Alicia Keys Underdog

Pataz was contacted by Estudio Shout to assist on the development of Alicia Key’s Underdog video.

Blend it!

As this was Studio Shout’s first big project with Blender, Pataz was tasked to develop the project’s Alembic-Blender pipeline.

Training

As the project commenced, Pataz held training sessions with the team allowing the artists to transfer their existing skills from other 3D software into Blender.

R&D

One of the technical challenges in the Underdog project was the non-photorealistic look development using the Eevee real time render engine.
Together with Shout’s technical artists, we developed an art directable NPR shader capable of responding to scene illumination and ambience while maintaining total control over the shading zones in the character.

Lighting and Rendering

Producing beautiful lighting that matches the style of non-photorealistic characters was another interesting challenge.
Ambient lighting had to show warmth, depth and atmosphere across the scenarios while complementing the visual style of the characters.

Pataz was key in implementing new workflows, new tools and in achieving the distinctive visual style we had envisioned.

— Estudio Shout