Work produced in 2021 during the Covid lock down.

These are interactive features for an indoor adventure golf course in Birmingham, UK. We produced concept, animation and implementation for Gloria, the ghost of a flamingo actor living in a treehouse, a living twisted fig tree with an opinion on your golf technique, and eyes form a giant aztec mask.

This was through Seeper. There was a tight budget and various problems due to the pandemic, so I ended up taking the creative side of this in it’s entirety, with the tech and implementation provided by Louis Clarke. Main packages used were Z Brush for the sculpting, and real-world model retopology, 3DS Max with Corona for animation and rendering, and After Effects for comping, particles and 2D animation, using DUIK Bassel for characters.

There is more concept art and bits and pieces to come, as opportunity arises, but for now here is the making-of video I made on behalf of Seeper. All creative work shown in this is my own, with the exception of the graphics for Gloria (the undead flamingo), which were provided by the client.

Below is an earier version which shows a little more of the work done.

The following section is a breakdown of the workflow. All work at every level, form concept to delivery was done entirely by me except for the initial digital scan and the on-site mapping.

Mystic Tree

Concept work for the tree

The tree itself was captured and digitised, and used to create a base model and face sculpt. The face was to “grow” out of the base tree, but needed an appropriate space for the projecte image to sit on. That model was sent back to the sceen builders to ensure the physical model could be modified to work with the content.

Early animation tests were done n the two face candidates

Animations were created for all the sequences and FX added, then previewed before being packaged into a suitable form t be projected on to the physical model.

The workflow involved ZBrush to create the facial shape blend targets, 3DS Max to create the shape-blend animation, rendered in Corona, and Adobe After-Effects to comp the whole thing and add the particle trail VFX and lighting.

Gloria

Gloria was the ghost of a flamingo actor of a bygone era, usually tipsy and larger than life. She existed within a tree-house ttached to one of the holes through use of animation projected onto a Pepper’s Ghost-style set-up.
Here is a sample video. Created using Duik Bassel in Adobe After Effects. The graphics were provided by the client, only animation and VFX are mine.

Batty MacBat Face

I can’t remeber if that was his name or not, to be honest. This was work created for a second project at a different center. The character had three different personas – classic vampire, shell-suited DJ and crooner. The animation was housed within a themic coffin, so the background and content was made to fit the space.
Again, the graphics were provided, so animation and VFX are mine.