Tronic Studio Paints the Court for Nike Lebron Sneake

published Mar 9, 2007
Tronic Studio Paints the Court for Nike Lebron Sneake
New media creators Tronic Studio combined motion-capture, extensive hand-animation and fluid dynamics to simulate the painterly moves of NBA Cavaliers' star Lebron James for an interactive website feature introducing Nike's Lebron sneaker to the Chinese and Korean markets.

Commissioned by agency AKQA and re-formatted as a Flash animation, Lebron is the latest of some dozen interactive sneaker vignettes that Tronic Studio has produced during a five-year relationship with Nike, working first with R/GA and now AKQA.

Working from a series of still photographs of the NBA star, Tronic Studio partners creative director Jesse Seppi and art director Vivian Rosenthal used motion capture to isolate the artistry of his footwork as his signature shoes drive down court leaving behind a trail of white paint splotches, while posing in a series of offensive and defensive moves.

"Our evolving production style is a response to the marketing trend toward multiple, simultaneously branded spaces that make up a larger event or situation where brand content requires a synthesis of creative techniques drawn from broadcasting, the interactive world and environmental design and architecture to create site-specific pieces for display across media from the Internet to animated Times Square video screens, malls and exhibition halls, building facades, TV, wherever," said Seppi.