Times Square Time Lapse!

Hi All,

Happy New Year! ... Or is it too late for that now?

Whether it is or it isn’t I thought I would share with you a pretty cool time lapse from New Year in Times Square.  Now, I was over there myself at the time this was taken but I certainly didn’t see the New Year in like this or as creatively (head hangs in shame).
   
This time lapse video was created by Noel Cordero. Brandon Cotter & Hector Arrivillaga of the Timelapse Group and definitely captures what Times Square has to offer on New Year … without the close up footage of the freezing cold crowd and crazy hat and glasses wearing antics!  This video focuses more on how the space changes over the course of 12 hours from various locations nearby.  The video incorporates 18,000 stills and focuses predominantly from a plan view.  Take a look at this yourself and see what you think!  Blink and you’ll miss the ball drop 141feet!!
Click here to view the time lapse!

Link courtesy of www.coolector.com and Dave Strachan (a friend).
Some more New Year NYC Images below courtesy of my "trusty" iPhone camera!

 

 

 

Media, Architecture, Design
www.sovibrant.co.uk

 
 

Artist - Oliver Dunn

Hello readers,

Today I would like to introduce to you some work by an up and coming local Artist / Illustrator / Graphic designer – Oliver Dunn. Specialising in hand-drawn “doodle” style pieces with a focus on bold graphic shapes and striking colours, his clients include the likes of Root Clothing, No Title Magazine, Urban Graphic and Urban Outfitters. 

Oliver’s work has recently taken him to the London scene, but I have had the pleasure of his acquaintance for a number of years while he was based out of Leeds. I have always admired Oliver’s work and dedication and of course it is always great to see local talent getting recognition. 

Because of the level of vibrancy in Oliver’s designs, industry magazines and web issues have likened his work to such artists as Keith Haring, coupled with the intricacy of M. C. Escher and even showing elements of pop art in-between. Oliver’s style allows his work to transfer into a wide range of different avenues from bespoke furniture, to window art, canvasses and beyond.

NOCTIS magazine had this to say about the artists work and to be honest, I think their words hit the nail on the head:

“There is something so simple, yet so captivating about Oliver Dunn's designs. The vibrant tones present a nostalgia and you find yourself forming patterns with your eyes; your own unique pattern.

With his intricate attention to detail, it is no wonder Oliver Dunn is making a name for himself. He offers a new way of thinking, a fresh palette which revolves around concept and adaptability.”

It is the combination of both bold and bright, with intricate and detailed patterns that pull my gaze onto Oliver’s pieces, the designs create a desire within me to explore every millimetre of his creations, often finding myself lost within the journey his motif’s take you.

It is the artist’s unique personalised style which impresses me most, one where though my own interest I feel I could easily identify a Dunn piece instantly, which is credit to the man himself as the same cannot be said for many young up and coming artists. 

The intricacy of the patterns magically seem to keep my attention for often much longer than I intend, the wiry patterns which crop up frequently in Oliver’s work are always faultless and personally I could sit and follow each individual path from one side of a piece to the other for hours. In fact, as I write this entry I find myself leaning in close to my monitor to try and take in every aspect of Oliver’s work (much to the amusement of my colleagues!).

With a style so adaptable I really cannot wait to see what comes next from Oliver and I am sure I find myself in an ever growing list of people keeping an eye on his progress. 

Thanks for reading.

Mark Kitching
Strategy Consultant

(all images courtesy of odunn.com) 

John Lewis - Bear and Hare - 2013

Hi everyone,

Having just left behind the Christmas festivities, I am sure most people would have seen the John Lewis Christmas advert on TV. Just as a reminder, it was the awesome one with the bear and the hare who were best friends. The video is embedded below as well as a link to it on Youtube.

Click here for the direct link to this video on Youtube

Some of you may not have been aware but the song in the advert was sung by none other than Lilly Allen. She has recently returned to music having previously retired. What I would like to discuss today is the music video that has been created for that song.

Image courtesy of Google Images

Image courtesy of Google Images

The video is visually stunning and not only impresses with its content but also its visual style. The creation of this piece of animation uses a combination of traditional stop-motion animation and cutting edge CGI techniques. All of the environments have been painstakingly created through traditional modelling techniques. From the snowy Christmas tree to the amazingly detailed forest floor, everything has been handmade from scratch. You can almost feel the passion and attention that has been put into the final environments.

Image courtesy of Google Images

When it comes to the characters and animals in the animation there has been a very clever mix of modern techniques and traditional animation. The studio has opted to digitally animate all of the animals as you would any other modern cartoon/animated movie such as The Simpsons or various Disney movies. They then chose to print out each frame of these animations and use them as the plates to create the stop-motion animals. This technique not only allows the animators the ability to fine-tune everything digitally and create a much more realistic, smoother feel, it also keeps the visual impact of a hand animated stop-motion experience.

Image courtesy of Google Images

On one hand you could consider this method as cheating as they are not really using stop-motion for the animals as they are already animated using a computer. On the other hand you could see it as we do here at SoVibrant and that it is purely progress. Animation is constantly evolving and this is just the latest in a long line of modern techniques to improve and streamline the process.

Image courtesy of Google Images

Image courtesy of Google Images

This choice of animation techniques as well as the story they tell in the advert make this my favourite of all of the 2013 Christmas shopping commercials.

