Hasta La Motion!

Lamput is having a great time! The hilarious Indian slapstick chase comedy has lately added another feather to its cap! Lamput was the only animated Indian IP to be invited to the Annecy International Animated Film Festival that happened between 10 to 15 June.

Produced by Vaibhav Studios and created/co-directed by the studios’ founder Vaibhav Kumaresh, Lamput has a special place in non-dialogue, slapstick chase animation in India and across the globe. Lamput is a gooey orange substance that escaped from a secret laboratory. Two scientists, Specs Doc and Skinny Doc, are trying their best to catch him. But Lamput, always a master of disguise, he escapes from right under their noses.

Excited being invited to Annecy, Kumaresh exclaimed, “We were obviously thrilled. It was such an honour to be invited to the Annecy Animation Festival and for Lamput to be featured as one of the top global shows alongside international Cartoon Network hits like The Amazing World of Gumball.”

Leslie Lee

This news followed after Cartoon Network approved season three of the series, which will run internationally on the channel in Asia Pacific and Latin America, and on Boomerang in EMEA. The new season will comprise a mixture of 21×5’ and 21×2’ episodes, and will roll out from early 2020. Cartoon Network, POGO and Boomerang Asia Pacific head Leslie Lee said in a chat, “The global response to Lamput has been astonishing, and being invited to participate at Annecy was a real honour. The series has been huge on both our TV channels and our digital services in India. The feedback has also been phenomenal in almost every other corner of the world, from Latin America to Europe, to Asia Pacific. It may be a show born in Mumbai, but it’s shown it has got real legs (albeit orange and gooey!) and travels extremely well.”

Lamput has a devoted fan base. On YouTube, its clips have amassed 300 million views, as well as an additional 250 million views on Cartoon Network, POGO and the Cartoon Network Watch and Play app in Asia Pacific. It has also scored several awards including the 2018 Asian Academy Creative Awards for Best 2D Animation and the Best Animated FICCI Frames Awards in 2017 and 2018.

Talking about what has been the key to Lamput’s success, Lee revealed to AnimationXpress, “At its heart, Lamput is simple slapstick comedy at its very best. You cannot fail to laugh at this show. Its simplicity is probably what appeals most to viewers. It’s a real challenge for Vaibhav to conceive and draw a joke in such a small amount of time of 15 second micro-shorts.”

Looking back at the journey that culminated into a lot of appreciation from different corners of the world, Kumaresh said that he didn’t expect such an overwhelming response for Lamput. “We were busy having fun creating it and enjoying the heartening reactions by the audience. It’s been really hard work for the team, but it’s been immense fun. We have recently been creating some of our best Lamput shorts to date. The basic seed was a strong urge to do something involving ‘shape morphs’. I’d been wanting to do something like that for a long time. During my spare time, I worked on this wishlist and developed a basic premise, and then eventually a pitch for the show,” said he.

The animation style of Lamput is very different and fresh. Some really brilliant artists have worked tirelessly on Lamput. The core team includes animation filmmaker and co-director Anand Babu who brings his unique sense of humour, design, storytelling and animation to the project. Ganesh Kotale is is responsible for the beautiful hand-painted background art. Roto Shah lends his voice, and coordinates the sound and music for the show. Every member at Vaibhav Studios contributes with unique story ideas which are nurtured and developed into a workable plot. The production process that involves clean-up, inking, in-betweens and compositing is outsourced to Inspidea, an animation studio based in Malaysia.

Vaibhav Kumeresh on Annecy Panel

Kumaresh added, “The most important component in Lamput is the visual script. Being a non-dialogue show, it relies heavily on the plot and its visual narration. It  includes a lot of homework, in the form of creating doodles, oral narrations, deciding on acting choices, writing notes and more doodles goes into arriving at a strong animatic which is the blueprint of the film. Lamput is animated the traditional ‘drawn’ way – with keys and in-betweens and with hand-painted backgrounds. The finished video edit then goes into sound and music design, and is finally mastered for broadcast.”

Annecy had definitely been an important stepping stone for Lamput before it embarks on another season with more fun and quirk! “Annecy was beautiful as always. This was my fourth visit to the festival. My first trip was in 2000 when my graduation film was selected for the competition so Annecy is very nostalgic for me. Only that, being on the panel as a speaker this time i was on the other side of the stage! It was a packed house for the Ingredients of Comedy panel session with attendees even standing at the back of the hall to watch the show. All the presentations were very well received by the audience. Personally it was interesting to see how each creator approached the humor on their respective shows. We got to meet quite a few Lamput fans post the session and that was so heartening!,” concluded Kumaresh.

