Jon Favreau, who also directed the live-action/CGI remake of The Jungle Book. The movie also has a stellar voice cast with James Earl Jones returning as Mufasa.
Disney has few other remakes in the pipeline for 2019, including Tim Burton’s Dumbo and director Charlie Bean’s Lady and the Tramp which will likely help to launch Disney’s new streaming service Disney+, later in the year.
The Lion King is slated to hit the screens on 19 July 2019.
The post ‘The Lion King’ teaser trailer receives record breaking views within 24 hours! appeared first on AnimationXpress.
Nov
26
Lately it was revealed that Wonder Woman has a brother who had been raised far out of the spotlight, living a quiet life of fishing and simple pleasures until he learns about his extraordinary powers.
But in the 59th edition of Wonder Woman, another brother, Ares came tête-à-tête with our Amazonian princess. Ares might have been previously known for his villainy in the DC’s universe but Wonder Woman comics seems to have revived the character in heroic shades.
The story unfolds in Ares’ true motivations being brought into question, chained up as a criminal, deep in the island of Themyscira where he has spent more than a few centuries following his defeat at the hands of the Amazons. He orders a fellow prisoner to kill him so that he could be reborn free of the misdeeds of his past that he feels guilty of. Now that he’s eager to return to the kinswoman, it seems he truly has learned the mistakes of his ways.
The Just War part two! It’s true, Ares has been reborn on Earth—but has he changed for the better? Of all the role models in the world, he seems to have chosen…Wonder Woman?! Diana and Steve Trevor better watch their backs, because Ares isn’t the only creature of myth to find his way to Man’s World…and he’s not the only resurrected Olympian either!
The Greek mythology fans out there might cock a snook at the idea of Ares being resurged as a just God, and a champion of the vulnerable, since in the Olympian hierarchy, he is known for being the deity of bloodlust and battlefield performance rather than larger philosophical crusades. We’ll need to see the rest of the issue before deciding how benevolent and magnanimous this new Ares really is, and whether his kinswoman Diana can see him as a friend.
Wonder Woman #59 will go on shelves on 28 November 2018.
The post Super villain Ares turns a hero in ‘Wonder Woman’ comics? appeared first on AnimationXpress.
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