“The Wonderin’ Why video was the first time we really put the new render farm to use”, explains Guest. “As soon as the After Effects excerpts appeared in a designated folder, the Xserve network automatically opened up the folder and started rendering. We rendered the whole project in two weeks, compared to the four months it would have taken without the Xserves”.
Guest also made extensive use of Apple Remote Desktop, Apple’s real-time desktop management software . He says: “We used it throughout the project to log into the Xserve to fulfil administrative tasks on the rendering. We were able to check up on the process and make adjustments without having to stop the rendering which was a real plus. As far as I’m concerned Apple Remote Desktop is an absolutely essential tool”.
For the MJ Cole promo, Addiction director Lisa Lloyd conceived of a high-octane car chase inspired by computer games such as Gran Turismo, to illustrate the track. “The main issue was to keep it interesting”, she says. “As all the action would be taking place inside the cars, it was important to keep the sequence fresh”.
Andy Guest adds: “Lisa wanted to create a style that was a hybrid of 2D and 3D techniques so as to create the sense of really being involved in a computer game. It needed to be both real and surreal at the same time”.
A special technique — described by Guest as “groundbreaking” — was developed by After Effects designer Paul Tuersley and executed on dual-processor Power Mac G4s. 3D models of each of the cars were bought and modified in LightWave 3D 7.5. Complete rotations of each car were rendered out of LightWave, resulting in 360 frames of footage for each pass, one frame for each one-degree rotation of the car. Starting with the camera at the same height as the car, multiple 360 degree passes were created, with the camera raised and its angle incrementally lowered by 5 degrees for each pass, finally ending with the camera looking down at the car. Floor shadow renders were also created for all the angles, for all three cars.
![We used [Apple Remote Desktop] to fulfil administrative tasks on the rendering. We were able to check up on the process and make adjustments without having to stop the rendering, which was a real plus.](http://images.apple.com/uk/pro/video/addiction/images/pullquote-page2.gif "We used [Apple Remote Desktop] to fulfil administrative tasks on the rendering. We were able to check up on the process and make adjustments without having to stop the rendering, which was a real plus.")
These 3D renders were imported into After Effects where Tuersley’s technique (using a combination of time remapping and expressions) was used to access the correct rendered angle of the car for any given frame based on the camera height, car position and direction.
Guest says the clients “loved it”; adding, “it was a very difficult technique to achieve, but in the end, it was well worth it”.
|
 |
|
|
Addiction
|
|
Tools of the Trade
|
|
Useful Links
|
|