The post It was such an honour to be invited to the Annecy Animation Festival and for ‘Lamput’” : Vaibhav Kumaresh appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Go under the hood in this breakdown on using Cinema 4D to design a Cossie V2 rally car for driver Ken Block.

Designer/Director Ash Thorp is well known for the visual effects and prop designs he creates for feature films, like Ghost in the Shell and Assassin’s Creed. But he’s also really into designing CGI cars, like the ’64 Ford Fairlane Z and the Hellion, which are artfully featured along with several others in the Auto section of his website.

Thorp considers car design a hobby, but he admits that he was hoping that professional rally driver Ken Block might one day see his cars and want to work with him. He didn’t. But as luck would have it, a friend introduced the two of them and Block did ask Thorp to collaborate on the design of his newest rally car, a ‘90s Ford Escort Cosworth known as Cossie V2.

Using Cinema 4D, Octane and Redshift, Thorp spent nearly four months working on and off with Block and others from Block’s racing company, Hoonigan.

Working closely with 3D designer and animator, Billy Chitkin, Ash Thorp created final 3D renders of the Cossie V2 that included so much detail, some people thought the car was real.

Thorp says getting to work with Block on the Cossie V2 was “a dream come true” for a lot of reasons, particularly the opportunity for something made in CGI to become a drivable rally car. “Our big inspiration was Ken’s current car,” Thorp explains. “It’s extremely aerodynamic and it was really interesting to work on this and know the whole time that whatever we did, the car had to function well because Ken was going to race it.”

In interviews, podcasts and on stage at events, Thorp frequently shares tips and offers tutorials to artists at every stage in their careers.

Here are his answers to a few more questions about this unusual project.

Meleah Maynard: How did you get into designing cars?

Ash Thorp: I built a lot of Star Wars models and stuff when I was a kid. And then my brother got me into cars when I was a teenager. They’re the perfect merger of science, technology, art and form and function. Only now I do everything in CGI so the possibilities are limitless, and I don’t have to smell like glue all the time. The Ford Fairlane on my site is one of my favorites. It was also fun turning that old Volvo 240GL into the Volvo Z because I got to flex my imagination making a boring grocery-getting car into the most savage Volvo ever.

If Thorp owned a Ford Fairlane, it would look like his ’64 Fairlane Z.

The Volvo Z. Nobody’s going to the grocery store in this car.

MM: Describe a little bit about how this collaboration worked?

AT: After Ken and I were introduced, we started emailing about what to do. He said he was thinking of doing something with this old Ford Cosworth, and would I like to do something with the design on that. Of course I said, ‘absolutely!’ Ken would send me images of the car, and then I would start working in C4D doing what I call the clay renders. They were really rough, just early passes to start.

I wanted to show Ken the dimensions and proportions of the car, and I tried to add in a lot of small details starting from the front and moving toward the back. After I got that far, I got really busy with some other projects so I asked my friend Billy Chitkin to help out. I’m not that great of a poly modeler, but he’s a great 3D designer and he took my ideas and everything from Ken and really brought things to the next level.

Early in the process, clay renders made in Cinema 4D served as thumbnail sketches for the Cossie V2.

MM: How did knowing this car would be real make you think differently creatively?

AT: I’ve owned about 20 cars, and I’ve worked on them all. So I know a lot about cars and how everything needs to be connected. I would get specs from Ken’s lead team manager about things like exactly how the wheels and hood scoops had to be. I knew I couldn’t get too crazy with adding things to the car. But we were able to break some rules as long as there was a good compromise between aesthetics and function.

There were a lot of subtle things to think about. We widened the car a little bit, and I made sure the exhaust was far enough back that Ken wouldn’t burn himself when he got in and out. We generated a lot of design frames for the team. I love that part of the process because the whole team gets to explore the creative direction.

Ken Block is very particular when it comes to cars. In all, Thorp thinks the team did about 16 passes before the final models were approved.

MM: What was the process for doing the paint and sticker design?

AT: That’s called a livery, and it was designed by Troy Lee. The various sponsors and advertisers behind Ken’s racing team pay to be featured on different spots on the car. I suggested that we see the livery on the car in 3D, so we found a way to do that. It was kind of weird, and I might do it differently if I were doing it again.

Ken Block knew precisely what he wanted in a rally car. And after many iterations, Thorp and his team created a Cossie that Block loves.

Once the model was done, I rendered it in flat black so we could work on lighting and texturing first. Leo Esteves, who used to be a student of mine and now we collaborate on things together a lot, handled the process of making a UV. It was a really involved job using Cinema and Photoshop to lay out vector assets so they would all align in C4D via UV. It took a lot of time to get it to look perfect. I think there were more than 40 items on the car that had to line up.

