Ever wonder what you would do if you won the lottery? Well, in a new campaign for the Washington Lottery and its new Mega Millions campaign, visual effects company Radium helped a lucky multi-million dollar lottery winner take possession of the biggest prize of all: Seattle's famous Space Needle. The three 30-second spots are styled as news reports about a local man named Steve who has apparently purchased the Space Needle. In the first spot, a news reporter explains that the Space Needle is being moved from Seattle to Moses Lake on a transporter that is typically used to move the space shuttle. In "Space Needle #2," news footage shows an overhead view of the Space Needle as it is being transported down an empty highway. "How much did you win?" asks the reporter. "Enough to shut down I-90," replies Steve. The third spot follows up with Steve, who encourages tourists to visit the newly renamed Steve Needle in its new home, Moses Lake. "My task was to work from photos to build a convincing model of the Space Needle," stated Radium CG artist Tom Briggs. "In order to get the suggestion of the proper scale I put everything in detail down to the size of individual bolts in the legs. I also painted textures and constructed shaders to mimic atmospheric haze and weathering of the painted steel structure. The helicopter footage was camera tracked and the monument was placed in position on the highway and lakeside." The spots were shot on video, emulating real news footage. Radium then created a CG transporter and Space Needle, and tracked and composited them into the various aerial and ground plates. A clean 3D matte-painting of the city was created to remove the Space Needle from an orbiting helicopter shot, as well as 3D matte paintings of the lakeside to add buildings and access roads.
