3D Design for Environmental Graphics: Neon Signs, Marquees, Chasing Bulb, and Signage.

A sampling of the 3D Neon, Marquees and Bulb Chasing Designs I have done.[Full Size Here]

3D Design for Environmental Graphics:
Neon Signs, Marquees, Chasing Bulb, and Signage.

I have done thousands of 3D Logos for many applications from Film Posters and trailers, to designing signs for businesses and themed attractions. Today I want to highlight the ample use of Environmental Graphics as a 3D Designer, and the popularity of Neon.

I love old neon signs, the more aged the better, There is a great demand in environment design to create outdoor signage that works in themed applications from Themed Restaurants and Retail, to Them Parks. This work spills over into my bread and butter of doing 3D graphics for Entertainment, with building out a 3D signs or Marquees as a film logo itself.

Earlier this month I was part of a Silver winner for a Clio for the Standee for Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, and even though the film logo itself was a block type design, they went with pink neon for the standee.

I love building virtual Neon, I have dozens of examples of them, and I have a large set of parts to work with from clips and hardware that support the tubes, to the rivets and small insulators, down to all materials dialed in for them.

Marquees with the chasing light bulbs exposed on edges and as holding devices also are a staple in my 3D Design work. I love the look and have built out simple spherical balls for lights down to a full detailed light bulb with filament inside, a nipple bulb glass with the base insulator with mounting hardware.

Most of these images have posts in my blog here covering them in detail, so search them out using the Goggle widget search on the TOP LEFT of the menu.

If you need a bid for a Neon Sign Logo Design, contact me.

Blogger reduces the size of the image for full size go here on CG Society.

                      Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Genius Productions Film Company Logo Design

The Dark Look

The Warm Look.

The Combo Look with both the Dark Design Look and the Warm One.

The Vintage Light bulb

The Final "G' Filament inside the antique light bulb.

Genius Productions

Client: Genius Productions via The Cimarron Group.
Art Director: N/A
Project Date: Spring 2007

I did a few days of design work while at The Cimarron Group a Film Company logo for Genius Productions. The first day was limited direction on a "Rube Goldberg" mousetrap device we would coast through, so I designed a few various looks for the contraption. I started out dark and whimsical like Tim Burton's style and then went very candy and warm with red and gold. And ended up wit a blend. The direction was abandoned.

We next moved to the light bulb idea and started with an antique bulb on a chain that became the "g" in genius, as the light up filament. It was finished but I was not involved past development.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Cyan Worlds "Venalem Age"

"Ink-Bulb" after Harvesting used for living quarters in Arctic Venalem World

Entry 3rd Person view as one enters the "Venalem" Age.

Surface of water P.O.V. of Bay.

Ink Pods growing under the Ice.

A cut-Off Bulb for Harvesting.

A Cutaway of inside a "Ink-Bulb" showing use of space.

PLAN VIEW of Venalem Age.

SIDE VIEW of Venalem World.

Cyan URU: The World of Venalem

Client: Cyan Worlds Rand Miller
Creative Director: Myself
Project Date: Winter 2000

After being laid-off from Launch Media Inc. after the "Dot.Com" boom in Y2K, I was recruited to go up to beautiful Spokane WA. and work for Rand Miller at Cyan Worlds. I have a previous post with some creatures I designed as well if you seach "Project Review" tagged to the right>>>.

At Cyan as a freelance Creative Director, I was responsible for coming up with worlds from scratch as possible locations to "jump" to from within the URU online game. Usually I am handed a treatment or outline of a concept already created by a writer or producer, but at Cyan I designed the entire world myself.

Venalem as a concept was in offering a wide variety of locations to "jump" to, and we had dessert planets, planets on fire, and flooded ones. Venalem was a frozen planet where you arrive in an enclosed iceberg "bay" and must figure out what to to and where to go.

Within this world, natural giant "Pods" were used to create the special "ink" that was used to write in the books for the various worlds. The age had the pods themselves, the harvesting machines, and ink production, as well as the re-use of the hollow pods for arctic living quarters.

I was responsible for the creatures and basic back story of the "Age" or world.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: 3D Illustration Key Art-All Def Comedy Jam 2016

The first Pendant render of the 3D Logo I did for the HBO All Def Comedy Jam.

I did a second pass of an ambient occlusion render that is overlaid in the final PSD file I deliver to the in-house Art Department.

The angle view on the 3D Pendant Logo.
3D logos allow for multiple angles and views using the same asset, a distinct advantage over a 2D Logo.

The Ambient overlay showing the reflection sphere I have hidden in the render to fine tune the metal brightness on black.

This was the final pass at the stacked Comp. I put all three light effects into one comp, the 3D Neon tube, the round bulb type, and the inner volumetric glow inside the microphone head.

Here is the Second Pass render of the Ambient/Dirt shader overlay.

