Project Review: The fighting Temptations 2003. Key Art 3D Illustration of Handcuffs

 The final angle as delivered: Straight on Front view from The Fighting Temptations from back in 2003.

 A dropped camera with a lower angle emphasizing the open cuff below.

 A 3/4 side view showcasing the multi-plate design in the main cuff base.

This exploded view shows the basic build out I performed to create the prop. I built no internal gears or details, as this was not a see thru X-Ray project so I built out just the key pin that it slides onto inside, nothing else.

A Polygon render shows that many parts are just complex Pro-Booleans.

 Here is a Close up showing the recessed welds in the forged chain and the beveled teeth in the swing out ratcheted cuff arm.

Project Review

The fighting Temptations 2003

 Key Art 3D Illustration of Handcuffs

Client: Paramount Pictures Via BLT Communications.
Art Director: Ronnie Blumenberg, and Tracy Weston.
Project Date: March 2003.

I always like to revisit older projects in my body of 3D work I have done,and today I have put up a behind the art posting covering the 3D illustrations that I did for the One Sheet Key Art Presentations for the film, The Fighting Temptations, back in 2003 while I was in-house at BLT and Associates[ Now BLT Communications].

BLT understood it was faster and less expensive to have me build virtual handcuffs than to to thru the trouble of doing a Professional Photo shoot to get the asset, so they tasked me with a quick build and a few renders for the poster with a Virtual Photo shoot.

They wanted the cuffs built with one cuff swung open and I rendered it out a various angles for the comps needed. A job like this was a little over a half day, and I built this fast without a full subdivision model, though if it was today, I would now do it 100% subdivsion, but none the less they came out nice with the mini beveled plates stacked up and catching some light glints on the fun little ridges in the shots made a simple object look nice, and that is always a fun task at hand.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Pitch Black/Riddick DVD Key Art 2004.

The final shot delivered for packaging for the DVD for Riddick from back in 2004'.

A front view shot they wanted for the DVD menu comps is rendered here. I provided two alphas so they could cut out the back strap easily to put over a face as needed.

A side shot rendered with two alpha channels too, the advantage to a 3D illustration vs. a photo, they are Smart-3D masked and ready to go!

A 3/4 angles shot up front with some similar highlits on the lens.

The High Poly shot here is what level of detail was used for the finish render.

Here is a low poly base mesh shot showing the simple design build for the rubber molded frame.

Project Review

Pitch Black / Riddick

DVD Key Art 2004.

Client: via Universal Home Entertainment The Cimarron Group.
Art Direction: George Anderson.
Project Date Summer 2004.

Back in the Summer of 04' I was still running a small in-house 3D Design Department at The Cimarron Group, a Theatrical Adverting Agency in Hollywood, and for the Home Entertainment Division, I was asked to reproduce the prop from the film Riddick for the cover shots for the Key Art on the DVD and then new Blue-Ray packaging.

I was given the angle and lighting to match as well as a few screen grabs of the prop needed, this was his rubber special glasses he wore in the film.

I proceeded to build them out as a Subdivision Quad model and rendered it at a few angles as well so they could experiment a bit.

As with many daily projects this was a quick half day gig again. Fun and Fast!

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: SemoLogic-3D Logo Design Exploration 2006

  A concrete texture I built in Dark Tree as a Simbiont Procedural in 3DSmax used as a natural rock for this design pass.

 A self illuminated car-paint material was modified to glow and create the energy ball in the logo I created for the web.

 A warm version on an industrial concrete wall with a pumice procedural mixed in there too.

 A shader I modified from Rusty paint and use concrete in the paint channel[ a bit map] with procedurals for the rest.

 A lunar moon-like shader I modified to adjust the crater colors to fell like a dual layer material with a second inside peeking out thru the cracks.

 I mixed a few procedurals to create this look with pumice and scratches.

 A shot of the very simple scene. If I were to re-do this project today, I would do the objects all subdivision so I could displace the surface better as I do now on a regular basis.

Project Review

SemoLogic-3D Logo Design Exploration 2006

Client: Semo Logic via The Cimarron Group.
Art Direction: Eric Person.
Project Date: November 2006

When I was in-house at The Cimarron Group, I ran a little 3D Design Department that would meet the internal 3D needs of the various divisions in the company, and on many an occasion I worked with Eric Person up in the Online and then "Interactive division there.

I regularly did little project to be used in animations and logos for Eric,and for this client they wanted to do a full pass in 3D to see a natural rock like feel to the logos with a cinematic glow to spice up the brand. I obliged, and created this set of looks withe versions A thru F, for there review.

