Project Review: 3D Neon Logo for Key Art for 'The House' 2017

The Neon tubes and clips were ultimately used for the final Key Art for The House 2017

The full render with the back tin plate[ removed for final]

Here is the base Quad Mesh for the 3D Logo. Note the reflection sphere behind the logo, to add details to both the glass objects , as well as the metal clips. 

 Early on I did an alternate with broken glass tubes and dented and gritty back tin.

If requested by the client I can provide an ambient/dirt pass to overlay the color pass to accentuate edges and intersections to add some light grit to the render.

A Close Up shot of the full 5K finish.

 A Color render at a low angle of the 3D Neon Sign I made for The House.

 The Quad Sub-D build with subdivision removed to see the base objects.

Close up details on the 3D Neon Sign design and build.

This Quad Mesh shot shows the inner glow object inside the outer glass tube, as well as the build for the retaining clips.

 This is a Distance Based 3D Mask, or Z-Depth pass I include so the team can do distance based editing on a pixel by pixel basis.

This first Color-Picker Mask I rendered out isolates the inner glow inside of the Neon Tubes, this is SMART 3D. 

This second Color-Picker Mask I rendered out isolates the outer glass of the Neon Tubes.

Here is a Wide format Key Art piece using the Neon Sign I made in 3D to assist the team at Leroy and Rose.

Project Review

3D Neon Logo for Key Art for

'The House'

2017

Client:New Line Cinema via Leroy and Rose Agency
Art Direction: Melchior Lamy
Project Date: March 2017

Back in the Spring I was asked to create a 3D Virtual Neon sign for the New Will Farrell film, The House. This is what I call a '3D-Assist', as the Posters and logo were already locked in by the client, and I was called in at Finish to help with a 3D version of the logo, as that is my expertise.

Most clients I have are limited in-house with 3D Designers and Artists, so they call me for these smaller jobs, which make up the bulk of my work.

For this one, I had to create all elements including all base vector splines, and as I have done dozens of 3D Neon signs, I have a procedure down to create them on time and on budget.

I was originally tasked with a clean version of the 3D Neon Sign, and a distressed alternate, with these delivered at a smaller size for approvals to save cost. A typical 3D Logo like this is first delivered at 1500 pixels wide to get approval for the larger final, which in this case were 5000 pixel wide final. I have rendered up to 18,000 pixels wide in the past.

When I build 3D Neon Signs now, I have some 'off the shelf' parts I have already made to reuse, like the glass clips and fasteners. I build the neon tubes themselves with two objects, an outer glass shell, that is not solid inside, but skinned with a shell command to get a thickness on the glass edges for proper reflection and refraction characteristics in the final render, as well as a second object, a glow object inside the glass at a smaller diameter representing the 'gas' inside the tube.

The final deliver is usually a multi-pass render with extra channels and masks to use, including a Z-Depth pass, and my Color-Picker layer to grab elements, include the glow inside the tube to add outer glows in post as needed by the Art Directors I deliver this too.

Neon is getting popular to use in Key Art, as I worked on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Despicable Me 3, and the Defenders all using 3D virtual Neon Signage, just in the last few months.

If you ever need a 3D-Assist, contact me for an estimate to make your logo into 3D Neon signage.

Cheers, THOM