Advertising for a bank (AKA Studio)

[Fabrice]

2D & 3D Mix.

This is an advert for a bank in UK, created by AKA Studio with TVPaint.

[Elodie]

Long advertising, but really nice. The mix between 2D and 3D is well done.

But, IMO, it spins too much and make me giddy.

[Sewie]

Really impressive to see how versatile the TVP software can be used!

[Paul Fierlinger]

Now I'd be curious to know if this was conceived by a local ad agency and commissioned to a local, independent studio (I read "local" also as small).

[Fabrice]

Now I'd be curious to know if this was conceived by a local ad agency and commissioned to a local, independent studio (I read "local" also as small).

I think it was commissioned to a local, independent studio. About 10 animators worked on the 2D part.
Everything was done in a few weeks.

[Paul Fierlinger]

That's refreshing to hear. BTW I was underwhelmed with the efforts to meld 2D into 3D through the creation of bad, out of focus imitations using the blur button, which makes objects look really, really phony and unappealing to the eye. The only satisfactory way to emulate an out of focus effect in 2D is to approach it like anything else in the 2D world; draw it or paint it and stay away from blur it.

[Sewie]

There is no 2D blur in there, I believe. There is motion blur from the compositing. Used rather well, I find.

[Elodie]

I agree with Sewie

[Paul Fierlinger]

Well, I see blurs from the very start and whether these are created by the blur feature or the something else tricky I don't care. They simply disturb me because this is exactly what makes the cartoons at times seem pasted on in the same way cartoons are pasted onto live action footage. As soon as a 2D character becomes fuzzy I cringe because it is anathema to the world of 2d. When you have a third dimension missing you can't ever be out of focus unless you have poorly fitted glasses and this is why films done this way are annoying. They make me want to clean my glasses.

[Sewie]

I just looked again, very closely. There are no 2D blurs. YouTube gives blurs if your settings are lo-res, so I think that"s what you are seeing.

[schwarzgrau]

Coincidentally I visited Studio AKA a few weeks ago, while they worked on this add. They told me they discovered TVPaint just a while ago, before they still used paper and pencils for their 2D-stuff. If I remember correctly this is the first piece by them done in TVPaint, but they liked it a lot and already use it for revisions of old paper-and-pencil-projects.
They used 3D stand-ins for the characters and even in the final clip the feet are 3D, cause it seems to be impossible to match this camera-movement only with 2D Elements.
However I agree with Paul, the landscape doesn't fit the style of the characters. It needs at least some hand-drawn textures instead of the semi-realistic shading.

[Elodie]

Coincidentally I visited Studio AKA a few weeks ago, while they worked on this add. They told me they discovered TVPaint just a while ago, before they still used paper and pencils for their 2D-stuff. If I remember correctly this is the first piece by them done in TVPaint, but they liked it a lot and already use it for revisions of old paper-and-pencil-projects.

Thank you for that feedback !
It's always very nice for us to read how people appreciate our software

[Fabrice]

very interesting making-of here : http://vimeo.com/75870188" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and some explanations with TVPaint mentionned :

http://www.creativebloq.com/animation/tsb-story-9134665" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Elodie]

Nice video and interview

[Elodie]

New episode !