Art Camp Studio: A Hub of Creative Excellence
Art Camp is a New York–based creative studio founded in 2016 by Santiago Carrasquilla and Jos Díaz Contreras, devoted to crafting immersive experiences through video, animation, and design. Guided by the mission to “reach hearts, feel deeper, reach differently, and hear in new ways,” Art Camp approaches each project as a fusion of emotional depth and technical precision.
The studio has collaborated with an impressive roster of clients, including Thom Yorke, U2, and Stefan Sagmeister, as well as global brands like Nike, Telfar, and Hermès. Their work blends artful storytelling with cutting-edge digital techniques, continually pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in visual media.
For the music video La belle et la bête by French rock band Indochine, Art Camp explored the expressive language of movement from two angles: a folkloric-inspired dance sequence and a contemporary choreographic interpretation. Working in 3D, they created a wide array of environments—from minimalist spaces to surreal, dreamlike landscapes—paying meticulous attention to lighting, camera angles, and cloth simulation to achieve a near-live-action realism.
To power their rapid 3D production pipeline, Art Camp used Character Creator and the Headshot plugin to craft photorealistic digital doubles, iClone for scene layout, animatics, and motion cleanup, and ActorCore for retargeting dance mocap data from Reallusion’s content store. This workflow enabled the team to generate and animate characters in a matter of hours—streamlining production while maintaining creative flexibility under tight deadlines.
“ Our goal was to achieve a realistic aesthetic, with careful attention to lighting, camera angles, and cloth simulation, so that the scenes would feel almost as if they had been filmed with real people.”
Santiago Carrasquilla – Founder | Creative Director of Art Camp
Project Overview: Indochine’s La belle et la bête
Over the years, Art Camp has collaborated with illustrious clients such as Thom Yorke, U2, Stefan Sagmeister, and major brands like Nike, Telfar, and Hermès.
For the French rock band Indochine, Art Camp crafted the music video for La belle et la bête, exploring “the language of movement” through both folkloric and contemporary dance.
By working in 3D, the team built environments ranging from minimalist studios to surreal dreamscapes. With a focus on realistic lighting, camera angles, and cloth simulation, they aimed to evoke the feeling of live-action film.
Reallusion Tools: Powering Rapid 3D Production
Art Camp’s 3D pipeline centered on Reallusion software, which accelerated every stage of production:
- Character Creator & Headshot 2 plugin for photorealistic digital doubles
- iClone 3D animation for scene layout, animatics, and motion cleanup
- ActorCore for retargeting dance mocap data (notably from Reallusion’s content store)
These tools allowed the team to scan, generate, and animate characters in hours rather than days, preserving artistic flexibility under tight deadlines.
Meet the Team: Faces Behind the Video
Why Character Creator Was Key for Digital Doubles
The process began with a facial scan of lead dancer Rhea using the Headshot plugin within Character Creator (CC), which allowed us to automatically generate a base geometry for her head. From this base, the team adjusted facial and body sliders to match choreography-driven expressions.
From there, we used Character Creator to refine the details, achieving an increasingly accurate likeness.
“Character Creator stood out for being very intuitive and easy to use, which allowed us to quickly focus on the artistic work without getting bogged down in complex technical processes.
The vast number of morph sliders it offers—both for the face and the body—was key for sculpting specific details and achieving a truly customized representation.”
Flor Monza (Flopa) – Illustrator and 3D artist
This method eliminated traditional sculpting time, delivering clean geometry ready for mocap and rendering.
This level of control turned the process into a nearly artisanal craft. Another fundamental aspect was CC’s flexibility to export characters to other industry-standard programs like Clo3D, Cinema 4D, or Blender, while maintaining rigs, textures, and skinning data intact. This significantly streamlined our workflow across different software.
Inside the Real‑Time Pipeline: From Mocap to FX
Retargeting in iClone was a fundamental part of the pipeline. We used the motion layer to adjust and refine the movements whenever necessary, and the best part was being able to preview each dancer’s mocap animation in real time.
“Using many Reallusion tools significantly optimized and improved our workflow. Character Creator and iClone let us focus on choreography rather than technical hurdles.”
Flor Monza (Flopa) – Illustrator and 3D artist
Another huge advantage was the ability to create ultra-fast renders directly in iClone, allowing us to review takes immediately and quickly select the strongest segments to export to Cinema 4D and Houdini for the final scenes. This real-time workflow not only saved us countless hours of processing, but also made it easier to make creative decisions on the fly, significantly simplifying and accelerating the entire production process.
Overcoming Hair, Cloth, and Motion Capture Challenges
One of the biggest challenges on this project was coordinating multiple complex technical aspects, such as hair and cloth simulations, handling large file sizes, and achieving precision in motion capture. We were able to overcome these challenges thanks to strong organization and clear project management.
“We faced incredible challenges—cloth simulation, hair physics, dozens of characters—but every step was rewarding. Working with Indochine was a pleasure.”
Jonnatan Paz (El Profe) – Technical Director
Costumes, designed in-house, were simulated in CLO3D, then exported as Alembic caches. Despite working with 60 GB simulation files, careful resource optimization kept the project on schedule.
“Simulating scarves and socks separately solved collision issues. Clo’s Alembic export ensured smooth integration into Cinema 4D.”
Jonnatan Paz (El Profe) – Technical Director
Within the team, there is a culture of trust and openness that allows anyone to immediately communicate if a task becomes too complicated or if support from other members is needed. This active collaboration dynamic helped us anticipate issues, quickly redistribute resources, and keep the workflow moving at all times.
Mocap sessions took place at New York’s ZeroSpace, where three dancers recorded folk and contemporary routines. The FBX files were imported into iClone, which automatically retargeted the data to the Character Creator rigs.
In iClone, layered motion cleanup fixed any intersections or jitter. Real-time playback enabled rapid iteration on camera blocking and timing.
“iClone allows for layered motion cleanup if any body parts intersect with the character, ensuring the movement remains smooth and accurate.”
Flor Monza (Flopa) – Illustrator and 3D artist
Additionally, embracing a flexible planning approach—where we could adjust priorities without losing sight of final deadlines—was key to solving technical challenges without sacrificing the creative quality of the project.
Large-Scale Simulations: Houdini for Crowd & FX
For sequences featuring confetti or “papel picado,” Art Camp turned to Houdini. Its procedural tools enabled large crowds and particle systems—such as paper shards—without crippling render times.
Redshift gave them the speed and quality needed, while cinematic lighting boosted the video’s emotional impact.
The Future of Real‑Time in Music Videos and Animation
We believe that tools like iClone and ActorCore have enormous potential to transform the music and animation industries. They enable the creation of highly realistic digital doubles of artists, as well as a wide range of diverse characters, exponentially expanding the creative possibilities for each project.
Access to high-quality, real-time animation not only accelerates production processes but also opens up new forms of visual storytelling in music videos and animated content. This flexibility allows for rapid experimentation, faster iteration of ideas, and the ability to push the traditional boundaries of creativity in audiovisual projects.
Art Camp’s La belle et la bête demonstrates how integrating Reallusion’s Character Creator, Headshot, and iClone with Clo, Cinema 4D/Redshift, and Houdini creates a real-time, high-fidelity workflow for music videos.
By reducing manual labor and emphasizing creative iteration, the team delivered a compelling, cinematic experience that resonates with artists and audiences alike. Music video directors, 3D animators, and content creators seeking to streamline production and enhance visual storytelling can look to this project as proof that modern toolchains unlock new creative possibilities—no massive budgets required.
Follow Art Camp
Website:
https://www.madeatartcamp.com
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/madeatartcamp/?hl=en
Vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/artcamp
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