A major project that TechArt recently completed involved the use of CG special effects usually only seen in big budget films.

The developers were proposing to place a new rural sub-division on some farm land near Hobart in Tasmania.  Due to the sensitive nature of the location and the potential for it to affect the view from the nearby town as well as the beach, it was decided a video presentation was required to demonstrate the visual impact of the proposed development as clearly as possible.

The Town Planners responsible for the development came to TechArt looking for the best way to show the development as it would appear once established - with trees roads and houses all in place.  We put forward a number of options, with the last being to film the site from the sky, using the aerial footage as the basis for the visualisation.  We were excited they went with that last option.  Soon, a helicopter was organised and a suitable flight path arranged to show the proposed development from a variety of useful perspectives; including one, coming down close over the beach.

From there we went to work creating a 3D computer generated overlay that would replace parts of the footage with the proposed sub-division as it is expected to look once established.  

The best way to show how that process worked is to watch the following clip. 

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Extra information is then also easily added to the footage, which is possibly the best possible way to show technical aspects of the sub-division without first having to become familiar with the site.  In the end a number of different clips were provided on DVD which could be viewed individually or in a continuous film, with or without the extra information as desired.  

A view of the site as it is now

The same view after the 3D components have been added

We recently completed a visualisation project for a developer in Tasmania working on a retirement village.  They wanted to erect a large billboard poster in front of site while construction was underway.  Only able to provide us with a hard copy of the plans, we went ahead and recreated everything from the drawings directly in the 3D software. 

As the work proceeded the developer was pleased to see their project coming along in virtual sense and was given confidence that their choice of colour scheme was going to work well.

A number of options were put forward for possible views. We settled on this particular view and went ahead with finishing an image ready for billboard printing.  The final image produced was 5000 pixels by 3000 pixels.  The version shown in our gallery is a slightly earlier variation which included people and a car. 

A recent project required us to produce a couple of 3D altered photomontages for a tribunal appeal hearing.  The appeal revolved around the construction of a new building replacing an existing building. 

In this instance the amount of detail the client required was fairly limited, so we were able to provide an economical solution whilst maintaining the level of accuracy required.  Although, it was a relatively simple photomontage it did serve a significant purpose in the hearing, with the final result going in their favour.  We would like to think it was all due to the photomontage, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ after all.  However, lawyers do write lots of words and probably more than thousand, so… you decide.

TechArt was recently able to help some Town Planners and their clients by doing a comparative analysis of various sites they were considering for development.  The first step was to produce a gradient map of the district they were considering.  This allowed the planners to quickly determine the various areas suitable for development.  Flowing from that analysis was a Viewshed analysis.  

Using a 3D computer graphics program TechArt was able to produce a map showing the various areas that could view a specific site under consideration.  This analysis was preformed for a small number of alternative locations.  Providing a clear indication of which sites would have the largest visual impact on the surrounding district.   

Click over the pictures to see them in more detail.

We try to provide a flexible approach to this type of modelling and can usually tailor our analysis to suit your needs.  Please contact us if you would like to find out more.

We were recently approached by Goldfinger Aviation along with Concept to Reality to work one of their products they have been developing. 

Concept to Reality is a product development company that specialise in turning ideas into real and marketable products.  They bring a wide variety of resources together to take an idea from a simple sketch on paper, to a working concept, to a prototype and eventually to a product you might use everyday.

TechArt helped them with their latest project which unfortunately is still under wraps.  However, we can say it involved modelling and animating a modern passenger jet in a variety of scenarios.  The animation called for the jet to be animated in front of live background footage, and also in entirely 3D computer generated scenes.  The final presentation was over 4mins long.  Goldfinger Aviation knew that an animated video presentation was the most effective way to convey their idea.  Bringing the idea to life in this way immediately captures the attention of your audience and shows the concept in a way that is easily understood and more importantly, actually shows the final product in action! 

The link to the left shows a few frames that we can show you from the final animation.

TechArt was commissioned by Zeplan to develop a series of animations and stills for the Parkland Estate Development.  Near the township of Griffith in NSW, the sub-division includes some 167 lots, a park or two and a small waterway.

The renderings to date have been done using 3D Studio Max and Mental Ray.  The early animations were completed in time to be included in a TV commercial for the development.  Despite the time constraints, the animation was successful in providing the commercial with an edge over the competition.

Due to the success of the commercial TechArt has continued to work on the project, completing further fly-through animations using 3D Studio Max and now Vray. 

Follow the thumbnail image to see one of the stills developed for the project.  Fly through animation samples are also available on the Parkland Estate Development web site.

The Feather Gallery was an in-house project that TechArt Enterprises developed from scratch. 

The project involved a lot of new ground for TechArt Enterprises and was completed in the number of stages.  The gallery building itself was constructed within 3D Studio Max and designed by Miles McCusker.  Views of the gallery were rendered using Studio Max and Mental Ray.  The idea to turn it into a website came a little bit later.  Careful tracking out of camera positions within the gallery was needed to ensure that the visitor is able to travel to all parts of the gallery.

The ‘gallery’ part of a web site was constructed using Flash and implements a significant amount of scripting to achieve the effect of moving inside the virtual gallery.We tried to make management of the gallery as automatic as possible, with many variables easily changeable.  Meaning new exhibitions can be uploaded with little effort and with no need to reconfigure the website each time.

Infact we are currently looking for a future artist to show there.  So if you know of an Australia digitial artist (we want the next show to be of digitial art) please put them in contact with us. 

In 2004 Miles McCusker volunteered his time for a short film called Aerosol.  The film featured the antics of a little ant and a worker in a fly spray factory and was being shot on 35mm film.  The film required a number of computer-generated effects.  It was decided that real spray would be too difficult to light properly, so we had to come up with a computer-generated alternative.

After the first meeting with the director Wojciech Wawrzyniak, it was agreed that a few trial runs were needed.  Using test footage we would to see how effectively we could model fly-spray using 3D Studio Max.  The test was done using footage of somebody holding a can of fly-spray and pretending to spray, but not actually pressing the actuator.  Some more footage was taken and this time the actuator was really pressed and real spray came out.  Miles went about creating 3D fly-spray and composited it carefully over the footage with no fly-spray present.  The process was refined and when the director returned he agreed it was difficult to determine which was the real fly spray and which was the 3D spray.

Subsequently, work start on the actual film and we went about creating 3D fly spray for some 13 separate shots, including the title sequence.  Although, we were on a tight schedule all the fly-spray shots were successful, blending in well with the footage and not standing out as being CG effects. 

The thumbnail links to some images from the film.  We hope to put some footage from the film up here soon.