Screen content for house looks and performances had to go through several steps in order to be approved for delivery. For the first step, I was tasked with creating a custom After Effects project that merged our workflow with that of the company controlling the screens. The second step was creating a 2D previz that provided a quick preview of the content in the screens. The third step involved rendering the deliverables and applying them to a 3D model.
One of the biggest challenges I faced with the After Effects project was making sure anyone, internally or outsourced, could easily understand it. I had to have complete knowledge of the screens. I had to understand how the different LED pixel pitches translated to working, pixel dimensions. I had to be aware that certain screen areas had overlapping surfaces. I had to be certain that someone could use the project without being given verbal instructions.
One technique I used to make the project easy to understand involved adding plenty of guide layers with labels, comments, instructions and colored guides. This technique gave the user clear instructions to create content for the screens and noted how their content might be affected by the stage construction. It also achieved a decrease in the number of questions that were asked about using the After Effects project.
The 2D previz provided fast and efficient visualization as the screen content was designed. I arranged all of the deliverables in one view for the stage and the in-house Bridgestone screens which included the MEGATRON, the fascia panels and the zippers. Logo sizing and placement could be checked in this view along with the scale of patterns and text. One drawback to this layout was the inability to see the scale and speed of the moving graphics in camera. This issue was solved in the next step, the 3D model.
The 3D model offered benefits that the 2D layout could not. We could see where logos were most effective, we could see how the talent and graphics looked in camera and we could see if our animations were too fast or busy. Logo placement is always a top priority. Making sure it would be in frame and wouldn't be obscured by overlapping stage surfaces was achieved by looking through 3D cameras that represented real-world cameras. When talent was on stage talking or performing, it was useful to make sure that the scale and motion of the graphics didn't compete. Graphics moving at a slow rate in an After Effects comp could move at an incredibly faster rate when played back at scale in the venue. The 3D model allowed us to make sure that the graphics didn't move too quickly when cameras were close-up or zoomed in. Lastly and perhaps most importantly, the 3D model provided a very accurate representation of the graphics for the approval of the show producers.
The processes used for this project were another evolution in our creation for screens development. My improved techniques and workflows to handle larger and more complex rasters helped speed up the creation of content. The 2D layout of the screens content allowed designers to receive faster comments and approvals. An increased use of 3D continued to give users and producers a better previz of the graphics before seeing them at the venue. In the end, the screens were a success due to large amounts of hard work and effort by everyone involved.
