logo & brand bumper | Deep dish games

Combining 2D and 3D motion graphics and VFX techniques to create a seamless logo-bumper animation.

This project was brought to me by Arcane Media Group and was expected to be completed within a week, which I was confident I could do. The client gave clear direction for the bumper, provided the logo, and left the animation nuance to me.

I leaned heavily on Blender for this project, using its simulation, modeling, texturing, and animation tools. The main challenge for this project was fusing 2D and 3D, and making it look cohesive; oftentimes, 3D and 2D can look janky without making some crucial design decisions.

Overall, I’m happy with what I accomplished by combining 2D and 3D assets, but in my opinion, the VFX is where it fell short. Though the client and my peers loved it, I couldn’t help but feel like a different technical solution would’ve created a better final result.

Nonetheless, I loved creating and experimenting during this project’s creation.

Timeline: 1 Week (July 2025)

(breakdown pictured below)

Tools

Role

After Effects

Photoshop

Blender

Motion Design

3D Modeling

3D Animation

3D Simulations

Compositing

create a branded intro bumper by designing, animating, and combining flat 2D, and 3D assets seamlessly, while remaining on brand.

How can we…

01 - logo layering & Animation

The animation direction was straightforward:

The client wanted the bumper to begin with a pizza box bursting open, filling the screen with steam, then clearing to reveal the animated logo.

First, I needed to layer the logo for animation.

This particular repainting process was tricky because the logo blocked so much of the pizza below.

On top of that, there were so many smaller elements to mask and sort.

Then, I needed to create a simple but effective logo animation to come after the smoke.

I opted to use a bouncy, cascading overshoot to guide the viewer’s eyes through the text.

Since no backgrounds were provided, it was equally as important to create a visually striking background that uses colors and styles aligned with the brand & logo.

02 - animation & simulation

I knew from the beginning that I wanted the Pizza Box to be created in 3D.

To accomplish this task, I modeled a Pizza Box, adding deliberate imperfections to make it appear less digital.

In the texturing process, I included the logo on top of the cardboard texture I used for the box.

For the animation I wanted the box to rattle and shake as a way to build tension and anticipation. Ultimately I wanted the box to burst open filling the screen with smoke. When animating, I adhered closely to and utilized the 12 principles of animation.

For the smoke, I wanted to go out on a limb and try a 3D Blender simulation. This was new to me, but I'd been wanting to try it for quite some time.

My idea was to keep the resolution low to match the logo's art style and the pre-existing branding.

Through using 3D simulations, I learned they’re better used as a procedural solution rather than to achieve a specific behavior.

Adjusting and re-baking the animation to get a specific behavior ended up being a major time-sink, and although the client loved the final product, I myself wasn’t too happy with this smoke simulation. But, I’m glad I tried it.

Then I created a transition to act as the smoke transition, independent of the volatility of 3D simulations.

This acted as the bridge between the pizza box and the logo.

Lastly, I created another background, this time for the pizza box animation.

I wanted to lean into a rougher, halftone style to match the pre-existing branding elements.

I thought an interesting way to emphasize the pizza box and its rattling was to put it in front of rays emitting from the center of the composition.