One of the biggest problems we faced was the sensitivity of the camera, since even breathing or small vibrations altered the resulting data when brought into Maya, and needed to be fixed on the spot.
STRATEGO GAME VIDEO SKIN
Our ultimate goal was to give our characters a more human quality, with imperfections in their skin textures and facial structure.Īfter capturing the raw data, the software bundled with the Next Engine scanner easily imported the data into Maya for clean up. Our textures were captured at 2,048 x 2,048 resolution, with 10 HDRI references created per model to ensure our modelers and riggers had much more accurate reference material than normal to work with.
STRATEGO GAME VIDEO SERIES
In addition to compiling multiple scans into a series of blendshapes, the process involved capturing multiple HDR images to record skin textures. We held internal auditions among our own artists and TDs to decide who should ‘appear’ in the trailer (with a special guest appearance from one of Spin Master’s own producers as the scout).įacial geometry and textures for the characters were captured using a Next Engine 3D laser scanner. The trailer features a new addition to our repertoire – Next Engine‘s 3D scanning technology – which captures a wide range of facial expressions to enable the on-screen characters to speak and interact with each other in a realistic and emotional way. While concepting of these and other elements was under way, storyboards and animatics were being created concurrently in order to move the project along at a steady pace. Environments such as the fortress interior and exterior and the objects within it were all created from scratch, taking elements from various industrial, futuristic, and militaristic settings. Our concept artists made adjustments to existing vehicle designs and equipment to create a uniform set of characters and machines that matched the vision of a futuristic Stratego. The concept work for the trailer mixed existing and original ideas. Working in Maya, Mudbox, MotionBuilder, Photoshop and After Effects – the latter supplemented by Maya Composite – our team of 30 carried out all of the modelling, texturing, animation and compositing work over a seven-week period to meet the deadline of the game’s official launch.
STRATEGO GAME VIDEO FULL
Originally planned for 90 seconds of animation, the sheer scale of the world, the characters, and the story demanded even more, pushing the full trailer to 140 seconds, and necessitating a variety of visual effects and studio techniques.īrain Zoo Studios’ full 140-second Stratego trailer, used as the basis for the 30-second TV commercial.Ĭlocking in at just over 1TB of data, the trailer required a huge range of digital assets, including 30 vehicles and 400 individual soldiers. This would become the first ever fully animated Stratego interpretation, just in time for the fiftieth anniversary of the game. The trailer focuses on the efforts of a lone scout in the Red Army, set on a planet in the near future where a never-ending war rages on between the Red and Blue armies. Eventually, our combined efforts led to what is now the benchmark for the franchise, laying down the foundations for further developing Stratego’s story in the future. In early June 2011, a meeting with Toronto-based Spin Master toys threw up the idea of their Stratego title being made into a high-quality trailer. But for our recent work on the franchise, we faced a more modern – and more digital – task. Below, CEO Mo Davoudian runs through BZS’s production process.Īlthough the classic military board game Stratego was first marketed in 1961, its origins can be traced back to before World War I. Its recent trailer for 50-year-old board game Stratego – also used for a 30-second TV ad – won Silver Telly Awards for both visual effects and art direction. The company has created a number of award-winning commercials for games, including LEGO Star Wars II and Capcom’s Darkwatch: Curse of the West – and more recently, a game of a different vintage. Since 1995, BZS has consistently raised the bar in 3D animation and visual effects for video games, feature films, television, and commercials. Brain Zoo Studios is an Emmy Award-winning animation studio based in Los Angeles, which specializes in both stylized and photorealistic character animation and visual effects.
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