AI Work
Hot Knife digital media have created many virtual studios and spaces, initially during the Covid lockdowns, to enable global companies to create engaging virtual conferences for a multitude of corporate communications from Sales to Training, Marketing to X.
In 2020 We helped the internal comms team to pre-visualise a virtual meeting space as a concept for a covid-cancelled conference. We modelled a virtual TV studio, rendering out virtual camera moves between screens within the studio, to mimic standard news & current affairs programmes. We then exported the virtual camera moves, and screen positions enabling us to create a template within Adobe compositing software. This enabled both ourselves and any third-party to dynamically swap the content on the screens to any video, from pre-recorded vox-pops to Q&A sessions with multiple
From here we progressed the development of the statue design, working closely with Jason to its final detailed form. Most of the work was done in Zbrush, a 3D sculpting and modelling application which allows for a high level of surface detail required for this job.
The sculpture depicts an Amazonian Caiman god, who would be holding two lovers in his right hand, and making sure mum and dad arrived on the ferry boat to Walton Hall, the home of Squire Waterton. This would serve as a metaphor for caring for the earth, as well as being about personal love stories. He will wear leg callipers, because he is a proud depiction of disability, and takes back the power of those charity boxes from the 1970s and 80s, which had a real impact on Jason as a disabled child, as he wore iron leg callipers. The piece also pays tribute to the carers in the community that worked so hard through the covid-19 lockdowns.
Once the design was finalised we passed the digital files over to Pangolin-editions.
Pangolin cast the statue in bronze and developed new techniques so that our original design could be 3D printed in all it’s glorious detail, directly from the digital files we provided. So, what you see in the final statue, in the street is as close to our computer model as can possibly be.
Once the design was finalised we passed the digital files over to Pangolin-editions.
Pangolin cast the statue in bronze and developed new techniques so that our original design could be 3D printed in all it’s glorious detail, directly from the digital files we provided. So, what you see in the final statue, in the street is as close to our computer model as can possibly be. The final statue can be visited in Wakefield city centre, just outside the cathedral.
To accompany the statue a short poem has been commissioned, written by the northern poet and television presenter Ian McMillan. We produced an accompanying 3D computer animation to illustrate the poem, a full breakdown of the animation can be found here.
But it’s not over yet, as well as the animation there is an animated Augmented reality experience – which can be tried here through Instagram.
It’s a rare treat to have a project that combines so many of our skills here at Hot Knife, communicating people’s ideas using 3D computer animation, 3D modelling and augmented reality! Thanks to Jason for allowing us into his creative world.