I was excited to be asked by Pixel to submit a directors treatment for the Westgate Tunnel launch animation. The aim being to let the Melbourne public know that the tunnel was close to opening and the benefits it could bring. Shown by quickly going from the suburbs to the city and other “rooms” via snappy movement through the tunnel.
This was a large scale job involving various digital and static deliverables with challenges in finding the right style and balance for each room during the concept and design stage. As well as creating and laying out each room and the many assets for animation. Combined with having no set pipeline which required some thought and set up. Luckily I had a great support system via the producers at Pixel and helped by a fantastic team of 3d artists!
Worked on at Pixel Melbourne.
Credits:
Client: Transurban
Agency: VML
Production Company: Pixel Melbourne
Director/Generalist: Patrick Da Cunha
Producer: Méline Samson
Producer: Haley Polacik
Concept Art: Glenn Thomas
3d: Alan Do, Nathan Juno, Eoin Cannon, Ryan Elliot
Animation: Brian Decke
One of the first big challenges we needed to tackle was finding the design language for each room.
The talented Glenn Thomas worked on concept art to help answer some of the key design problems. Including how many objects would be a good amount to show where we are without getting too visually busy. How to communicate the idea of certain rooms, such as “home”, without just being too specific that some viewers might not connect with the styling. Colour ways that included the company branding without getting too green. As well as what objects to include to allow for interesting animation.
Staying in 2d helped us deal with changes quicker than if we had started in 3d. It took several revisions to land in the right place for each room but this process gave us a great starting point for the modelling and layout phase in 3d.
Having dealt with a lot of design and feedback in the concept art stage, we approached the modelling and layout with a solid blue print. Though things would change in 3d, the concept art gave us a great starting point.
SH040 (home) development below. Starting as rough as possible to block out the scene and make adjustments as more detail is added.
Each room had a large number of assets so extra care was taken to clean up each scene, with easily understood layers and naming so artists could easily jump into a scene for animation or lighting. This phase also included adding rigs for animation.
With scenes prepared and rigged, the next step was finding the right amount of animation and movement. So that it never felt too static but also not so over the top that it would feel overwhelming. It was great seeing the rooms come to life through movement and small interactions.
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Blocking out the major movement of the scene.
Object movement was bigger but proved to be too busy.
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The bigger movements have been toned down but there is more detail & secondary movement. Final animation below.
