Development

Revo

I will be creating a motion graphic piece implementing 2D and 3D. 

The advert will primarily be constructed in 3DS max and After Effects. It will be marketing a new product for listening to music.

The advert will be around 30-60 seconds. The advert will consist of highly effective imagery that will be synced to a song. There will be a consistent flow of fluid animation going on. The advert inspires to have a premium feel. The stylization of the piece will be a dark with various lights and models in the scene. This will be achieved by using particle type simulation, as this is something that interests me, as well as looking visually impressive when used correctly.

The aims of this project are to effectively use particles in a visually appealing and professional manner. As well as to understand how they work and build upon this for a potential career. To also be efficient with After Effects to create an effective working product. 

The key selling points to this advert are that it will be implementing particle simulation with 3D and motion graphics in a fluid way. This will give the advert a variety of elements to work with in order to maintain the consumer’s interest in to wanting to buy the product. There will be a premium feel to the advert showing off the device. 

This is the storyboard to my advert. The advert begins with the music device being displayed on a podium with a pan towards it. We then keep panning towards the screen with the visual of the organic environment. This then switches to see the environment for all its beauty, representing the beauty of the device. The camera then pans up to the sky with a fade to black, as if it were night. Particle simulation now begins whilst being continually being synced to music. The scene then transitions in to a motion graphic style piece which presents words towards marketing the device and showing it off. This ends with a sped up rewind of the advert to bring us back to the device ending with the words Revo or Revolutionary. 

I began to sculpt the environment in Zbrush, this was later dropped as this didn't seem relevant for the advert that I was going to create.

With the continual feedback and the WIP presentation I have decided to draw up a new storyboard which will be used for the outlining of the advert.

This is the low poly version of my apple concept piece. I will be submitting this to different forums in order to obtain some professional critique. This will allow me to make any changes in order for this model to look and feel like an apple product.

After creating the low poly mesh I converted this in a high poly model, then proceeded to publish on different forums in order to get feedback to see where I could improve. I managed to get a response from a professional modeler and animator. He said to make sure the geometry is normal and edit the vertices to make this work with the materials and reflections.

These were my first renders upon receiving feedback, after adjusting the base mesh of the product, which was ensuring that the textures, reflections and light bounces would work. I decided to go for a metallic type colouring. Initially I was using the scheme that the iPhone 5C used.

This was my inital HDRI that I tested. The original idea was to have the device in a realistic looking studio, therefore I used this as you could see desks and walls wither leaflets. After receiving feedback from my peers it was evident that this HDRI did not work, it was too busy and reflective on the device.

This was a second HDRI that I used, this was a image of a showroom, this was instantly more successful than the previous HDRI. The problem here was there were way too many lights going on within this when the device moved which seem to distract you from the device and the animation going on.

These renders were done with the feedback from my course peers, advising I show off more why this is a unique phone. I decided to create an interface that goes from the lock screen to the app screen, which then you would click on the app that was to make this product unique. After doing the WIP presentation it became clear this wasn't unique enough, it was still just a standard Apple product.

With critiquing my own work as well as using the feedback from my peers and professionals I began to change the animation and textures of my device, as no one liked the original colour, especially me. I decided to go for a metallic black that was somewhat reflective, a bit like the glass on the iPhone 4S.

This is the render of the back, with this I have completely changed the material I am using. With this I have also create a showroom back drop with different gradients, this means you can tell the floor from the back wall, I have also used an AO pass for the use of shadows.

This is a render of the front bottom of the phone, this was to get a nice highlight from the lights as well as the HDRI to really bring the image to life, as well as to showcase the speakers and the new charging slot.

This show was taken whilst the phone is doing a 360 rotation involving various angles so we are able to see the entire phone in one clip.

Regarding this feedback it was apparent the model was too glossy as I received feedback from a freelance 2D & 3D animator telling me. With also looking at some of the test renders that I had done he also told me it needed to be more clear what the phone was doing. With this I decided to change many elements which can be seen below. 

