The Mill: Acura "Fully Loaded"

The Mill is a world-leading visual effects company with bases in London, NY, and Los Angeles.

The featured work below is a spot they helped create for Acura MDX in 2007.



The 3D team, led Lead CG Animator Ben Smith, spent the first few weeks researching the methods of origami. “One of the designers, Keith Kim, knew how to make a few origami objects which proved to be helpful,” shared Smith. “The overall idea of the spot was to have the boxes look and feel like real origami as they unfold to form the vehicle.” In addition to absorbing all they could about the art, the team also hired origami master Robert J. Lang, author of many origami books including the new benchmark Origami Design Secrets. Lang built an origami car, car seat and steering wheel for the team. Later, the Mill filmed him unfolding the finished designs. Smith and the team then played back the film which allowed them to meticulously study Lang’s craft. The film served as a great reference.

According to Smith, the first six shots outside of the car were heavily choreographed. “The biggest challenge was choreographing the spot so that the boxes felt like real origami as they unfolded, as well as trying to figure out how to make compound surfaces out of flat surfaces.” Since continuity and flow were extremely important aspects to the project, the team had to consider how much folding action could take place in each frame. “Establishing the language of the animation and the speed of how fast the boxes fold out was one challenge,” reflects Smith.

In addition to the research and development conducted by the team, they developed a few tricks that could be repeated in order to achieve the required shapes. “We wrote custom 3D tools to automate a number of processes,” Smith explained. “However, the vast majority of animation was good old fashion hand animation.”

Once the shot moved inside the Acura MDX, it was important to highlight the dash board, the spacious six seats and the DVD player before seamlessly transitioning to the exterior of the vehicle. That’s where the final “paper” folds of the hood and rims took place. “Using normal mapping and displacement, cardboard textures and crease detail was added,” concludes Smith.

Credits

CG Lead Animator
Ben Smith

CG Artists
Jason Goodman
Keith Kim
Andrew Proctor
Jong Jin Choi
Joshua Merck

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