This year’s Mobo Awards feature a particularly stunning video ident. I was jealous when I saw it. So when I was asked to create the TV ad for the events – this year taking place place in Glasgow – I was a little apprehensive. I don’t need that kind of pressure.

But once I buckled down to it, I managed to emulate the reflective 3d text and quick cutting of their original. This was the result.

Categories: 3d Animation, Television Graphics | Tags: 3d animation, Scottish Television, Television Graphics, stv | No Comments

Here’s a really simple advert that was given to me in storyboard form, with notes on what all the frames and images should look like. I put it together in 3d in order to give the mantelpiece and frames some depth.

This format means we can change the images in the frames quite easily, along with anything in the final frame, so the client doesn’t necessarily need a whole new ad if they just want to freshen it up.

Categories: 3d Animation, Television Graphics | Tags: 3d animation, Scottish Television, Television Graphics, stv | No Comments

Creating an animation to illustrate what a piece of software does is quite tricky, but it’s probably better than trying to describe it, or for that matter, walking you through the software’s workings – although I did use a few examples of the real nitty gritty here.

The concepts behind Prodeceo’s online training system were all pretty abstract and it came down to trying to find generic symbols that were appealing enough to present them. I’m particularly proud of the ‘working from home’ image – it’s the same as the office image except there’s a cat on the desk.

Categories: 3d Animation | Tags: 3d animation, Business Graphics | No Comments

Finally, a subject close to my heart. I love food. I don’t know where I’d be without food. Some of my best friends are food.

So apparently these foodies festivals run up and down the country over the summer. What a great idea. Summer and food. Where do I sign up?

Anyway, this ad will be spreading the word this summer. It was a classic case of being given a bunch of random shots of previous events and told to do something interesting with them. Well, I’m not one to settle for a slideshow so I created this pop-up effect so that you’d have something more interesting to whet your appetite.

I insist you admire the butterfly at the end.

Categories: 3d Animation, Television Graphics | Tags: 3d animation, Scottish Television, Television Graphics, stv | No Comments

Clients hate it when you ask them to supply all kinds of material – images, video, high resolution logos, font details. I’ve taken to asking ‘what do you have?’ instead. If there isn’t much to go on or getting a hold of material will be problematic, I have a whole range of techniques that don’t require much of anything.

Kinetic text is one of them. It’s just a visualisation of whatever the voiceover says, but it can look pretty exciting and dramatic.

For the Wellgate Centre in Dundee, you could have been looking at a bunch of dreary stills of retail outlets. Here’s something fun instead.

Categories: 3d Animation, Television Graphics | Tags: 3d animation, Scottish Television, Television Graphics | No Comments

How long has it taken me to update the site? This festive posting in May should give you an idea.

With the drive towards a greener future, traditional Christmas cards are taking a bit of a hit. Businesses are especially keen to show their environmentally-friendly credentials and turning to e-cards for greeting their customers.

But e-cards can be a bit flat and unengaging so we’re always on the lookout for novel ways of saying Merry Christmas. When a 3d advent calendar was suggested for Howden Engineering’s massive international customer-base, this seemed an ideal solution. A Christmas card with a difference.

Categories: 3d Animation, Miscellaneous Graphic Design | Tags: 3d advent calendar, custom christmas cards | No Comments

I get some unusual requests. ‘I want talking toast’ was a recent one. Last year I created a shivering house for the client, Direct Savings (see Direct Savings 3d Animation), and now it was decided the house should be inhabited by a family of toasties. You know, “you’ll be as warm as toast.” The last advert was a lot of fun to do, so this time I was happy to illustrate the concept of infranomic heating through the medium of warmed bread.

Categories: 3d Animation, Television Graphics | Tags: 3d animation, Scottish Television, Television Graphics, toast | No Comments

3d animation is a great tool for event managers. It allows them to take all their ideas about how a promotional event will look and present a reasonably realistic rendition of it to the client. In the case of this installation set to promote Scotland’s tourist industry, that meant custom-built presentation stands and furnishings, a plexi-glass meeting area in the centre and the unusual overhead construction.

I was given 2d line drawings of some of these features; others were just described to me over the phone. The overhead construction was actually an impossible shape in its 2d form, but with 3d modelling I was able to help show the event managers and their set designer how it would be shaped in reality.

The little figures are basic but are vital for identifying the scale of the overall installation. In event planning, that’s pretty crucial.

Categories: 3d Animation, 3d Event Planning | Tags: 3d Event Planning, 3d animation, Scotland, Visit Scotland | No Comments

A nice wintry advert that’s been showing on STV recently.

The original ad that Direct Savings were using showed how loft and cavity wall insulation actually worked, in a particularly dry style. So the idea was to inject a bit of personality and life into the 3d proceedings and not get too wrapped up in the technicalities. Who cares how it works? It’s going to keep your house warm!

File under ‘cheap and cheerful.’

Categories: 3d Animation, Television Graphics | Tags: 3d animation, Scotland, Scottish Television, Television Graphics, stv | No Comments

I’ve created a lot of 3d maps over the years and it’s always difficult thinking up fresh ways of presenting them. This one for Connoisseurs Scotland uses a similar technique to the one I built for Cairn Energy earlier this year, complete with fluffy clouds.

The idea was to present a selection of venues represented by Connoisseurs Scotland as the finest luxury spots Scotland has to offer, and locate them generally on the map.

This was used as part of an overall presentation for the group to promote Scottish hospitality. Which actually does exist.

Categories: 3d Animation | Tags: 3d animation, Scotland, cairn, maps | No Comments