Media Productions
www.sovibrant.co.uk

Seasonal CGI

Good morning readers,

Christmas has come and gone and unlike the rest of the world the UK has yet to see any snow. For this reason we thought that we would take a look at some of the best winter CGI out there, Followed by our own piece of seasonal artwork.

Using 3D Studio Max, Mental ray and Photoshop, the artist Kaes Martin has created a great example of an urban winter wonderland set in 1930's Manhattan. He has been very careful in not going over the top on the snow and avoids making it look like a scene from "The day after tomorrow". This gives him the opportunity to show off the modelling and texturing of some very detailed and complex structures. This is definitely one of our favourites.

Kaes - Martin - courtesy of 3Dtotal.com

Next up is a great visual by Aldo Garcia from Mexico. Using 3D Studio Max, Vray and Photoshop, Aldo creates this amazing secluded retreat. Not your usual alpine chalet but more of a modern piece of architecture placed high in the Rockies. You can really feel the difference in environments from the sub freezing temperatures of the forest to the warm homely feel of the interior. The snow covered trees may be photography composited into the visual but the foreground snow with added foliage and footprints has been created in 3D Studio Max incredibly well.

Aldo Garcia - courtesy of CGarchitect.com

One of my all time favorite CGI snow scenes is next. Originally created as a cinematic shot for Fable 2 by Blur studio. This has been one of the most viewed CGI tutorials on the well known CGI site 3D TOTAL. Unlike the images above this scene was created by a small team of digital artists split up to work on different parts of the image and scene. The detailed trees and muddy foreground, the farm land in the mid ground and the distant hills and mountains of the back ground were all worked on independently. When brought together these give image and amazing amount of depth.

Follow the link below to view the making of this incredible winter scene

Blur Studio - courtesy of 3Dtotal.com

Probably the most well recognizable pieces of winter CGI is of course the Manhattan skyline from the movie "The day after tomorrow". Amazingly this was created by one man Eric Hanson, he spent the best part of a year modelling and texturing numerous buildings to be scattered around the island. With the addition of the ambience and particle effects, this in my opinion, makes for one of the most epic cinematic views of Manhattan seen on the silver screen.

Eric Hanson - courtesy of xRez.com

Last but not least we bring you one of our own seasonal CGI's. Using a building that was originally designed for the warm climate of the Middle East, we built a desolate frozen forest hideout. Using 3D Studio Max, Vray and Photoshop we really wanted to create that frost-bitten, lonely feeling of a cold, harsh winter, as well as the warm festive feeling of Christmas.

SoVibrant 

We hope you enjoyed our seasonal CGI and we look forward to bringing you another instalment this spring perhaps with a few bluebells and lambs thrown in for good measure! 

Media Productions

www.sovibrant.co.uk

Cube 3 - making 3d printing easier and more accessible than ever.

Hello readers and happy new year,

2013 was a great year for us here at SoVibrant and we have some very exciting things in-store for 2014 so stay tuned.

Although it has been around since the 1980's, it wasn't until around 2010 that 3D printing properly emerged. This was mainly due to new technologies making it commercially available to more people. It was especially noticeable in 2013, with the 3D printers becoming more accessible for everyday users and not just wealthy institutes. It is safe to say that 3D printing is going to have an ever increasing impact on the modern world.

Image courtesy of Google images.

To anybody unfamiliar with the idea and process of 3D printers it may sound like something straight out of science fiction. In reality it's a relatively straight forward evolution from 2D printing, the idea of creating a 3D object is by placing down layer upon layer of material and binding with glue. That is essentially the process, but by having it completed by a machine gives the user the freedom to create delicately complex designs.

Example of 3d scanning and printing service offered to customers by supermarket Asda, allowing customers to get scale models of themselves.

 Using the appropriate software, a user can design and model an object in digital form. The printer will then build up the physical model layer by layer, in the same respect as a 2D printer would. The difference being that the 3D printer works in all three dimensions layering the model generally from top to bottom or bottom to top. Some of the early machines would lay down a layer of powder relative to the cross section of the digital form it was creating followed by a layer of glue match the same shape, this would bond the material to that shape and to previous layers already laid down. This process is repeated moving vertically revealing the model in physical form slowly. Below are some videos showing the printing process, and the level of complexity that can be achieved.   

This technology being available in the own home will allow people to create things for themselves, whether this is art work or essentials to be used in day to day life. As the technology is honed and developed the design and usability of these printers will improve greatly.

3D System's Cube 3 is one of the latest generations of printer, available to purchase in July it offers a printer with plug and play capabilities for less than $1000. Offering features such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity to simultaneous multi-material and dual colour printing it also boasts double the printing speed of other alternatives. Put all this in a very cool design and you have a product that would look at home in most households. 

3D System's Cube 3, courtesy of  www.cubify.com

Currently purchasing one would be a luxury to most people, but in years to come I see it as been as common in households as a kettle.

 So go out and get one, the only limitation is your own imagination. Check these guys out, they've created enormous edible chocolate 3D printed art!!! 

Below is a selection of work created using a 3D printer. 
Enjoy.

All images courtesy of Google images.

Ryan Blackburn - Media Productions
www.sovibrant.co.uk