Visual Effects and Animation Reel

Latest Vfx Animation Projects

 

 World of Avatar Dragon

Character animation - Dancing Mascot

Reasearch and development for Movie pitch

Atomic-vfx Showreel

Branding

Branding reel from the Atomic-vfx years


Engen Commercial

This commercial for Engen came through Saatchi and Saatchi Cape Town.

Snap shots

Break down

The entire commercial is CGI. I did everything, Car design, modeling, all animation and effects and some compositing assistance from one of the best compositors I have worked with, Glen Davidson. There was hardly any time so I just sat down and started modeling. From the very beginning I had to model in such a way that I could still be directed by the clients needs and incorporate the effect techniques in my modeling. In other word It would have been impossible to take a pre-modeled car and been able to break it down and build it up the way that I did in the time. In order to see such a brief through, I had to be done in the same time frame as a typical commercial. So it had to be done in two and a half weeks.

Citroen Commercial

Citroen Dancing car commercial was pitched to Citroen and directed by Neill Blomkamp.
The exterior of the car was 3D scanned. Meaning that they were working with a very accurate 3D model. This was only for the outside though. My role was modeling the engine, suspension, basically all the extra bit that would be seen when the car transformed.
I have worked with Neill on a few projects especially one where a 3D model has been needed at the eleventh hour.



Yamaha commercial 
This add was based on a short film we originally made for the promotion of our company Atomic Visual Effects in 2001. Yamaha Germany contacted us and wanted to use it as it was, but after deliberations and discussions, my partners (Simon Hansen and Sarlto Copley) recommendations were headed as they proposed a brilliant concept. So we went back to the drawing board. And this was the end product.

My role -Modeling of the shuttle, Visual Effects- matching the virtual world to the real world, camera angles(No less then 30 cameras), environment lighting, re texturing and animation of the shuttle. Adding 50% more cars to the story (mostly yellow cabs to make it seem like New York) and animating the BMW and Porsche Boxster collision.
Also, modeling of the products, Projector, amplifier, speakers, recreated in 3D for the end part of the commercial.



Telkom commercial

Brake down

T-Rex and Rocket Modeling, texturing, lighting, Animation and visual effects (Setting up the scene and working out the tracking data with live action footage).

Snap shots from the commercial. The top row is the rendered layer of the T-rex and the bottom row is the final composition layers.



3d Modeling

Short Films

Space Oddity

Our firs short film as an up and comming Visusl Effects House. 2001

Hellweek

Hellweek was shot in our Atomic-vfx studio. This was a great concept to showcase our content creation capabilities. Production, Storyboarding, filming, previsualisation , editing, and sound. 3D modeling, animation, texturing, light and compositing.

One of my best model in a way of detail is the AH 64 Apache attack Helicopter. Usually in advertising, with such tight deadlines, one tends to model for the shot.

 Our thinking behind the short films was that we needed to show what we could do before waiting for the ideal project. Also a good platform for Sharlto Copley to show what he can do as an actor.






Movies
Imdb

What the Bleep Do We Know?

Here are two clips from a long list of shots. Out of three Visual effects house Atomic-vfx was contracted to work on the move What the bleep do we know. We did all the effects from the optic nerve, through to everything inside the brain, all the way to the receptor where another company took over from the character animation of the receptor cells. We also worked on some shots including shooting a scene on a beach in Mozambique.

There is a lot to say about the life changing 11 months spent on a project that changed my life. Over and above the Senior Digital Artist credit that i walk away with, is the opportunity to converse many times over with the people who's lives reflect this knowledge that they are sharing with the world throught this movie, which was very new at the time, 2004. And now, have come to see that the world has moved on from my classroom days, and reference to what science was. I didn't realise who long I went in darkness, and how so many people continue to. Today, if one would like to know about the advancements of human understanding, one need to take a few years break from the rat-race to be able to take a serious look. The information is out there today. This movie gave me the vision to do just that. I took 3 years off to find out how far we have come and how to enrich my life. Everything I have accomplished after that, is testament to that.

Scorpion King - The rise of a Warrior

Toward the end of this clip, there is a shot after the smoke demon. The scorpion assault. That is the shot that i worked on. A visual effects producer that worked for Atomic-vfx tracked me down while on sabbatical or in retirement to help with the impossible task of placing lots of scorpions on jiggling human body, where it would take thinking beyond what the various available software could do. The shot was already in production and re shooting was not an option. Also worked on 3d modeling on the main villan Scorpion at the end.



Imdb

Product Design and Fabrication

Car design

This car was designed for the above Engen commercial. It was originally a future car design which i later adapted to the specs of a supercar. This idea was part of a proposal for assembling a supercar which in the motor industry, would be seen as a super kit which car enthusiasts are familiar with. My adaptation would be to follow this process, but instead of using an of the shelve fiberglass car body, i would design the external and interior of the can. The exercise would cost the whole process and shelve it until funding was available to go on the journey. Cant wait until the can happen.
This car would be for experimental purposes only, and even though it might end up with a V10/V12 engine, it would only be for driving slow as i have no intention of putting my life at risk as there would be no wind tunnel involved or no extensive budget to insure safe handling. It would be a high tech Art instillation.


Double bass Case design

 

Vionlin Hard Case design and Prototype 

 

This exersice involved moving from Capetown to Johannesburg to revisit and year long dream to see my virtual 3d models come to life through CNC technology in the days before 3d printing. Working with a childhood friend, and two engineers, a cnc machine was born. The next learning cerve was to go from no expereance to producing a prototype. With no funding and no manuals, through tromendous trile and error, we got very close to completing a prototype that has potentian to be one of the strongest Hard violin Case in his experiace as an maker/repairer and retailer. 

Double Bass

With a CNC machine, it was a natural step to ad this to the instrument making process. With his expertise, we design the front faces of a double bass, cello, viola and violin. The res of the instrument would still need to be carved by hand. The back of the front face, and rest of the instrument. A very impressive instrument in the end and I must say the my involvement in the double bass pales in caparison to the work involved producing such magnificence.

Castom Box design

This box I designed and produced to look good more then anything else. Another huge learning curve. Box is designed on computer in order to have the steel bits laser cut. The rest is hand made. The box has many parts to it including a four digit combination locking mechanism. If were to forget the combination, I would have to break it open to either change the number or count the teeth on the inside and then put it back together. This was more of an indulgent exercise then anything else



Steam engine design

This steam engine is currently under construction. The prototype will be small for proof of concept. The idea for this engine is to be powered by sun and first application will be to charge batteries. I will be posting images in the coming days.

Valve system taking shape