Project Review: The Cimarron Group-3D-Department Promotional Screens 2008

I did the animated splash screen for the Portrait-Promotional in-house HD monitors, that was re-purposed to the AV department for all our outgoing AV work.

 From selling generic 3D Models online, to iconic architecture for film, I also did 3D Architectural Visualizations, here Countrywide was highlighted.

 As a Graduate from Art Centers Transportation Design program, building 3D cars is a large part of what I did at The Cimarron Group.

 As an avid VW fan, building a 3D Herbie was a dream job. This asset was used in print and AV for the film Advertising campaign.

 3D-Logos are my 'bread-n-butter', so I created a screen to showcase some then current Images.

 I did a lot of 3D-Illustration work for the Film, Night at the Museum, this was a Project Specific Image I made for In-House Promotion.

 For our in-house Home-Entertainment Division, I did 3D-Illustration work for packaging various Star Wars Properties.

 A Project Specific Poster highlighting some of the 3D Design work I did for Superman Returns[ 2007].

Here is a Project Specific Promotional Image for the X-Men 3 Work I did.

Project Review
The Cimarron Group
3D-Department Promotional Screens 2008

Client: The Cimarron Group.
Art Direction: Thom Schillinger.
Project Date:Summer 2008.

In November 2003,I set up the 3D Design Department, in-house at The Cimarron Group, and provided 3D -Design, 3D-Illustration, and 3D-Animation services to the existing other 11 departments in-house at the Agency, and each department was asked to create some promotional images for the various HD monitors located throughout the company.

Each department was tasked with providing a set of images to display on the HD monitors that were rotated to portrait format, to emulate one of our main products,One-Sheets. My 3D Department was asked to provide specific work that the Owner wanted to showcase.

These Images provided our guests with a quick 'sketch' of what we offered via the 3D Design Department at The Cimarron Group.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Ventura Music Factory: Logo Design Development-2011.

The first pass at the 2D Logo Design Explorations Side-by-Side Black on White and vice versa.

 The adjusted finals with the new name adjusted into the design.

 A straight on shot of the final concept rendered out in 3D for the laser cut sign for the Lobby.

 This close up renders shows the basic construction proposed for the Aluminum Lucite and Neon sign concept.

 A fish-eye down shot render of the 3D Virtual representation of this Architectural sign.

 A 3D shot I did in black and white as the design was bit retro and I wanted to see it this way.

Project Review

Ventura Music Factory

Logo Design Development-2011.

Client: Alex Urban @ VMF.
Art Direction: Myself.
Project Date May 2011.

Back in 2011 I did some quick Logo Development for Alex Urban for the Ventura Music Factory, a Music Studio based out in Southern California. I had worked with Alex at the Cimarron Group years earlier so he contacted me to assist.

As with all 2D design projects, I first do the simple 2D designs in 3D vectors and put them as both a black on white, and white on black side by side to compare them, and to see what reads the best and fits the design needs of the client.

Once a direction is chosen, I develop that a bit more,and in this case the name "Ventura' was added into the DBA so I adjusted the design to fit that in.

I also did a 3D representation of the design  as it would be seen on the studio wall in the lobby, with a nice brushed aluminum sign face that would be laser cut,with a Lucite plex boxed in extrusion on back spaced away from the way to spread the light a bit more, with the internally lit thin neon tubes. All this was fastened with button head black anodized shafts into the mahogany wall surface. A few 2D renders at various views representing this were produced.

A fun little less than a day gig. 

Cheers, THOM

Project Review Virtual Photo shoot 2009 Honda Accord Launch PART II

 My lighting test of the 2009 Honda Accord Coupe done in black paint.

The Coupe is here rendered out in a lighter mist blue type of color.

A deep rich blue metallic is rendered out for this lighting shot of the Honda.

A Warm Champagne type of color was tested in the lighting model too.

A Dark Metallic Grey paint scheme in this Virtual Automotive 3D Render.

A Green-Lime metallic paint variation on the 2009 Accord Coupe.

 As a Hot Rod fan, I love candy metallics, so I did a candy tangerine color choice too.This was the base scene I used for the Mitsubishi project here.

The final was done in red and can be seen in PART I here.

 Honda had a candy root-beer color than season so I threw that on the coupe too, LOVE that color.

 A lighter grey paint scheme was done as well.

I also did a white paint job which required a lot of relighting as the white bounced the illumination quite a bit.

Project Review
Virtual Photo shoot
2009 Honda Accord Launch
PART II

Client: Goutam Mitra
Art Director: Myself
Lighting Consultant: Jerry Garns.
Project Date: Fall 2008

In Late 2008 I was tasked with helping launch the newly styled 2009 Honda Accord. Previously I had worked to pitch Honda a year earlier as well as doing 3D Illustration for the Lotus Elise account at Cimarron, and today I post the second in a series on this job.

Today I have posted some of the lighting set ups I created ahead of time for the various colors we might need for the project. Each paint color requires adjustment in lighting just as in the real world, so for example, a white car and a black one have very different lighting and intensities due to the paint color and how it reacts to the environment and lighting, and this is also true in a Virtual Photo-Shoot as well. Each scene is dialed in over a few pre-passes until a look is good to go in an acceptable time-frame for production.

I built out the various shaders and materials and rendered these out in Cebas' Final Render Product. I also used these Pre-Lit scenes for other automotive projects since once I had the set ups ready to go I simply replace the car into the scene in which the paint choice is closest in color and brightness, and render away.

You can view PART I here, and the 3D Logo work here.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Keyes Automotive Group: 3D Logo Exploration 2007

A brushed soft warm metal version for the European Division at Keyes Automotive Group from back in 2007

 A Double stacked gold 3D logo done from Keyes European.

