Red Frog's state-of-the-art VFX pipeline with CINEMA 4D at its heart takes children's TV wizardry to the next level. You don't h...
Red Frog's state-of-the-art VFX pipeline with CINEMA 4D at its heart takes children's TV wizardry to the next level.
You don't have to be mad to work in the world of visual effects for children's television. But if you can drink ten cups of tea a day while speaking gibberish Japanese, it might just help.
Using MAXON's CINEMA 4D software at the heart of its VFX pipeline, UK-based Red Frog is currently working on visual effects and post production for the third series of the BBC children's television program, 'The Legend of Dick and Dom.'
The BAFTA-nominated series follows the adventures of two accident-prone princes, Dick and Dom, on their quest to collect the ingredients needed to cure their citizens from a terrible plague that turns people into beasts. The princes are accompanied on their way by their light-fingered servant Lutin and the somewhat error-prone wizard Mannitol.
Red Frog used CINEMA 4D to create 3D worlds, props, characters, animals and set extensions for all three series.
Series 3 - expected to air early in 2011 - is set to have the best visual effects yet. But Series 1 and 2 certainly held their challenges for the Red Frog team.
Particularly challenging was Episode 5 of Series 2: 'The Journey to the Centre of Bottomworld.' Nearly 300 different CGI shots were required for this episode alone, which was shot entirely on green screen so that the actors could be immersed in CGI worlds for the entire 28 minutes.
"We are very proud of this episode. We created all the CGI worlds, we gave it all a soul, a taste, a smell - for us, it was real," says Alessandro Mondaini, Animation and VFX Director at Red Frog.
With some CGI shots numbering close to 1,000 frames in length, and with realistic rendering using Global Illumination and Ambient Occlusion required within the tight deadlines of television production - all in full HD at 10-bit resolution - the sheer amount of rendering needed was considerable.
CINEMA 4D's NET Render feature was crucial in getting the frames completed in time. Alessandro explains: "Rendering Global Illumination and Ambient Occlusion in full HD tends to mean very long render times, but this is where CINEMA 4D's NET Render comes in. It is a big feature in CINEMA 4D. It gives you control over everything, but the main thing is that it is so intuitive to use."
"The ginger beard was problematic"
The complex nature of the material requiring 3D camera tracking provided no headaches for the experienced team at Red Frog, other than the enormous number of shots involved.
Footage was shot over three weeks using the RED camera at 4k resolution in trillions of colors to guarantee a quality alpha matte that would support the extensive CGI work. Here CINEMA 4D's 64-bit version helped smooth the challenges of working with such large quantities of data.
Red Frog cites the biggest challenge, however, as being able to successfully combine the actors with the CGI to give the illusion that the actors and CG objects are interacting and part of the same world. One such example is the scene where fingers of rock are seen prodding an actor. In this case, Red Frog used real props to prod the actor and later replaced the real props in the footage with the CG rocks.
One aspect that also helped in Series 2 and 3 was that Red Frog was able to work more closely with the producers and writers to develop the storylines that would make best use of the CGI technology.
"I think this allowed us to move the relationship further by delivering even more in terms of quality and state-of-the-art CGI effects that you would not normally see in a TV series," comments Alessandro.
The overall volume of work was something for which the team were well prepared: "We developed a new chroma keying technique and 3D tracking solution to ensure that we could manage the huge volume of shots whilst maintaining quality - Mannitol's ginger beard added an extra dimension to this problem!" reveals Alessandro.
"We need a drinks budget next time!"
One thing the team did not take into account, however, was the cost of cups of tea.
"The team typically drank 10 cups of tea per person per day. We think this may be a record. Next time we're going to ask for a drinks budget!" jokes Alessandro. Well, we think Alessandro is joking, but when over 10,000 cups of tea are involved, you just can't be sure.
Besides drinking copious amounts of tea, Alessandro adds that the team started to talk a sort of gibberish Japanese, though Alessandro admits he may have been the one who started it.
