Project Review: ATT- U-verse "Bond Room" Digital Kitchen 2011

 Here is an early delivery comparison of my WIP[ Work In Progress] for the bond room build out for Digital Kitchen. I reference the Concept Art provided to me and shoot a Poly view and a smoothed to show the design intent.

 Here is the final Model as delivered, the foreground ended up as a practical piece so it was removed.

 Here is the base model quad view showing the build base mesh for ATT's U-verse spot.

 

 Here is a close up of the lounge area pit on the screen Left in the mid-ground for this green screen FX shot I did last summer.

 The console details went from a big screen[ see first top image] to these NASA type 60's set-ups.

 

 Here are the screen captured images from the final piece here.

 Project Review

ATT's- U-verse "Bond Room" 

Produced for Digital Kitchen 2011

Client Digital Kitchen
Art Direction David Franklin.
Project Date: June 2011.

This past summer I had a great opportunity to build out a full virtual set piece, stage and all, for a televison Spot for ATT's U-Verse for Digital Kitchen. I was tasked with the job of building out a 3D model for the in-house FX team to use in the spot.

I worked from a great Concept Art piece as seen above from John Park, to build out the various elements for the shot. I also built all of it as a quad sub-division surface model as this was to be exported into a production pipeline for C4D and Maya, so I exported my 3DSmax file as a FBX for the team.

Had a lot of fun building this out, I love to construct scenes, and to create a model of another fine artists work, it just broadens my experience because it forces you into another shape language, which is good for all of us who design for a livin'.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: M&M's World Vegas PART III

I found a Xerox of the first pass at the final capsule design for the Swirly gag at the M&M's attraction, this was the final lineart drawing submitted for manufacture.

This is a re-post, but a new image of this, as I found a better scan of it, so here is the shaded version of the above final prop I designed back in 1996 for Landmark Entertainment Group.

The final Color-key I did as a marker, chalk, and pencil sketch showing the fabrication team the colors we required for the prop design.

This concept which was deemed, "too messy" as they wanted to squirt water in arches over the guests having them land back in the unit on the other side. Problem was folks stuck their hands out and everyone get very wet, so we canned it in as seen above.

Project Review: M&M's World Vegas PART III
Swirly Design Concepts

Client: Ethel M Chocolates via The Landmark Entertainment Group.
Art Director: Michael Marquez
Date: Summer 1998

As a Designer I often design something that will be manufactured. Illustration captures an image or a look, or even a design intent, but Production Design involves Architecture, Engineering, Manufacturing and a working out in real world conditions a design inten for construction, in other words, can it be built effectively for the budget and time allotted. If not you FAIL, even a good design will fail if it cannot be built for the cost and time allotted and illustration does not have l this limitation.

So above you can see a few concepts for a swirly machine at the M&M's attraction in Las Vegas that I designed. The first sketch has a whirlpool of water int he top and a nozzle that would shoot water over the guests as the took the tour, but that was modified to the tall capsule design you see above. I included the three main Illustrations that I created for the design intent.

First a line-art 2D sketched drawing of the design goes in, if that is good to go, I do a quick shaded sketch showing form and volume. And finally, I execute the color key to show the finishes to the Creative Director, unless that is me then it goes to the client.

I have two prior posts on M&M's here for PART I and here for PART II.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Phantom 2040 PART XIX.

Each small Fractal B.I.O.T connected in a six way joint to form a molecular structure of sorts.

When the Fractals were together in the big "sand pile", they moved in tendrils and large shapes as seen in this VFX diagram for the Animators.

The Phantom 2040
The Fractal B.I.O.T.

Clients: Hearts Animation Productions.
Art Director: Myself.
Project Date: Summer 1994.

In this nineteenth part in the continuing series on the Phantom 2o4o, the Television Animated Show I was Art Director and Conceptual Design on for a few years back in the early 90's, this focus is on a very different B.I.O.T., a Nano Tech Fractal B.I.O.T.

The rage in the early 90's in CGI was the new Terminator in Terminator 2 that had just come out a year prior as the "liquid Metal" T1000, which they wanted to have that in the show.
Rather than just a straight chrome liquid B.I.O.T, we went with the little fractals that form like a pile of sand. Fractals were just seen in the destroyer in "When the Earth Stood Still", as little fractal insects, here they are building blocks to form 3d objects.

Also how do you design a blob VFX in 2D? I did a few of these storyboard design frames to show the 2D animators in Korea what the shape looked like when it formed, so rather than being a blob mass with no distinguishable form, it actually was more taffy like keeping with the "Tall and Thin" motif of Phantom, as well as reaming a bit squared off to show a better form.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Pacific Bell 1992

A Pole insulator flies to camera.

A cracking Telephone Pole done with a balsa wood miniature prop.

A wire compressing the wood in a pole.

A Large Earthquake Fault line Splits open with dirt and dust.

Exploding the Insulators.

Visual Effects Design: Practical.

Client: Pacific Bell via Design Setters.
Art Director: N/A
Project Date: Summer 1992.

Back in 1992 I was doing quite a bit of set design work for Design Setters out of Burbank CA., and I was put on a quick half day project to design some simple effects for a new television spot. Now an effect like this would more than likely be done fully as a CGI sequence, but this was 92' and a practical miniature was what was in the budget. The concept was showing telephone poles being pulled out squeezed and exploding. I don't remember the concept, just they needed to have these specific shots seen in the storyboard. The sketches were sent to various Sub-Contractors to bid the effects as a way of explaining what they needed to do.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Lincoln Continental 1995

The "Elegant" wireframe metal car grid.

The Fractal liquid VFX described.

The Female Crash Test Dummy Hostess.

The Run-Flat technology animation sequence.

VFX Design for Lincoln Continental
DQ Films:Dreamquest Images.

Client: DQ Films.
Art Director: Justin Klarenbeck
Project Date: Fall 1995.

After leaving ZEN Entertainment in Santa Monica, I went back to freelancing for a while. In the past I had done work from Design Setter in Burbank, and Dreamquest Images in Simi Valley that was absorbed by Disney and they spun off a Design firm in Santa Monica called DQ Films, and I did some Visual Effects [ VFX] design work for a car commercial.

I was tasked with designing an elegant "wireframe" or body grid, as well as create ways to show of some features of the spot. Also as this was mostly a CGI spot, I designed out the female Crash Test Dummy hostess as well.

Cheers, THOM