Wellington Water is a council controlled organisation with focus on managing drinking water, storm water and waste water around the Wellington region. One of their key roles is promoting water conservation and sustainability. This campaign aims to educate people about what not to put down the toilet and sinks.
I was approached by Story Box to create three 3D animations as well as 3D assets (3D typography, characters, backdrops and props) to be used on their print campaigns.
Since the script was comical and light, it was important to create characters that were able to be very ‘animated’ and likeable. To achieve this we ended up using 2D facial expressions on top of toy-like 3D characters.
Tapitha Character Design
It was important that the two main characters Tapitha and Louie had very obvious traits that would set them apart from one another. With Tapitha, I designed her to be more top heavy so that she could be light on her feet and hop about. She is also made up of more rounded edges and with added smaller details to give a more feminine look.
Character designs for ‘Tapitha’
Louie Character Design
With Louie, I wanted to give him a more blocky stockier look. He has a simpler design to give him a more dim-witted (for lack of better words) feel as that fits the dynamic of the gags much more.
Character designs for ‘Louie’
T-Pose for 3D Modeling
Once the character style was signed off, it was time to make T-pose sheets to bring into a 3D program (Cinema 4D). A' ‘T-pose’ is a reference image that shows the character to be modeled in a neutral position from the front and side (and sometimes top). This is an important planning step in creating a proportional and accurate character when going from a 2D design to a 3D environment.
T-pose sketch used for modeling the 3D characters
3D models front and profile.
Cinema 4D Deformers
Disclaimer: The following may be a little geeky for some.
Instead of using a traditional rigging set up with IK, Cinema 4D’s ‘Deformers’ were used instead. Using a combination of ‘Bend’, Twist’ and ‘Squash & Stretch’ I created a set up that allowed more traditional 2D animation movements to give the characters cartoon-like actions.
Mascot Character - Binny the Bin
Every animation needs a mascot character of course so the team introduced this guy here. ‘Binny the Bin’ was designed with the characteristics of a little dog, energetic and bubbly. He doesn’t make much of an appearance within these animations but since there are talks of more animations and even merchandise, we may see more of him in the future.
Binny the Bin design
