Update:January 21, 2025

Creative Knock 2024: CG Creation from Scratch – Event Report

Event Outline

• Date and Time: July 27-28 (Sat-Sun), 2024  (9:00 AM - 1:00 PM)
• Venue: Sapporo TV Tower 2F (Odori Nishi 1-chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo)

Event Report

In 2013, Sapporo was recognized by UNESCO as a "Creative City of Media Arts" and has been nurturing creative talent in today’s youth.

This year, the city hosted the "Creative Knock 2024" CG Production Workshop for young residents of Sapporo and the surrounding areas. 

This year's workshop, held over a two-day weekend at the Sapporo TV Tower, was targeted at those between the ages of junior high school and 29.

Workshop Day 1 - "Let's Create a Fish"

Although this year's workshop was open to those between the ages of junior high school and 29, all of this year's participants were students, indicating the growing interest in CG among younger generations.

The workshop began with the instructor sharing examples of how learning CG can be applied to a wide range of fields, including movies, games, anime, VTubers, influencers, AI, and programming. Following this, the participants introduced themselves.

The 19 participants, ranging from junior high school students to university students, worked hard towards their goal of learning CG from scratch and creating works inspired by the theme of "Sapporo's Aquarium of the Future."

The first day of the workshop was a hands-on learning experience in the basics of CG modeling.

Participants used the open-source CG production software "Blender."

In addition to the instructor, previous Creative Knock participants acted as teaching assistants and supported this year's group.  

Participants deepened their understanding by teaching each other and receiving guidance from the teaching assistants. 

After growing accustomed to using Blender, the participants started to make their own original CG works.

Under the theme "Let's Create a Fish," participants were challenged to model an original fish using only spheres.

After a lecture from the instructor, participants could complete their unique fish while enjoying refreshments and asking questions during "mokumoku time (silent work time)."

The assignment submission rate was 100%!

Although many participants were completely new to Blender, the workshop saw a wonderful collection of beautiful tropical fish, rainbow-colored goldfish, metallic dolphins, and more.

Guest Talk and Observing Fish at AOAO SAPPORO

This year's workshop was conducted as a collaborative project with AOAO SAPPORO, an urban aquarium that opened in July 2023.

After the workshop, participants moved to AOAO SAPPORO and participated in a guest talk.

At the guest talk, Konomi Takeichi, a planning official for AOAO SAPPORO, gave a talk under the theme "Let's Observe the Shapes of the Creatures at AOAO SAPPORO."

Takeichi taught participants how the bodies of the fish they had just modeled are actually composed and the differences between sea creatures that look similar at first glance, providing several perspectives for observation.

After a fun and educational Q&A session with Kyohei Miyake, an official charged with caring for the fish, the participants were given a tour of the aquarium.

The participants seemed to expand their imaginations about the future aquarium by observing the fish, sea creatures, and the overall atmosphere of AOAO. Additionally, some were able to view the complete skeleton of the now-extinct "Sapporo Sea Cow," marveling at its impressive size.

Workshop Day 2 - "Let's Create Sea Creatures"

The second day began with a morning talk session themed "What is the Sapporo Sea Cow?!" led by Yoshihiro Tanaka, a curator at the Sapporo Museum Activity Center. The seven-meter giant skeleton seen at AOAO SAPPORO at the end of day one belonged to the "Sapporo Sea Cow." This ancient sea cow is the world's oldest large sea cow, and it lived approximately 8.2 million years ago when the area around Sapporo was still an ocean. In addition, a fossil of a "North Pacific right whale," one of the world's largest whale fossils, was discovered in Koganeyu of the Minami Ward.

Curator Tanaka gave talks about the Sapporo Sea Cow, the North Pacific right whale, and the evolution and ecology of sea creatures. 

Learning about ancient sea creatures and Sapporo's unique natural attractions seemed to be an excellent reference for the participants as they imagined futuristic sea life.

After the talk, the participants then started to work with Blender.

On day two, under the theme of "Let's Create Sea Creatures," participants tried their hand at modeling a spotted garden eel, a jellyfish, and a spiral shell.

The participants seemed to work with great attention to detail, considering aspects like the positioning of fins and counting the number of tentacles while referencing the photos of garden eels and jellyfish they had observed the previous day at AOAO SAPPORO.

While creating three sea creatures in a limited amount of time was challenging, all participants were able to submit their works on this day as well.

After participants had completed their work, a demonstration of CG production using generative AI was given by the instructor.

They were introduced to processes that use AI to draw CG patterns or generate CG from images, showcasing the functions and methods of creation outside those from the workshop and allowing participants to experience the depth of CG.

Crosstalk Session by the Teaching Assistants

After the workshop, a crosstalk session by the teaching assistants was held.

Teaching assistants Ko Takado, Hanae Watanabe, Momoko Kikuchi, and Seiji Adachi, all of whom supported the participants during the two days of the workshop, took the stage to share their tips for continuing CG production and applying it to their desired fields.

Workshop Digest Video

The details of the two-day workshop at Creative Knock 2024 are summarized in this digest video.

Sapporo2124 - Aquarium of the Future -

This is the Sapporo of the year 2124.

The Aquarium of the Future, with its underwater tunnel and large tanks, attracts many visitors. 

There are many fish in the tank, and if you look closely, you can see creatures of the future and caretaking robots swimming around.

This is the world's oldest sea cow, the Sapporo sea cow, which lived around Sapporo when it was still an ocean 8.2 million years ago.

Revived as a holographic image, the Sapporo sea cow can also be seen swimming leisurely with the fish of the future.

There are not only people but also robots in the aquarium as well.

Maybe these robots may also be healed by the fish.

CG Video Release Schedule

The "Sapporo 2124 - Aquarium of the Future" CG video is scheduled to air on the large screen at Sapporo Ekimae-dori Underground Walkway (Chi-Ka-Ho) Kita 2-jo.

Many futuristic creatures that were not introduced in this article will also appear in the CG video.

We hope you will enjoy the swimming fish, the beautiful expressions of water, and the powerful and immersive experience that only a large screen can provide.

Airing Schedule

Every 20 minutes past the hour (Video length: 4 minutes)

※The airing of the video may fall outside of the listed schedule depending on the day and time.

※The video may not be aired due to events or system testing at the venue. 

The details of the schedule are available on the following website: 

http://www.sapporo-north2.com/ (Japanese only)

YouTube Release

The CG video can also be viewed on YouTube.

Workshop Lecturers

Workshop instructor: LandSkip Inc. Representative Company Director  Kazuki Shimomura

Teaching assistant: Ko Takado, Hanae Watanabe, Momoko Kikuchi, Seiji Adachi

Guest speaker: AOAO SAPPORO Planning Official  Konomi Takeichi

Collaboration: AOAO SAPPORO

Self-Study Videos

At Creative Knock, a series of self-study videos have been created as part of the program's support for participants.

These videos allow participants to review the workshop content and enable those who could not attend to learn the basics of Blender and modeling fish and sea creatures.

Please click here to access these materials. (Japanese only)