Andor is an Oxford Instruments company who are specialists at the high-value end of the global scientific digital camera market.
For this project, Andor were adding two new, state of the art sCMOS based cameras to their already industry leading lineup of microscopes.
The cameras’ original CAD files were converted and optimised to be animated and rendered in Maxon Cinema 4D. All compositing and additional elements were added in Adobe After Effects. Final touches and sound design were done in Adobe Premiere Pro.
Project
Oxford Instruments – Andor, Sona & Marana Teaser & Overviews
Client
Oxford Instruments
What Was Required?
Design, 3D Modelling, Animation, Compositing
Process
Planning, Asset Creation & Conversion
The animation started from a brief and script from the client who had their own unique and creative ideas. Together we discussed and decided which ideas were creatively possible and allowed their ‘story’ to be told. The priority, while protecting the company’s IP, was to allow the initial two teaser videos for each camera to not reveal too much detail and allow the longer, product launch overview videos to show more detail and information. Andor were able to send various Solidworks STEP files to start the process of converting and importing their product into Maxon Cinema 4D. From here there were many model topology optimisations and improvements made for the animation to be eventually rendered in OTOY OctaneRender.
Process
3D Animation & Rendering
The script then came to life with animated keyframes in Maxon Cinema 4D. As always, OTOY OctaneRender allowed for much more real-time preview to get the lighting just right. Both the Sona and Marana animation work were very similar, so much so that Maxon Cinema 4D’s ‘take system’ was able to be used to essentially allow for a faster render and therefor delivery process overall.
Process
3D Animation & Rendering
The script then came to life with animated keyframes in Maxon Cinema 4D. As always, OTOY OctaneRender allowed for much more real-time preview to get the lighting just right. Both the Sona and Marana animation work were very similar, so much so that Maxon Cinema 4D’s ‘take system’ was able to be used to essentially allow for a faster render and therefor delivery process overall.
Process
Compositing & Editing
Additional elements, compositing and colour grading were applied to the rendered shots in Adobe After Effects. A multi-pass render system from Maxon Cinema 4D was used to allow for even further control on various parts of the cameras.
Each microscope video were given their own unique characteristics. Sona’s additional elements were smoke and fog while Marana’s additional elements were stars and nebula. Sound design, final editing and colour grading were carried out in Adobe Premiere Pro.