A gold top layer in this 3D Logo with a outlined Chrome back-plate over a dark rich red color. We tried a few colored accents, but did most on black since color is a very emotional responsive choice for many clients.

 Now flipped material wise I did Soft blurred chrome over gold[ no colored background] for this pass at the 3D Logos I did in 07' for Keyes Automotive Groups Identity pitch.

 For the Mercedes Division I did Gold on gold with a soft color bleed effect.

This final was a brushed metal with a gradient applied to the material as well as lit a bit differently to get the soft blend on the face with a dramatic up-lit feel.

Project Review

Keyes Automotive Group

3D Logo Exploration 2007

Client: Keyes Automotive Group via The Cimarron Group.
Art Direction: Myself.
Project Date: January 2007.

I ran a 3D Design Department in-house at The Cimaron Group[ R.I.P.] from 2003, to late 2009, and I was put on quite a few pitches to gain new clients, and with todays posting, I cover the quick half day gig I worked on for our pitch to the The Keyes Automotive Group, one of the largest dealers in the San Fernando Valley out in Southern California.

I first created the vector file for the existing logo itself, to create this in 3D. We did two divisions of the company to showcase a few looks, The European Division, and Mercedes Benz. The idea was simple, to create 3D virtual logos that looked like automotive badge lettering that is usually in a metal and sometimes multiple plates thick found on almost every car. So, I created a few looks using various metal shaders in chrome, gold and brushed aluminum for the pitch.

I rendered out the six looks and delivered to the Corporate Advertising Division for presentation materials, where in this case they were doing a Power point presentation so digital files were all that were required, though we discus the Motion Graphics pass and what we would be doing if it was accepted the pitch did not move forward.

This was a  fun quick little gig for the Cimarron corporate adverting team, and was glad to help with a 3D logo.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Saleen-3D Logo Style Cards 2005.

For Saleen, I built out a Carbon Fiber panel with some Allen heads attached to it to compliment the 3D logo I made from their 2D version.

 A top down view on the double layered logo.

 This shot is an extreme side view looking right into the virtual lights with a bit of 'flair'-[ 15 pieces!]

 A close up on the Red Icon from their design. This was a frame for a MGFX animation pass down the font.

 A 12 Degree bend on the lens for this fish eye shot.

 A more severe 33 degree bend on this one.

 The base set up is a simple model for SALEEN.

A screen shot of the entire scene with a Rectangular light up top[ Final Render] rendered in frame to reflect in the carbon-fiber material I made.

Project Review

Saleen-3D Logo Style Cards 2005.

Client: Saleen Motors.
Direction: Myself with the Corporate Division.
Project Date: November 2005.

In 05' I was running my department of one in-house at The Cimarron Group, and my main clients were the other six divisions of the company, and I was approached by the Corporate Advertising branch to help with some style frames for a presentation they were making to Saleen Motors, famous for their super-cars as well as the conversions they do the the Ford Mustang.

I had helped them acquire the Lotus cars account a few years back with my virtual model of the ELISE before they were here in the US market, so it was a fun fit.

I built out a 3D version of their logo and built out a carbon fiber background plate that we could us for the Motion Graphics and print work we did to pitch them. 

I rendered out a series of shots as seen above and they took them to pitch the company. Unfortunately at the time they were on the verge of a restructure so we did not get to seal the deal, though I did get to create some fun style frames in the process.

A fast 3/4 to one day gig.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Fight Lab 3D Logo Exploration for THQ Game Studio 2009 PART I

The THQ Fight Lab 3D Logo had to include barbed wire and a fist int he typography solution as well.

 A 3D Logo with crossed fists and barbed wire top and bottom like this.

 I curved the extrusion as a typical car emblem has so the reflection horizon would fall where I wanted it to, and it is better for lighting than a flat surface.

 The fist would animate in for MGFX apps in this solution with the type hanging on the the sheet music barbed wires.

 A BIG fist icon with the smaller type over the holding device for THQ.

 Did an alternate with double fists and the type in the negative space.

 A spiral of ever decreasing scaled fists on each side in this version. I was inspired by this KA logo.

 The dueling fists turned out to form a "V".

 Fists as bookends with the logo inside the locked in barbed wire.

 Love the cut out in this type provided to me.

 A shot with a whole bunch of barbed wire, double fists, and a Single-point-beveled type treatment, my design, my fave.

Project Review

Fight Lab 3D Logo Exploration

for THQ Game Studio 2009

PART I

Client: THQ via Wellbrand Inc. via The Cimarron Group.
Art Direction: Goutam Mitra.
Project Date: May 2009.

        Back in May 2009 I was still in-house at The Cimarron Group[ R.I.P.], and I would bring work into the department from outside using a producer friend, Goutam Mitra a fellow ACCD ID grad whom I have had the pleasure of working with for a few decades, and he brought this 3D logo work to me from THQ.

I did 2D conceptual design work for THQ a decade earlier on the Scobby Doo Game here, so I was familiar with the game companys product and level of quality. THQ wanted to start a second division for MMA games called at the time 'Fight Lab", and I developed a series of two dozen 3D logos with some key images as directed.

It was to have a clenched fist, as well as some barbed wire or chain link for a cage fight type of feel, so off I went to develop the 3D surfaces for the Logo. You will note that there are no textures on the project as I did form studys first.

Sadly THQ went out of business and the Fight Lab name changed to RAGE anyhow, so these were not used.

In this first part, we've looked at the first half of the logos for Fight Lab, look for added parts in the days and weeks to come.

Cheers, THOM