Weather Hunters
Animation toolkit for promos!
This PBS KIDS STEM series, created by and starring Al Roker, follows the adventures of kid weather detective Lilly Hunter and her dad, Al the weatherman. For the promotional campaign, Karptoons created fun animations featuring the show’s main characters interacting with the PBS KIDS logo. You can catch our work across PBS KIDS TV, the web, and social channels. Be sure to check out the show—it’s a fun watch for parents and kids alike!
Credits
Client: PBS KIDS
Studio: Karptoons
Project and Creative Director: Steve Karp
Creative Producer, Project Manager, & Storyboard Artist: Casey Craddock
Technical Lead, FX Animation, & Rendering: Daniel Bruzzese
Character Animators: Sara Yegan, Jeffrey Esteban
Extra Goodies
To match the stylized look of the show, these CG animations were created with a combination of Maya, Houdini, and Nuke. Below is a little breakdown of the production stages.
Animatic
The animatic is created to work out the general timing, staging, and story beats of the animation.
Character Animation
Using Maya, the character animation is completed and approved before the weather FX simulations and lighting can be created.
FX Animation
We used Houdini for the FX simulations. The pile behind Al needed to move with snowy realism while still feeling whimsical.
Final Lighting
& FX Comp
The FX animation is finessed and the final lighting is applied. Then the rendered layers are brought into nuke for final composting.
