Komets
A one-man army. A six-week deadline. Explore how Tenet built a visual assault for the Fort Wayne Komets' Jumbotron opener from the ground up.
(YEAR)
2025
(TIMELINE)
6 Weeks
(SERVICES)
Character Animation
Sports
The Fort Wayne Komets needed to light a fire under their new jumbotron. Their brief: fresh, energetic, and loud. Our pitch: turn their arena’s nickname, 'The Jungle,' into a full-blown visual assault where their mascot, Icy D. Eagle, wasn't just a character—he was the king.
The creative brief was a dream. The constraints were a nightmare. The challenges were:
The Clock: Deliver a full-scale, character-driven, VFX-heavy opener in just six weeks.
The Crew: Execute this entire vision with a one-man army.
The Performance: Create a photoreal, fully-realized digital version of their beloved mascot and make him skate with the authentic power and mechanics of a professional hockey player.
There was no secret weapon. Just a clear vision, a powerful workstation, and a "get it done" attitude. When faced with the timeline, we just grinned and said, "Let's get to work."
A Digital King of the Jungle: We built their mascot, Icy D. Eagle, from the ground up. This gave us complete creative control to make him the undisputed hero of the story, a powerful figure ready to tame the beast.
A Hybrid Performance Pipeline: To work fast without sacrificing quality, we used motion capture for the raw skating performance. In this case, a hacked together xBox Kinect and a pair of roller blades. We then meticulously hand-tweaked every single frame to perfect the mechanics, add that signature hockey player swagger, and integrate the hard-hitting fire and collision simulations.
No Bloat, All Focus: This project was a testament to our lean model. Without layers of management or communication delays, we were able to pour every available second directly into the craft, translating vision to screen with ruthless efficiency.
The project was a high-pressure sprint that delivered a high-impact final product.
A High-Octane Opener, On Time: A powerful, aggressive sequence was delivered on brief and on its "impossible" deadline, ready to christen the new Jumbotron on opening night.
An Electrified Home Crowd: The final piece gave the fans the energy they deserved, bringing their arena's nickname and mascot to life in a way they'd never seen before.
Definitive Proof of Our Model: This project is the ultimate proof that our lean, craft-focused approach can deliver world-class results under extreme pressure, without the overhead or delays of a traditional studio.
