Pendulum Studios Stuntman:Ignition
San Diego, CA – 25 March 2008 Pendulum,
a leading digital animation studio for the advertising, video game and
entertainment industries, has announced its recent production of four
HD
cinematic trailers for THQ’s Stuntman:
Ignition. Developed by THQ’s Paradigm
Entertainment, Stuntman: Ignition is the second
installment in the critically acclaimed, million-plus-unit selling Stuntman franchise. The game
challenges players to pull off death-defying stunts with precision
driving by
dropping them into the adrenaline-fueled role of a Hollywood
stuntman, where they help make “Night Avenger”,
“Strike
Force Omega”, “Never Kill Me Again”, and “Whoopin’ and a
Hollerin’ II”.
The trailers draw inspiration from iconic films throughout the
superhero, action, spy, and comedy film genres. THQ relied upon
Pendulum and the project’s creative directors, studio owners Michael
McCormick and Robert Taylor, for a turn-key solution that included not
only full 3D production, but also look, style and script development,
full-performance motion-capture, voice and mo-cap talent casting &
direction, sound design, and the creation of original musical scores
for each trailer.
"When you combine Pendulum’s talented team and their ability to create
visually compelling content for games, with Paradigm’s desire to
replicate a true Hollywood style trailer, there was no doubt we would
get a stunning cinematic product for the title,” says Jim Galis,
Executive Producer for THQ-Paradigm. “Pendulum’s attention to detail,
their amazing facial animation software, all around competency from
storyboard to render and their dedication to a superior final piece
went above and beyond our expectations."
Since the four trailers would exhibit out-of-context movie sequences,
as in the typical Hollywood-style movie trailer, the directors felt a
solid background story was necessary to motivate each shot and convey
the scope and depth of a full-length film. In mimicking the traditional
editorial style of movie trailers, each one would require a high level
of scene diversity. “To paint a believable picture for each trailer we
had to create environments specific to each film’s story,” says
Pendulum’s Director of Animation, Michael McCormick. “Each film had a
distinctive look and feel, which drove the need for unique
cinematography and lighting styles, as well as a huge number of
environments, matte paintings, characters, vehicles and props. To build
so many assets and maintain stylistic consistency for each trailer was
a big challenge, requiring a great deal of organization and planning.”
Faced with the creation of a large number of high-quality characters,
who needed to exhibit dynamic personalities, dramatic actions and
considerable amounts of dialogue, Pendulum employed a uniquely powerful
full-performance motion-capture solution. The studio relied upon
premiere motion-capture studio, Vicon House of Moves, where they
directed all of the project’s mocap. Vicon’s leading-edge
full-performance technology allowed Pendulum to capture multiple
actors’ bodies, fingers, and facial motions, while simultaneously
recording their voices. However, transferring complex facial data onto
digital characters, to create emotive and realistic looking facial
animation, is a well known and difficult hurdle in 3D animation. To
meet this challenge, Pendulum made extensive use of their proprietary
facial performance software, AlterEgo.
The software also allowed the team to animate on top of the mocap data,
without removing it, so as to enhance or modify facial expressions as
needed. “It was critical to the project that we were able to manipulate
facial performances to achieve the right amount of drama demanded by
each scene,” says Pendulum’s Exec Producer, Robert Taylor. “AlterEgo
provided us the ideal tool to achieve this flexibility.”
For all production efforts Pendulum relied upon a combination of
Pixologic ZBrush, Autodesk Maya, Syflex Cloth Simulator, Shave &
Haircut, mental ray renderer, and eyeon’s Fusion. Other tools used
include Wondertouch’s particleIllusion, Apple’s Final Cut, and the
studio’s proprietary facial software, AlterEgo.
Pendulum Studios is a San
Diego, CA based 3D animation and digital fx studio focused on
expressing the ideal fusion of art, cinema and technology by
specializing in dynamic character animation and compelling
storytelling. Owned and operated by directors, Michael McCormick and
Robert Taylor, the studio strives to produce the highest quality
animation for commercials, game cinematics, film, and their own
animated shorts. For more information about the studio,
please visit www.studiopendulum.com.
Stuntman Production Credits:
Michael McCormick – Co-Director/3D
Lead
Robert Taylor – Co-Director/Lead
Compositor/Exec Producer
Wade Ammon – Producer
Matt Schiller – Character TD
Matt Chapman – Character TD
Reed Casey – Lead 3D
Asset Artist
Bryn Murrow – 3D Character
Artist
Gina Adamova – 3D Character
Artist
Tyler Esselstrom – Shading
& Lighting Artist
Stefan Minning – Shading
& Lighting Artist
Emil Bidiuc – Animator
Kevin Jackson – Animator
Mark Tan – Animator
Jeff McNeil – 3D FX Artist
Scott Mitchell – Compositor
Brian Smallwood – Compositor
“Spooky” Dan Walker – Compositor
Alex Popov – Editor/Digital
Media Artist
Ron Chan – Storyboard
Artist
Siram Bhat – Digital
Matte Painter
Daniel Sadowski – Original
Music
Tracey Larvenz – Sound Design
& Mix
Vicon House of Moves – Motion
Capture Studio
