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FrameStore Cleans Up For The New Dyson Spot

FrameStore has created photo-realistic water and cloth for a new spot promoting the Dyson Contrarotator. Director Philip Hunt decided to use a mixture of 3D CGI and motion control photography to produce the ad. FrameStores head of CGI commercials, Andrew Daffy, supervised the creation of photo-realistic mechanical parts, 3D water and cloth simulation for the washing load. "One of the greatest challenges was achieving the seamless blends during the storytelling. The single drum getting replaced by the double drum, then a Kubrick-style sequence where heavy brackets and cog fly through the air to assemble and click into place. This was where the pre-visualization stage was crucial," said Daffy. The whole spot was pre-visualized at FrameStore using their new VCS (Virtual Camera System) software. Pre-visualization for the whole commercial, including the live-action elements, was done using Softimage 3D. The only real object to be used in the spot was the final view of the complete washing machine. To eliminate time-consuming motion control camera plotting, the VCS software allowed FrameStore to directly export camera motion data from the pre-visualization. To achieve the realistic look, the studio used their new Image Based Lighting system, which directly captured the lighting from the set. This allowed cinematographer Peter James to design the lighting for the entire commercial, covering both the real and CGI elements. Each component featured in the spot was lit on the set and shot for lighting reference. FrameStore then digitally recorded each lighting set up and which then linked directly to the CGI objects in the scene "The agency felt it was important that we explain what you can't see when you look at the machine exterior, namely that it employs technologies which make it a different species from the competition. As the Cyclone reinvented the vacuum, Dyson has reinvented the washing process - and that is something that had to be seen, said Hunt.

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Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
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