Autodesk-Brown Bag Films

Vendor: Autodesk (NYSE: ADSK)
Customer: Brown Bag Films www.brownbagfilms.com
Vertical Markets: Media
State: International – Ireland

Technology Used: Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Smoke

Solution: Based in Dublin, Ireland, Brown Bag Films is an animation studio that has been producing award-winning series and short movies since 1994. They are the company behind the movies The Last Elk and The Boy Who Had No Story and the television series Wobblyland and Olivia.

A couple of years ago, family entertainment company Chorion approached Brown Bag Films to discuss developing an animated series based on Ian Falconer’s Olivia books. These beloved children’s stories follow the adventures of a mischievous but lovable pig. When they were asked to work on the project, Brown Bag realized they had several challenges. First, they had to convince the books’ author that they could translate his characters to the small screen. They also had to find a way to produce the series in 3D.

To bring their vision to life, Brown Bag Films relied on Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Smoke.

The two Autodesk programs benefited Brown Bag Films in numerous ways during the production process. The 3ds Max software’s scene state tool allowed staff to easily change and save object, light, and camera properties, which assisted with camera and layout tasks. The program’s modeling tools can be used with third party modeling plug-ins, a feature which also proved to be useful. Finally, the extensive range of shaders allowed the Brown Bag team to produce high quality graphics quickly while operating within a finite budget. Smoke was also an important part of the production process, as it allowed for quick color corrections and small picture fixes. The changes could be seen instantly so they could be reviewed and approved by the client, something that permitted the director to use his time more efficiently. Lastly, the program’s ability to handle large XML files meant that an offline production could be made into an online one in a matter of hours.

Further details: http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/brown_bag_films_smoke_3dsmax.pdf