My role here was previz, layout, and animation.  I animated the camera, rain droplet, lightning strike, and ending liquid splash.

"To communicate the value of Generac's backup power generators in a weather emergency, marketing firm Bader Rutter and DK transported viewers into the heart of a storm. The spot opens from the perspective of one rain drop hurling toward earth, through rain and storm clouds, as a violent lightning strike blacks out an entire neighborhood. When our rain drop splashes down, we reveal that one homeowner was prepared for the storm – their Generac unit humming to life, restoring power.

The entire spot was created in photo real 3D by the team at DK – who used extensive research and specialized tools to create an an immersive audiovisual experience." - thisisdk.com

Created at Digital Kitchen. Credits:

Executive Creative Director: Camm Rowland
Creative Director: Chad Ashley
Previz / Animation - Todd Kumpf
Modeling / Shading / Lighting - Justin Reed
Compositor / FX TD - Tim Little
Editor - Nate Pence
Executive Producer: Colin Davis
Production Coordinator: Erin Liston

As part of the Digital Kitchen installation at the new LAX Bradley International Terminal, I concepted and created digital sculptures inspired by the riveted skin of early aircraft. 

"For the epic digital landscape in LAX’s new Bradley International Terminal, Digital Kitchen created engaging content at the intersection of sculpture, story and brand." 

Of the digital projects i've worked on, this is perhaps one of my favorites. The opportunity to put advertising, commercials, and politics aside and concentrate solely on art for art's sake is rare. From day one I was a part of the concept and design phase of the project, given ample time to brainstorm and create abstract digital ideas that would be displayed on numerous screens up to 70 feet in height. 

I ultimately landed on a concept dubbed "Aviation Skins." Referencing the riveted metallic hulls of early aircraft, these massive chrome sculptures reflect timelapsed sunsets and landscapes. Created in 3D, three variations were created for the space, one for each time of day: dawn, day, and dusk. 

My role on this project was previz blocking, camera animation, character animation, cloth simulation, and environment prop modeling & texturing in 3D Studio Max. 

As a followup spot to our (Digital Kitchen's) previous Estee Lauder project, we were asked to revitalize the project for the American market. We were able to use most of the same cloth simulations we had already created for the first version, just building out a new environment. The story-arch of the original was kept in tact, but each shot was re-composed with the new environment and lighting direction in mind. 
 

Created at Digital Kitchen. Credits:
CD: Chad Ashley
Edit: Nate Pence
Producer: Colin Davis
Modeling: Justin Reed, Todd Kumpf
Animation: Todd Kumpf
Lighting: Chad Ashley & Justin Reed
Compositing: Tim Little

My role on this project was previz/layout, character animation, and cloth simulation.

For the fragrance “Mystique” from Estee Lauder, we created a CG spot in which silken fabric comes to life and takes on a womanly form, inspired by the luxurious concealing garments of the middle eastern culture. 

The character animation, cloth simulation, set construction, and rendering were all done in 3D Studio Max & VRay. Although we spent some time experimenting with Maya nCloth, we found that the cloth simulation in Max was much more attuned to our fast-paced pipeline, allowing for many more iterations and nearly real-time tweaking as we moved from shot to shot. 

The three images at the bottom with an alternate color pallet are my own compositing take on the spot that I assembled using raw EXR outputs from the original 3D files. 

Created at Digital Kitchen. Credits:
CD: Chad Ashley
Producer: Colin Davis
Edit: Nate Pence
Environment Modeling: Justin Reed
Lighting: Chad Ashley
Texturing: Justin Reed and Chad Ashley
Previz & Layout: Todd Kumpf
Character Animation: Todd Kumpf
Cloth Simulation: Todd Kumpf and Tim Little
Pipeline Tools: Tim Little
Compositing: Jeremy Stuart and Chad Ashley

For this sculptural terrarium, I modeled the dirt/rock mixture and much of the smaller foliage elements. I also rendered & composited the images that have gold & black backgrounds.  The ones with a blue background were rendered & composited by Justin Reed.
 

