Blakes 7 Desktop image

Having rediscovered the old Liberator model we build back in 2003 I indulged myself and rendered out this image.

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T-Rex Attacks Hartlepool - Updated

Here's a fun test piece completed recently by Matt. A T-Rex causes devastation to Church Street in Hartlepool, that's why we had to move out!

How was it done? In Matt's own words: Firstly I filmed Chris running down Church St in Hartlepool. This footage was then tracked in 3D, and i blocked out a rough version of the scene's buildings and road in 3dsmax so that the footage could be projected back onto this geometry to provide reflections and ambient lighting / shadow.

The T-rex model was bought from the Internet, which i then rigged using CAT, set up a new shader using sub-surface scattering with displacement, and animated it in the 3D scene. The smart car was already built by Nick, so i was able to just drop it straight into the scene. I fractured the glass geometry using dynamics, and animated the door crumpling in when the T-rex hits it. The scene was then lit to match the live-action footage and rendered in Mentalray.

In post-production i roto'd mattes around parts of the shot that need to obscure the T-rex and car. Added grain, blur, and lighting effects to match the footage, and then camera shake and colour correction were applied to the shot as a whole.
Sound effects kindly supplied by Richard Alderson of Dene Films.

Who Peter

'Who Peter' DVD Documentary due for 2010.

This news has been reported on several websites, most notably on Doctor Who Online.

We worked with Dene Film's Producer Chris Chapman to supply an animated title sequence and other graphics for this impressive documentary.

Brand new documentary, 'Who Peter', coming as a DVD extra in 2010.

DWO caught up with 2|entertain's Commissioning Editor; Dan Hall, who has confirmed the brand's biggest Doctor Who DVD Documentary to date entitled 'Who Peter'.

"I am delighted to confirm that we are nearing the end of production on our biggest documentary to date. It is a two-parter due for release next year, presented by Blue Peter / Strictly Come Dancing star, Gethin Jones.

Shot in the BP studio and the BP garden, the programme, Who Peter, was devised by Blue Peter producer Richard Marson, and produced by Chris Chapman of Dene Films."

Chris commented: “With the help of a packed cast of interviewees including Peter Purves, Janet Ellis, Biddy Baxter and Russell T Davies, we spent two action-packed days filming at the BBC and – hopefully – the result is something that sums up and celebrates the quirky bond between the two shows."

We'll add more information once the DVD has been released.

Pass The Parcel

What do you get if you combine Les Dennis sporting a gentleman's moustache, a freezing studio and some of the best production companies in the North East? More details here.

Bookworm

This was a pitch for a project that never happened, an animated bookworm. Chris designed and built this little character in no time at all, nice isn't he?

Smart Car Test

Done to test out shaders and to show car modelling skills.

Nick Frost/Henderson Mesh

Back in October 2005, as part of our work on the first series of Hypedrive, we were required to build a 3D computer model of Nick Frost, Captain Henderson. We had to show him floating through space from the HMS Camden Lock to another ship nearby. There wasn't the budget to build a spacesuit and our work had to link up directly with the next shot of him entering the other ship. The writers suggested that all the suits would double up as hyper-thin spacesuits, so all you'd need to go outside would be a helmet and gloves. I took some reference shots of the helmet...


Next I asked Nick Frost to wear the helmet so I could take some additional reference. He was very helpful and pushed on the helmet which was obviously not made to measure. After some pushing Nick got it all the way down!

...and it stuck!

...and started to steam up.

Nick was protesting that he couldn't get it off and for a moment I thought I was going to kill the leading actor! Thankfully I had been the victim of Nick's humour, he removed the helmet grinning. Somewhat flustered I continued with my reference photography, getting front and profile shots of Nicks uniform. Alas I didn't notice the large perspective shift in the pictures - I'm taller than Nick and I was looking down on him instead of being level with him. So the pictures were less than perfect as a reference point.

We fell back on a set of pictures I'd taken of Nick in a quarry. These ones were taken from some distance away so were no use for textures but were great for checking proportions.


The model was built by Nick here (a different Nick, confusing isn't it!). Here are some renders.





And here is the final shot as seen in the episode - it could have been anyone inside that helmet!!

NE 31, robot of the future