In early April of this year, we had the incredible opportunity to be hired by the co-owners of Super Shakes, to re-create their in store video material. Super Shakes, a local business in the Greater Jackson area, serves healthy protein shakes with less sugar calories and great flavors. Our services included motion animation, design, and 3D modeling to create over twenty videos. Their goal was to have video content displayed in their stores that had their menus, advertising of their products, third party products and testimonies. They also asked if we could pull off an animation piece showcasing their mascot, “Sammy”. Needless to say, we accepted the challenge.
Our designs began by adjusting to the aspect ratio of 9:16, where their in-store TV’s were vertical. This was challenging at first for a designer, we’re all use to having more space on right and left of the frame, as oppose to the top and bottom. So in After Effects, we worked on a vertical canvas with the proper parameters. Then when we exported our content, we pre-composed our work and flipped it back to 16:9.
Sammy Test walk animation
Part of our work was creating 3D models of their cup sizes that were later used on their menus. It was a fun opportunity for us to utilize our 3D modeling techniques that we spent the later part of 2015 learning. For this project, we used Autodesk Maya and then exported the models in .OBJ format to be animated in After Effects using VideoCopilot’s Element 3D. We also utilized sites like Turbosquid.com to help us in creating some of the visuals that the co-owners wanted in their content.
For Sammy’s animation, we used Duik again and had improved since we used it for MWG Employer Services, our last project. We had better timing and created a running animation. The biggest accomplishment we achieved was taking the set and transforming it into another set. So for example, the kitchen where Sammy is having his Super Meal shake, is then transformed into the break room of Sammy’s employment we he enjoys a Super Trim shake. We’ve seen this technique done multiple times in today’s motion design world, but it’s humbling to know that we can achieve similar results.
Set Animation
The project as a whole took over four months to complete. In that time we were once again tested with some unique challenges that took clever problem solving and execution. We are more than happy with our work and so are the owners. Their goal is to begin franchising their business next year in 2017 so who knows, you might see Sammy coming to your home town soon enough!
Tech Specs
- Adobe’s After Effects 2015.3 CC
- Autodesk Maya 2013
- Duik
- Adobe’s Photoshop
