Takeo Hatai: Do The Robot In CG

17 Jan 2007 Category: Film / Animation, Japan, Worldwide

Takeo Hatai: Do The Robot In CG

Give us a shiny sneer! Le pivot's animated 3D spot for Honda's No Same Way project.

Mastering computer graphics is a profession that requires a lot of skill and even then it still often tends to look a bit, well, inanimate and non-organic! Luckily there are some good guys out there so for a sweet example of this genre please welcome Takeo Haitai, who enriches 3D animation with juicy manga influences giving his works an often futuristic style. Takeo lives in Paris and is the creative head of the animation company Le Pivot. ‘Pivot’ having the same meaning in English, also happens to be the axis to rotate objects with in 3D environments such as Maya for example. Takeo created marvelous 3D spots for the likes of PlayStation 3, Nike, Honda, Shiseido or MTV. His works vary from being saccharine and humorous (like his Zoomer spot for Honda) to peculiar and strange (like the latest trailer for PlayStation 3 in a retro 90ies techno look where he grills and fragments a brain). But let Takeo speak for himself and reveal to us, how he gets his ideas in a 3D from!

Written by Verena


There’s someone looking quite stern: Takeo Hatai from Le Pivot in Paris

Takeo, please give us some general info about you and Le Pivot? How many people are currently working there with you?

I worked as a freelancer from 2000 to 2003 and then started Le Pivot. Right now we are 3 people at work, including myself.

Are you from Japan and moved to France eventually or did you grow up in France entirely?

I was born in Osaka and worked in Tokyo for ten years after graduating from an industrial design school in Japan. However, things like the actual production of animation were not taught at school so I learned that ‘on the job’.


The creative process for the PlayStation 3 spot: Inspiration first!

Then the transformation in 3D with Maya.

Now building the modules representing brain layers in a grid…

… et voilà the rendered objects with glowing connections as synapses! Watch the whole spot!

Which influences would you consider stronger in your works: Japanese or European?

Of course both! The Japanese influence, however, only really hit me after I had left Japan and then I developed an interest in the traditional Japanese culture. Today’s manga or game culture doesn’t appeal so much to me though.

Uh, that’s so 90ies - still from the finished PlayStation 3 spot: For 2D Takeo uses Adobe Photoshop Illustrator and does the composite with AfterEffects.

Another PlayStation3 still showing the fractured brain parts in an abstract way. Watch the clip here.

What were your favourite animés or mangas then?

I love FLCL and Taiyō MATSUMOTO. They are already old though…


The creative process for the No Same Way project: Le Pivot did some sketches first…

… for the character design of every little figure involved.

These are initial drawings of the fairylike little Cara.

Now you’re located in Paris but still work very closely with several Japanese companies. What do they ask you for in particular? Do they want you for your special Japanese approach with a subtle taste of ‘French’, or…?

They want someone who ‘shifts’ from the Japanese way of directing rather than having someone ‘especially Japanese’. Japanese people are so sensitive in terms of fashion movements and trends. A lot of Japanese directors do things the same way. I as a director ‘shift’ away from the usual Japanese style, but still understand where they come from. I think that is it.

Another big robot for Honda - sketch for the No Same Way short

Two previsualizations of the Honda spot: The little fairy…

… and the robot moving in 3D.

In your blog you credit the pictorial book “A la recherche des livres charmants des années 60/70 en France” as one of your creative influences for your work. What other creative sources are important for you?

This book was written by my wife. So I guess this was some kind of advertising… I like the sense of the ‘RETRO FUTURE’. The 60s and 70s seemed to be so passionate. In those days the ‘RETRO FUTURE’ influenced everything from fashion to cars, interior designs, architecture, music, etc…

Apart from that electronic pioneers were a big influence for me. I started CG because of the sound of Yellow Magic Orchestra.

And moreover biology, science, chemistry, medicine, and the spiritual world become a source of materials for me, too.

The spiritual world?

I am a Buddhist and thus influenced by the Buddhist philosophy, a positive philosophy and positive thinking.

movie still from the finished Honda spot: A smashing robot! Watch the complete one here.

Let’s get to the craftsmanship: You originally studied industrial design - did this prepare you with a special approach for your animation work in 3D?

