AXIS Animation Teams Up With Vengaboys
Major new Vengaboys video animation completed in just four weeks as new virtual band member is added.
Over two minutes of 3D CGI for pop megastars, The Vengaboys, new music video including 20 new characters, numerous 3D background environments and a range of dance animations have just been completed in only four weeks by Glasgow based AXIS Animation, a VIS Interactive plc company.
The new video features 'the star' of the video - a friendly robot character called Cheekah, and the four virtual Vengaboys characters all of which appear in a 'computer game' or 'virtual' graphical style.
As a result of the high standard of the CGI content output, a decision was taken to increase the amount of animation of Cheekah and the virtual Vengaboys and to reduce the number of live action shots.
Chris van der Kuyl, CEO at VIS Interactive plc commented, "This is a feather in the cap for our team at AXIS and positions them as one of the leading players in the global CGI/FMV [computer generated imaging/full motion video] markets. With content universally acknowledged as king in the entertainment world we at VIS have the creative talent to deliver compelling interactive content across a broad range of platforms including TV, games, video and wireless applications."
The character modeling and animation for the 20 characters required for various scenes commenced immediately using Lightwave [6] from Newtek.
Richard Scott, senior artist and co-founder of AXIS Animation said, "We had to start animating from the very first day without the finished models or skeleton setups to ensure that the project was completed in the short timeframe available."
Simple box characters with a basic IK set up were used to create a range of dance animations by lead animators Graham McKenna and Alan Watson and at the same time lead character TD, Stuart Aitken was creating specific, more detailed models of the Vengaboys and Cheekah.
The Vengaboys template models were subsequently modified to create the other disco revellers required for the sequence by Dana Dorian, who was also responsible for character heads. The motion information from the box characters was transferred to the new skeleton set-ups when the models were finished. Additional Cheekah sequences were animated by Jan Almqvist.
Richard Scott, who acted as layout artist for the sequence, designed and implemented various 3D background environments ranging from hi-tech corridors to virtual disco interiors. Scott was also responsible for lighting the majority of the shots as well as re-grading and filtering the rendered output in post to achieve the look Director Adam Wulff wanted for the finished video.
Richard Scott continued, "With the production company, Locomotion, and the record label, Violent Music, both being based in mainland Europe we used secure websites to provide images and QuickTime movies for everyone in the production chain to review and approve. This is an ideal technique when clients and other production personnel are offsite."
Once the pieces of the animation started coming together, the post production company Picardy Media Group began integrating the overall sequence, which also featured the live action Vengaboys, on Quantel Editbox.
Picardy Media Group Operations Director, Charles Kelly said, "Winning the Vengaboys contract is good news for both Picardy Media Group and for the Scottish media industry as a whole. We were able to beat off competition from Europe because we offer an extremely advanced and professional set up here in Scotland. Our alliance with AXIS has worked very well; their computer game animation skills were an excellent compliment to our own team.
The completed music video is everything expected of the Vengaboys - fun, colourful, quirky and just a little bit sexy!
The new video features 'the star' of the video - a friendly robot character called Cheekah, and the four virtual Vengaboys characters all of which appear in a 'computer game' or 'virtual' graphical style.
As a result of the high standard of the CGI content output, a decision was taken to increase the amount of animation of Cheekah and the virtual Vengaboys and to reduce the number of live action shots.
Chris van der Kuyl, CEO at VIS Interactive plc commented, "This is a feather in the cap for our team at AXIS and positions them as one of the leading players in the global CGI/FMV [computer generated imaging/full motion video] markets. With content universally acknowledged as king in the entertainment world we at VIS have the creative talent to deliver compelling interactive content across a broad range of platforms including TV, games, video and wireless applications."
The character modeling and animation for the 20 characters required for various scenes commenced immediately using Lightwave [6] from Newtek.
Richard Scott, senior artist and co-founder of AXIS Animation said, "We had to start animating from the very first day without the finished models or skeleton setups to ensure that the project was completed in the short timeframe available."
Simple box characters with a basic IK set up were used to create a range of dance animations by lead animators Graham McKenna and Alan Watson and at the same time lead character TD, Stuart Aitken was creating specific, more detailed models of the Vengaboys and Cheekah.
The Vengaboys template models were subsequently modified to create the other disco revellers required for the sequence by Dana Dorian, who was also responsible for character heads. The motion information from the box characters was transferred to the new skeleton set-ups when the models were finished. Additional Cheekah sequences were animated by Jan Almqvist.
Richard Scott, who acted as layout artist for the sequence, designed and implemented various 3D background environments ranging from hi-tech corridors to virtual disco interiors. Scott was also responsible for lighting the majority of the shots as well as re-grading and filtering the rendered output in post to achieve the look Director Adam Wulff wanted for the finished video.
Richard Scott continued, "With the production company, Locomotion, and the record label, Violent Music, both being based in mainland Europe we used secure websites to provide images and QuickTime movies for everyone in the production chain to review and approve. This is an ideal technique when clients and other production personnel are offsite."
Once the pieces of the animation started coming together, the post production company Picardy Media Group began integrating the overall sequence, which also featured the live action Vengaboys, on Quantel Editbox.
Picardy Media Group Operations Director, Charles Kelly said, "Winning the Vengaboys contract is good news for both Picardy Media Group and for the Scottish media industry as a whole. We were able to beat off competition from Europe because we offer an extremely advanced and professional set up here in Scotland. Our alliance with AXIS has worked very well; their computer game animation skills were an excellent compliment to our own team.
The completed music video is everything expected of the Vengaboys - fun, colourful, quirky and just a little bit sexy!
Companies:
VIS