PIXTIM
Born in France in 1973, my name is Ogier Badi and I started as an illustrator at the age of 15, using the rOtring pen and airbrush. This was way back when the the famous Ctrl+Z did not exist!
Now, it’s been almost 25 years since I started as a graphic designer and art director, and 15 years since I specialized in 3D production.
After having worked a lot for French TV channels, I created the studio PIXTIM about 7 years ago. Today, one of my main activities is the realization of video mapping shows.
Q: Please tell us a bit about your background and your work. When did you start working on animation and 3D model design?
When I was a kid, I was passionate about drawing and comics. I was not a very good illustrator and it annoyed me a lot to have to draw 50 times the same character to tell a story. When computer graphics arrived, I understood that it made it easier to make comic books. But I had to earn a salary… so I started working in advertising and I did not do comics. I soon became interested in 3D and I tried all the software in the market.
In 2000, I became a freelance 3D director for various TV channels and for 15 years I produced more than 600 TV projects (commercials, generic programs, channel packaging). I specialized in low-cost solutions and super urgent productions. So many different productions but nothing really prestigious or glamorous.
During this period, I didn’t forget my desire to tell stories and I was very interested in the creation and animation of characters but it was laborious.
Q: In the past you have created some interesting light shows where you used iClone and Character Creator to map visual effects onto large buildings. Please tell us about this work and its purpose, and why you chose to use iClone?
Since 5 years ago, I create video mapping shows. It’s a more creative job than advertising. I have the freedom to write and realize. But these shows are difficult to script because the buildings are always the first actor. Here in France, it is mostly old buildings with complex architectures. The shows are often sequences of motion design scenes.
In 2014, I had to create a 18 minute show for the National Theater of Nice (South of France). The facade of the building was almost devoid of detail, it was like a simple screen, and the City asked me to tell the story of 1900s in Nice.
Nice 2014 – Mapping show:
For that project, motion design was not enough, so I had to do a kind of short film. At that moment, I chose DAZ as I did not yet know about iClone. The animation was quite tedious and the software did not allow me to have the quality of animation that I wanted. Often, when it comes to a commissioned movie, we can not postpone the delivery date so we make concessions.
It was after this show that I looked for new software tools to be able to manage this type of projects and to bring about more life in the scripting. That’s when I discovered the Reallusion software suite. With iClone, its possible to create your own motions or use the extensive animation library while having the possibility of transitions and precise animation without technical reliability problems. That was exactly what I’m looking for – practical and reliable tools to not break the sensitivity of the animator.
Today, I regularly integrate character animations as there is always the constraint of time and budget of course, but I’m not worried about the technical reliability!
This summer, I integrated in a show at Avignon (South of France too), a choreography with 5 x 3D dancers. It must be said that this is a very famous dance festival in this town. On one of the nights I went to see the show, I was surprised to see students from one of the dance schools in the city redo the choreography at the same time as my 3D dancers! My choreography was therefore credible enough not to be ridiculous. So many thanks Reallusion!
I actually realized this animation in one night!
Laon 2015:
Laon 2017:
Avignon 2017:
Annecy 2017:
Epernay 2017:
Q3: Besides our applications, what other software do you use? Any samples of your work?
When I started doing 3D, software packages were much less complete and efficient than they are today. Each software had its strong point and since it was difficult to transfer elements from one to the other, making a choice was complicated. Eventually I ended up choosing Cinema 4D (version 5 or 6, I do not remember), as it had a logical philosophy and it was reliable compared to his competitors. It also allowed me to work quickly with a very fast rendering engine.
Today my main software is still Cinema 4D but I complete it with: the iClone Reallusion suite, 3D Coat, Marvelous Designer, the Adobe software suite and few plugins.
Q: You have created cool content for the Reallusion Content Community. Share this experience with us, and tell us what else can the community expect from you in the future?
I have some mastery of 3D manufacturing techniques, so as soon as I started using Character Creator and iClone, I immediately created what I needed for my projects. As the possibilities of Reallusion software are vast, it is true that we must absorb a lot of information, but the available documentation is complete and effective. So it turns out that producing assets and seeing other users use my elements is very pleasing to me. I would like this activity to take up more space in my professional life.
I have a lot of projects and lots of ideas. I just finished a series of haircuts for men in realistic and cartoon version. I must quickly do a complementary series for women, otherwise they will tell me that I am a goujat!
Then I have to make a companion for my pin-up space – a Greek goddess to accompany a god that I have in my drawers and different contemporary outfits for man and woman.
In larger projects, I will soon rework a series of cartoon vehicles that I developed for Unity some time ago and that I like. On current models there are not enough polygons for a nice rendering. I would also like to complete this collection with other useful models like police cars, firefighters, ambulances, campers, etc.
I also have an idea that I would like to develop to be able to use CC characters in large numbers without unnecessarily overloading the processors. For example; to make crowd scenes or characters that are a little distant and do not need to be highly detailed.
In short I must leave you, I have work waiting for me! 🙂
Don’t forget to visit my Reallusion Content Store.
======================================================================
To see more of Pixtim’s work, please visit >>
Reallusion Content Store: https://www.reallusion.com/contentstore/featureddeveloper/profile/#!/Pixtim/Character%20Creator
Reallusion Marketplace: https://city.reallusion.com/store/pixtim
