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Prof. Eggtop – Keeping an eye on the Tesla Roadster | Animated Short Film | Brisbane, QLD

This short is centred around the multi-talented, awe-inspiring, scientific genius, Prof. Eggtop. In this episode we get a glimpse of the busy Professor checking up on his good friend in all things science, Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster in space. As we all know Prof. Eggtop has the most powerful and cutting-edge telescope in the world and so naturally Elon tasked his good friend to check up on the Tesla’s orbital path and whether it is in or poses any trouble. The Professor literally has at his finger tips a direct line/holocall to the most influential people around the world, in case the world is threatened. This evening the Professor fills his ‘Lost in Space’ coffee mug with a fresh batch of coffee and settles in to take a glance at the first car in space…

The concept for Prof. Eggtop came about when I was wanting to create a series of characters to inspire children around the world in the wonders of science, but also have a fun aspect for adults as well. From that initial idea I set about creating the world the Professor would live in and the characters he would interact with. This is the first in a series of short animations centred around Prof. Eggtop and his trusty sidekick Gerald the guinea pig (episode 02)!

Since I am a child of the 80s and love movies, I have hidden various sci-fi movie references in the background, so that movie fans can enjoy looking for them, hopefully again and again! 🙂

The short is created using Modo a 3D software packing, which is made by the Foundry (same company that makes Nuke compositing software). This software isn’t really used in the industry for animation, but more for design, modelling and previz. However, I believe it has great animation tools and after 20 years of using 3D Studio Max, I was in the market for something new and creator friendly, so i made the switch with no regrets!

To create the introduction of Prof. Eggtop I needed to put him in a situation where the viewer would understand, where he worked, who he is, what he does and why… It was also around the time that Elon Musk did in fact launch his Tesla Roadster into space, so I thought that would be a funny thing to play off with the Professor.

The one thing that took a lot of time was finding the right clip of Elon Musk saying ‘Professor’ and footage of him standing, so I could create the hologram on him! I sat through many interesting interviews and events of Mr. Musk talking to find the right angles for what I needed.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did creating it and please leave a comment on youtube about how many movie references you find in the background! Cheers 🙂

Website: www.mattmeers.com

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