VizWorld.com

Four new motion graphics piece for Nicktoons show the fun of Nailgun Studios as they show the work of Nicktoons cartoons, where “adventure lurks just below the surface”.  The four spots combine fun camera work, destructive effects, particle animations, and even some classic cell animation into a collection of great brand pieces.

”This project allowed us to flex our 3D muscles,” Erik van der Wilden, Director of Editorial and Animation says.  ”Most of the time 3D is used to make something — a product, a person, a logo – look great.  For this we used it to tell a story, a compressed one to be sure, but definitely a visceral story with a beginning, middle and end.”  While the project allowed the studio to stretch creatively and technically, for Waldron the real fun comes from working with a client like Nicktoons, who are so confident in their brand that they allowed nailgun* to play with their logo.

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Graphics commercial, nailgun, television, vfx

The new season of the popular “Girl’s Next Door” Reality show on E!, featuring Hugh Hefner and his cadre of girlfriends, features a new collection of women and therefore needed a new opening sequence.  Armed with some high-resolution photographs and powerful photo editing software, the guys at nailgun were able to accomplish the task.

“This one was much more complex creatively and technically then the last ‘Girls Next Door’ open,” Erik van der Wilden, nailgun’s Director of Editorial and Animation adds. “To really get this to move in the smooth way we envisioned meant a lot of rotoscoping and compositing work, and some long renders thanks to HD photos of 4,000 pixels and larger. But in the end it was very satisfying — you don’t often get the chance to revisit and improve upon something successful that you did five years ago, but that’s what we were able to do with this.”

via “The Girls Next Door” Call On nailgun | CGnews.

Graphics nailgun, television

nailgun recently created a new promo for the ESPNU, the college sports-lover version of ESPN.  The centerpiece of the clip is the updated logo, stylized as a photo-real 3D animationl

Imbued with youth and energy, the ‘hallmark’ spot begins with a shot of a richly colored sunset. The camera quickly tracks backward revealing all of the subtle details of the campus — 3D animated sidewalks, signage, stadiums, athletic track. Halfway through the spot a stream of animated balls from different sports soar through the campus as if propelled by a tremendous gust of air. It ends with a shot of a dramatically lit ESPNU logo bathed in stadium lights and flurrying tickertape.

You can see the spot here, and read the full press release after the break.

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Graphics commercial, nailgun, vfx