Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/663385
m a r c h . a p r i l 2 0 1 6 c g w 2 3 something no one has seen before." This, however, present- ed a conundrum: how to make these colorful, cartoony crea- tures fit within the real world of live action. Because the characters are so popular, there was a wealth of information about each available to the artists – their capabilities, how they move, what they look like. Initially, though, the agency and artists envisioned a more realistic design for the five beasts in the spot, which included the dragon-like Gyarados and the draconic fiery, flying, bipedal Charizard. So the original models started off on the realistic end of the spectrum – how the charac- ters would look if they were "real," not just in terms of the lighting, but also in appear- ance. "We wanted them to be very different-looking. We were imagining the Gyarados as a real animal. Our dragon was very dragon-like," says Debert. "It was more like a Chinese snake dragon." The client, however, did not favor the realistic style. So, aer "many, many iterations," a happy medium was reached in terms of how realistic to make them versus how faithful they should be to the original designs. "We brought the designs back to something that is closer to the look people would automatically recognize, while still keeping a fair amount of justification [for living in the real world]," says Debert. There were exceptions, how- ever. "The agency and client let us break some rules when it was good for the shot," says Debert. For example, the opening in the stadium sequence contains four characters, including Gyarados, which is extremely popular with fans. The way he moves, though, was not that interesting for this project. So the team came up with some variations, one of which the client approved. "It was not 100 percent accurate to how the dragon moves [in the Pokemon world], but it looked better in the shot," Debert points out. "The client was flexible while keeping a tight rein on their characters." Nevertheless, two of the creatures – the yellow mouse- like Pikachu and the canine-like Lucario –appear with fur, for the first time ever. Pikachu is argu- ably the most recognizable of the Pokemon creatures, so add- ing fur (generated within Maya and Chaos Group's V-Ray for Maya) to its typically plastic-like look was a significant step in the design process. "We were able to keep a little bit of the initial designs for a re- al-world look, while making the creatures easily recognizable," Debert says. To help integrate Pikachu into the live action, Debert captured the lighting of the live action on set, creating an HDR dome-light setup whose global illumination was matched perfectly with the set light- ing. A camera track ensured that the character would live within the camera moves of the live-action plates. The CG team also used the same type of handheld camera style for their work as the DP used, ensuring a consistent look from plate to the CG stadium environment. The artists also wanted the digital creatures to blend naturally within the CG stadium set – in terms of their aesthetic as well as their movements. "We wanted the stadium to be grandiose but also as realistic as possible," says Debert. The team added "interesting" architectural details and elements to the sta- dium, making it slightly magical. In the commercial, things clearly become real with the Pokemon training. And they are about to get even more real with Pokemon Go, an augmented- reality mobile app expected to be released this year that is tied to the franchise and lets players capture, trade, and battle Pokemon characters in the real world. Are you ready for this challenge? Clearly the team at Digital Domain was when faced with a similar scenario. Razer 'Duality' The boutique creative studio cum m+d in Singapore likes to tell a story. "I was never a big fan of showing off a product and its features just for the sake of it," says Co-founder/Director Tan Wen Hao. So when the group was recently challenged by longtime client Razer to design and create a commercial that focused on duality – using its mobile computer for work and play – the artists decided to break with tradition and do it with a story. The all-CG animation starts with typical product beauty shots, showing off the sleek lines and thin form of the newly released Razer Blade Stealth Ultrabook, as the bright green logo on the laptop stands out within a mostly black and white palette. The camera pulls back to the Ultrabook on top of a desk, business applications run- ning on the screen, as an office environment builds around it in time-lapse photography. Day turns into night. Switch to another product shot, as a Razer Core is plugged into the laptop; background music begins to build. Another pullout shot follows. This time we can see smoke and dust as the walls begin to crumble around the machine, a first-per- son shooter video game visible on the screen. The walls give way, and the view outside is that of utter destruction in a post-apocalyptic world. "The idea was that the user would bring this laptop to the office and spend the day working with it, then take it home; when it's connected to the Razer Core, the person is transported to another world," says Wen Hao. "We wanted to clearly demonstrate the gamer of today, who requires portabili- ty by day and power by night." WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/ WATCH?V=2F46TGEHNFO THE ARTISTS INTEGRATED ICONIC POKEMON CHARACTERS INTO REAL-WORLD SETTINGS.