Case Study:
Scottsdale CVB “Capture”

Bringing Images to Life

When Riester contacted us about creating a 30 second spot based on their stunning print ads for the Scottsdale Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, we jumped at the chance. It was a project that would allow for great creativity and innovation, and this is how we did it.

Capturing the Desert

We knew from the start that Capture would be animated using the layers from the original print ad to bring it to life. The assets were 8.5×11 portrait oriented, so our first task was to expand on the print ad and make it usable for video. We added mountains, rocks, dirt, plants, and other desert things to expand the scene. All of the elements were then separated into individual layers that we could position in 3D space.

While the scene extension was being worked on, Niki worked on an animatic to get the camera movement in Cinema 4D down and Lenny worked on creating 3d cacti and mountains.

Mapping Mountains

The background mountains were created with a process called projection mapping, where a flat image is projected onto 3d geometry to give it depth. This technique allows us to work and render faster, as we don’t have to model every crack and crevice of the mountain.

Bringing these images to life was going to take more than just creating a 3d world that we could move around in. We added small animated elements that would really make the desert feel alive. From a winking cowgirl and blooming cactus flowers to sloshing martinis and roaring campfires, we covered all the bases.

Diamond Skies and Desert Gold

Our team’s brilliant work on Capture won us a gold Addy for Special Effects in 2011.