Are there any plug-ins you wouldn't be without?

More than plug-ins we really want to see innovation in upcoming versions of LightWave. Version 8 has got loads of neat new stuff, but I'd like to go further. I'd like to see:

Undos for all actions (deleting keys, modifying textures and so on)
Axes of rotation that don't lock
More powerful displacement mapping
More character animation tools

Today, character animation is becoming extremely complex, it would be a shame if LightWave couldn't respond to high-end demands. Other than that, LightWave has a brilliant modelling package, in Modeler, and some great tools in Layout. We would just like to see little tweaks to make animating with LightWave a pleasure, just like rendering and modelling are.

Is that Fido Dido's reflection in the Hall of Mirrors?

Yes, but. First of all we rendered the "normal" Fido Dido. Then we made a bunch of Fido Didos with different proportions so we could deform him further in the reflections, and then we just composited the all the layers together for the final image.

How did you get people to look at Fido Dido?

So that the extras could look in the correct places, we filmed the scene several times, but with an actor dressed up as Fido Dido. This way the other extras had somethig to react to and we could also see how Fido Dido reacted to the light.

Did you use LightWave cel shader to render Fido Dido?

For the Fido Dido in 2D we used LightWave's outline render, putting him at 100% luminous to not get any extraneous shadows, afterwards we used the paint function in Combustion a lot to have an image as perfect as possible.

(mpeg - 4 MB)

The end of each advert shows a 7-Up logo. Was this also done with LightWave?

You're right, the logo at the end of each ad was done entirely using LightWave. We used particles with HyperVoxels for the bubbles and the animation of the logo itself was keyframed.

The ad called Loud should have been the easiest to make. Were there any unforeseen problems?

The whole principle behind "Loud" rests on a simple idea and on the strength of animation of the character. The only difficulty was in the animation, because all the focus was on Fido Dido. Fortunately, we were blessed with very talented animators who were gifted and willing to listen to what we wanted. Thanks again guys!

Were you inspired by any particular kind of computer or OS for the "Screensaver" ad?

For "Screensaver" we made our own "icons" (more or less based on what already exists. They had to be as close a match as possible for what a computer user is used to right now, without being too complicated — Fido Dido couldn't drown in an image that was too complex.

Was the beach were he rests at the end of the ad a picture you guys took in South Africa as well?

No, the image of the hammock was taken from a picture library and was retouched by us to allow us to superimpose the hammock and Fido Dido himself.

What are you working on now?

We're just starting work on a new project that's also a mix of 2D and 3D. Stay tuned for further details!

Thanks very much guys! Good luck with your new project.