We had a chance to ask Tony Shiff from Big Bear Entertainment, producer of Video Mods, some questions about the project:

Q: What is the scope of the project: length, people on project, will this be an ongoing project?

We're winding now on doing 3 new episodes of Video Mods for MTV2, comprising 12 original videos. We began pre-production in April, production in June and we finish next week. The first episode aired Saturday September 18. There will a new episode each two weeks thereafter, plus a fourth "Best Of" episode Q: so they will air first run through end October. After that MTV2 has to see if anyone is watching and decide when to order new ones!

In addition, we're using the same hardware and software to make an original video for MTV's “Choose or Lose” voting campaign, featuring characters from diverse games such as the Sims 2, Unreal, Mortal Kombat, Crash Bandicoot, Tony Hawk, and Sonic.

Q: What NVIDIA hardware are you using on this project?

We are using AMD dual processors, with 4GB RAM and NVIDIA Quadro FX 3000 cards on Windows XP.

Q: What software are you using on this project?

More like what aren't we using! Maya, 3ds Max, Kaydara Motionbuilder, Maxon Cinema 4D, and various other plug-ins.

Q: What were the challenges that you had to overcome on the project?

Each set of art assets comes from a different development team, and are made to different specs. We have to adapt our approach on a case-by-case basis. We deal with large set pieces, a wide variety of character rigs, multiple lighting setups per video and a vast amount of motion capture - all on a very tight budget.

Q: How did you overcome these challenges?

Lots of late nights and weekends by every person in our animation team, plus a flexible approach to the creative - both of which are required in the real world of music video production.

Q: How did the hardware lend itself to solving these, any specific features, capabilities?

The cards let us move big set pieces around quickly. We haven't had to spend a lot of time waiting on the hardware - instead we can focus on making things look good. Our end product would have been severely limited by lesser equipment. The animators really appreciate being able to spend their time animating and not watching load screens.

Q: How did the software lend itself to solving these, any specific features, capabilities?

We mix and match software, depending on a variety of factors - source artwork, how the software applies mocap data, skeletal rigging, character animation ability, lighting ability, particle and other effects, network rendering, render time, etc. There's no one way, or one solution, for us because our raw material - the art assets - are so diverse, as is the creative in each video.

Q: How did this production (using the hardware and software) differ from previous productions, what are the latest technology advances you leveraged?

Desktop PCs are pretty powerful now, and there's a huge variety of tools for them. This series is done for a fraction of what it would have cost five, or even three, years ago. Graphics cards are a large part of that advance. Music videos are a graphic medium and being able to turn out a large volume of videos in a short period of time, with a small team, is only possible with all the hardware and software that a small company can access now.

Q: What are the core competencies of Big Bear Entertainment that helped you pull this project off?

Fifteen years production experience in music videos - knowing how to change creative on a moments notice! A few experienced games artists and a few experienced television animators sitting in the same room throwing ideas around on a daily basis - taking pages out of each industry's book.

Q: How has NVIDIA supported Big Bear Entertainment on this project?

NVIDIA supplied us with the workstations that made us able to deliver on the quality MTV2 - and our audience - expects.

Q: Any other areas that you would like to talk about?

Just to point out that this show is based on the convergence of animation for games and animation for television - they're looking much the same to the average viewer these days, and that trend will only increase in the next couple years. However there are a lot of underlying technical methodologies that are very different in the two industries, so there are plenty of pitfalls for the uninitiated!