A graceful, gliding four wheel drive made of ice was needed for Toyota Prados latest television commercial, ICE SCULPTURES, directed by Bruce Hunt through @radical.media.
Animal Logic created the 3D computer-generated ice car and carefully choreographed its movement as it glides across various road surfaces, verging on being out of control. Armed with extensive reference supplied by Hunt, Animal Logic technical director Clinton Downs spent weeks upfront developing the look of the ice car giving it a realistic, frosted look complete with internal cracks and crumbled edges.
Tim Quarry led the CG team at Animal Logic and worked closely with Hunt to refine the animation. We had a lot of reference of cars sliding in snow and on icy roads. Bruce didnt want the ice car to be dangerously out of control, but more graceful. Our challenge was to make the ice car look translucent and convincing, said Quarry.
3D previs commenced a couple of weeks prior to the shoot to assist Hunt in determining camera angles of the ice car shots as well as the shot sequence. Once the environments were shot and the animation locked down, time was spent lighting the CG ice car to enhance the cloudy detail of the ice. Each shot was customized with specific lighting techniques to get the interior of the ice block and the refractions correct.
Environments for the 45-second commercial were shot in Newcastle, Canberra and Adaminaby, chosen for their isolated industrial landscapes. Chunks of ice hitting the road, gutter and rails were also filmed in camera and enhanced with 3D ice particles for greater effect.
To assist integrating the ice car and particles into their environments, Animal Logic senior compositor, Andy McKenna added subtle details such as road markings, tire trails, water droplets, focus pulls, day for night conversions and camera projections.
Animal Logic credits include:* Exec Producer: Jacqui Newman* Producer: Caroline Renshaw
CG team:* Tom Bardwell* Brett Margules* Gerrard Southam* Ian Watson* Bhakar James* Bodie Clare* Andrew Lodge* Phil Wittmer* Larry Townsend* Clinton Downs
Animal Logic (www.animallogic.com) is a digital production company based in Sydney, Australia. Established in 1991 as a design-based visual effects house for television commercials, the company soon broadened its creative platform to include visual effects and digital animation for film and television series.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