"CINEMA 4D is a complete package"
One striking aspect about Red Frog's usage of CINEMA 4D in The Legend of Dick and Dom is that almost all areas of CINEMA 4D's massive toolset were utilized.
From importing motion capture into CINEMA 4D; to particle effects; to dynamic hair and cloth; to camera mapping; to texturing characters using the powerful BodyPaint 3D tools; to using the volumetric PyroCluster shaders; to using subsurface scattering to recreate the look of ice; to using XPresso expressions to allow quick and easy animation of pigeons attacking actors, Red Frog has taken full advantage of CINEMA 4D's extensive feature set.
A further way in which CINEMA 4D helps Red Frog is by allowing some things often done in other applications to be done directly in CINEMA 4D, thereby saving the time required to switch applications.
For example, the mist in the cave scene was done not in post but directly in CINEMA 4D using visible spotlights with animated noise. And the main Legend of Dick and Dom logo was created directly in CINEMA 4D using the text tool, as opposed to creating the path in a dedicated vector drawing program then importing it into CINEMA 4D.
"CINEMA 4D is a complete package," says Alessandro, "You can create, texture, illuminate and render all in the same space."
Alessandro praises the quality of CINEMA 4D's tools: "Clothilde [CINEMA 4D's cloth engine in the MOCCA module] is unbelievable. I have animated cloth in other applications before, but CINEMA 4D's cloth simulation is incredibly accurate and fast."
So how did Red Frog learn to use all these parts of CINEMA 4D?
While many valuable learning resources are available, such as YouTube video tutorials, MAXON's QuickTip podcasts, video tutorial DVDs, books and MAXON's popular cineversity.com online learning resource, Alessandro points to a rich source of information that is but a mouse click away: "Most of the secrets of CINEMA 4D are to be found in the HELP button."
"We often use FBX as the format pipeline - CINEMA 4D fits perfectly"
CINEMA 4D's ability to slot into pipelines has also been key. For example, CINEMA 4D supports many file formats, one of those being FBX, which is often Red Frog's preferred file format for transferring data between 3D applications.
In fact, CINEMA 4D has been slotting into the Red Frog pipeline since 2001.
"What was interesting about our decision in selecting CINEMA 4D was the modular nature of the package and the stability of the software - which is excellent," recalls Alessandro. "Whilst we have introduced other 3D animation software to manage very specific requirements, we are still very much a CINEMA 4D-based animation studio."
"We specialize in CGI fluids, motion capture and 3D tracked shots - all of these fit perfectly into the CINEMA 4D pipeline."
Besides 'The Legend of Dick and Dom,' projects in which Red Frog has used CINEMA 4D include 'The New Worst Witch' for Children's ITV, Phillip Pullman's movie 'The Butterfly Tattoo,' and a number of leading-edge CGI-based commercials.
For 3D artists looking to work in the field of TV visual effects, Alessandro offers words of encouragement: "My personal opinion is that if you want to work in this field, you must be ready for some 'No's' but continue to study and improve yourself, because for every ten 'No's,' there is always a big 'Yes'."
Another full CGI episode
So what can we expect in the way of visual effects in the upcoming series 3 of The Legend of Dick and Dom? With the airing on the BBC months away, Alessandro remained tightly lipped. But he did promise one thing: the new series will include another episode with a full 28 minutes of CGI. Time to put the kettle on.
About Red Frog
Red Frog was started in 2000 by Paul Rowan and David Loveridge. The business has since grown from being a very small home office-based operation to a very successful business with offices now located in Salford Quays, Manchester - within walking distance from the new BBC Media City.
Red Frog now provides services covering fashion production, feature films (having recently completed its fifth film), long-form TV series and state-of-the-art animation facilities, including 3D camera tracking, chroma key expertise and the very latest in fluid, smoke, fire and particle simulation. Red Frog's facilities also include a number of Edit and Sound dubbing studios.