MM: What would you say to other artists who would like to work on their dream jobs?

AT: I think the key is to try to manifest things. Don’t pigeonhole yourself. And always be learning new things. If I hadn’t been so persistent and proactive, this would probably still be a bucket list item for me. But I’d already made lots of cars on my own time, so when I had the chance to talk with Ken, he was like ‘this is crazy! Are they real?’ So I had already earned his trust. I say, have fun, reach out to your heroes, make things happen and see where that takes you. You can’t be afraid to fail.

Credits:
Client: Ken Block and Hoonigan Industries
Designer and CGI Artist: Ash Thorp
CGI Artist and Modeler: Billy Chitkin
CGI Artist: Les Machines

Meleah Maynard is a writer and editor in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Want more like this? Check out these interviews.

• Ash Thorp on Creating a Cyberpunk Western for NIKE
• Assembling Avengers: Endgame User Interfaces and Holograms with C4D
• Ash Thorp’s Stunning Tribute to AKIRA

The post Interview: Ash Thorp on Designing a Pro Driver’s Ford Rally Car in C4D appeared first on Greyscalegorilla.

The SIGGRAPH 2019 Production Sessions program reveals the lineup of behind-the-scenes looks at the making of the year’s biggest productions in film, streaming, cable, games, and VR. Offering exclusive access to the best minds in visual effects (VFX), Production Sessions will be held throughout the conference week, 28 July to 1 August, at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
With 11 total sessions, attendees can expect to hear from creators who worked on award-winning studio blockbusters, buzzworthy streaming and cable series, and out-of-this-world games and VR productions, including a look at how TIME, Felix & Paul Studios, and NASA filmed VR experience Space Explorers in microgravity on the International Space Station.

“Every year, SIGGRAPH Production Sessions leave participants feeling inspired, energized, and ready to push new boundaries. As the computer graphics industry evolves and continues to reinvent itself, old methods have faded in favor of an environment of openness, blurred boundary lines, and unparalleled depth of creative collaboration among studios around the world. I think our 2019 programming reflects this modern momentum, and I’m so excited for all of our featured creators to share their stories. Choosing less than a dozen was tough, but I think we have excellent representation of the current breadth of graphics across film, television, VR, and games,”  said SIGGRAPH 2019 production sessions Chair Derrick Nau.

In addition to sessions on Toy Story 4, Game of Thrones, First Man, highlights include:

Swing Into Another Dimension: The Making of  Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
This production session will explore the art and innovation behind the creation of the Academy Award-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The filmmaking team behind the first-ever animated Spider-Man feature film took significant risks to develop an all-new visual style inspired by the graphics look of comic books. The hand of the artist is visible in every frame, including misalignments and bleeding colours, imperfections rarely seen in CG animation.

Creating the Immersive World of BioWare’s Anthem
The savage world of Anthem is volatile, lush, expansive, and full of unexpected characters. Bringing these aspects to life in a real-time, interactive environment presented a wealth of problems for BioWare’s technical artists and rendering engineers. This retrospective panel will highlight the team’s work, alongside reflections on innovation and the successes and challenges of creating a new IP. Full description.

The VFX of Netflix Series
From the tragic tales of orphans to a joint force of super siblings to sinister forces threatening 1980s Indiana, the VFX teams on Netflix series have delivered some of the year’s most astounding visuals. We’ve queued three of them up for bingeing en masse. Join creatives behind A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Umbrella Academy and Stranger Things as they present the work, techniques, and passion that brought these worlds and characters into being. Full description.

The making of Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame
The fourth installment in the Avengers saga is the culmination of 22 interconnected films and has drawn audiences to witness the turning point of this epic journey. Featuring SIGGRAPH 2019 Keynote Speaker Victoria Alonso, join Marvel Studios, Digital Domain, ILM, and Weta Digital as they discuss how the most diverse collection of heroes, environments, and visual effects were assembled into this ultimate, climactic final chapter.

Space Explorers: Life in Orbit – Filming VR in Microgravity
Join Felix & Paul Studios, along with collaborators from NASA and the ISS National Lab, as they share insights from one of the most ambitious VR projects ever undertaken. In this session, the team will discuss the background of how this partnership came to be, before diving into the technical challenges of capturing cinematic virtual reality on the ISS.

