Using insight, creativity and LightWave 3D, Norway-based Gosu Design delivers strategic design competence to TV stations, production houses and other businesses in the digital industry. Their highly specialized team works with all aspects of design for interactive media, ranging from animation and post-production, to branding, GUI design, and more. With 10+ years of broadcast and Web design experience, Gosu has worked with some of the most exciting and attractive vendors in the industry today. Images from their recent projects have been making the rounds in the forums, creating quite a stir, due to the high level of artistry displayed. NewTek spoke to Edvin Torgersen, partner at Gosu Design, and head of 3D and post-production, to have a closer look at their production process, and how LightWave 3D fits into the mix.
Why does your studio use LightWave 3D?
The most important reason, of course, is that I had been using LightWave for many years before we started this company. As we hired more people, the natural choice was not to fix something that isn’t broken. It was quite easy for new employees to learn the Modeler and Layout aspects, getting them to a level where they were ready for production. One of the biggest selling points is the ability to use FPrime. Most of the new artists we bring in, come from a Maya or Max background, where the smallest tweaking costs a lot of render time to make it look right. With LightWave and FPrime, any tweaking or changes, no matter how big or small, are adjustments we can see in real time. This alone is a huge timesaver. Another reason we continue using LightWave 3D for our work, is that it’s a great program to use for projects of every size. The high quality of the renderings, the ease and speed of modeling, and the use of FPrime, makes for quick turnarounds in every production we tackle.
What is the makeup of your clientele?
We have two separate departments here at Gosu: At one branch we focus on broadcast design, which entails brand design, motion graphics, 3D, post-production and animation. At the other branch, we focus on interface design for interactive TV and other applications. This combination gives us an opportunity to work with broadcasters, film producers, TV production houses, commercial agencies, and telecom operators who aim to increase their service offerings, such as IPT.
Does your team specialize in any particular area when it comes to your work?
Not really, but we do have to be able to tackle just about anything. We feel that the more challenging the project is, the better it can be, as long as it can match the budget and resources we have available. Having said that, I think our strongest asset, and what makes Gosu Design stand out from the more traditional post-production agencies, is the focus that we have on coming up with the best concepts for the projects, from the ground up. This is something we truly enjoy doing, and it also makes our productions more durable, interesting and exciting to work with at every stage. This is yet another reason LightWave's use at our studio is a perfect fit. It is a very adaptable program, which suits everything from the most complicated project, to simple 2D motion graphics that need spicing up with additional 3D objects. The possibilities are endless.
Are there any other programs you use to get the work done?
We use eyeon´s Fusion for the majority of compositing work, and some After Effects for lower budget projects. For sculpting, we use Zbrush, and for editing and final color correction - Final Cut. We also use the Adobe design package for some of our design, such as texture making, painting and retouching needs.
Could you briefly describe your production process?
The first step is always the initial conceptual work that we go over with the client. After the concept development stage, we begin designing, followed by animatics and previz. We try to do all our previz scenes in a tidy manner so they are usable in the production stage. When all this is approved, it’s off to full production. We have two offices, one in Oslo and one in Bergen, and the offices have synchronized rendering disks. This means that both offices can work on the same projects at once. We are also connected with two iMacs and a continuous iChat stream, which makes it really easy for us to work together and communicate on projects. Since deadlines always play a big part in any project, we have 13 render nodes which run LightWave screamernet and Fusion render nodes, all controlled by the Deadline render system. We try to push ourselves to finish every project about a week before the deadline, and then use that last week for important final touches.
For more information about Gosu Design and news about their upcoming projects, visit their website.
An interview by NewTek Inc.
Originally published on NewTek.com
