Play Nicely were a principal developer of the 2011 title sequence for ITV’s Rugby World Cup coverage. Jump Design approached us with a winning concept and we just ran with it.
In short their brief was to deliver a series of rugby players animated as ink-flow patterns. This we achieved using FumeFX — a fluid dynamics engine designed for simulating and rendering realistic fire, smoke, explosions and other gaseous phenomena, alongside Krakatoa. After character modelling, rigging, animation and match moving, all the components were returned to Jump for the final comp and grade.
The resulting vibrant animations celebrated not only the rich tribal tattoo heritage of the New Zealand, 2011’s RWC host nation, but also several of its legendary players.