Humpty Dumpty’s new BBQ Nacho Chips have bite, and their Party Mix is so good you just can’t help but ‘hoover’ them down.

It was up to Kitchener, Ont. ad agency Sparks Communications to find the visuals to best convey this message, and to that end they sought the services of Toronto post-production and graphics studio Soho.

In the first of two spots, ‘Blast,’ a young dude takes a bite of the spicy chips, and in reaction to the robust flavor, his eyes bulge, his head spins several times, his hair stands on end, his eyeballs pop way of his head and get an eyeful of each other, and his tongue rolls several feet out of his mouth.

Soho performed modeling, imaging, and motion tests prior to shooting so they could efficiently integrate the cgi elements once footage was delivered.

In the second spot, ‘Inhale,’ another dude tries the Humpty Dumpty Party Mix, which turns out to be so addictive his head transforms into a vacuum cleaner and he sucks up all the Party Mix in sight.

Revolver’s Don Allan, who directed the spots, agreed with Soho to incorporate both cg material and in-camera effects. In one shot a table lamp was rigged to fall over and blow out as a result of the vacuum’s snaky behavior. The cg vacuum, enhanced by animated lighting, was then added to seem like the instigator of the accident.

The Gear: 3D with Alias|Wavefront’s Maya; morphing sequences with Avid Softimage Elastic Reality; and compositing and painting with Quantel’s Henry and hal.

The Artists: Doug Morris, executive producer; Tony Cleave, creative director/animation director; Derek Gebhart, technical director/senior animator; Daryl Sawchuck and Stephen Kozak, animators; Andy Hunter and Lee Maund, effects editors/compositors.

Mark Dillon