Top 10 Superbowl Commercials 2014

At first glance, we thought that there weren't many "good" commercials this year. But if you look, there were many great gems to note. Here are our Top 10 Superbowl Commercials for 2014. Our criteria? Simple, they have to have some kind of CG or animated element and they must have a high entertainment value. In my classes, it means "laugh factor", the more giggles it got, the higher the score. No. One on our list however, was just plane excellent. Enjoy!
Thanks everyone for your input.
Let's start with No. 10.

No. 10 - H & M David Beckham: I know, the ladies love it.


No. 9 - Jaguar: Villains


No. 8 - Doritos: Time Machine


No. 7 - Radio Shack - 80's


No. 6 - PS4: Perfect Day


No. 5 - Volkswagen Wings


No.4 - Axe: Make Love Not War


No. 3 - Dober hua hua


No. 2 - Kia Matrix - By: Digital Domain


And NO. 1. - Pepsi. This was not an official commercial but it seemed to be the most outstanding thing we saw.

Next Level: Lucas Film Shows Off Realistic Customizable Game Engine Renders

This looks quite amazing and fun. More and more, our games are beginning to look a lot like the movies we are accustomed to seeing, or are we headed into an entirely new realm of entertainment, where games are now the focus and movies support the game. I could see it happening.

Pacific Rim "Before and After's"

The breakdowns and overall presentation in this movie are insightful and inspiring. Be sure to check out their website below. Mirada Studios Fire it up!

"R'ha": Short Film by Kaleb Lechowski

A superb short film by Kaleb Lechowski. There are lots of things in this short he is doing extremely well, his lighting and command over materials in the interrogation room. Way to go Kaleb! Fire it Up!

"Battleship" Fluids & Particles by ILM

A featurette detailing how ILM created the large fluid/particle effects surrounding the massive alien ships in the middle of the ocean. Not too many people liked this movie, I liked it a lot - quite entertaining. Be sure you check it out.

Peregrine Falcon CG FX & Breakdown: By Fido

Some amazing visual effects work of a falcon by Fido, coming from Scandanavia. In this reel, you'll see exceptional examples of modeling, animation, rigging, lighting, and texturing coming together to compose a beautiful piece. You can learn more about Fido by visiting their website below. http://www.fido.se/ Fire It Up!

Art of Data: IBM Behind the Scenes

In this presentation, we see how code is used to create imagery that is not only beautiful and unique, but useful. Imagine seeing a heartbeat in a way that is unconventional, but dimensional in a way that is steps above a standard 2D EKG. Everything is driven by numbers and so presentations of this kind can only enhance our understanding complex mathematical concepts by giving all of us new ways to relate to the information. Enjoy! Fire it up!

Great White Shark "Kon Tiki" Visual FX Breakdown by ILP

Great white shark visual effects modeling, compositing, fluid and fx animation for the movie Kon Tiki, by ILP (Important Looking Pirates)- nice name. ILP is a visual effects group from Sweden. You can view their website and 2012 Showreel below. http://ilpvfx.com

Particles Animation 2012 Olympic Candy Commercial.

Particle animation used for Cadbury Dairy Milk aired during the 2012 London Olympics. The particle trails created by the athletes' movements generates interesting and unique designs inherent to the unique event. Very nice to look at, making me want to see more. I forgot it was a candy commercial, did you? The animation was created by the talented crew from Piranha Bar, Dublin Ireland. Check their website, and you might find that you recognize a lot of pieces they've created. http://www.piranhabar.ie/ Fire it up!

Transformer Audi Visual FX Clip by: Geoffrey Guiot

A visual effects clip by director Geoffrey Guiot that features superb lighting and texturing. The opening car sequence had me fooled - so slick. Thank for the breakdowns at the end.

Fire it up!

Prep & Landing 2: Naughty vs. Nice

If you saw the first one Prep & Landing, you'll like this one too.

Happy Holidays Yo - Ho Ho.

John Carter: Trailer 2

"John Carter" coming in March - this kinda looks like a cross between the Star Wars EP2 (Geonosis scenes) and Prince of Persia. Looks great.

