Summary: This commercial was produced as part of a multimedia recruitment campaign to attract students to the ROC which is the largest college in the Amsterdam region. The ad is being shown in cinemas within the college’s catchment area, allowing potential students to be well targeted in the weeks leading up to the open days.
Role: I animated the commercial using Adobe After Effects, making use of 3D layers in Photoshop CS4 Extended to animate the podium element which I modelled using Autodesk Maya. I also created the background music, sound effects and treated the voiceover to produce an audio mix suitable for the cinema.
Tools: Adobe After Effects, Photoshop Extended, Autodesk Maya, Ableton Live
I’d like to draw your attention to this excellent new book on the open-source Flash 3D engine, Papervision3D. The book is written by Paul Tondeur and Jeff Winder and it is now available from Packt Publishing.
I had the pleasure of helping Paul and Jeff with the book as a reviewer / proof-reader, and I can testify that it is very comprehensive. What I particularly value about the book is that it can be read as an introduction for beginners, but also serve as a reference guide once you’ve grasped the main topics.
Beginning with the basics of setting up Papervision3D inside your development environment, the book takes you through the essential elements of primitives, materials, and cameras before moving into advanced topics including animation, effects and performance optimisation.
There are some free sample chapters available on Jeff’s blog, and the book can be ordered directly from Packt, or from Amazon.
Although I modelled this from scratch, I have to admit to getting a lot of help from some video tutorials. However since it kept me busy for over a week, I figured it would only be fair to post the results here.
I based this campervan on a small toy version which really helped when modelling from various angles. I chose to use Maya’s smooth-polygon modelling rather than NURBS with a view to creating a low resolution version in Papervision 3D. This was exported as a DAE object to bring into Papervision. I had to experiment with using null objects and grouping hierarchy to get the wheels to turn on the correct axis. The next step is to add some geometry to fix the z-sorting issues around the wheel arches and try burning out some textures.
I’ve been working on this personal 3D project to develop my polygon modelling and texturing skills. Maya was used to model the building and create the UV maps which were then brought into Photoshop for texturing. Below is a photo of the actual building, the Paradiso in Amsterdam. As you can see, I haven’t yet got around to the chimneys!
I’ve decided to update my 3D skills in preparation for getting stuck into some Flash Papervision work. My first project on the 6-month Maya course at Qantm is to create a chess set using only basic primitive shapes. It looks a bit surreal, but probably makes more sense after reading the brief below:
“Your first project is to create a chess set. One side is made using only spheres while the other side is made using only cubes. One side should appear light/floating/zero gravity while the other side should appear heavy/solid/weighed down. The pieces can be abstract/minimal but it should be clear what each piece is. The project is designed to practice your organisational skills (grouping,naming using layers) and also to develop your imaginative skills.”
Summary: I’ve put together this quick proof-of-concept to try out the new IK feature in Adobe Flash CS4. The puppet is animated using a bones structure which allows for “realistic and fluid movement of the body parts” (you may be the judge of that!) I then put together an animation test rig to allow the various cycles to smoothly follow on from one another (try clicking the buttons above). These animations will then be chained together via ActionScript to form a sequence within a web-based game I am creating for Noorderpoort College.
Summary: The video is the first thing UPC viewers see when they press the dedicated “Interactive” button on their remotes, so it’s essential to create a strong first impression. The UPC brand identity is immediately recognisable through the use of colour and animated design elements.
I created the new animated components using Adobe After Effects and Apple Motion and used Cinema 4D for the 3D elements. Final Cut Pro was then used to composite the various elements and for the final edit and audio mixdown.
Role: production, motion graphics design, video edit and audio mixdown.
Tools: Adobe After Effects, Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, Cinema 3D
A multi-disciplined interaction designer/developer with a passion for creating engaging user-experiences for the web and interactive television. 
