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How did LEGO create the BIONICLE animations (2001-2009)


Max_Nui

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I have been watching the old character videos from 2001, and continue to be impressed with how they hold up even today. Does anyone have information on what technology they used? I know it's outdated today, but it would be interesting to know what their equipment limits were/how many people it took to animate. Just for funsies.

And also, as a side note, wouldn't it be cool if the movies had been made in a set accurate style like the animations? That would be a cool project in 2020! :akaku:

:m: :a: :x:    :n: :u: :i:

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If you’re thinking like the Sonic The Hedgehog movie, I’m in for it, as long as there is a good amount of budget. :) 

I don’t know about the technology, but what I do know is that the videos are made by Ghost Animation.

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I like Lego, Bionicle, and Hero Factory!:)

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From what I understand, the MNOG style stuff was all done by Templar Studios using the assets from the games... so that would be any their animations from 2001-2004. I think those were made in Flash. 

As for the CGI stuff, I think as mentioned it involved Ghost and also Advance as the teams involved in those projects. 

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All aboard the hype train!

 

 

 

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7 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

If you’re thinking like the Sonic The Hedgehog movie, I’m in for it, as long as there is a good amount of budget. :) 

...what the actual h*ck does Sonic have to do with ANYTHING in the OP?

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Rule #1: Always listen to Kek.

Rule #2: If you break rule #1, kindly don't.

Rule #3: EVERYBODY TYPE IN THE CHAT "AVAK IS A STUPID TRIGGER"

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2 hours ago, Sir Keksalot said:

...what the actual h*ck does Sonic have to do with ANYTHING in the OP?

Nostalgia, faithfulness to the source material, and accuracy to the characters’ iconic looks (Sonic’s original look in the movie was terrible, so he got redesigned to look much better and he was praised for it). I think it is what fabSheers is taking about. He said “movies”. It’s very interesting that he mentioned the animation in 2001-2009 (well, 2001-2010, actually, because of the 2010 toy commercial with the Stars sets) because Bionicle is best known for using Ghost’s animation in G1 commercials. The G2 ones are, well, not nostalgic much. 
 

I like to think that Bionicle may have a potential of having a theatrical movie (in fabSheers’ case, a 3-D animated one) someday because of what it is, but everything’s wasted because of Lego right. Why don’t Lego consider this if Bionicle had saved it from bankruptcy, Lego making theatrical movies, Bionicle was successful and inspired other themes to have good storytelling. Bionicle has a lot of good stuff, so yeah. Even Bionicle’s legacy still lives. If Lego announces something like that for Bionicle’s 20th anniversary in 2021, that would be something. Bionicle needs some love, man. That’s just me. 

I like Lego, Bionicle, and Hero Factory!:)

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9 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

Nostalgia, faithfulness to the source material, and accuracy to the characters’ iconic looks (Sonic’s original look in the movie was terrible, so he got redesigned to look much better and he was praised for it). I think it is what fabSheers is taking about. He said “movies”. It’s very interesting that he mentioned the animation in 2001-2009 (well, 2001-2010, actually, because of the 2010 toy commercial with the Stars sets) because Bionicle is best known for using Ghost’s animation in G1 commercials. The G2 ones are, well, not nostalgic much. 
 

I like to think that Bionicle may have a potential of having a theatrical movie (in fabSheers’ case, a 3-D animated one) someday because of what it is, but everything’s wasted because of Lego right. Why don’t Lego consider this if Bionicle had saved it from bankruptcy, Lego making theatrical movies, Bionicle was successful and inspired other themes to have good storytelling. Bionicle has a lot of good stuff, so yeah. Even Bionicle’s legacy still lives. If Lego announces something like that for Bionicle’s 20th anniversary in 2021, that would be something. Bionicle needs some love, man. That’s just me. 

Animating an entire movie in the style of some old commercials has literally nothing to do with elevating a pixel-sprite character design to a 3D, CGI model.

Bionicle would be better served as a TV show in the vein of TLA, partly because the format allows for more expansive worldbuilding and partly because Hollywood is actually horrendous. Lego most certainly won't do anything on that scale for Bionicle's anniversary, but their behavior regarding G2 suggests they want their cash cow back in due course; it'll likely be a good while before they make their move, certainly no sooner than the eventual death of Ninjago, which can't come soon enough but will absolutely take some time.

Rule #1: Always listen to Kek.

Rule #2: If you break rule #1, kindly don't.

Rule #3: EVERYBODY TYPE IN THE CHAT "AVAK IS A STUPID TRIGGER"

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/3/2020 at 6:05 PM, Mukaukau Nuva said:

I presume they scanned the sets in 3D, created CGI models for them (making whatever minor alterations necessary for it to function), and worked from there. 

That's not really how 3D scanning works, exactly. Even nowadays, it's generally limited to static things (like bits of landscape, structures, objects, etc. Stuff like this, basically) that aren't meant to be articulated/animated in any capacity, especially if we're talking almost 20 years ago when the technology wasn't nearly as advanced as it is nowadays. The models used in the animations were likely hard-surface modeled from scratch in the 3D software of the time, whatever that may have been. Having access to CAD files from LEGO probably helped a lot in that regard.

Boom.

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