Poll

I then published my WIP to different forums such as CGTalk and others to see whether or not I was on the right lines to creating a professional looking advert. I received some feedback from a professional games animator, he said the advert didn't look professional as the mood created would not be something Apple would do, it looked like students work.

This was my first draft of my advert, I put this on different forums in order to get professional critique of my work so far. I managed to retrieve some from an indie games developer, he said this did not feel like an apple advert in its current state. This led to me researching more in to apple adverts and have more understanding of the mood they create and the overall look to them, after watching multiple adverts I saw a pattern with these. Using a white/light grey backing with the device having a clean and clear purpose.

This was my first attempt at creating a materialization of my model, with this I had to learn the particles systems within in max, this meant researching what nodes I needed and how to link them up, as well as creating  data chart for the particles to attack to the model properly.

This was my first attempt at the materialization of the device, the issue with this was the fact the particles were on the phone at the beginning and the end, which mean the phone was already formed. Another problem was that the particle coverage was off with the particles sticking the the edges on the screen.

This was my second attempt at this, the issue with this one was the fact the particles weren't aligning on the curvature of the device properly, this caused the raised edges, although the movement seemed to work well in the beginning.

This was my third attempt, with this it all seemed to work fine, the device successfully materialized, the downside to this was that it seemed to lack any type of mood as the particles just moved in a static looking way.

This was my first time delving in to the particle systems in Max. What I wanted to create was a materialization of the phone, to achieve this I had to link my device in to 3 parts, each defining its own material. I could then create an event which would apply particles to the 3 objects, I then linked this to a deflector which was animated move up the object to give a speed to the particles. To get the particles to move I had to create a target point, in which all the different object particles could attach themselves too. After doing this I added a vortex for which was linked to all 3 objects to give more realism and movement to this materialization, as this made it more visually appealing. The problem I was having was that the particles weren't sticking to the phone properly, as you can see in these tests. This was because I needed to create my own data field, what this means is that I can tell the particles where I want them to be on the surface of the object. This was created by using the TM matrix note which told the particles to sit on the surface without using edges or verts, as well as then being apple to push these in, allowing to to get a flat clean surface giving the impression the phone is complete.

Further renders acting up on the feedback that I received from peers and professionals, with the renders below I have changed the lighting, as well as changing the material on some to enhance the overall look of realism.

 This render is a view of the speakers that are now modified to be larger than the iPhone 5S, in order to give a loud and clear speaker system. I have reduced the amount of ambient occlusion to give a softer shadow as before this appeared too dark.

 This is a shot of when the phone transforms in the headphones, with this I had to change the material of the headband to dull out the reflections. As feedback said this was too glossy and reflective.

This is a screen shot of when the phone is coming apart to create the headband, I decided to keep the headband the same texture as the rest of the phone so it all gels wells together, this also has more of a premium feel to it than using just plastic type material.

 I made huge changes to the way the particles materialize on the phone, before the animation just stopped dead, as well as visually didn't fit with the mood of the advert.

This is the front shot of the phone.

 A front shot of the phone as normal, with this I changed the lighting a lot, this was after more reviewing of the current Apple adverts as well as from feedback as before it was too dark, with a light behind the phone.

Initial render - close to final

Kevin Fenimore

The Advert does look very Apple like. There are some timing issues in the beginning of the advert with the text coming up, drags on. The movement does look realistic but could be more organic. There is one frame that has shadowing that needs to be cleaned up. The piece overall is good and does link to apple.

Final Render

This is my final animation. After finishing my final piece I decided to create a poll which I submitted on various forums, as well as getting my peers to vote on how they feel the other all piece was. Upon receiving this feedback I was pleased with the results, with the majority choosing 4/5. This tells me that there is room for more improvement, which I will be as I am still learning, but also gives me a strong indication that I am ready to tread the water of employment and be able to make content that is understood and on a whole enjoyed.

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