The Proving Ground
Client: The George Washington University
Director: Bruce McFarlan/Reelworks Animation
Agency: The Redhead Companies
Production Company: Z Animations
Working from stills provided by illustrator Jim Frazier, I had the challenge of translating a 2D style into 3D, in order to better interpret the 3-dimensional motion of the camera throughout the piece. I ended up creating 3D models based on the flat, stylized designs, and rendered the final motion using a combination of toon shading and textured toon lines. The resulting product looked as though the stylized character had jumped off the page and into a 3D universe.
A reference image (above) provided by the illustrator showing how the final model should look.
(Above, left), a quick test to show how the model was progressing, and a still (above, right) showing my translation of the satellite into a 3D model, based on the illustrator's artwork.
Using 3D software, I rigged the final model extensively for any motion I might encounter while animating (above).