With over ten years' experience in the TV, Film and Corporate sectors, Red Frog has built a very strong and experienced team with a large base of very loyal clients.
Red Frog's management team is:
The Directors:
David Loveridge
Paul Rowan
Neil Harrison
Alessandro Mondaini
Visual Effects team working on The Legend of Dick and Dom:
Jill Turner
Erika Bermingham
Gary Booth
Nital Mistry
Rimshah Razzaq
For more information on Red Frog, please visit www.red-frog.co.uk.
Related links:
red-frog.co.uk
Series 3 - expected to air early in 2011 - is set to have the best visual effects yet. But Series 1 and 2 certainly held their challenges for the Red Frog team.
Particularly challenging was Episode 5 of Series 2: 'The Journey to the Centre of Bottomworld.' Nearly 300 different CGI shots were required for this episode alone, which was shot entirely on green screen so that the actors could be immersed in CGI worlds for the entire 28 minutes.
"We are very proud of this episode. We created all the CGI worlds, we gave it all a soul, a taste, a smell - for us, it was real," says Alessandro Mondaini, Animation and VFX Director at Red Frog.
With some CGI shots numbering close to 1,000 frames in length, and with realistic rendering using Global Illumination and Ambient Occlusion required within the tight deadlines of television production - all in full HD at 10-bit resolution - the sheer amount of rendering needed was considerable.
CINEMA 4D's NET Render feature was crucial in getting the frames completed in time. Alessandro explains: "Rendering Global Illumination and Ambient Occlusion in full HD tends to mean very long render times, but this is where CINEMA 4D's NET Render comes in. It is a big feature in CINEMA 4D. It gives you control over everything, but the main thing is that it is so intuitive to use."
"The ginger beard was problematic"
The complex nature of the material requiring 3D camera tracking provided no headaches for the experienced team at Red Frog, other than the enormous number of shots involved.
Footage was shot over three weeks using the RED camera at 4k resolution in trillions of colors to guarantee a quality alpha matte that would support the extensive CGI work. Here CINEMA 4D's 64-bit version helped smooth the challenges of working with such large quantities of data.
Red Frog cites the biggest challenge, however, as being able to successfully combine the actors with the CGI to give the illusion that the actors and CG objects are interacting and part of the same world. One such example is the scene where fingers of rock are seen prodding an actor. In this case, Red Frog used real props to prod the actor and later replaced the real props in the footage with the CG rocks.
One aspect that also helped in Series 2 and 3 was that Red Frog was able to work more closely with the producers and writers to develop the storylines that would make best use of the CGI technology.
"I think this allowed us to move the relationship further by delivering even more in terms of quality and state-of-the-art CGI effects that you would not normally see in a TV series," comments Alessandro.
The overall volume of work was something for which the team were well prepared: "We developed a new chroma keying technique and 3D tracking solution to ensure that we could manage the huge volume of shots whilst maintaining quality - Mannitol's ginger beard added an extra dimension to this problem!" reveals Alessandro.
"We need a drinks budget next time!"
One thing the team did not take into account, however, was the cost of cups of tea.
"The team typically drank 10 cups of tea per person per day. We think this may be a record. Next time we're going to ask for a drinks budget!" jokes Alessandro. Well, we think Alessandro is joking, but when over 10,000 cups of tea are involved, you just can't be sure.
Besides drinking copious amounts of tea, Alessandro adds that the team started to talk a sort of gibberish Japanese, though Alessandro admits he may have been the one who started it.
"CINEMA 4D is a complete package"
One striking aspect about Red Frog's usage of CINEMA 4D in The Legend of Dick and Dom is that almost all areas of CINEMA 4D's massive toolset were utilized.
From importing motion capture into CINEMA 4D; to particle effects; to dynamic hair and cloth; to camera mapping; to texturing characters using the powerful BodyPaint 3D tools; to using the volumetric PyroCluster shaders; to using subsurface scattering to recreate the look of ice; to using XPresso expressions to allow quick and easy animation of pigeons attacking actors, Red Frog has taken full advantage of CINEMA 4D's extensive feature set.
