IGLOO

video still courtesy of IGLOO

IGLOO

Luxology recently interviewed Gustavo Fernandes of IGLOO in Toronto, Canada.

Please describe how you use modo 501 within your design pipeline.

modo is used at both ends of our pipeline. We do all our 3D modeling in modo. If there is any animation involved in the project, we export the model to Maya, and do the rig and animation there. Once the animation is done we export a MDD deformer. We import the MDD deformer from Maya and then render the animation in modo. The amazing thing about MDDs is that if we have an animator working off-site, all he has to do is to send us the MDDs and that saves us a lot of time. We do our compositing in After Effects or Nuke, depending on the project.

Video courtesy of IGLOO

This spot is all CG. We focused as much on the environment as we did the car. The ‘cave’ was entirely modeled and rendered in modo.

Video still courtesy of IGLOO

Still image from video showing detail of the ‘cave.’

How did you hear about modo 501? Why did you decide to use it?

We started with modo 401, so we were very excited about the new 501. It was a no brainer to upgrade.

Please describe any recent large or high-profile projects in which modo 501 has played an integral role.

Alice in Chains

We have a few large projects where modo was absolutely amazing. The first one was an interactive video for the Alice in Chains web site. We were assigned to create an Alien fetus inside a womb. We started with a 3D baby model we purchased and took the model to Zbrush to deform and add more details. The fetus animation was done in Maya and we used our MDD pipeline to bring it back to modo. We also used camera projection techniques to achieve skin close ups. It was really cool to play with the settings for the subsurface scattering shader to find a tone that we were happy with.

Video still courtesy of IGLOO

Nick Goso was asked to direct an interactive video for the track Acid Bubble – so we created the view from inside a caustic womb – a 360° interactive space where users manipulate their perspective and experience a truly creepy environment.

Video still courtesy of IGLOO

Produced in just six weeks the piece delivers a powerful, gruesome and at times, psychedelic journey to a world unknown.

Video still courtesy of IGLOO

Our footage was also incorporated into the stage show for Alice In Chains’ 2010/2011 BlackDiamondSkye world tour with The Deftones and Mastodon.

Watch the video on vimeo.

Dentyne

Another project where we used modo was for the Dentyne.ca web site. We were responsible for creating the designs for the Augmented Reality experience for 5 gum flavours. Each design had a live action plate interacting with the 3D model.
modo was indispensable in our work for the Dentyne.ca interactive website. In addition to making the CG assets for the web videos we also designed and created the elements for an Augmented Reality experience, available in 5 different flavours. Each execution involved live action plates interacting with the 3D models – all being controlled by the user through their webcam.

Still from interactive by IGLOO

Client: SPY Films, The Hive Strategic Marketing, Teehan+Lax, Aesthetec

modo was really great because we didn’t have enough time to spend on each design flavor, so we pretty much got every single design approved in the first round. We also used modo to render a CG hand holding the Dentyne pack on the home page of the site, the animation was done in Maya and a MDD was exported to modo. It was astonishing how fast we got the CG hand to look photo-real which was a must for the client.

Toyota

modo played a major role in rendering the photo-real CG cars, allowing us to update a 2005 Toyota commercial with this year’s models.

Video courtesy of IGLOO

Client: The Juggernaut

IGLOO replaced the original live action cars from the 2005 commercial with 2010 cars models – all created in CG – and rendered in modo.

The camera tracking was done in MatchMover and exported (FBX) to modo. We applied the materials, lights and HDRI maps in modo and rendered about 12 layers for each car. We wanted total control of the compositing so all of the materials were rendered separately like the body car paint, chrome, windows, head-lights, tires, rims, etc.

MTV

We created an MTV indent called “BLING!”. modo was used to model all 3D elements; animation and final rendering was done in Maya and mental ray. Chocolate mesh was done in RealFlow.

Video courtesy of IGLOO

Client: MTV WDS Milan & Matt Pyke
Concept: Matt Pyke, Universal Everything
Co-Direction: Vivian Rosenthal, Tronic Studios
Production: Jeff Wolfe, Tronic Studios

What do you do with modo 501?

We are pushing the limits with a self-initiated brand ID for IGLOO right now, using modo’s powerful replicators to create an endless scrap-heap. We have a library of approximately 60 items that the replicator uses to populate the scene. I was really surprised with the rendering time improvements between 401 and 501. It takes about half the time for an HD frame. This project is Stereoscopic so each frame has to be rendered twice for each layer (Beauty, Occlusion, Z-Depth, Object ID, etc). By cutting the render time in half we save a lot of time considering that the sequence is almost 2000 frames long.

Video still courtesy of IGLOO

Still image from brand ID for IGLOO. The virtual junkyard is populated using modo’s Replicator feature.

Video still courtesy of IGLOO

Still image from brand ID for IGLOO.

We also really enjoy the new procedural textures and the ambient occlusion layers. Still, in terms of sheer usefulness, the best thing in modo 501 for us would have to be improved render speed. Plus the new preview renderer is awesome; especially being able to paint the areas you want to see first.

For_Tension

Saatchi & Saatchi and The Tourette Syndrome Foundation of Canada asked Nick Goso to direct a short documentary film to be included in their innovative program: @Random. The crazy mesh was simulated in RealFlow and rendered in modo. Text animation was also done in modo.

Video courtesy of IGLOO

This clip is a little teaser from the film For_Tension, just the first 10 shots or so.

The inspiration and subjects: Kirstin Hinds, a single Mom of 5 beautiful, unique and complex children all of whom are living with Tourette Syndrome in rural Ontario. An experiment in documentary, our bizarrely textured morphing spheres synced to overlapping voices in counterpoint presented in the environment of a frozen Great Lake.

IGLOO

Scenes from the short film For_Tension

What other hardware/software do you use in your pipeline?

We have 10 Mac workstations with 100 cores in total. Most machines have 12 GB ram. Our pipeline usually starts with Final Cut Pro to get us the shots breakdown and an animatic for time reference. Then all assets are modeled and textured in modo. The animation is usually done in Maya. We export a MMD deformer back to modo. The rendering here is done mostly in modo. We do our compositing in After Effects or Nuke, depending on the project. Then, we bring the final rendered clips back to Final Cut Pro.

How well is modo 501 integrated with the rest of your production pipeline?

modo 501 is very well integrated with our pipeline. The fact that we can render very long image sequences without having to worry about a render farm manager is excellent. We can always see the progress of the render and flag any mistakes before it is too late.

Thank you Gustavo!