Artist Spotlight: Toxic Design Studio

April 24, Venice, California -- Toxic Design Studio has just completed a commercial for Pepsi Twist for PepsiCo Nordic (QuickTime, DivX 5). Artist and 3D Supervisor Rune Spaans employed the Brazil Rendering System to help create the demanding CG animation sequence that shows a fantastic process for making Pepsi Twist. The commercial, with its eye-popping visuals and energetic musical score, reverberates with an futuristic, industrial feel. We talked to Rune about using Brazil r/s in this project.

SplutterFish: Why did you choose Brazil r/s for this project?

Rune Spaans: We choose Brazil because we've already used it on two projects, a music video and an earlier commercial for bottled water. Those projects proved that Brazil did wonders with glass and metal, something that was crucial for the Pepsi commercial. We also needed some features that the standard renderer doesn't support -- such as area lights, fast diffuse reflections on the brushed metal and proper simulation of extra bright reflections.

SF: How was Brazil used?

RS: We used Brazil as the only renderer for the entire sequence in the lab. We had a sequence inside the bottle that was rendered on Apple Macs. Time restrictions made it hard to move the files over to PCs, but they were not as critical since they were supposed to be stylized anyway. The lab sequence was supposed to be almost photorealistic, and so Brazil was the natural choice. We also ended up using Brazil for sequences originally slated for the standard 3dsmax renderer, because the standard renderer never got the motion blur correct. The renders that came out of Brazil just ended up looking prettier and more pleasing to the eye!

SF: How did Brazil r/s benefit the project?

RS: We decided to go for proper raytracing on this project, since bottles and fluid always end up looking slightly half-way when you use reflection maps and other "cheats". And Brazil was the only renderer we looked at that was able to raytrace fast enough in the limited time we had available. I wouldn't hesitate to use it again, and we have several projects lined up for Brazil. I just hope we will be able to use some of the other cool features next time!

You can see the Pepsi Twist spot at the Toxic Design web site.