Commander Chris Hadfield’s animated series teaches science through comedy
London, January 13, 2016 —The new comedy science animation show—It’s Not Rocket Science—is a 10-episode series that has been developed using solutions and tools from leading creative software developer The Foundry. Created by retired Canadian astronaut and commander of the International Space Station Chris Hadfield, together with his son Evan, the series seeks to address current issues and misunderstood science topics, from vaccinations to climate change.
An animated Commander Hadfield and his space pug Albert will use humorous narrative and anecdotes to educate viewers of all ages. The series was animated by D.C. Turner and Tracy King, the team behind the viral sensation Tim Minchin’s Storm, using a number of solutions from The Foundry.
Mischief, a pen-based sketching application was used for all the concept drawing, storyboarding, mind mapping and music planning, while FLIX, The Foundry’s visual story development tool was used to create the storyboard build. Turner and King also used MODO, the 3D modeling, animation, effects and rendering package, and NUKE, a node-based digital composting application.
As part of the launch campaign, Turner, King, and Chris Hadfield, as well as David Atkinson, head of design for commercial products from The Foundry will participate in a live session on Wednesday, January 20 at 7:00 p.m. (GMT) at the software developer’s head office in London. The session will be streamed to viewers worldwide and the panel will answer questions about the show, the use of The Foundry’s software in its development and how the show was created. The trailer for the show will also be launched, as well as other exclusive clips from the first episode.
“Chris Hadfield is a straight-talking science icon who is using this opportunity to further the education work he began while on the International Space Station, and The Foundry is delighted to play a role in that,” says David Atkinson, head of design for commercial products at The Foundry. “This live session will delve into thoughts and processes behind the development of the show and reinforce the depth and breadth of what is possible using the right software and tools.”
For further details and to register for the session please follow this link.
About The Foundry
The Foundry is a leading global developer of creative software used to deliver high-end visual and 3D effects for the design, visualization and entertainment industries. The portfolio allows artists to create inspiring and technical images and visual experiences in Media Production (film, commercial, episodic, gaming and now VR/AR), and design (enterprise and creative).
The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in London, with offices in Silicon Valley, Manchester, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Dublin and Austin. It has a staff of 300.
The Foundry’s wholly owned subsidiary, Made With Mischief, develops simple, creative and accessible tools and applications that empower people to explore ideas and create.
Clients include Pixar, Mercedes-Benz, ILM, Double Negative, The Moving Picture Company, Walt Disney Animation, Weta Digital, Framestore, Sony Pictures Imageworks and Skullcandy.
In 2015, the London Stock Exchange named The Foundry one of its “1000 Companies to Inspire Britain.”
© The Foundry, its logo and product names are registered trademarks in the UK, USA and/or other countries.
About Made With Mischief, Inc
Made With Mischief, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Foundry, develops simple, creative and accessible tools and applications that empower people to explore ideas and create from their concepts.
The firm’s desktop application, Mischief, is a unique pen-based sketching application for Mac and Windows that provides incredible responsiveness and a truly infinite drawing canvas. Mischief is powered by a revolutionary shape representation, known as Adaptively Sampled Distance Fields (ADFs).