For the third year in a row, the program will also offer the Production Gallery daily during the conference week. A museum-style showcase, the gallery features costumes, artwork, props, and more, allowing participants the chance to see the work of industry artists and craftspeople up close. Included in this year’s showcase are memorabilia from Pixar Animation Studios, Netflix, Felix & Paul Studios, DreamWorks Animation, and some very special content from Marvel Studios.

Productions Sessions are open to conference participants with Select Conference, Full Conference, or Full Conference Platinum registrations. The Production Gallery can be accessed with an Experiences badge and above.

The post Production sessions at SIGGRAPH 2019 to present exclusive making of look at VFX for film, streaming, games, and VR appeared first on AnimationXpress.

Cosmos-Maya’s animated series Selfie with Bajrangi which finds a contemporary, child version of the Indian God Hanuman, has penetrated households and become quite popular.

Latest BARC data indicates that Cosmos-Maya’s buddy comedy Selfie With Bajrangi, which airs daily on Disney’s Hungama TV is a hit with children and parents alike. The show tops the charts among all the shows in Kids Category (Local + International, Animation + Live Action) on basis average impressions (Week 16, 2018 to Week 23, 2019).

After two successful runs in summer and Diwali last year, the recently launched third run, comprising brand new episodes of the second season of the show, has also garnered high ratings. Disney is excited with the consistent numbers and kids may have a chance to get more of Bajrangi. Cosmos-Maya is planning 10 TV Films and a theatrical film on the IP.

Cosmos-Maya CEO Anish Mehta said, “Selfie With Bajrangi has just exploded. Programming of the show was just as important as the creative aspect and I’ll take this opportunity to thank team Disney. We are now our own competitors. Selfie With Bajrangi is everything Motu Patlu is not. L&M is the next logical step with this proven and consistent success.  Motu Patlu’s foray into consumer products began two years after its launch. Selfie With Bajrangi has taken lesser time in establishing itself as a highly relatable brand.”

Bajrangi’s admiration can be attributed to his ability to speak to viewers in the universal language of relatability. The secret sauce is familiarity with novelty. It is set on a quintessential Indian family who all viewers can relate with. The protagonist Ankush’s life changes when he meets Bajrangi, the nine-year-old child version of the Indian God, who no one but he can see.

The show is modeled on kids’ day to day lives and beautifully encapsulates the nuances of Indian culture in an entertaining format. Bajrangi helps his buddy Ankush with his day to day problems.

Cosmos-Maya Development & Current Projects SVP and creator of Selfie With Bajrangi Dheeraj Berry added, “With Selfie With Bajrangi, we ticked all the boxes pertaining to Indian entertainment. There is the beloved Hanuman, a quintessential Indian family, and mild antagonists. Basically, it is a very feel good show that the entire family can enjoy. Thanks to Disney for helping us build this brand with their innovative programming strategies.”

Selfie With Bajrangi is another Cosmos-Maya IP after Motu Patlu to stay on top of the ratings chart for such a long period. The show’s success over the last year has helped it cross the critical juncture of being just a fad.

The post Cosmos-Maya has big plans for ‘Selfie With Bajrangi’ appeared first on AnimationXpress.

VFX and animation outfit Double Negative (DNEG) has announced the expansion of it’s animation arm across the North America and the UK after a series of strategic appointments.

Emile Ghorayeb joins DNEG as the head of animation in London. He was previously animation supervisor for Weta Digital on films including Alita: Battle Angel and War for the Planet of the Apes, for which he won an Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in a Live Action Production, with 20 years of experience under his belt as an animator across film, TV, games and feature animation.

Also joining the team in London is VFX and creature animation specialist, Keith Roberts, who will serve as an animation director, having previously undertaken projects such as Avengers: Infinity War, Captain America: Civil War and Ant-Man among many others.

Spencer Cook also recently joined the VFX and animation team in Montréal, who previously worked in the animation department of Sony Pictures Imageworks for 14 years.

DNEG’s global head of animation Robyn Luckham said: “It’s a hugely exciting time for the VFX animation team here at DNEG, and I am particularly pleased to announce the appointments of Emile and Keith in London, and Spencer in Montréal. Their decades of experience in VFX will be of huge benefit to the team as we continue to grow, taking on bigger and more challenging projects.

“Aaron’s promotion is fully deserved and is testament to his hard work and dedication. He is an exceptional Animation Director who exudes positive energy and enthusiasm, and his contribution to the team over the last three years has been immense. Together, we are building an unbelievable force of VFX creatives who are all capable of driving DNEG’s ambition to become the leading studio in creature and character animation globally.”

The post Double Negative promotes Aaron Gilman as the head of animation in Vancouver studios in a series of strategic appointments appeared first on AnimationXpress.