Tangible Creative is proud to pull back the curtain on one of our most exciting projects of the year: the manufacturing of the “NVP” awards for Nickelodeon’s NFL Slimetime. We transformed Nickelodeon’s unique designs into camera-ready trophies and badges for their weekly football broadcast.
Bringing the Slime and Fun to the NFL
Each week on NFL Slimetime, a star player is crowned the “NVP” for their standout performance. But what’s a prestigious Nickelodeon award without some cool hardware? Each weekly winner receives a stunning trophy by Robert DuGrenier for their first award, and then numbered mountable badges for each win after that.
We were tasked with bringing the playful, unique designs of the NVP award badges to life, ensuring they were TV-ready, durable, and worthy of a professional athlete’s mantle.
From Digital Design to Ready-for-TV Prop
The SLA resin process allows for rapid design iteration and on-demand production for these weekly awards. Importantly, this approach eliminates the need for expensive and time-consuming molds, ensuring every prop is ready for the spotlight on a tight production schedule.
The NVP Trophy
The first time a player wins the NVP award, they receive a full-sized trophy. To capture the crisp detail and smooth finish required for on-screen close-ups, we chose stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing using durable white resin.
For players who keep racking up the wins, a special golden badge is awarded for each consecutive NVP. These aren’t just badges–they feature one of seven unique characters from Spongebob Squarepants. The detail needed for these small, intricate character designs made SLA 3D printing the clear choice again. It allowed us to capture every curve and line of Patrick, Sandy, and the rest of the gang with fidelity.
The Tangible Touch: Finishing for Flawless Results
While 3D printing is a powerful tool, it’s the hand-finishing and painting that elevates a piece from a smooth model to a flawless, camera-ready prop. Every trophy and badge we delivered underwent a rigorous finishing process:
- Sanding and Smoothing: Each white resin print was meticulously sanded to polish fine details and achieve a perfectly smooth surface.
- Professional Painting: Our team hand-painted each piece to match the client’s exact color specifications. The trophies came out with a clean, sleek look, while the badges were given a brilliant, eye-catching gold finish.
The final result is a set of awards that are not only fun and instantly recognizable, but also have the professional quality needed for the bright lights of a television production.
The 3D Printing Advantage for Media and Entertainment
Projects like the NFL Slimetime awards showcase the unique advantages of working with Tangible Creative’s 3D printing services:
- Speed and Customization: We can quickly iterate on designs and produce unique, one-of-a-kind pieces on demand.
- Intricate Detail: SLA printing captures the fine details that would be too difficult or costly to achieve with traditional manufacturing.
Ready-to-Use Props: Our end-to-end service–covering everything from 3D modeling, to printing and professional finishing–delivers a final product that is immediately ready for filming, photo shoots, and stage productions.
We are incredibly proud to have partnered with Nickelodeon for this special sports collaboration. Thank you to Theron Wineinger and the NFL Slimetime team for trusting us with this project. Congratulations to all of the NVP winners!