The images with gold & black backgrounds were work-in-progress renders composited by myself in Fusion while we were putting final touches on the textures. These were the first complete renders we had done so far. It had been about four weeks of development and work by the time we reached this point, so seeing these test images come together was the most exciting and memorable stage of the project, in my opinion. It's the kind of thing that makes all the long hours feel totally worthwhile. 

Created at Digital Kitchen.  Credits:
Concept: Jason Esser
Producer: Brian Behling
CG Lead: Chad Ashley
2D Design: Elliot Lim
Modeling: Me, Justin Reed
Texturing: Me, Justin Reed
Animation: Me
Lighting: Justin Reed
Comping: Me, Justin Reed

This was a personal project, so I did all the modeling, texturing, rendering, and compositing. The work was done in 3D Studio Max, VRay, and Fusion. This is still a work in progress. 

Starting off as a simple modeling & texturing exercise, I ended up going cyberpunk with it and re-imagined the building as an Arcade set in a sort of Tron-esque universe. The Firestation building is part of a series to highlight my interest in environment modeling and also to appease my admiration for historic Chicago architecture. 

My goal for this on-going personal project is to further my digital sculpting skills in Mudbox and also have fun with some world building. The style is sort of a hybrid of photo-real tilt-shift with a bit of a fantasy MMORPG/RTS game theme. I want it to feel like a miniature atlas of a vast world. The illustrated map I'm using as inspiration is the world of Norrath from the classic MMORPG Everquest. The end result will have motion with camera fly-throughs, but for now I'll be posting stills as I make progress, biome by biome. 

I started by sculpting the three base continents in Mudbox. I brought over a combination of high-res geometry and normal/displacement maps, depending on the particular piece of land. I scattered trees & plants using a combination of particles and MultiScatter in 3D Studio Max. I wanted to stay true to the vibe of the game, so for the textures of the buildings I was able to extract them directly from Everquest. I also created several main cities, each loosely based on those found ingame. Again, the details here were my own interpretation, with the city walls being my own design while many of the buildings within are inspired by the game. 

There will actually be three continents in total, each with a different style of vegitation and architecture. This main island is known as Antonica, with the two satellite islands (sculpts pictured in the small thumbnails immediately below) known as Odus and Faydwer. Antonica is rich with human populated castles, while the other two will be home to more diverse species.

In this on-going personal project, I enjoy the freedom to conjure up bizarre un-told vintage neon signs inspired by my favorite pinball machine themes.  Each of these monuments use logos and bits and pieces of the artwork from the game, re-imagined here as giant signs. 

Much of my motivation as a 3D artist is to create images that elicit imagination.  To create something unique that makes the viewer draw on their curiosity and wonder more about it.  While I craft my own stories and meaning behind each sign, the hope is that viewers will use their own imagination to extrapolate when/where/how each of these items came to be.

The project has been a great exercise in texturing, achieved by layering up many grunge maps, procedural aging techniques, and manually painted mattes.

I created this image as a test before beginning my "Imagined Neon" project, but decided I enjoy it enough for it to deserve it's own spot in the gallery.  

I love the aging look of vintage neon signs, and wanted to combine that look with my love of geek culture.  The three-dimensional N64 logo seemed like a great candidate, since it was such a huge part of my childhood and remains to be today!  Check out the Imagined Neon project description for more details on my inspiration and process. 

For a lighting & compositing challenge, I created two 3D still renders and two matte paintings based on a supplied captain's log entry. I did all the FX, texturing, lighting, and compositing. 

This project began as a lighting challenge over at cgsociety.org. We were given a 3D model of a ship (created by Giorgio Luciano) and told to create an image using it. The catch is that you had to base you scene on one of the four provided captain's log entries. You can find the other contest specifics here.

There are a plethora of on-going challeneges on the CGS forums, but this challenge stood out to me because of the log entries. Truthfully, if the log entry portion of had not been present, I likely would not have participated. Having that bit of back-story and using that as food for thought while creating really helps to get you in the mood, which is then reflected in the work. It of course gives purpose and direction, but it also adds an extra element of imagination which is exactly what this digital stuff is all about. 

