Zoic Studios got the almost envious job of shattering the figure of Simon Cowell into millions of pieces for a Super Bowl ad for upcoming show “The X Factor”. Unfortunately, they did have to put him back together again.
To create the effect, a variety of plaster forms simulating Simon Cowell’s legs, torso and head were detonated at high speed (1000-1500 fps) and shot on the Zoic Studios Stage. A week later on a London sound stage, high-speed principal photography captured multiple angles of Simon Cowell, both static and spinning on a turntable, against an all-black environment with heavy backlight. Additionally, Simon Cowell was 3D scanned to provide high-resolution textures for the eventual 3D model of his full body. Autodesk’s Maya was then used to fracture and explode the 3D model
Get all the details in the release after the break.
NBC Universal Studios has a great new virtual stage, called Universal Virtual Stage 1 (UVS1), built with help from Zoic Studios. It’s a completely integrated virtual pipeline that can take a shot from pre-production through post through modular design.
“The virtual stage is a pre rig, pre calibrated turn key facility designed for the most simple to the most complex shoots. We are excited to be able to offer UVS1 for both internal and third party clients as well,” says Jeff Berry, Executive Director Virtual Effects and Production Services at Universal. “Working with Zoic was an integral part of developing the facility.”
Developed from Zoic’s experience working on “V”, and enables previsualization on production day, speeding up the process.
“If you have a project that has a virtual set and you have a high volume, not only are you pre-visualizing what you’re doing, but it allows the Director and the talent and the DP to interact with the environment in real time,” adds Gina Fiore Zoic’s Executive Producer of Television. “The DP can see how the shots are laid out and create lighting changes. The big part of what goes wrong I think with green screen is that the talent isn’t lit very well. When you go to integrate talent into a scene it can become problematic. When you can actually see the set, you can light to it and the talent. UVS1 is also very beneficial to talent. They are able to look at themselves in the monitor and line themselves up to the environment.”
You can get more at the UVS1 website, or in the press release after the break.
Zoic Studios won an Emmy for Outstanding Special Visual Effects For A Series last Saturday for their work in CSI’s season premiere entitled “Family Affair”.
“What a fantastic night for the CSI team and Zoic,” says Zoic VFX Supervisor Rik Shorten. “I’m so proud of the artists whose immeasurable talents helped make this episode special. It was nice to be recognized for all our hard work. A truly great moment.”
At Comic Con, a star-studded panel announced a new video game from the minds of Todd McFarlane (Spawn), Ken Rolston (Elder Scrolls IV), and R.A. Salvatore (Best-selling author) called “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning”.
“Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning,” developed by Maryland-based Big Huge Games, is a new single-player action-RPG sprung from the minds of three of today’s greatest creative visionaries: New York Times best-selling fantasy author R. A. Salvatore, renowned artist and Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, and Ken Rolston, lead designer of the critically acclaimed RPG “Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.” “Reckoning” promises to redefine the action-RPG genre with a brutal, fluid combat experience, immersive open-world exploration, a vast narrative and rich character development.
The trailer for the game, called “Well of Souls”, features the work of Zoic studios as you see the hero locked in mortal combat against an army of skeleton warriors. See it at the link below.
If you saw the promo’s for the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy, then you saw the ‘One Gun Shot’ promo from New Leaf Media and Zoic Studios where the bullet flies through the halls of Seattle Grace Hospital in slow motion, eventually piercing the white lab coat of one unknown doctor.
Zoic’s team, headed by Creative Director Les Ekker, assisted New Leaf’s production with a laser, describing the bullet’s path for all the actors in real life, and assuring a convincing path through that panicked crowd. Zoic also shot a real 9mm slug for accurate reference, and captured the lighting and reflections with HDR photos on set. During pre-production, the Zoic team remodeled the bullet, enhanced its textures and shaders and created a unique new shock trail that would have its own signature look. The drama of the natural action of actors and bullet combines with the cinematic soundtrack to make for a dramatic piece that draws the viewer into that frightening moment.
And it was a success. This promo helped push the season finale to a 4.8 on the Neilson’s, and bring in 2.1 Million new facebook fans.
See the full press release and view the promo after the break.
