High Five: Pushing the Boundaries of Design with Computer Graphics

Panoply is a group of absolute creative legends well known for pushing SideFX’s Houdini to the edge. This recent project they did for ESPN on the NBA Finals jumped out to me - as their work always does. Their unique development of shaders and textures paired with the incredibly intricate fluid dynamics create something spectacularly abstract and fresh.

If you don’t know Antibody, you definitely know their work. Patrick Clair and Raoul Marks are responsible for some of the most creative and well-known main title sequences ever conceived (Westworld anyone!?), and have recently been delving into the world of generative AI. Their latest project for Bungie’s new game, 'Marathon', pushes an extremely bold, neon visual style unlike anything else out there. Paired with a remarkable soundtrack by Justice and graphics by Michael Rigley, this piece is something else that I had on repeat for a week straight.

Electric Theatre Collective needs no introduction. Responsible for the smash hit video for Pharell’s 'Cash In Cash Out' last year, that we continue to see in award shows, up against our video for Muse’s 'You Make Me Feel Like It’s Halloween', their remarkable work continues to bring home the victories. This piece for Coca-Cola leveraged traditional animation and visual effects workflows alongside AI driven tools such as Stable Diffusion to create a multi-media masterpiece. It’s important not to overstate the use of machine learning with this project, as the artists did an absolutely back-breaking amount of work, and then took a trip through the latent space for some extra spice on top. I would recommend watching the breakdown video as well, to see a bit more about their process.

Impossible Objects is a company to watch - the brainchild of two of my friends Joe Sill and Jerad Anderson. IO is pushing the boundaries of realtime visual effects and virtual production, doing things that are frankly hard to believe. This piece for Duracell perfectly blurs the lines of live action and CGI using the latest in realtime technology. These are true masters at work making magic with Unreal Engine.

Already Been Chewed has had a lot of incredible work over the years, and their recent project for RTFKT and Nike is no exception, bringing some really fresh ideas to the shoe space. Finished at incredible resolution and framerate, this project just pops. Seeing a shoe rip open as if it were the mouth of an alligator, or get swallowed in demonic smoke, are ideas only this team could conceive - they really brought it home on this one.