The log notebook images are matte paintings built from many 2D assets. 

My role on this project was 3D animation including: previz/layout blocking, all falling/colliding/impacting cherries & chocolates, stem collision animation, camera animation, and end tag animation (except yogurt swirl).   I also modeled the chocolate curls and developed a procedural system to randomize the curl shape. 

From thisisdk.com: "DK was tapped for our unique approach to CGI - we create from a filmmaker's and artist's perspective - and our commitment to craft, detail and storytelling. DK's insight was to build the spot fully through CGI to give us the freedom to create camera angles that would otherwise be impossible, selling the romantic creative direction of the spot through one fluid sequence.

As always with food (and CGI), the challenge was to ensure the product looked real and appetizing. DK researched the product extensively and shot reference footage on our stage that would prove crucial to achieving realism. The animation of the falling cherries and chocolate were hand keyed to ensure the most artistically appealing movement and compositions. DK used physically accurate cameras, lensing, and lighting. We even worked in a physically accurate scale to be sure the move never felt too big or too small.

Our Behind the Scenes video takes you through the creation of the spot and the delicious resulting television spot." 

Created at Digital Kitchen. Credits:
Client: Ehrmann
Agency Partner: StrawberryFrog New York

Creative Director: Chad Ashley
Producer: Julie Benevides
Storyboards: Jeremy Rumas

CG Production
Look Development: Chad Ashley
Previz & Layout: Todd Kumpf
Animation: Todd Kumpf
Yogurt Sculpt: Justin Reed
Yogurt Impact Simulation: Tim Little
Cherry Model & Texture: Justin Reed
Chocolate Model & Texture: Todd Kumpf
Shading: Chad Ashley
Lighting: Justin Reed

Life Action Reference Shoot
Cinematographer: Chad Ashley
Key Grip: Justin Reed
Camera: Tim Little
Lights Provided By: Kevin Walsh

CG Post Production
Compositing: Tim Little
Color Grade: Jeremy Stuart
Case Study: Tim Little

My role on this project was to design and create the elevator cab exterior. I did the 3D modeling, texturing, and lighting of the cab exterior. Also, I did animation for the gate and cable systems. 

"Digital Kitchen's latest work for The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas alludes to the truly unique experiences that await you at the 52-story resort. Twenty vignettes filled a series of elevators with a cast of curious characters — viewers are presented with only a brief glimpse at each story, leaving the rest to the imagination. Where are they going? Where have they been?" - thisisdk.com

52 Stories, originally conceived by Chad Ashley, began as a piece built specifically for the resort's large lobby columns. Taking advantage of the large volumetric space of the column, an elevator shaft is the perfect device to introduce a variety of characters and scenarios in a fun and quirky way. These moments play out relatively quickly, but if you stick around long enough you will begin to notice the same characters reappearing in mini narratives. 

While the team conceptualized scenarios to be filmed, I was put to work designing the elevator cab. While a professional set design studio took care of the inside, we would be needing a fully CG exterior for the set to live in. Since the column has screens on all 4 sides, a complete elevator cab would be required, including a functional gate and pulley cables. 

The intended direction was to be slightly victorian, slightly steampunk, and slightly modern, in layman's terms. The resolution would also need to be substantial. 1920x4000 is approximately the size of the final element. Although the gate and cables animate in various timings, it was built as a modular system to save space and be as reusable as possible through the many timing variations. 

Through early tests on the columns and due to the added complexity to the filming of the live action, we decided not to address parallax as the elevator moves vertically through the space. Because of that, each face of the elevator (aside from the cables & gate) only needed to be a single still image - not a long animated sequence. This completely opened the door to me to treat the creation of the elevator sides as more of a matte painting than a 3D render. Much of the grime, imperfections, and other details were added in the comp. You can see the final versions below, as well as a 3D rendering I did of the model & mock interior. 
In addition to 3D modeling the elevator cab, I was responsible for providing and managing modular cable & gate animations to be paired with the moving elevators (as dictated by the editor Nate Pence). Some elevators come to a stop and open their gates. Others continue through uninterrupted. Some go up, some go down. They also had to ease to/from a stop while matching that of the acceleration of the elevator (cables animation in 3D, but elevator motion happening in comp). Each segment of cable animation had to link up to any other segment so that it would be seamless and without the slightest flicker. 

