Client: (Fictional) Toy company. FINAL YEAR University project.

Need: To produce a 1min TV advert to promote DashToy’s new range of toys.

Solution: Model, texture and animate a comedy sequence between two toys.

Specific Objectives: Use 3DS Max 8 to model a toy robot and jack-in-the-box on the dashboard of a car and create a comedy sequence using keyframe animation. Use Adobe Photoshop CS2 to create textures for scene. Add a soundtrack using Cubase SX3.1. Compsite video using Adobe Premiere 7.0.

Tools: 3DS Max 8, Adobe Photoshop CS2, Adobe Premiere 7.0, Cubase SX3.1.

Abstract from documentation:

Animation has always been at the forefront of entertainment, warming the hearts of both children and adults. With the development of powerful computer systems and software packages, computer graphics and animation has taken the centre stage in the creation of believable characters and effects in both films and on TV. This project details the use of such a software package, 3DS MAX 8, to create a TV advert for a toy company. The advert will act as the main promotional product along with a CD-ROM, subway poster and internet banner for a complete advertising package. Along with the practical documentation, this project will also discuss the old proverbial saying “pictures speak a thousand words” and see whether “moving pictures speak even more”.

Realism: The following is an exert from the Materials, Maps, Lighting and Shadows section of the documentation.

When a toy maker creates a puppet, the puppet starts off as a piece of wood and then it is carved, sculpted and assembled into place. The toy maker then decorates the model by painting a face and putting clothes on it. This is the same with 3D models. The models start as standard primitives, they are sculpted and assembled into place, and then they are decorated to give them realism.

Animation: The following is an exert from the Importance of Timing section of the documentation.

Once a toy maker has decorated the puppet, it is now the puppeteers turn to bring it to life. Similarly, in 3D Animation, once the modeller has decorated the objects and characters in a scene with maps, materials and lighting, it is the animator’s turn to bring them to life. Time is an animator’s most important tool. The timing of an action can give a lot of information to the audience regarding the weight of an object, the strength of a character or whether it is windy etc.

Understanding Springs: The following is an extract that discusses the physics of a spring, taken from the documentation.

The mass of the clown head will pull the spring to one side and bend it downwards- causing compression on the outside of the spring, and tension on the inside. Both of these build up and become greater then the force of gravity, causing the clown head to return upwards, arrive at the peak, and repeat the same process on the opposite side of its equilibrium. This whole process repeats and is called simple harmonic motion, and theoretically will go on forever- but never does due to damping, i.e. the momentum of the clown head is overcome by the spring’s force, making the whole thing come to a stop.

Character Profiles: The following is an extract from the documentation that discusses the characters of the animation and how they attempt to win the hearts of the audience

Vobot has an angry look to him. He is somewhat of a loner as he has always been alone on the dashboard without any other toys to bother him. He is used to peace and quiet and listens to the birds sing. Any other noise and he looses his temper. Vobot has similar traits to an angry old grandfather, and the design of his hands look as those he is clenching his fists in fury. As the characters would not be talking, it was important to experiment with facial expressions as the audience would only have the body language to use to follow the sequence.

Jack on the other hand is the complete opposite. He has a ’spring’ to his character, hence him being a Jack-in-a-box. He is clumsy and doesn’t really have control over his actions. He doesn’t change his expression, it is as if he is constantly ecstatic, the only thing that moves are his eyes. His bells attached to his head jingle happily- as if mirroring his mood.

Scene Modelling: The following is an extract from the documentation that discusses the scene building.

Creating a 3D environment for the characters was important in enhancing the story and building up realism, such as shadows and textures. Appendix D shows pictures of a Renault Clio dashboard, of which the 3D dashboard was modelled from. The pictures were used as a point of reference for the shape and scale.

Conclusion: The following is an extract from the documentation which discusses the success of project.

This project succeeds in meeting the client’s objectives. It also allows for the discussion as to whether “moving pictures speak more words then still pictures”. While this might be obvious at first, it is more complicated. Yes, moving pictures speak more, but the words that they speak are specific. Put in another way- the content of the moving pictures dictate what message is being sent. The animation speaks endless words describing Jack and Vobot’s personalities, their setting, the time of day, time of year, weather etc. But the comedy sequence doesn’t give information about the company. It doesn’t give prices, contact details, shipping costs. Not all adverts do this anyway, and this wasn’t the aim of this advert either. The point is, moving images might speak more words then still images, but it is important to choose the correct images to show the required message. If the client wanted to give information about toy prices, then this comedy sequence would fail to do that.