Carolina
Panthers
Brand Video
A cinematic 3D animation built to reignite the roar. We were brought in to model, rig, and animate a fully realized Panther from scratch — carving a legacy out of stone for the 2024 season debut.
Carving Out
Their Legacy
Tattoo Studios came to us with an ambitious concept for the Carolina Panthers' 2024 season opener: a brand video built around the idea of "Carving Out Their Legacy."
The ask was specific and technically demanding — create a photorealistic 3D replica of the Panther statue that stands in front of Bank of America Stadium, then bring it to life. Not just animate it — make it feel alive, dangerous, and iconic.
The vision: Panthers players chisel black obsidian. From that stone, the Panther emerges. He grabs the podium, cracks it apart, turns his head, opens his jaws, and roars. A creature forged in darkness, stepping into the light.
How We Built
the Beast
We gathered extensive photographic reference of the real Panther statue outside Bank of America Stadium — every angle, every surface, every detail of the bronze. This reference library became the foundation for a faithful digital replica.
Using ZBrush, we soft-body sculpted the Panther from scratch — building out the full form, musculature, fur texture, claws, facial anatomy, and fine surface details. The base mesh was exported as an FBX while the fine detail was baked into a UV normal map.
In Cinema 4D we built the Panther's lair: a hard-surface obsidian podium mirroring the real-world statue base, scattered black obsidian rock formations, cracked floor geometry with light breaking through from below — creating a hostile, unstable environment fit for an apex predator.
Octane Render drove the look — deep Panthers blue rim lighting, volumetric fog rolling across the floor, dramatic shadows, and physical-based materials that made the obsidian and the Panther's skin read with cinematic weight. The palette was dark, edgy, and unmistakably Carolina.
We rigged the full Panther skeleton and animated the hero sequence: paws gripping the podium, stone cracking away under his weight, the neck turning, the jaw opening wide into a full roar. Every motion was designed to read with power and intention at broadcast scale.
The rendered animation was handed off to Tattoo Studios for final compositing with the live-action player footage. The result debuted before the 2024 season and was met with massive response — exactly the kind of hype the Panthers wanted to ignite.
Process Gallery
Built to Make
an Impact
The animation debuted before the 2024 Panthers season — one of the highest-visibility moments in the team's annual calendar, reaching fans across broadcast, social, and in-stadium screens.
The "Carving Out Their Legacy" concept hit exactly the emotional note the Panthers needed — a rallying cry that put the iconic Panther front and center and gave fans something to rally around.
From a single statue reference to a fully rigged, animated, lit, and composited CG character — this was a ground-up production executed to professional broadcast standards for one of the NFL's iconic franchises.