Freedom’s 6th television commercial starts airing on Japan TV today, so I can show some screencaps from the clip. The theme music is again Utada Hikaru’s “Kiss & Cry”, the single is slated for release later in August. We started working on this about a month ago, shortly after we finished Freedom episode 4. Its the first time the audience get to see Takeru and Bis on earth and the lush greenery is a nice change from the colder colour palette used in Eden.
You can watch the full clip from Freedom’s website here.
And now for a little production trivia. Which part of the animation was 3D and which was 2D ? ( excluding backgrounds, dust effects and water ) Is it…
1) Everything is 3D. Period.
2) Only the vehicle is 3D, the rest are hand drawn.
3) Only the vehicle and the 2 characters are 3D, the bison are hand drawn.
4) Everything is hand drawn.
Anyone ? :]
ps Please read this post for the previous (5th ) Freedom Cup Noodle Commercial.
1
Freedom Nissin Cup Noodles Commercial 7
Freedom Nissin Cup Noodles Commercial 10 – Finale
Freedom Nissin Cup Noodles Commercial 9
Freedom Nissin Cup Noodles Commercial 8
Nissin Cup Noodles – Hungry Days Anime Commercial Finale
July 20th, 2007 at 6:44 am
cool….=D
July 20th, 2007 at 8:01 am
well… personal honest thoughts after watching the Prologue to Ep3.
1. 3D characters are very well rendered – did a better job than Appleseed 2004.
2. Animation wise, I know you guys are trying something new but I felt the 3D characters are not 元気 enough, at times, characters looks rather floaty when they talk and emotion expression seems diluted. It lacks the emotion what hand drawn characters can achieve. It’s not easy to give that anime feeling with 3D characters yeah .. i felt so.
3. Architecture and vehicle design is nice – very Akira hahaha!
July 20th, 2007 at 8:10 am
I agree with fartboystinks. Very akira indeed.
July 20th, 2007 at 8:11 am
everything 3d, i guess. The stills are amazing! Animation still shows its 3d roots, but damn it’s getting so close to cel animation….was the script developed inhouse?
btw may i ask what role do u normally play in production? Modelling?
July 20th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
I’ve included a kind of Spanish translation (edited) of this post to a graphic related blog http://friturasgraphics.blogspot.com/
I’ll be looking for news about your work, looks awesome, good job.
July 21st, 2007 at 12:10 am
3!!!!
the vehicles and characters are 3d celshaded!
the bison and bg are traditional!
who does the music track??
July 21st, 2007 at 3:49 am
i choose option 1!
July 21st, 2007 at 7:24 am
hello…and thanks =D
not really, i already know tessar from startdrawing.org and we from same country, Indonesia. But next year i will going to melbourne,aussie…
nice to know you new friend…
great job =D
July 21st, 2007 at 7:26 am
designani & Motd- Thanks for visiting ! :]
fartboystinks – You’re not the first person to comment about the animation quality alright. :] I’m not working as an animator this time round, but I think its fair to say that if the animators had more time to work on the shots they can definitely look better – time constrain is something we all have to deal with I guess.
whazzup – I really like the sketch you use for your mainpage. :] The cellshader is been continually refined, Freedom’s director Morita-san developed it when he was making his short film Kakurenbo. I believe they showed it during Animation Nation 2005.
I’m with the lighting, rendering and compositing team.
nyuudo – thank you for visiting and for the translation ! Your blog is amazing, its a pity I can’t read spanish…please come back again ! :]
CMWilly – The theme music is Utada Hikaru’s “Kiss and Cry”, its due for release next month. :]
tragic comedy – I’ll let you guys know the correct answer soon, let’s see if anyone else wants to give it a shot. :]
July 21st, 2007 at 7:32 am
hey designani, you might want to check out Andrea’s blog on my blogroll ( Otoshimono ), she’s an amazing illustrator from Melbourne, maybe you folks can meet up when you are there. :]
July 21st, 2007 at 10:30 am
thanks,call me nani…=D
i will visit her, you’re in my list now…
July 21st, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Hi Yong I guess no. 1. But I am guessing the Backgrounds are matte paintings.
Nice pics there of the anime will there be a HD version for release like Blu-Ray? Is Freedom is a DVD only release? I realised have a few questions to ask you as an CG artist/animator myself. Mind if I email to contact you?
July 21st, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Hello Akiraman, the Freedom US version that was just released last month is a HD-DVD version.
July 21st, 2007 at 5:02 pm
4) Everything is hand drawn.
July 21st, 2007 at 6:59 pm
My take: Everything is 3rd except the backgrounds which are matte painted.
BTW, that splashed-into-water-underwater camera shot is quite a complex shot to render for 3D. You did the vfx or just render them?
July 22nd, 2007 at 4:28 pm
3! XD
July 23rd, 2007 at 4:34 am
Cool commerical. They actually had a small showing of the HD DVD version of Freedom at Otakon in the vendors area. I saw bits and pieces of it and it looks fantastic! The sound and visuals were outstanding.
I was looking for the DVD, but all the vendors I checked said they were sold out. Should’ve gotten to Otakon earlier. I’m going to order this one.
July 23rd, 2007 at 11:16 am
A big thanks to all who took a shot at the trivia ! As it turns out most of you guys were right – the correct answer is 1) Everything is 3D generated – modelled, animated, lighted and rendered with LightWave. The CG Bison are probably a little harder to determine as they were moving really fast.
Fartboystinks – The underwater shot was 2D animated and composited with the 3D elements in AfterEffects.
Otaku Surf – Thanks for the support ! I believe Bandai Visual USA is heavily promoting the HD-DVD for Freedom, there will be a screening at Comic Con too I think.
July 24th, 2007 at 6:04 am
yes!~~
i thought so when i saw the details in the BG moving so smoothly…2d animation there would be too troublesome to pull off…
May 17th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
I enjoyed your post – would you like to write some original content for my site. I’ll be in touch.