By the time I completed those puzzle pieces, Jeremy Stuart was about finished with the color correction on the scenario footage and I was moved onto compositing duty. I became in charge of controlling the flow of footage, combining the footage with the moving CG elevator and getting it all into the editor's hands. Along with assistance from the team, all ~30 shots were delivered to the editor for final output to the large scale lobby column format. 
 

Created at Digital Kitchen. Credits:
Producers: Colin Davis, Brian Behling, Andrea Bidderman
ECD: Anthony Vitagliano
CD: Chad Ashley
3D: Me, Tim Little, Justin Reed, Chad Ashley
Color correction: Jeremy Stuart
Compositing: Me, Jeremy Stuart, Chad Ashley
Footage wrangling & scripting: Tim Little Editor: Nate Pence
And many, many others.

In addition to modeling all the parts to make up a pair of speakers and DVD player, I was responsible for slicing up the Bose Wave unit and animating it forming back together.  

Created at Digital Kitchen. Credits:
CD: Chad Ashley
Edit: Nate Pence
Modeling: Todd Kumpf, Justin Reed
Animation: Todd Kumpf, Justin Reed
TD: Tim Little
Composite: Jeremy Stuart

This is a collection of past and on-going projects in which I model interesting buildings that catch my eye.  I love admiring the architecture of Chicago & from around the world, and modeling my favorites brings my appreciation of the details closer than any photograph ever could.

Inspired by music that combines old and new production techniques and genres, I wanted to create a music box that embodies that same spirit. I wanted to create something that feels raw and original but rich with features. It started out as a simple Wi-Fi music streaming device, but quickly snowballed into something much larger in both size and scope. 

I designed and constructed the case from raw materials, and took apart various old & new electronic components to create a functional stereo. Uses a Raspberry Pi, it connects with AirPlay to play music from any mobile device or laptop. It also of course plays vinyl records and has a couple of other tricks up it’s sleeve. 

I created a mini-site showing many photos, the entire build process, and a video of it in action. Check it out here: audio.toddkumpf.com

With this personal project, I wanted to capture the almost cyber-punk vibe all of my past apartments had. I 3D modeled most of this myself, and lit the rooms using only the screens as light sources. 

If you have a lot of electronics gear, you know how bright it can be at night when all the lights are off. Suddenly every LCD screen becomes spotlight, and even the tiniest LEDs glow like bright beacons. And the more stuff you have, the brighter it gets and the more cramped the space becomes. That is the vibe I was trying to achieve with these series of renders. I wanted to exaggerate that feeling to the max. 

However, I didn’t really have to try very hard to push that boundary. All I had to do was think back to all the apartments I’ve shared with roommates through college and thereafter. We all worked together to build our digital command center, and were always known for having the craziest most tech-filled living rooms. 

All of the spaces I’ve modeled here are real, and all of the screens & items included are also fairly accurate representations of the space. The scale of many things were cheated though, in order to exaggerate that feeling of being surrounded by a cave of tech. 

I modeled and textured everything in 3D Studio Max. Lighting was done with VRay using Light Materials & light projection. Compositing was done in After Effects. 

This LED Game Board was of my own concept & design, constructed during the 48 hour Digital Kitchen "Hackathon" event along with hacker James Griffin. 

"The DK Hackathon was born from a desire to experiment creatively without client constraints and has become an annual tradition. This year's theme: Gamify." 

Each space in the 5x5 grid has a RGB LED and a push button switch, both linked to an Arduino. For each space, each press off the button cycles the LED from off, red, green, and blue. We designed the wood case in AutoCAD, and used a laser cutter at Makerhaus to cut the panels out of thin pine slabs. I used a dremel and hand tools to carve the wooden dice. I also designed and created the rule booklet and playing cards. 

The box is a freeform game platform that serves to have many games played, and also created, within its bounds. 

