Spark S.N.T.A TVC

S.N.T.A is the virtual character created by Spark NZ for their Christmas campaign. Creature Post collaborated closely with Finch to produce the Christmas TVC featuring this little character. I thoroughly enjoyed bringing S.N.T.A to life, and my responsibilities included modeling, texturing, rigging, and animating the main character.

Director: Lexie Hodge

Production Company: Finch

Production house: Creaturepost

Agency: Colenso BBDO

3D modelling and texture: Tao Mao

3D Rigging & Animation: Tao Mao

One of the most challenging tasks in this project was establishing the rigging and workflow. This was due to the fact that the animation was based on a displacement map, which can be difficult to present and render in a short time. To overcome this challenge, I created a rig that utilized a simplified version of expression animation. This allowed me to achieve the desired animation while also making it fast to render. After the client approved the animation, I was able to export the displacement map directly from the finished spline animation, which greatly improved the workflow.