Client: Sato America
Agency: Red Moon MarketingProducer: Tracy Morgan
Production: Out of Our Minds Studios
Sato America and Red Moon Marketing approached Out of Our Minds to create 3 animations for their new printer product, the CL4NX. The 3 animated pieces would consist of 2 teasers to drum up industry interest and a "Prospecting" video designed to give users a taste of the many cutting edge features of the printer unit. This would all lead to a final interactive app for use by the Sato sales force utilizing animation and assets created by the OOOM team. Sato expressed the desire for a space theme to the animations and let OOOM run with the idea from there. Out of Our Minds began with exhaustive photography of the prototype unit when we learned CAD files would not be made available in time for the launch date of the animations. From the ground up OOOM built the printer inside and out in 3d. Several of the internal workings were rigged for animations that would be in the final interactive piece. All animation and compositing was executed using Lightwave 3d and After Effects.
Storyboards by: Keith Hobgood
While the main printer unit was being modeled, Keith created storyboards to nail down the action SATO wanted in the piece. Along with the storyboards, Keith also came up with several designs for the landing pad that the printer came to rest on.
Landing Pad concepts by: Keith Hobgood
At this point the printer modeling was wrapping up and Rebecca Jones took on the task of creating the selected landing pad concept in 3d. Because the landing pad would have to theoretically function, Rebecca made sure all the parts fit together once the landing pad collapsed into its final transformed shape.
Interior and Exterior views of the SATO industrial printer model. Remember: this was created from scratch from reference photos. No CAD involved.
Printer model by: Rebecca Jones, Camille Knouff, and Derek Cernak
Landing Pad model by: Rebecca Jones
The dramatic, cloudy sky that surrounded the action of the Prospecting video was a composite of various cloud shots taken by staff members at OOOMS. We basically went through all of our reference photos and vacation pictures. Below you can see skies from the Smoky Mountains to Hawaii and how they combined together to form the finished sky that surrounded the animated scene.
Sky composite by: Danny Oakley
With the modeling and environment complete, the next step was to move to animation. Animation was fairly straightforward for the Prospecting video as we never get into the details of the inner workings of the printer. That would be saved for the interactive piece. The printer and landing pad were keyframe animated. Having the camera controlled by a rotating null and targeting an animated focal point ensured smooth rotations around the printer and the ability to land with just the right framing.
As the animation was being worked on, we began finalizing the design and animation of the holographic panels that appear alongside the printer. These panels were designed to give bite-sized information about the key features of the printer. Designed in Adobe Illustrator, the panels were brought into Adobe After Effects where they were broken into layers and animated.
Once the animation was completed, it was rendered in several passes to make easy work of the final compositing pass that needed to happen. The renders were taken into Adobe After Effects where final touches like dust, lens flares, and the holographic information panels were added.
Below you can see the interactive piece that was developed for SATO's sales force. Created specifically to run on the Samsung Galaxy Note, this piece is defined as "the closer." It delves into the inner-workings of the printer and gives the sales force an added wow factor to their presentations.
Music for video: "Edumantione Ventus" by Kevin Bryce (http://kevinbryce.ca)
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