Beats by Dre, with Framestore · Facial setup support
The Pills
For The Pills, Framestore's MTV Video Music Awards spot for Beats by Dre with agency R/GA, I assisted rigger Amar Chundavadra with the facial setup and speaker control. I built stretchy brow controls, follicle-riveted eyelashes, mouth controls to deform and skew its shape, and eyelid controls. The joint-based real-time avatar ran at well over 80 frames per second on a standard quad-core machine of the time.
- Client
- Beats by Dre
- Studio
- Framestore
- Role
- Facial setup support
The challenge
Framestore worked directly with Beats and the agency R/GA to create a spot for the MTV Video Music Awards in less than three weeks. Framestore's artists turned the Beats Pill speaker into six characters, voiced by Eminem, Chris Rock, Tichina Arnold and Corey Holcomb. After the ads, the Pills were animated live as real-time CG characters using Framestore's game engine technology, commenting on red carpet outfits and stage moments over Twitter and YouTube.
That meant one flexible rig that could morph easily between the characters and also run in real time in a game engine.
What I did
Framestore's Senior Rigger at the time, Amar Chundavadra, rigged the body, with an IK/FK limb system and the flexibility the bodies needed. I assisted Amar with the facial setup and the speaker control:
- Brows with plenty of stretchy deformation control, and eyelashes riveted to the mesh with follicles.
- Mouth controls to deform and skew its shape, so animators could shape the Pill as it spoke.
- Eyes and lids. The eyes were perfectly round, so the setup was straightforward, and the lids had controllers that gave animators full control.
The outcome
The real-time avatar passed to the game engine team was completely joint based and ran at well over 80 frames per second on a standard quad-core machine of the time. The agency told us they were very happy with the work and didn't ask for any changes.
Credits: client Beats by Dre, agency R/GA, directors Chris Waitt and Henry Trotter, animation and post-production by Framestore.
