Watch the film here:
Project duration & team size
Daniel M. Lara and Rafael C. Méndez from Spain spent a total of 5 years working on the film, which was created entirely with Blender. Both are actually experienced 3ds Max and Maya users, but for this project they set themselves the goal of realising everything with open source software.
In the first two years of production, ten people worked on the realisation of “Alike”, with new artists joining the team for certain phases over the last three years. In the final phase, three people completed the project; a total of 18 people were involved in “Alike”.
2D look in 3D
Above all, it was important for the artists to respect the 2D style of the film, even though everything is in 3D. This was achieved, for example, by using traditional animation and sculpting tools to optimise the 3D animation: in order to achieve the desired style, the animation artists carried out numerous correction drawings and painting was also superimposed over frames for the lighting artists for inspiration purposes.
About the two directors
Daniel Martínez Lara has worked with many different studios on feature and short films, including as animation tools developer and storyboard artist with Ilion Animation Studios on “Planet 51”. His film portfolio includes “WC!”, “Pepe” and “Changes”, and in 2006 he founded Pepe School Land, a training centre that focuses on teaching modelling, character animation and the realisation of 3D short films.
Rafael Cano Méndez started his career as an artist after completing a 2D animation course at Dibus S.L. in Seville. He completed his training at the Universidad Autónoma in Barcelona, after which he worked at Nicodemo Animation as a concept artist and animator. He further developed his experience in 3D animation at Pepe School Land, where he now works as a lecturer. He also works as an animator at Big Lazy Robot.
All further information on “Alike” can be found on the short film’s website.
“Alike” making-of in English
You can find the complete report on the short film in our animago special issue, which is published every year to accompany the event. You can also find out about all the other winning entries and nominees. The booklet is available in English as a print and download version in our DP shop.
Be part of the animago 2017
If you want to do the same as the “Alike” team – put an animago trophy in your wardrobe, be invited to Munich and finally be applauded for your hard work in the CG industry: Submit for the animago 2017 now. The animago will be held in Munich for the second time at the beginning of September! You can find all the information you need to enter the competition here.
Some impressions from 2016 in our event clip:
