Toronto 3D animation and special effects house TOPIX/Mad Dog lives up to its canine moniker by transforming a child into a terrier in a 30-second Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising spot for Toyota Canada.

The commercial, titled "Identity Crisis," takes place in the imagination of its protagonist, a man dreaming about his future. He foresees various scenarios and the appropriate Toyota model to match.

Envisioning a wife and three children, he sees himself behind the wheel of a Camry sedan, but then has one of his beloved kids change into the terrier, held by his wife.

He then makes his brood disappear altogether, which would make him and his wife prime for a sportier Toyota Solara. But then he decides to eliminate his wife from the picture as well.

In a trick cut, the terrier then falls right into a sleek Solara convertible beside our protagonist, and, given the interior space opened up with the evaporation of the family unit, the dog transforms into a bigger golden lab. Man and best friend ride off happily into the sunset.

The canine morphing effect was a basic procedure except for the fact the pooches wouldn't stay still. t/md had to lift elements of the footage and composite them on top of their canine performances to allow for a smooth dissolve.

The final "sunset" shot, conveying the character's ideal landscape, is a combination of 3D computer models and 2D photos, and was based on the terrain around Drumheller, Alta.

The Gear: visual effects with Discreet's Inferno; 3D backgrounds with Softimage; 2D photo imagery manipulated in Adobe Photoshop.

The Artists: executive producer, Sylvain Taillon; Inferno artists, James Cooper with Susan Armstrong and Frank Russo; 3D animators, Sean Montgomery and Bryan Huo; producer Anne Deslauriers; agency producer, Anna Tricinci.

Mark Dillon