 I also provide a distance based mask, or a Z-Depth Pass, for these renders so focal length effects and saturation based on distance is already masked out for the Art Team that takes this and integrates the 3D Logo into the final product.

The first alt was no light effects just metals and a dark look.

I then added a volumetric light casting rays out from indie the Microphone next.

Here is the alt with the vintage round bulb marque feel to it.

Project Review

3D Illustration Key Art

All Def Comedy Jam 2016  

Client: HBO via Leroy and Rose Agency.
Art Direction: Melchior Lamy.
Project Date:October 2016.

Last Fall I worked on some 3D concepts for Key Art for the new All Def Comedy Jam 2016 for HB via the Leroy and Rose Agency out in California.

I was given two basic directions, one of a big gold pendant utilizing the circle logo provided to me by L&R, and another of a stacked black on black logo dark with some gold and light accents.

I started with the pendant concept first, as directed, and built out the 3D Logo and set up the textures and lighting. I have done many 3D Pendant logos in the past[ Goldmember, Marci-X etc.] so I utilized what was learned from those in this one as well. I did two views which is why 3D is so beneficial when the client wants alternates[ or Alt's] , since I just create another camera view, adjust lights as needed, and render a second concept based off the cost of the first.

The second direction is what took the most of my time, a stacked dark metal on dark metal logo with gold accents. Once I had the majority of the scene built, I rendered it out in various ways as seen above. The final was a comp with light bulb text, neon tubes, and a lit up microphone mesh all in one.

Though these did not finish[ make to the finals], it was a great exploration and application of technique for proof of concept.

If you need a 3D assist on a 3D Logo for your project, contact me for a quote today!

      Cheers, THOM

3D Stock Model Build Review: Art Lamp-Built and Prepared for online sales 2003.

A Stock 3D model of an Architectural Art Lamp, typical to any Drafting Table. I built this back in 2003 while at BLT Communications to sell online.

A Fully textured and rendered shot of the assembled Art Lamp to show surfacing.
 

A High level of detail was added to each part with part lines, filets and chamfers and all parts are easy to find and work with.

 A close-up Virtual Photoshoot image of the Lamp shade and attachment via some aluminum rivets.

The elbow design was taken directly from my own lamp I used while at Art Center.

 My actual Drafting Lamp was Red so I used that as a place to start with Pre-Viz.

 The Lower base clamp area with removable plastic end parts here in a polygon wireframe render.

The Rendered out base clamp on this stock 3D Art Lamp Model I built.

 Underneath the only part I embellished was the light bulb and did a bit of a vintage take with the nipple top hand-blown glass look to the light.

Rendered out with the textures on the Light bulb and two part shade.

 A back side shot on the elbow details with the c power cored and rubber scrub protectors for the square tube feed thru.

 A bit of Depth of Field [DOF ]added to this Close-UP Virtual Shot.

 A Worms -Eye view of the Geometry with the base part built as Quad that was Booleaned  traditionally.

 Rendered out in 3D fully textured with GI and some DOF.

An exploded parts view as a typical Parts Illustration of the Art Lamp.

A wireframe parts render exploded out identifying the various object sets.

3D Stock Model Build Review

Art Lamp: Built and Prepared for online sales 2003.

Client: BLT Communications for Stock 3D Model Sales.
Art Director: Myself.
Project Date: August 2003.

In '03 I was still in-house at BLT Communications running the 3D Design Department, and I was proposing to the owners that we should sell our 3D models online as stock 3D assets on sites like TurboSquid. I regularly built out highly detailed 3D Models for various projects, so this was a simple and logical way to create a revenue stream from already built objects.

I love to build as a trained Industrial Designer, and I love doing all the micro details found on standard objects. For my generation of artists we did mostly sketching rather than Computer work while training at Art Center, so the Architectural Table Lamp was standard fare for anyone who designed, so I built out this prop to use in house, and eventually sell online.

This model was never posted, as BLT did not get into online 3D model sales.

I will continue showcasing many of the stock 3D models I have from various companys I have prepared them for in future posts, so enjoy!

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: 3D Rustic Toy Story 4 Key Art Proof of Concept Main Title 3D Logos- April 2018 PART II

 

3D Rustic Toy Story 4 Key Art Proof of Concept Main Title 3D Logos-Concept #1 has Neon bulbs and a sign with all broken bulbs and just light sockets left. This was a fun design to come up with, my personal fave.

3D Rustic Toy Story 4 Key Art Proof of Concept Main Title 3D Logos- Screen Grab in Clay Shader showcasing the Geometry surface- This shows the Quad Polygon base-mesh build out for the Title treatment.

 

3D Rustic Toy Story 4 Key Art Proof of Concept Main Title 3D Logos- Screen Grab in Clay Shader showcasing the Geometry surface- This shows the Quad Polygon Sub-D [ subdivided]-mesh build out for the Title treatment.

