Zone Seeker

In this project, there were a lot of hurdles to overcome, mainly due to the tight production schedule.

For this film we first had to define the complete content as precisely as possible using a storyboard. A tight schedule, long rendering times and complex technical processes required precise planning of the 3D animations to be produced in advance. In parallel, CAD data was processed and transformed into usable 3D models.

The look was mainly defined based on still images and, after acceptance of the same or completion of the storyboard, the actual animations could be started. In the final step, these had to be checked again for technically correct presentation, both by the director and by the manufacturer of the technology, before we could finally calculate the scenes.

A special task was the depiction of underground explosions, which should create three-dimensional, branched channels – similar to a tree crown without leaves – in the rock, which should also fill with water and particles afterwards. Additionally, the whole thing should also be shown in slow motion, so that one can literally watch the “branches” growing. Finally, the viewer should also fly in and through one of the branches to see the inside on a micro-level. For this effect we decided on a solution with the plugin “GrowFX”. We were in close contact with the developer of the plugin, who implemented new features especially for us during production so that we would be able to implement all of our requirements.

Our Tasks: