Ecolab came to us with a polished vision of their new cleaning team—in tablet form. This team delivers quick and efficient cleaning solutions for restaurants and other industrial spaces. The tablet can be stored and mixed later, allowing for restaurants to efficiently stockpile cleaning materials without needing a lot of space. Ecolabs ReadyDose needs to be celebrated. So we took this vision and spiced it up with a unique animation style and a catchy energy that had us dancing along.
If you’ve ever seen Beauty and the Beast's “Be Our Guest” song, then you are already familiar with one of our references— this helped us visualize how our ecolab characters were going to dance and clean. We wanted the cleaning work to feel lighter and easier. So we envisioned a dance sequence that involved choreography that brought joy to cleaning.
We knew from the beginning that we wanted to do a stop motion style for the Ecolab characters. We textured these figures to be like a plastic or resin type material. This made each figure feel like they were 3d printed in multiple poses—creating an organic, imperfect and hand made feel to the character motion. This also meant we could have that brighter Ecolab brand color without breaking the fantasy/realism of the scene.
We built a wide range of characters, both men and women, who could don the iconic blue uniform. We made these characters toy-like and small so that they matched the scale of the world around them. In some ways, this enhanced the material realism as all surfaces in the piece were pristine, spotless and smooth. Great care was taken to balance thier toy-like qualities with relatable human motion. The result was a full and robust team of unique looking characters that could be created from the same base model. Efficiency was key as these base models could inherit duplicated animation, making the team as whole, easier to animate.
We knew from the beginning that we wanted to do a stop motion style for the Ecolab characters. We textured these figures to be like a plastic or resin type material. This made each figure feel like they were 3d printed in multiple poses—creating an organic, imperfect and hand made feel to the character motion. This also meant we could have that brighter Ecolab brand color without breaking the fantasy/realism of the scene.
We built a wide range of characters, both men and women, who could don the iconic blue uniform. We made these characters toy-like and small so that they matched the scale of the world around them. In some ways, this enhanced the material realism as all surfaces in the piece were pristine, spotless and smooth. Great care was taken to balance thier toy-like qualities with relatable human motion. The result was a full and robust team of unique looking characters that could be created from the same base model. Efficiency was key as these base models could inherit duplicated animation, making the team as whole, easier to animate.
This is a more in depth look at our process. The design and of the ecolab team characters and their choreography had to balance toylike and human characteristics. The kitchen and cafe environments are built from real locations and CG locations. All this was integrated with a live action cook to bring together a complete scene that pulls us in.
We needed to portray two locations: a Cafe and Kitchen. We controlled the look and design of these locations by building them in CG and comping in our live-action talent. This assured a visual continuity between the wide shots and the close ups.
Building these settings digitally allowed us to control the lighting and textures between locations, allowing them to be more consistent between the cafe and the kitchen. We did many iterations and tests to get the look just right.
We needed to portray two locations: a Cafe and Kitchen. We controlled the look and design of these locations by building them in CG and comping in our live-action talent. This assured a visual continuity between the wide shots and the close ups.
Building these settings digitally allowed us to control the lighting and textures between locations, allowing them to be more consistent between the cafe and the kitchen. We did many iterations and tests to get the look just right.
When we build our scenes, we plan for complexity—but we start simple. We use low res proxies that convey a minimum amount of information and animation. This way we can plan out the whole sequence and get approvals before we work on all the juicy details. After we get approval on the choreographed layouts, we roll up our sleeves and fashion variations between the characters, making it look like a whole army of toy-like characters come to life. We then set the stage with stains and suds that filled the pans and sinks. Fluid dynamic simulations were used to create the appealing dissolving effects. Altogether, the VFX are an elegant dance between essential details and crystal clear storytelling.
ReadyDose was a team effort, from catchy music and dance choreography to cg environments and fresh stop-motion style. We brought the party to the kitchen and made sure it was spotless when we were done.
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