 

 

 

 

 3D Rustic Toy Story 4 Key Art Proof of Concept Main Title 3D Logos- I like to include an Ambient / Dirt Shader pass for realistic lighting as well as geometry intersections for adding in aged details based on the forms.

 

 

 

3D Rustic Toy Story 4 Key Art Proof of Concept Main Title 3D Logos- a Z-Depth mask giving pixel information in 256 levels of grey for selections based on distance from camera. See here.

 

 

 

 3D Rustic Toy Story 4 Key Art Proof of Concept Main Title 3D Logos- I did a Neon render and light bulb render pass with Photoshop glow effects that were live and adjustable to the client.

 

 

 

3D Rustic Toy Story 4 Key Art Proof of Concept Main Title 3D Logos-The blocked by letter, number, and word Color Picker Layer for fast selection based on object groups.

3D Rustic Toy Story 4 Key Art Proof of Concept Main Title 3D Logos- The second Color Picker Layer was for the neon glow object inside the glass tubes for a double glow effect. Based on object.
 

 

 

3D Rustic Toy Story 4 Key Art Proof of Concept Main Title 3D Logos- The third Color Picker Layer for the outer neon glass selection.

 

3D Rustic Toy Story 4 Key Art Proof of Concept Main Title 3D Logos- Screen Grab in Clay Shader showcasing the Geometry surface- This is a worms eye view looking up at the Neon sign build.

 3D Rustic Toy Story 4 Key Art Proof of Concept Main Title 3D Logos- A bird's Eye down view close on the T in toy as a shaded viewport Screen Grab showing transparency with internal filaments in the bulbs and the glow object Neon tubes.

 

 

 

 3D Rustic Toy Story 4 Key Art Proof of Concept Main Title 3D Logos- Same bird's Eye down view Screen Grab in Clay Shader showcasing the Geometry surface-

 

 

 

 3D Rustic Toy Story 4 Key Art Proof of Concept Main Title 3D Logos-Shaded Screen Grab showing transparency with internal filaments in the bulbs and the glow object Neon tubes. This showcases the letter Y in Toy with empty sockets as well as bulb bases with glass insulators and busted sign components.

 

 

 

 3D Rustic Toy Story 4 Key Art Proof of Concept Main Title 3D Logos- Screen Grab in Clay Shader showcasing the letter Y in Toy as above in surface only with wireframe resolution.

 

 

 

 3D Rustic Toy Story 4 Key Art Proof of Concept Main Title 3D Logos- Concept #2 was crunchy paint with dents and rust. this was the rougher of the two

 

 

3D Rustic Toy Story 4 Key Art Proof of Concept Main Title 3D Logos-Concept #3 was a much cleaner version with just light bubbling rust on the painted tin letters.

Project Review

3D Rustic Toy Story 4 Key Art Proof of Concept Main 3D Logos

April 2018

PART II
 

Client:  PIXAR/ Walt Disney Feature Animation via Cold Open
Creative Direction:  Andrey Rubey 
Project Date:  April 2018.

     This is my second post for work that I did on Toy Story 4, and this work is for another Agency I do freelance for with Andrew Rubey at Cold Open These designs went a very different direction from a key story point in the film, of having the toys in an antique thrift shop. They wanted them to be broken rusty and aged logos. They ultimately went with shiny clean versions, so these are just proof of concept pieces.

     As a 3D Artist, doing anything for PIXAR is an honor as they were trailblazers in the field of 3D Animation which helped mainstream the technology to where it is at today as now it's considered common place.

 

     I also posted Behind the Art images with wire frames and Clay shader screen grabs as well as textured ones to show form and transparency in each. I have always loved neon signs, and to have vintage nipple bulbs as well uses many vintage sign themes in the concepts.

    With neon, I create both the exterior glass tube, that's two sided with a 3DSmax Shell modifier added to the spline to give it a glass thickness in neon signs. I also build out a second internal object spline that that represents the gas inside the tube that glows, and this is where I put the self illumination glow on so it refracts a bit through the tube glass. I also add color to the glass itself to simulate color bleed. You see above the multiple Color -Pickers I give the client to add more glow as needed, masked and ready to go.
 

    I did three main concepts, and we went to 3K for the top design they wanted to show. As proof of concept it did not finish, but it was a fun run around the block as I got to create and explore this look to such a clean and shiny logo. I have aged logos in the past many times, and you can see in a proof sheet here.

You can View PART I here done for Leroy and Rose.

 

     I am back full time doing freelance as I hunt for a full-time place to work at, so if you need a bid for a 3D Illustration or 3D Logo, or a 3D Model feel free to contact me for a quote. I am open to Hourly gig's, Work Retainers, Part-time, and Full Time opportunities [ Open to relocation ] would be best. I have worked remote since 2009, so I am ready to help you.

                                 Cheers, THOM