Harvey's Explainer Video
Before and After
Harvey's Explainer Video - Before and After
The videos above how certain things changed throughout the project.
Scene 1
Several things changed from what was planned originally. The biggest difference was the cubes coming in through the window. Before, we wanted a particle emitter to fire some cube objects into the room. To make it more appealing and give the cubes some squash and stretch, we used fluid objects instead. We also had the cubes combine and make themselves bigger as they entered the room. This gave us more control to get what we wanted.
Scene 3
This scene was altered a lot from the original. The first thing to note is the particles. Originally, we were going to have the particles fly around and combine into one giant cube that occupied the whole room. This was quickly scrapped once we saw how crazy it was. Instead, we just had a few fluid shapes float around and disappear after the heat particles came into the scene. Also important to note the character. Before, she was just going to get up from the couch and start shivering. To give her some more personality, I added a take where she tried to warm up her hands before shivering.
Storyboard
Renders - Before and After
This project taught me so much about lighting and rendering in Maya. I learned how to decrease render time while still maintaining quality. I also learned how to properly utilize different light types for different situations. For example, having a spotlight on the window was a good way to simulate sunlight and show the shadows of the window. Check out some before and after shots below:
Reflection
Harvey needed a video that would explain their product in a way customers could understand. Of course, a video like this needed some stunning visuals to go along with what was being said. This was my biggest project to date. I learned so much more about lighting and rendering in Maya and how to create quality renders quickly. I also learned some special tricks with creating visual effects in Maya and After Effects, including the snowfall, the fluid cube shapes, the air coming in through the window, and more. Overall, this was a very successful project that sharpened my skills while teaching me new ones.