CINEMA 4D and Tyler Rabbit ‘Slam Dunk’ the LA Lakers and Boston Celtics in record time!
by Eric Valric

Tyler Rabbit, an independent animator and visual effects artist, is responsible for the exquisitely crafted animated intro to the recent LA Lakers and Boston Celtics game on the Fox Sports Network. With his motion graphics and visual effects having appeared on Discovery Channel, History Channel, HBO, MTV, Toon Disney, and Fox Sports Network, some may well wonder where the creative impetus behind such innovative visual effects comes from.

Tyler Rabbit self promotional piece

From the outset Tyler found himself in the throws of creativity; his mother a contemporary craftsperson, father a graphic designer and stepfather a painter, ensuring his childhood was imbued with art and design. An involvement in theatre, and more specifically a preoccupation with sleight of hand magic began in his late teens. “I’ve been drawing and fabricating things for as long as I can remember”, Tyler explains. For seven years Tyler delighted audiences with his magic and conjuring, performing at Hollywood’s famed Magic Castle amongst other venues, before coming to the realization his fascination lay with the art at the essence of the performances rather than with performing for an audience. This realization led him to search for a field that would offer a comparable level of intrigue and need for a deft hand. The search soon led him to visual effects.

Tylers foray into the visual effects industry was secured with a position in a small effects studio, owned by Dave Hewitt. Hewitt saw a little of himself in Tyler, having been similarly involved with magic performances and theatre in his youth. Hewitts studio offered Tyler a unique learning experience, as one of the last to cross over to digital. There was only one Mac running After Effects with the large majority of work carried out on an optical printer and rotoscope machine. Despite this, it was soon apparent that visual effects were for him, “I was hooked”, Tyler laughs. He soon developed a keen interest in motion graphics and computer animation rather than CGI for film, with a preference for the “immediacy and lower resolutions associated with broadcast”.

OZ season 02 DVD intro