This actually broke over the summer but apparently I never covered it here. Over in Japan there was a huge splash over a new TV star named “Aimi Eguchi”, appearing in a few commercials and TV ads. Later, it was found that the girl was actually a CG-construction, a composite of the faces of the 6 members of the popular japanese pop band “AKB48″.
Confectionery company Ezaki Glico Co., which features the character named Aimi Eguchi along with a few other AKB48 members in the commercial for its Ice no Mi (Fruit of Ice) product, confirmed Monday that she is a composite image of six members of the group.
The six members are Atsuko Maeda (eyes), Tomomi Itano (nose), Yuko Oshima (hairstyle), Mariko Shinoda (mouth), Minami Takahashi (face outline), and Mayu Watanabe (eyebrows), according to a TV ad by Glico.
It looks like they made heavy use of both modern 3D and traditional 2D compositing techniques, combining tricks like Facial Tracking for 3d mesh blending along with outline and image morphing.
Watch the video below for a quick overview of what they did.
Quick reminder here, CG animated series ‘Cat Shit One’ is now available on BluRay and DVD, and (for the next 2 weeks only) available for viewing on YouTube.
Dear All,
My name is Junya Okabe, the producer for the film, “CAT SHIT ONE”. Please allow me to deliver this genuine message. The film has yet to surpass the production cost and we saw more potential for the content in the U.S. than in Japan. We dubbed the entire film in English by casting American voice actors. Even after all the obstacles, we have managed to finalize the English version of our investment.
We must now make this project a huge hit! We already have countless new projects in line, such as a new character merchandizing project, created by Japanese production companies, to air online for free once this project succeeds. However, we do not have budget for it.
I’m watching it now. It’s action packed, and the animation is pretty well done. The dubbing is pretty bad (not the best voice actors, and the lip-syncing is all off) but it’s a fun 22-minute watch. Even though it is bunnies, it’s not for kids as the bullets, blood, and violence is pretty serious. If you want to support a great independent project, then buy it via one of Amazon links.
Jon Peddie sent me a link to this clever commercial for the Mercedes SLS, showing it roll 360-degrees around the inside of the China Bar Tunnel in British Columbia, Canada (Supposedly). Watch it closely, and see if you can tell if it’s CG?
I’m pretty sure it is, but it’s quite well executed. One giveaway I noticed was that the beginning of the curve (the 2:15 mark) is shot from a wall-mounted camera just narrowly missed by the passing car, however this camera doesn’t actually appear in the driver’s view. In fact, I don’t see any cameras at all.
Of course, there is also the matter of physics, where it doesn’t matter how fast forward you go, Gravity still pulls Down so you have to generate Lift to counter it. If they were generating that kind of lift, the car would fly off the road.
Update: Commenter pboin points out the dangers of posting before coffee, as the real physics effect here would not be lift but downforce (eg. a force pulling the car ‘down’ towards the wall, or up towards the ceiling when it’s upside down). Certain race cars, like F1 racers, generate pretty substantial downforce to increase traction and improve handling, but I doubt the Mercedes SLS is in that class.
Alex Roman has a video on Vimeo, you may have seen it advertised other places as well, showing a fully-CG film of architectural beauty and splendor that rivals films like Avatar for detail and realism.
A FULL-CG animated piece that tries to illustrate architecture art across a photographic point of view where main subjects are already-built spaces. Sometimes in an abstract way. Sometimes surreal.
See the video, and with some behind-the-scenes videos of how it was built, after the break.
A Taiwanese news organization was unsatisfied with the lack of visuals in the recent Tiger Woods crash, so took it upon themselves to recreate the event in some laughably bad CG. Complete with an action packed crash scene, thought bubbles, a lover’s quarrel, and his wife (Elin Nordegren) chasing his SUV with a Golf Club, it’s just good entertainment.
Quick reminder here, CG animated series ‘Cat Shit One’ is now available on BluRay and DVD, and (for the next 2 weeks only) available for 
Alex Roman has a video on Vimeo, you may have seen it advertised other places as well, showing a fully-CG film of architectural beauty and splendor that rivals films like Avatar for detail and realism.
A Taiwanese news organization was unsatisfied with the lack of visuals in the recent Tiger Woods crash, so took it upon themselves to recreate the event in some laughably bad CG. Complete with an action packed crash scene, thought bubbles, a lover’s quarrel, and his wife (Elin Nordegren) chasing his SUV with a Golf Club, it’s just good entertainment.
VizWorld.com 
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