John Cox is one of the sculptural concept designers for the aliens. You can view his work below...
http://www.johncox.net/public-art/john-carter-of-mars/

Kia Hamsters w LMFAO

Everybody's Shufflin - Including you when you see this. The new Kia Hamsters rock out against a large post apocalyptic group of invading robots. This commercial is totally hitting a certain demographic...you, the video game lovin, destroy and blow up everythin, action movie watchin, spaceship gunnin, giant robot lovin, laser shootin, party music playin, saggin clothes wearin, wish we could dance, type people (and I didn't even say Kia lovin). In short - fun to watch.

Let's check out the website >>
Be sure to check out the 360 degree views of the interiors and the cars.

Rango - End Credits

Once again, another fabulous end credit presentation. Great styling and music. Oh yeah, the movie was also very good...dark, grungy, dirty, cool.

Audi Robots

Ever see a video on Youtube, and you like it so much that you want to watch it again, but you can't because you don't remember the URL, and no matter what search criteria you type in Youtube (in this case, audi and robot), it doesn't appear. This video is the "one" that I couldn't find.

Now that its here, its going to stay permanently in this blog. Not only is it cool to look at, its unique, it shows great animation, camera work, and a seamless composite (putting everything together). I'm also a sucker for slick white shiny robots.

Let's go for a ride!

So You Want to Work in the Video Game Industry

A sarcastic view of what its like working in the video game industry that many of us found interesting and funny (perhaps because of how truthful this is). Regardless of how tough something appears to be, stay passionate and keep moving, its only bad if you stop, but be realistic as well.

Be sure to read some of the Youtube comments following this video here >>

"Can anyone tell me where the Mountain Dew dispenser is at? They told me it was here, but I don't see it." - Little Robot Guy

Sean, thanks for sharing. This was funny.

Black Swan: VFX Reel

Saw this movie finally, and thought it was great - had me guessing all the way till the end. Lots of the visual effects are subtle, but they really add to overall look and feel of the movie.

You May Now

A clever funny animation about 3D in theatres. The animation is a nice blend between 2D and 3D and was produced by Dan Winn and Daniel Keeble.

Nice. Fire it Up!

Animation Layers in Maya

This video demonstrates setup and basic tools for using animation layers in Maya . It can be quite useful if you wanted to edit an animation, while still maintaining the original keyframes. Think of it like layers in Photoshop. Layers help us add more detail and complexity to a piece, Animation Layers in Maya work in the same way.

Watch the video tutorial on animation layers here >> 

Below are my notes from the video for future reference.

Animation Layers INTRO:
Used to edit animation without making huge changes. This comes in handy when we have to reuse an animation, or if there is a change in the environment. Example shown in video is of a Character jumping over a barrier. Make changes and edits without messing up the animation.

Using Animation Layers: SETUP

1. Turn on animation radio button (top of layer window).
2. Make a new layer after grabbing the control (blue ball icon).
3. Name this layer. You should now have two identical animations on two layers.
4. Make your changes and set a keyframe on your new animation layer.

Adjusting the small details: 

1. Grab foot controls or whatever.
2. Make new animation layer.
3. Move foot
4. Right Click >  add selected to layer, do this to anything you want to be added to this layer.

Fixing: Offset (You will see the entire animation changed. You can offset or merge the layers into one another).

1. Slide the Weight slider at the bottom of layer stack. - OR
2. Click 0 offset key (upper left hand corner of the animation layer stack). Pressing 0
3. blends the layers together.

If you want the original movement and if you want to toggle the visibility of your new animation layer. Grab new layer and press third button from left to turn off new animation and view original.

MERGE LAYERS to composite into one, when you are finished.

Adjusting Curves: In graph editor, "bake" is dense curves, not manageable.
Instead

1. Turn on Merge Layer Options
2. Turn OFF Delete Baked Layers
3. Turn ON Smart Bake
4. Merge

This is cleaner as it maintains key structure.

Reference:

http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/stevenr/animation_layers-1 

Backwater Gospel

This week, we came upon an incredible unique animation called Backwater Gospel. The look and feel is a mix between CG and 2D animation, but what made it incredible for me was the art direction responsible for achieving the gritty dirty and dusty look, that helped convey the story... add a dark murky cowboy western soundtrack, cutting edge variety in editing and compelling storyline, and what you got is something well worth while. Great job guys!

We are lucky, below are a few "making of" clips, character design tests and Bo Mathorne's design reel. Let's fire it up! Eve and Josh, thanks for the heads up, this animation was amazing.

His 2009 showreel shows the texturing process that helped to achieve the Backwater Gospel look and feel.