I use and build procedural shaders for natural looks as it is much better at dong a real 3D texture that goes thru the object so mapping is not needed. Procedural textures take longer to render as they are not 'pictures' applied to the mesh as with a regular bit-mapped [ JPG] image, but a mathematical formula using fractal design to create the algorithm to give the look a much more natural look. It is also built at render so it never pixelates as you move closer, it simply re-renders the texture higher and higher as you get closer and closer.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Night at the Museum PART III: T-Rex Head and Neck sculpt

The Final shot of the T-Rex Head and Spine I made for the first Night at The Museum advertising work back in 2006.

 I did a few alternates at a high and low angle as some comps needed a different angle and this is where 3D illustration becomes the best cost solution to the graphics needed.

I low angled shot of the head edge lit.

The base Poly as I built it ready for the subdivision to be added.
 

Here I have applied a subdivision to the Polygon Mesh at a low level of one.

[ quadruples the face count=4x]

The levels of subdivision were increased and for most shots this level worked fine.
 

A look at the Head and Neck Spine as built for a few 3/4 angles to show the full build needed.

Project Review
Night at the Museum
PART III: T-Rex Head and Neck sculpt

Client: Twentieth Century FOX via The Cimarron Group.
Art Director: Myself.
Project Date: Summer 2008.

For this  my third posting on the 3D Illustration and Motion Graphics Animation work I did for the advertising campaign for the two films, Night at the Museum, and today I am focusing on the T-Rex Head I sculpted out in 3D to have for 3D illustrations for the two films.

I have posted a shot in the past here, so today I cover a behind the Art build of that 3D Illustration in more detail.

I hand built the skull first as we had a little T-rex model we got online that was a bit cartoony in the face, so I rebuilt the head and neck as seen here for the majority of he comps as they all used the head poking into the shot at some point, so I built it out subdivision to use for close and long shots. I then added the neck too as that was also too rounded and not matching up to the film scrap I had at the time.


I also used the Simbiont Dark Tree procedurals to get the bone texture just right, as well as the Final Render Dirt Shader to get the aging into the nooks and cranny's in the head. The final finish was a black tar finish similar to the Museum bones found in the film.

You can review PART I here showcasing both films I did work on for the Advertising, or PART II with the Tablet here.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Paramount Home Entertainment-The Blue Standard: 3D Logo Exploration 2008

 A thin extrusion with the metal plates front and back with a blue glass layer sandwiched between them.

 This is an alt on the above file with the camera dropped down and the text extruded back 50x to show a deeper and heavier icon.

 This was the scissor move we did for MGFX[ Motion-Graphics] animations where the top Icon and the type spin in opposite directions, and this logo was a still frame from that move.

 A version with a very heavy font: Same metal and glass build for all concepts.

 A very deep extrusion was added tot he type here and the glass sows off a good amount of refraction artifacts which in motion were very compelling.

 A wide format Logo design with the Paramount mountain and Stars tilted at 45 degrees and placed at the end of the type treatment.

 Here is a thinner version, one of my personal favorites, though they went 2D in the end.

Project Review

Paramount Home Entertainment

The Blue Standard

3D Logo Exploration 2008

Client: Paramount Home Entertainment via The Cimarron Group.
Art Director: Darren Keller.
Project Date: July 2008.

I ran an in-house 3D Design Department over at the Cimarron Group for about six years from November 2003, to October 2009. I came into Cimarron back in 03' and set up the 3D Design Department to provided 3D Design, and 3D Illustration, and 3D Animation services to the multiple internal divisions. It was like having a set of seven dedicated clients, and I regularly got a quick little half day gig like this one I am posting on today.

Often in the process of designing a logo for a client, each division would ask me to add dimension to the look they had established, and do a pass with a 3D logo and the divisions would come to me to assist in the presentations.

For this posting I did a quick pass at a few concepts that the client had picked out to make dimensional, and I proceeded to do a few versions of each file with a flatter,and a deeper extruded version to see. Four hours of work is a typical 3D Logo base time frame for budgeting, but I do get ultra minis, like the finish for The Expendables, that was about 30 minutes total, but 4's and 8's rule the day for the most part.

All the colors were locked up front, so blue and brushed metal was the choice of the day so I set the files up and rendered thru the various comps and delivered to the Home Entertainment Department. They went 2D in the end for the finish, but it is always fun to experiment with a three dimensional look.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Menagerie Creative-Steampunk Styled Website 3D Design Illustrations for user interfaces 2009

     The final Rolodex design concept I designed out and rendered in 3D back in late 2009.

This ambient render shows the geometry in the build.

 

A 3/4 angle shot on the depth in the scene.

