“Tetra Pak: Forests” by Planchon

  • ©Frederic Planchon

Conference:


SIGGRAPH Video Review:


Track:


    05

Title:


    Tetra Pak: Forests

Length:


    1:30

Director(s):


Company / Institution / Agency:


  • Moving Picture Company

Description:


    This 60-second spot opens with a germinating shoot breaking through the tarmac of a London street. Saplings and larger trees are then shown sprouting and growing in various locations around the city. Trees appear inside glass office buildings, lining the streets inOxford Circus, shooting from an underground platform, growing under the Centre Point tower, some complete with roots dangling beneath a nearby bridge. The Moving Picture Company also created CG forest in front of Battersea Power Station. The three main tree references were the Norwegian Spruce, the Scott’s Pine, and theSilver Birch.

    MPC’s 3D department produced 25 shots over a six-to-eight-week period. The team created models of each of type of tree and then used BioNatics, software designed specifically to simulate the movement of growing trees. They also developed existing propri-etary technology to simulate the wind moving through the leaves and branches. This model reconstructs the dynamic effects of factors such as turbulence and wind on a body to give a natural look. Aspart of the process of compositing the CG trees into shots, digital matte painting techniques were used, for example, to add cracks in pavement around the trunks.

Hardware:


    HARDWARE: PC /Intel dual 1.7-2.6 GHz CPU, 2 GB RAM. Rendering farm: 100
    CPUs.

Software:


    SOFTWARE DEVELOPER: Modeling, animation, and dynamics: Maya 5. Rendering: Mental Ray.
    Compositing: Inferno. Combustion. Additional software: BioNatics
    tree simulation software. Custom software: Numerous Maya plug-ins.
    OS: Linux.

Additional Contributors:


    Agency: Abbott Mead Vickers
    Agency Producer: Yvonne Chalkley
    Production Company: Academy
    Production Company Producer: Mark Whittow-Williams
    DoP: Patrick Duroux
    Editor: Paul Watts, The Quarry
    Post-Production Company: The Moving Picture Company
    Post Producer: Graham Bird
    Lead Inferno: Christophe Allender, Alex Lovejoy
    Inferno Artists: Nigel Mortimer, Ziggy Zigouras
    Combustion: Darren Christie
    Creative Head of 3D: Jim Radford
    3D Supervisor: Lee Danskin
    3D Animators: Greg Massie, Simon Thomas, Stephen Jolley, Glen Swetez, Alp Boysan, Jamie Fernandez, Vicky Osborn, Joel Bodin, Kevin Modeste
    Matte Painter: Kim Taylor
    Telecine: Jean-Clement Soret

Additional Information:


    PRODUCTION
    Modeling: polygons. Rendering technique used most: Mental Raywith Final Gather. Average CPU time for rendering per frame: 40minutes. Total production time: eight weeks. Production highlight:Use of proprietary “Cantilever” to add natural dynamic movement to the trees, right down to individual leaves.

Animation / Video Overview:


Type: