 Cartoon Network
engaged Digital Kitchen to refresh the opening sequence for
their Cinemedia pre-movie content. That's the stuff before the
trailers before the movie. This piece would also help launch
the network's latest rebrand.
We talked with Chad
Ashley, Creative Lead/Head of 3D, at Digital Kitchen and
creator of cgpov.com.
Q. What was your role on the
project? How many artists were on your team?
I
was the Director on the job but I also lead the post team and
was the Technical Director on it as well. We had a total of
eight artists on it over the course of the job.
Q.
Could you supply a bit of background on how and when the
project was started?
We were contacted by Cartoon
Network in late April. They wanted us to help them design a
new opening for their Cinemedia show that runs before
movie previews in theaters. The client had a loose idea of
what they wanted. They were about to launch a completely new
identity and this would be a big part of that launch.
They have this great checker motif that kind of
reminded us of old pairs of Van's shoes. We played off
this look.
Q. Can you approximate the amount of
shots you completed for the project? Why did you choose
Fusion?
There were approximately 19 shots that
needed FX of some kind. The entire piece was shot full green
screen on RED. We chose Fusion because of its speed and its
great RED workflow. We also knew there was going to be a ton
of comping 3D renders and I've always loved Fusion for that
type of work. Our file format of choice is EXR and Fusion
handles those very well.
Q. What were some of the
biggest challenges you faced? How did you overcome them and
how did Fusion fit into the solution?
One of the
biggest challenges on the project was that our Lead
Compositor, Jeremy Stuart, didn't know Fusion at the beginning
of the job. His primary tool of
choice was After Effects, so he had literally a week to get up
to speed on Fusion. I have a moderate level of experience with
it myself and was able to help him learn it in no time. He and
the rest of the team took to Fusion right away. They were all
shocked at the interaction speed compared to After Effects.
Another challenge we had was the opening shot. It has
this huge CG storefront that is lighting up the sidewalk and
the talent. We had to figure out an easy way for the light
from the store to hit our green screen talent and cast shadows
on the CG sidewalk. We had done the camera move in 3d Max and
so we just exported an FBX scene into Fusion. From there we
put our talent on 3D planes and used 3D lights in Fusion to
cast shadows onto the ground. It worked perfectly.
Q. What was the most rewarding part of the
project?
The most rewarding part of the job was
finishing on time and not having to sacrifice quality for the
deadline. Fusion's speed in the 64bit version helped us finish
shots quickly and allowed our artists time to tweak and put
that final bit of love in every shot.
Q. Did you
use Fusion's 3D environment on the sequence? How important is
3D compositing to how your team works?
3D
Compositing is very important in our workflow. It's all about
solving problems in ways that offer the path of least
resistance. Why not re-use the camera and geo from 3D to help
the comp. The ability to re-light EXRs via the Deep Pixel
tools means that we don't have to go back to V-Ray to add rims
and kickers to stuff. It's amazing.
Q. What are
some of your favorite tools in Fusion and how do they help in
production?
Our fave tools are:
1. CC -
love the simplicity of it.
2. Our Custom Macro's we made -
Vignettes, Color Corrections, etc.
3. 3D Env - FBX
import
4. Vector Blur
5. Deep Pixel
6.
Ultra-Keyer
Q. Can you give us a heads-up
on what's next?
We've got some great jobs coming
up but I can't really talk about them yet.
Q.
Finally, what's your favorite beer?
Some days
it's a Stella, others it's Fat Tire. |