In a way, yes! I think that animating is very similar to designing an object: the whole construction, the shaping of the scene… When I do the art direction, the design has to be set in every detail.

For Nike’s Hybrid Le Pivot developed an animated action story with a giant robot fighting against basketball players. This is a first sketch of the players.

Now to your superb clips: your latest spot for PlayStation 3 is a stunning example of CG with fragmentation built in 3D in a catchy 90ies retro techno style. What’s the idea behind the images of a brain that gets shredded?

This is easy: I read in some article that the PS3 is more ‘intelligent’ than the PS2. Often, when a machine is to be visualized, I use the human body instead - or the other way around. In this case the clip shows the 51 brain departments mutually animated as they communicate. When the communication quickens, confusion is caused because of the PS3.


Character design in 3D for the Hybrid spot…

Ah, your colleague Thomas Pilicer put it this way before: “…it is showing a cubic representation of the inside of a brain with its 51 parts interacting with the PlayStation 3. It shows the brain having difficulty following PlayStation 3’s speed and intelligence.” So the fragmented 3D layers in the clip are an abstract image of the brain?

The model might look abstract – but it is a medically accurate composition. In some latest theories it is said that the brain is divided in 51 departments, the so called Brodmann area.

… and giving the giant robot a surface texture. This is part of the process for Nike’s Hybrid spot from character design to rendering. For more, watch the whole animated storyboard.

I also read about 51 ‘digital noise paintings’ hidden within this PS3 spot. What’s that supposed to be about?

I was doing a collection of some ‘video noise’, meaning 51 video pieces that are not from film footage but stuff I rescued from a broken hard disk. When I was editing the clip, I tried to insert it in a subliminal way.

All of your spots have some great electronic or broken beatz score – how did you gather all these Japanese musicians, e.g. Junichi Oguro for the PlayStation 3 clip?

Still from Nike’s Hybrid spot. Watch the whole movie here.

I met him at the British Cinefeel screening. He is equally sensible as he is technologically firm. In general I don’t give the musicians any limits, and I’m always looking for new talents.

Are you close with the electronic music scene in Japan?

There are a lot of different movements in terms of sampling and remixing that exist in Japan. But I think that almost everything that can be accomplished with music has been done already. Making loops and remixing each genre only gets repeated… on the computer. So I think it’s Electro music in the future.

Another still from Nike’s Hybrid.

What about the Honda spot: would you please describe the ideas behind that one?

As part of a buzz advertisement for Honda several designers were asked to make a short movie about a motorcycle. I was very lucky to get the ZOOMER, a 50cc motorcycle. Actually the idea of the robot animated cartoon came to me in only 5 minutes.

I wanted the spot to end like a love romance. Therefore the girl had to become really small and fairylike because otherwise the two persons couldn’t sit on the 50cc. For the animation there were a lot of camera angles necessary - from the aerial view of the robot to the view of the fairy.


Still from the “DNA pattern” campaign for MTV with live action footage. Watch the complete trailer here.

More DNA capturing for MTV.

I really love your animated storyboard for this clip which can be seen on your website. So cute! What were the special challenges when making of this clip?

Because this was an advertisement, the client wanted to show the motorcycle in an accurate, realistic way. I wanted to show it in a rather comic way though, so this balance was difficult. In the end the ‘gap’ between the realistic and the comic parts became pretty interesting.

fragmented objects for the Tony&Guys’ ‘Essentials’ campaign

from Tony&Guys’ ‘Essentials’

Takeo, thank you so much. We are certainly eager to watch more of you in the future!

38 Comments

  1. Great interview. Really love those initial sketches of robots. 3D is the future. Yep.. it is.

    Thanks again for a great read!

    Posted by: Wee Keat on January 18th, 2007 at 7:55 am

  2. Nice concepting and execution

    Posted by: Rhett on January 18th, 2007 at 9:25 am

  3. I like The HONDA ZOOMER / NO SAME WAY PROJECT. It’s sort of like the images your brain creates when one is stone/high. :-P

    Posted by: Ben on January 18th, 2007 at 12:06 pm

  4. [...] Takeo Hatai: Do The Robot In CG [...]

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    Tahnk’s Da

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