First Idea:
What i want to do in this project is create a 90 second advertisement rather than a ‘film’ i want to do this because i believe you can get so much more realism from dan object if its being advertised correctly rather than in the film. Also this idea would reflect my 3d studio max skill set well because i do not have much experience in the program and adverts can be really powerful whilst also being surprisingly simple to compile together.
Object Possibilities for Advert:
I want to have an electronic or technology influenced object due to the nature of my course and also because i think that if well thought out, 3ds max can help me create something that looks incredibly realistic due to metallic, plastic, glass texture libraries etc…
Objects i am thinking of at the moment are:
- Mobile Phones
- Battery’s
- TVs
- Monitors
- Computers
- Laptops
- Speakers and Music Accessories
I think that instead of 3d Modeling an existing product out there i will either completely invent something new or make a new accessory for an existing product and use an original style of advertising within my video.
Examples of Adverts for inspiration:
Example1:
This Advert for the mac book air reflects what i want to achieve in the way of an advert mainly because of its simplicity. I like the glossy floors and perfect textures they use for it too. Another thing is the 360 degree pan that they use to show the product in its entirety, i will try and encompass some of these ideas within my own video.
Example 2:
The thing i like about this advert is not necessarily the modeling of the product but the little material they put underneath the boots and shoes like the concrete or the grass etc, it gives the object depth and context which results in a better advert as you can connect with the product on a more personal level.
DECISION TIME:
I have finally decided on a design for my 3d model. I am going to make a 3d model of a newly designed flash stick/ usb drive. I see how this can be seen as a little to simple and easy but I dont agree with that as I am utilising my skill set with 3d modeeling applications which isnt very advanced and also there is going to be great diffulty in advertising this model as it needs to be very detailed and interesting to look at let alone being original and exciting!
Research Images:
First very basic model (No detail or Interesting qualities yet…):
Wireframe of Basic Design:
Texture Map Possibilities:
The images below are just the possibilities for the usb devices ‘texture’, they way that this works is you have an image which will be your fake reflection, by this i mean that it makes u feel that the object when rendered is not just a solitary thing,instead you feel that it is within an environment / scene to give realism to the render.
Chrome:
PhotoStudio:
Window / Office Room:
Lights:
Render of Basic Design:
The design below is the basic shape i have modelled which will be manipulated into the final piece through a series of experiments, also the final design depends on how nicely the light hits the object and how the materials look once applied…
Second Wireframe:
As you can see from this second design development, the wireframe for the object within 3dsmax is alot more detailed and smooth. The creation of a good wireframe is vital before rendering is experimented with as you are basically looking at the final piece before it has been output as an image.
Basic Design Stage 2:
From the first stage I have manipulated the main body of the shape by adding softer edges and ridges to the sides. This gives it an almost sci-fi space age look to the usb device, and this is what i am going for, i am going for an ultra contemporary look for a 21st century device. Another plus about this design is that with the use of light the ridges create brilliant contrast across the length of the device.
Design Stage continued:
The next set of images are design ideas that cover all my ideas from camera angles, colours, lighting, materials, reflections and background….
1: This first render experimented with two key aspects of making my object contextually realistic, these two things were lighting and reflections not the camera angle (view). On this render I have used an image of a photo studio as a ray traced reflection map in order to give the object a realistic reflection i.e not to just reflect its environment which currently is nothing, also i have used soft lighting near the front of the usb device in order to bring definition and emphasis to the sleek design and curves it has. Overall this is a nice image but the reflection map doesn’t look as realistic as i thought it would…
2: This render is a follow up on the last one i had done (#1) . Here i have attempted to create a material for the device that represents a chrome or metallic feel, although you could argue it does look like metal it doesn’t reflect light or ‘wrap’ around the object like it rightfully should another thing is that the reflection image that i have used has become distorted and stretched along the top flat area of the usb device. This is a good starting point though as every mistake that is made i can improve upon to get the best final piece i can…
3: Here i have used the same reflection principals as the chrome render above but given it more of a blue diffuse colour and also cropped my reflection image so that it does not distort around the top of the device, i think this is my best render so far but the image could use some spot lighting to make use of this nice material/texture…
4: This is the addition to the render above, i have used a spotlight to highlight one side of the device in order to give contrast to the ridges on the side, also the use of this light gives the whole object a more realistic look as it now seems to be more 3dimensional in the way that you have soft shadows everywhere and the main improvement on this that i can see personally is that you can now see the curve of the top flat face giving it an element of depth which was not visible in the first one.
5: Nothing much to explain about this idea, its just the render above but with a light source further away and a darker diffuse colour. Even though these are simple changes it does make the device look better in my opinion, not more realistic but better looking aesthetically.
6: This is one of the first renders i have done that concentrates more on the position of the camera and composition of the scene rather than the lighting or materials as you can see. I like this camera angle as it seems to make the object seem larger than it actually is, maybe giving a subliminal message of power and dominance over other devices???
7: This is the same camera angle and depth of field as previously shown but this image has a different background, i have made a lighter background and i prefer this now to my original idea of having a black one because it reflects the object much more cleanly and realistically. And as for the cam
8: This render is by far my favourite and I’m sure that i will continue all of my work from now on with this design in mind. The dark diffuse color on the object fits perfectly with a light floor colour and the reflections work brilliantly as well, one improvement that will be made though is a more enhanced light source…
Render Animation test:
Although this clip is only 1 second long, you can still capture and imagine what the longer versions will look like. I really like the reflections on the usb drive that change when the camera pans forwards or backwards this is the main reason that i included research and implementation of reflective maps and textures on the model. Also the reflection from the device to the floor is very nice, this reflection gives the whole scene some depth as the model is not just floating around an empty space, it has a floor, giving the idea that this is in a room or studio of some sort which ultimately adds realism.
On screen Materials e.g Text, Effects…..:
Effects:
The effects / video transitions between shots and text compositions i will keep very simple, probably just cross dissolving to make it smooth and fluent to read and understand what is happening on the screen.
Text:
The main addition to my renders when they are in video format will be the addition of text. These frames of text will be placed at the beginning of the video to provide some sort of introduction to the advert and placed in between each panning shot of the object/device. The words that will be included will be chosen based on how well they sell and describe the device, my original ideas for this text were:
Opening few frames: “Needs……”, “What is it that you need…?”
Frames in between shots: “Mobility?” , “Security?” , “Speed?” , “Style?” , Innovation?” , “Beauty?” , “Simplicity?” , “Storage?”
All of these words add value to the object on screen….they give it desirable quality’s and many of them in order to get a larger customer base interested mainly because there will not be many people who do not need or want at least one of these things.
Brand Names:
I believe that it will greatly increase realism within the advert if at the end a company name was shown. For example a large distributor or usb sticks currently is sandisk, if the advert ended and a sentence and logo saying “The new Sandisk 3 Series” was put in place then i think it would seem more realistic due to the fact it has been linked to something real that is very relatable. There should not be any problems with copyrighting due to this project not being for beneficial money making purposes. Iits only purpose is to fulfill the brief.
Brand Name DECISION:
I have decided to go with the use of a brandname for the final frames of my video. The reason is the same as what was mentioned previously, the addition of a real life name brand gives the whole video a bit more realism which will account for the objects lack of realism due to my current skill at 3dsmax. The chosen brand name will be SanDisk. (Logo will also be included, no copyrighting intended as this is only to fulfill the brief as best as i can not benefit financially from it.)