The polygon shot shows the cabin from the flying luft-craft I did here was reused.

The mail screen as a final render.

       The polygon shot of the main web-mail interface I helped design and build in 3DSmax.
 

 This 3/4 shots shows a few parts were 'faked' to match some of the 2D Art Direction I received.  Sometimes it is faster to quickly match the 2D and back-fit it later

 The 3/4 view in polygons for the mailbox scene I did in the steampunk look for Menagerie.

Project Review

Menagerie Creative 
Steampunk Styled Website 3D Design Illustrations for user interfaces 2009

Client: Menagerie Creative.
Creative Director: Cheryl Savala.
Project Date: November 2009.

I was asked to help out and design a steam-punk styled website to match the logo flying craft I helped out with here, so I created tow main screens for the website design and we can review those now.

The first design of two, was a Rolodex like address roll design for the site that would be animated by Dean Fowler once the design was locked. I created a few versions for Cheryl and rendered out a still for approvals. Once this was done I sent it off and Dean animated it and got sign-off with Cheryl for the move itself. I then took it back and rendered out the moves using my lighting and rendered.

I next did a communications interface with a mailbox that would animate up turn, and open on up. I did a few rounds in 3D Design on that one as well. Once the still image design was locked and tweaked out on their end, we got the animation over to Dean to lock in all motion as well, then I rendered the finals again in Cebas' Final-Render product for the finish.

A fun project to design and implement, and I always love working with a great motion designer like Dean.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: 'Certirad' 3D Illustrations for Print Advertising 2009.

The final 3D Illustration I created for Rhythm and Hues back in 2009 for a new medication called Certriad.

The first pass on the building blocks 3D Conceptual Illustration I created.

For the final we flipped the camera around in 3D space, and added a lot more of the secondary blue color that were the specified ones for the project.

The first pass F1 layout was from the back, and we eventually flipped it around.

Here is the final render with 2D post work over the 3D render. We added another step in the transition so I built a third F1 morph car to complete the job.

Project Review

Certirad 3D Illustrations for Print Advertising 2009.

Client: Astra Zeneca and Abbot via Rhythm and Hues.
Art Director: Marta Knudsen.
Project Date: Dec 2009.

Today I am posting some conceptual 3D Illustrations that I did in December 2009 for Rhythm and Hues for a possible new drug called Certriad. I always loved R-n-H jobs, as they allowed me to actually design quite a bit in the process, and with this job it was three concepts to create.

The basic concept was a hand pushing a small child's toy in stages morphs into an actual fully detailed 3D illustration. I started with the toy train to a high speed one, and once we were well enough on that, I moved to the "Lego" concept with little block building morphing over to a full modern skyscraper. The last and most fun one was the F1 race car from a push toy concept.

I built out the 3D models in the various stages and composed the shots first to get approval to go ahead. I then tweaked and painted quite a bit in post work in PhotoShop to complete the advertisements, which were a two page wide format spread.

A fun project that unfortunately was cancelled due to the company stopping the move ahead with the new drug. Sadly Rhythm and Hues filed for bankruptcy a few months back so I will miss these great concept 3D Illustration jobs from them.

If you want to see added Rhythm and Hues work I have done, you can click here.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review Solar Energy Robot Design 2011 PART II

The Final Design with the Character Design Sheet with turns: Full render Medium REZ.

The base Quad Polygon Models for the Turn Around.

A simple pose with the head up.

A Worms Eye up angle shot on the Energy Robot I did for The AIM Agency.

The final was to have minimal "anamatronic" use, so the arms would move around to greet folks at the conventions.

A a subdivision model it is good from long shots, to close ups and the data can be used for 3D printing of the parts with the subdivision set high, or it can also be converted for Solid Works data as well with this.

Project Review

Solar Energy Robot Design 2011

PART II

Client: The AIM Agency.
Art Direction: Jeff Symon.
Project Date: October 2011.

This is my second posting on this little "Energy Robot" I designed out for the AIM Agency here in California back in 2011, and today I cover what we ended up with as a final to be built out for the convention use.

Shorty, as I called him became that way when I took out an entire digit from the legs to bring the size of the Robot to a proportion so we could get a bigger touch screen in the chest. I also simplified the solar arrays and wrap mounted them right onto the "Bot".

The character "Sunny" a Solar Energy Robot also needed some sunglasses added to give him a bit more fun in his disposition, so they were built as well.

The client liked the Golds Gym bodybuilder feel to him which was a bit intentional as I called him a Shorty Terminator, and the glasses helped that out as well.

It is always fun doing Robots.

You can view PART I here.

Cheers, THOM