New York visual effects company Quiet Man recently created "Organ Grinder," a 30-second spot featuring a talking monkey. The spot was commissioned by New Yorks Fallon McElliot agency for Conseco Insurance. It first aired April 12, 2001. Quiet Man 3D designer David Shirk got involved in pre-production with a review of camcorder footage of a monkey. Based on footage of the monkeys head and various side views with an emphasis on his jaw and lower face, Shirk constructed a computer model with Realviz Image Modeller and Softimage 3D, later adding fur in Softimage 3D. At first, the animation of the monkey's mouth appeared too human-like, said Shirk. "The real challenge was to make him talk without spoiling his performance and animal qualities." Quiet Man technical director Brad Gabe set up a digital "control rig" over the virtual monkey's mouth to enable Shirk to precisely control the animation. The 3D match-moving process was handled by taking the basic model of the monkey face and tracking it over the film footage to maintain accurate registration. Rendering the monkey's face was completed by adding color and textures to the computer model, and then lighting to match the film. The final step in the 3D process was the addition of hair to the shots.
