Autodesk Technology Used to Create HD Commercials and Broadcast Graphics for World Cup

Technology from Autodesk, Inc., which gives digital artists the tools and programming power to efficiently produce content in the level of detail required for high definition television, was used to create HDTV content for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The 2006 edition of the World Cup marks the first time that the event has been broadcast entirely in HDTV, and Autodesk s technology was used by five different post-production studios to create World Cup content: Deep Blue Sea, Locomotion, METAphrenie, Method Studios, and The Mill.
METAphrenie, a Berlin-based design and production company, created the Adidas Impossible Team commercial with Autodesk Maya 3D animation software. The entirely computer-generated ad features the Adidas +F50 TUNIT and +Predator Absolute soccer shoes, as well as the gold and black Adidas +Team Geist matchball that will be used in the final World Cup match. Artists at METAphrenie used Autodesk Maya to model, texture, and animate the entirety of the commercial, including the ad s two main characters, soccer players legs and feet, the Adidas products, and the environment.
I love Autodesk Maya software s intuitive workflow, said Andrea Dionisio, creative director at METAphrenie. During production of the commercial, the Maya software s ease-of-use saved us from having to solve technical problems and allowed us to focus on realizing our creative ideas.
Method Studios also used Autodesk Maya software for post-production, as well as Autodesk s Discreet Inferno visual effects system, to create Budweiser s The Wave commercial, which first aired during Super Bowl XL in February. The commercial depicts a packed soccer stadium in which fans hold up cards to create the image of a Budweiser beer being poured into a glass. Autodesk Maya was used to create the cards and Discreet Inferno was used to composite various elements in the ad, such as the soccer players and the crowd.
Mundial Total, DIRECTV s Latin American World Cup channel, used Deep Blue Sea to create broadcast promos, bumpers and opens, as well as their channel logo. Digital artists at Deep Blue Sea used Autodesk s Discreet Flame visual effects system for the rotoscoping, tracking, compositing and conforming of all 2D and 3D components, as well as color correction work.
Autodesk s Discreet Flame system was also used by The Mill to create Football Dream, a commercial for a UK bank, Nationwide Building Society. In the ad, the bank manager falls asleep while speaking to a client about loan rates, and dreams that he is a soccer goalie who is only one penalty save away from winning the World Cup for England. After taunting the penalty taker, the bank manager makes a victorious save with an overhead scissor kick.

We used Autodesk s Discreet Flame system to create various aspects of the dream sequence, explained a lead Flame artist at The Mill. First, Flame was used to design and build the soccer stadium and to create abstract crowds that make it clear that the bank manager is dreaming. Next, to create one smooth shot of the overhead scissor kick save, I had to cut and fold the bank manager s body movements in Flame. Lastly, Flame was used to add in a variety of smaller elements such as confetti, flares, neon lights and signs around the stadium.

Post-production facility Locomotion used a variety of Autodesk products to create a commercial for mobile phone network O2 Germany. The ad shows four German soccer legends engaging in an impromptu soccer scrimmage inside one of their homes. As they play, the walls of the house fly away and a soccer stadium is exposed. Autodesk Maya was used to create the ad s 3D world, including the house, furniture, balls, stadium, shadows and mobile phones. Autodesk Combustion desktop visual effects software was also used for b-spline rotoscoping work and pre-composites, while the Discreet Flame system was used for high-definition finalization.