Axe “Instinct”

[qt:http://motionograph.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/axe_curves_final1.mov 848 480]

A little technical detail from the release:

The texture of the leather is very detailed. Tell me a bit about how you created this look, what tools you used and if there were any challenges.

againstallodds: We began this project with a photo shoot with real actors and the leather laid out on a flat bed. We took moving references with naked models to show how the body moves and the leather reacts to different light setups. Then we edited everything together to make a rough timing. Animation and simulation followed and was a mixture of Maya nCloth and Houdini to make everything come together.

The simulation was a great start and gave dimension to the leather but we really wanted to have control over some of the smaller details such as muscle and bone and they were getting lost in the simulation, so Milford lighting developed a special shader that took information from a more detailed mesh of the body and applied it to the leather simulated cloth.

Credits
Title: Instinct
Client: Axe North America

Production Company: Blacklist, New York
Executive Producer: Adina Sales
Producers: Alexander Unick, Karen Lawler

Director: againstallodds
Creative Director (againstallodds): Derek Picken
Executive Producer (againstallodds): Josh Thorne
Production Coordinator (againstallodds): Rima Kassar

3D/VFX: Milford, Stockholm
TD/ Supervisor: John Roxenhed
Producer: Johan Gustavsson
Art Director: Johan Moberg
Lighting TD: Robert Krupa

Music: Moodswing
Composers: Pedro Marques, Jean-Paul Wall
Singer: Saphir Cristal Stoffels Fernandes Tavares

Audio Finishing: Audio Engine
Audio Engineer: Carl Mandelbaum