A handful of games are outlined in a rule-book, but this list should be thought of as a jumping off point for your own game-play creativity. Players should feel free to use it as they see fit, creating new games along the way or perhaps adapting variations of their favorite classic table-top games. It can function as an arena for any classic grid or spatial based game. 

The platform’s core mechanism is the usage of LED toggles. Rather than having a game piece you move about a board to signify your place, you just toggle a light to illuminate your player color in a given space. With room for up to three players, each game space on the board contains a light that can cycle between RED, BLUE, and GREEN, each color signifying a different player’s chosen avatar. 

Accompanying the box are several additional game assets. Various types of dies and ability cards are utilized in numerous ways, adding layers of game-play to create a dynamic experience every time. 

The platform, with it’s combination of the light box and additional assets, is meant to be dynamic enough to allow constant evolution. 
 

On this project I got to see what it's like to be a watch maker who is also an entomologist. I rigged and animated a beetle, and for it's inside guts I designed, modeled, and animationed a convinsingly funcional system of sprockets. I also animated the camera and all the foliage. 

Created at Digital Kitchen, all work was done in 3D Studio Max. The beetle was rigged and animated using CAT, and the gears animated using Craft. The final product is currently being displayed on casino grounds at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas as well as on their exterior marquee signage. It was part of a larger brand campaign where we created many obscure but collective animations that resolve into their trademark "C" logo. The beetle modeling is by Justin Reed, and lighting/compositing is by Chad Ashley. 

The gear macro images below were lit & composited by myself.

Created at Digital Kitchen. Credits:
Nate Costa - Concept
Chad Ashley - Creative Director, Shading/Lighting
Todd Kumpf - Beetle and Gear Rigging, Animation
Justin Reed - Beetle Model/Sculpt

For the R&D phase of a yogurt spot at Digital Kitchen, I had the opportunity to exercise some Mudbox sculpting skills and create some organic samples of food. I was tasked with modeling a series of chocolate curls and cherries with detail that would hold up to scrutiny of macro shots. The specific cherry here was not used in the final spot, but I created these models from start to finish.

For the images shown here, I did the modeling, texturing, and lighting. 

This Reese's commercial was done as a promotional piece for the new film Iron Man 2. It's heavily inspired by the end-title sequence in the first film, in addition to the way Iron Man's mechanical suit transforms together. 

It was created by six artists over the span of about four weeks. My duities involved 3D modeling the peanut-butter center, the chocolate coating, product wrapper, and the Iron Man suit seen in the beginning. I also assisted in various 3D scene and compositing tweaks.

Created at Digital Kitchen.  Credits:
Producer: Colin Davis
Director: Chad Ashley
Designers: Chad Ashley, Todd Kumpf, Elliot Lim, Eric Miro, Amador Valenzuela,
Editor: Mike Alfini
Exec Producer: Todd Brandes
Client: Hershey's

This was a personal project, so I did all the modeling, rigging, animation, and lighting. 

I originally created this beast a while back as a personal project, but recently dug up the animation file and decided to give it some more love. It was originally modeled, rigged, and animated in Maya. Revisiting it today, I baked the animation and sent it into 3D Studio Max Max, added the cars & particles, and rendered it using VRay. 

As a 3D animator, I was responsible for controlling all the spinning cubes seen inside the storefront. The goal was to create high-energy motion and transitions while retaining patterns that please the composition of the environment. 

This was created by a team of three 3D artists and two Fusion compositors in just two weeks. It is built as an introduction to a behind the scenes look at Cartoon Network, displayed in theaters before the movie previews begin. This abstract "storefront" comes alive with tiles that transform the sidewalk into a fantastic explosion of checkers as part of the Cartoon Network "Check-It" campaign. 

Created at Digital Kitchen.  Credits:
Director/TD/Creative Lead: Chad Ashley
Editor - Mike Alfini
3D - Todd Kumpf, Chris Green, Tim Lobes, and Joe Gunn
Lead Compositor - Jeremy Stuart
Additional Comping & Roto - Peter Kallstrom, Nate Costa
Store Front Concept Art - Jeremy Rumas
Producer - Colin Davis
 

For a :15 bumper created at Digital Kitchen, I modeled the London Olympic logo. Textured and lit by Chad Ashley. 