A further way in which CINEMA 4D helps Red Frog is by allowing some things often done in other applications to be done directly in CINEMA 4D, thereby saving the time required to switch applications.
For example, the mist in the cave scene was done not in post but directly in CINEMA 4D using visible spotlights with animated noise. And the main Legend of Dick and Dom logo was created directly in CINEMA 4D using the text tool, as opposed to creating the path in a dedicated vector drawing program then importing it into CINEMA 4D.
"CINEMA 4D is a complete package," says Alessandro, "You can create, texture, illuminate and render all in the same space."
Alessandro praises the quality of CINEMA 4D's tools: "Clothilde [CINEMA 4D's cloth engine in the MOCCA module] is unbelievable. I have animated cloth in other applications before, but CINEMA 4D's cloth simulation is incredibly accurate and fast."
So how did Red Frog learn to use all these parts of CINEMA 4D?
While many valuable learning resources are available, such as YouTube video tutorials, MAXON's QuickTip podcasts, video tutorial DVDs, books and MAXON's popular cineversity.com online learning resource, Alessandro points to a rich source of information that is but a mouse click away: "Most of the secrets of CINEMA 4D are to be found in the HELP button."
"We often use FBX as the format pipeline - CINEMA 4D fits perfectly"
CINEMA 4D's ability to slot into pipelines has also been key. For example, CINEMA 4D supports many file formats, one of those being FBX, which is often Red Frog's preferred file format for transferring data between 3D applications.
In fact, CINEMA 4D has been slotting into the Red Frog pipeline since 2001.
"What was interesting about our decision in selecting CINEMA 4D was the modular nature of the package and the stability of the software - which is excellent," recalls Alessandro. "Whilst we have introduced other 3D animation software to manage very specific requirements, we are still very much a CINEMA 4D-based animation studio."
"We specialize in CGI fluids, motion capture and 3D tracked shots - all of these fit perfectly into the CINEMA 4D pipeline."
Besides 'The Legend of Dick and Dom,' projects in which Red Frog has used CINEMA 4D include 'The New Worst Witch' for Children's ITV, Phillip Pullman's movie 'The Butterfly Tattoo,' and a number of leading-edge CGI-based commercials.
For 3D artists looking to work in the field of TV visual effects, Alessandro offers words of encouragement: "My personal opinion is that if you want to work in this field, you must be ready for some 'No's' but continue to study and improve yourself, because for every ten 'No's,' there is always a big 'Yes'."
Another full CGI episode
So what can we expect in the way of visual effects in the upcoming series 3 of The Legend of Dick and Dom? With the airing on the BBC months away, Alessandro remained tightly lipped. But he did promise one thing: the new series will include another episode with a full 28 minutes of CGI. Time to put the kettle on.
About Red Frog
Red Frog was started in 2000 by Paul Rowan and David Loveridge. The business has since grown from being a very small home office-based operation to a very successful business with offices now located in Salford Quays, Manchester - within walking distance from the new BBC Media City.
Red Frog now provides services covering fashion production, feature films (having recently completed its fifth film), long-form TV series and state-of-the-art animation facilities, including 3D camera tracking, chroma key expertise and the very latest in fluid, smoke, fire and particle simulation. Red Frog's facilities also include a number of Edit and Sound dubbing studios.
With over ten years' experience in the TV, Film and Corporate sectors, Red Frog has built a very strong and experienced team with a large base of very loyal clients.
Red Frog's management team is:
The Directors:
David Loveridge
Paul Rowan
Neil Harrison
Alessandro Mondaini
Visual Effects team working on The Legend of Dick and Dom:
Jill Turner
Erika Bermingham
Gary Booth
Nital Mistry
Rimshah Razzaq
For more information on Red Frog, please visit www.red-frog.co.uk.
Related links:
red-frog.co.uk
I love this series! My children are addicted! Fantastic work guys!
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