Zoic studios follows up the action-packed “Dominoes” NASCAR spot with a new one called “Variables”. Focusing heavily on the tiny, mostly unseen tiny variables that can affect the race in both mundane and awe-inspiring ways, they used a CG camera to analyze each one.
The intensity, focus, and skill required in the last lap of any race are what set the champions apart from the other drivers. The story of the new NASCAR spot is that last lap, the intensity and focus of the NASCAR drivers, and the variables in the final stretch that determine the outcome for the champion Kyle Busch.
See the spot at the link below, and see the credits and press release after the break.
ABC’s ‘V’ returns from hiatus tonight, with special effects provided by Zoic Studios. This season focuses more closely on Anna and the aliens, with several new scenes inside the Mothership.
Zoic’s creative director, Andrew Orloff, discussed his excitement for the upcoming episodes: “It’s a big season, with a lot of surprises and a lot of new stuff. We’re spending a lot more time on the mothership,” says Orloff. “We’re getting a lot more into Anna, and the Vs and what they are really up to. We can’t give away too much, but there’s a lot happening, and a lot more to the visual effects — it’s going to be very cool. We’re continuing with the virtual set work we’ve been doing, and the virtual prosthetic work.”
Read the full release after the break. If you haven’t followed V, the entire first season is available on iTunes .
A new commercial for ESPN’s coverage of the NASCAR Nationwide Series features some great action-packed CG by Zoic.
“Dominoes,” the first spot in ESPN’s new campaign for the NASCAR Nationwide Series, conveys the fast and unpredictable action of the series — where up-and-comers get a shot at beating seasoned drivers. Using the tagline IT’S ANYONE’S RACE, the spot tells the story of a driver who manages to sneak his way to the front of the pack when a fight for the lead turns into a massive pile-up. Through a combination of CGI animation and cutting edge facial capture technology, Zoic and agency Wieden + Kennedy were able to create a hyper-real environment containing expressive human characters. With the hard driving soundtrack of Metallica’s “Master of Puppets,” “Dominoes” captures the intensity of NASCAR and showcases the fine line between winning and losing.
EA’s new “Amy of Two: the 40th Day” (for Xbox360 and PS3) has an amazing new commercial from Zoic. You can view it online, or download the 175M Quicktime MOV. (01/19/2010: At Interdub’s request, I have removed the Download Link. Simply hit the View link, and you’ll see a download link on the page.)
I guess it’s a successful commercial, because I sure want to play it now.
Visual Effects Supervisor Andrew Orloff sits down with vfxblog to discuss the contributions Zoic has made to ABC’s scifi drama ‘V’, and gets into the details of how they were able to render so much of the environment in CG and seamlessly match it to the actual photography and video. The secret: lipstick cameras.
The way that it works is we get all the designs from production, we add the lighting details by working with the DP, and then we use Lightcraft’s realt-time 3D graphics engine, like what you would find in a video game. We convert our digital sets, which would normally take hours to render, into something that works in the graphics engine much faster. There’s a little tiny lipstick camera attached to the main camera on set which shoots up into the ceiling to read a bunch of tracking markers and give us a real-time track of the set. It will make the set move around in the exact same way as the main camera is moving. We map all the lenses to give us real-time lens distortion and depth of field. It also does a real-time composite with the greenscreen. So what we're seeing on the day is real-time feedback of what the final shot is going to look like.
Zoic Studios got the almost envious job of shattering the figure of Simon Cowell into millions of pieces for a Super Bowl ad for upcoming show “The X Factor”. Unfortunately, they did have to put him back together again.
Zoic studios follows up the action-packed “
ABC’s ‘V’ returns from hiatus tonight, with special effects provided by Zoic Studios. This season focuses more closely on Anna and the aliens, with several new scenes inside the Mothership.
A new commercial for ESPN’s coverage of the NASCAR Nationwide Series features some great action-packed CG by Zoic.
Visual Effects Supervisor Andrew Orloff sits down with vfxblog to discuss the contributions Zoic has made to ABC’s scifi drama ‘V’, and gets into the details of how they were able to render so much of the environment in CG and seamlessly match it to the actual photography and video. The secret: lipstick cameras.
VizWorld.com 
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