A Beloved Children's Show Hits The Big Screen

Aixsponza On Creating Animations For Checker Tobi And The Secret Of Our Planet

Learning can be fun if you make it that way, and that’s probably why Checker Tobi is so popular. Produced for German television, the children’s show is hosted by Tobi, an exuberant young man who checks out ideas and questions in exciting ways that spark kids’ curiosity. Checker Tobi is such a hit, its creators decided to take the show to the big screen (youtube.com/watch?v=GLGSPne-VrI) for a feature-length exploration of the secret to life on Earth – water.

Knowing how animation-heavy the film would be, German production company Megaherz teamed up with renowned 3D design studio Aixsponza (aixsponza.com) to create roughly 15 minutes of motion graphics and VFX for the film’s explanatory sequences. Matthias Zabiegly, Aixsponza’s 3D lead and set supervisor, headed up the studio’s team who primarily relied on Cinema 4D, ZBrush and Houdini while working on the film on and off for nearly nine months.

This was Aixsponza’s first opportunity to work on a feature film. And although the team had a great time helping to create Tobi’s animated world, it was even more fun to see how kids reacted at the premiere. “That was such a great experience, seeing our work so well received by the audience, especially the children who were cheering and laughing,” Zabiegly recalls. “The kids really saw all of the little details, like the birds dancing and having a party, and all of the other tiny things we did that were happening on the side of the screen.” (See all the shots Aixsponza created in collaboration with Megaherz here: vimeo.com/318420020.)

GOING FOR A HANDMADE LOOK