Meindbender Animation Studio in Sweden has really done a nice job for Cartoon Network. They’ve reproduced stop motion-like animation with a real clay feeling—but with all the advantages of CG.
The Duplicator Series was animated in Maya and rendered with Maxwell Renderer using HDR’s Rendernet. Check out the series on Meindbender’s site or individually here:
The Duplicators
Evolution
Audition
It´s Magic
Push The Button
Some background information from Meindbender’s Olov Burman:
In 2007 we released an animation test called Rabbit vs Football. This film got quite a lot of attention on the internet, and one the companies that contacted us was Cartoon Network. We were at that point looking for buyers for a film called Gifts for Greta.
Cartoon Network bought this as a Christmas ID short film, and it ended up winning awards in Promax/DBA Europe and world awards. Cartoon Network then ordered 5 more ID shorties, and we started working on the “Duplicator Series.”
We put together a small but dedicated crew of world class CGI artists and got to work. After several months of hard work we completed the production. We hope you enjoy the films.
Title: The Duplicator Series
Director: Olov Burman
CLIENT:
Client: Cartoon Network
ANIMATION:
Animation Studio: Meindbender Animation Studio
Lighting, Shading, Rendering: Michael Bengtsson
Animation, Rigging: Calle Halldin
Music and Sound Design: Robert Lundgren
Animation, Modeling: Marcus Ottosson
Rigging: Tony Österlund
Props: Ola Larsson
Intern: Rickard Germundsson
MUSIC AND SOUND DESIGN:
Music and Sound Design: AD Union