​​​​Amecia Starks 3​D Artist​
My Thesis Production
From 3D computer animations early commercial beginnings in the 1970’s to its dominance in the commercial and entertainment markets in the 2000’s, the use of 3D computer animation has increased dramatically and grown in acceptance. Today’s viewers are exposed to digital 3D mascots for commercial products, completely 3D virtual sets, and fully interactive three dimensional digital worlds. From the big screen, to the small screen, and to the smart phone, is 3D animation being accepted as a natural experience despite its many representations of unnatural situations? if so, how much of our daily reality is driven by 3D products and imagery? I will attempt to examine this question within my 3D animated thesis production which deals with a woman who returns home to a house where 3D animation, as seen in television commercials, video games, and broadcast media, has come alive in all its different forms and facets. Through the use of professional 3D animation software and drawing from popular commercial themes, I hope to creatively explore and reveal the extent to which 3D animation has become a part of our lives.
This is the animatic for the production. Although it does give an idea of the animation, there are still timing issues that have to be resolved due to the lack of particular and individual commercial spots that will be playing throughout section of the house as well as the limited amount of time allotted to finish.
After finishing the initial pass at the animatic, the first thing I had to tackle was the modeling, texturing, general surfacing, and interior layout of the house. As soon as I finished the modeling of the assets I had to start texturing. For sake of time, many of the identical assets are sharing the same UV map. It is a fairly large house so it takes roughly a month and a half to create assets and set them up inside the house; then another, roughly, two weeks get the majority of the general surfacing done. Once the house was set up, I had to start testing for the lighting. A DP Dome light is used to generate the occlusion and because it is lighting for an interior, point lights are being used to light the individual rooms. Once the exterior walls of the house are finalized, I will start testing for the additional lights in the room i.e windows, light emitting for the TV etc.

The young lady was began over the summer, but was postponed to continue at a later date. At the time, for production sake and time wise, it was more important for me to begin the animatic than to continue with her model.
Animatic
Once general assets and general lighting for the house was created, I began working on the individual commercials that were going to be viewed inside of the house. The first that was started was the Art of Africa Bumper which is to be viewed on one of the TVs in the house. For that to be done I needed to create the complete bumper, add it in the image editor, then project that onto the screen through the surface editor in Lightwave 3D. The second was a cheesecake commercial that will also be viewed on the master bedroom TV. The next production that is in progress is a visualization of the Great Pyramids of Giza. This production is a recreation of the productions that are normally viewed in History Channel and Discovery Channel TV series' in which the audience needs a visualization of a time period or place.
The Pyramids of Giza Test
The Pyramids of Giza Final
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Within the production, the pyramids will be displayed as a part of the world/house. It will not include a background, but will include FX such as wind and sand
In house commercial testing:
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Below are tests of how two commercials will be playing within the production. This is still a work in progress so this is not including the final surfaces or lighting.
One is the History Channel commercial playing on a TV and the other is the strawberry cheesecake commercial playing in the fridge.
Shot 1 Animation Test. This gives a good idea of the overall direction of the production.
WIP