In two of the recent spots created for Les Schwab at Digital Kitchen, I served as the 3D generalist to create various assets for the spot.  This is just a collection of some work-in-progress images I created during the production of the spot. 

For the images of the trucks at the bottom, Ben Christie created the faces that are on the truck grills. 

Some great folks at the Seattle Digital Kitchen office created a fun little companion app for the 2014 Superbowl and needed help populating it with animations (which they then queued up live during the game). They sent over an Illustrator doc full of miscellaneous characters & tidbits, and set us loose to bring as many of them to life as we could in about 2 days. These are the ones I managed to put together in that timeframe. It was a great exercise with some really fun results! More info on TinyTron at tinytron.tv

This was created as a test during an R&D exploration of various cloud rendering techniques at Digital Kitchen. These clouds were rendered entirely using VRay Fog being driven using Bercon Noise. We ended up going with a FumeFX and Ozone approach, but I was still pretty fond of how this turned out for such a rudimentary technique.

For this Lenovo spot, my job was previz & animation.  I worked closely with the editor and CD to craft a story & cadence to this drama infused product viz.

Created at Digital Kitchen.  Credits:
Animation by me.
CD by Chad Ashley.
Edit by Nate Pence.
Lighting & Shading by Justin Reed
Compositing by Tim Little
Icon graphics by Jason Esser & Jesse Willis
Produced by Julie Benevides

This project stemmed from hours of time spent making funny noises using the awesome Moog synthesizer emulator created by Google. Being able to fiddle with knobs & buttons to craft a unique sound became a bit addicting, and I decided I’d need something more physical to continue making funny noises. I’ve been wanting to learn about the underlying basics behind analog synthesizers for a while, so this is the perfect opportunity to do that and also to make something. What better way to learn?

BleepLabs.com sells some really neat DIY electronics kits for this exact type of thing. I picked up a few of them and got to work assembling, but quickly realized they would deserve some kind of case to make this into a proper project. After having such amazing success using a laser cutter to easily create a wood case for my LED Game Hub, I knew this would also be a perfect opportunity for that. 

This year the Harold Washington Public Library here in Chicago opened what they call an “Innovation Lab” which consists of three 3D printers, two laser cutters, a wood mill, and a vinyl sticker cutter. I designed some simple cases in 3D Studio Max using a spline modeling technique, allowing me to export those flattened splines out to Illustrator to generate a vector file for the laser cutter. 
 

For the faceplates, I knew I wanted to do some more metal etching after having enjoyed that process so much during creation of the Audio Infuser. I decided to use brass for this project though, which requires a different etching chemical. Ferric Chloride is used for brass & copper, with the addition of Citric Acid to speed up the etching (it neutralizes a by-product that would otherwise slow the etch). I spent some time working up a design language to use across all the graphics, which I’d describe as a sort of blend between retro and steampunk. I won’t go too in-depth on the actual etching process, but I did a thorough writeup of that at here if you want to check it out. 

The electronic guts (for 3 out of the 5) are from BleepLabs.com. I got their Nebulophone, Pico Paso, and Bleep Drum kits and went to work modifying them to work within my cases. The kits called for each button and knob to be soldered directly to the circuit board, but I instead used my own panel-mountable buttons and potentiometers so I could easily attach them to the faceplate. Plus it allowed me to customize the look by choosing specific parts I wanted to use. It ended up requiring a lot of wires, though! 

For a self-motivated speed modeling challenge, I created this high poly ship over the course of 7 days, spending on average +/- 3 hours a day for a total of about 30 hours. 

I intend to do a similar speed texturing round, but here is the model in greyshaded form. If you're out of touch with your Sci-Fi, it's The Outrider (or maybe just my own variant of a YT-2400 light freighter, since I took a number of creative libertiers) from the Star Wars Extended Universe.

The modeling was done in 3D Studio Max using spline and polgon modeling. All of the "greeble" is actually hand-made and purposefully placed, and is also even labeled to a logical extent.