3D Design:
Production & Animation
The assignment for the module 3D: Production & Animation this semester was as follows:
SONY is a multinational company with a strong brand identity and a market leader in the high-end headphones segment.
- Design an Over-Ear headphone:
- Product name: Valcon
- The design should align with our existing product line and provide a brand recognition effect
- The headphones are in the mid-price range and should be particularly appealing to the target group of 25-40 year old digital cosmopolitans
- Create a product teaser video with the following requirements:
Sony aka our lecturer
- Duration: 20-30 seconds
- Resolution: HD 720p MP4 H.264
- Highlight the features:
a) High-Definition ANC
b) 100% recycled materials
c) ultra-lightweight- Strong brand recognition effect
- Primarily distributed on social media
My approach
My approach to fulfill the task to the best of my abilities was as follows:
Firstly, I carefully read and analyzed the briefing multiple times, ensuring that I fully comprehended everything. Following this I wrote a comprehensive rebriefing. A rebriefing provides an opportunity to introduce oneself and clarify any questions or concerns between parties, essentially serving as an alignment of information. During the rebriefing, I posed questions regarding deadlines, budget, style guides, corporate identity, as well as more specific questions about the look and feel of the headphones.
Additionally, I created initial design sketches and a moodboard to provide a foundation for constructive feedback and iterative refinement. I also started to work on my 3D Model, incorporating the distinct attributes I included in my design sketches like the „see-through-element“.
After completing Step 1, I was able to focus on Step 2, which involved creating a product teaser. To accomplish this, I developed a detailed concept and storyboard.
Armed with my concept and storyboard, I set out to animate my 3D model using Cinema4D, a task that proved to be quite demanding at times. Maintaining composure during the rendering process, which frequently crashed or integrated render-errors into my animation, presented another significant challenge. Even with a MacBook Pro equipped with an M1Max chip, rendering even short animation segments took hours.
To maintain better control and oversight of the project, I divided my animations into smaller sections and saved each sequence in individual folders, which proved to be immensely helpful during the following stages.
After Cinema4D finally completed rendering, I imported the various folders with the animated images as PNG-sequences into After Effects and worked on my final product video. This involved correcting render errors, fine-tuning the video’s pacing, incorporating a particle system and including text to create a real looking product video.
And just like that my product video for this assignment was done.
Enjoy the best Over-Ear-Headphones ever made… the SONY VALCON!