ZDF Abenteuer Wissen (Scientific Adventures)

The renderbaron creates visualizations for primetime broadcast.

“Abenteuer Wissen” (Scientific Adventures) is a production of ZDF, a German public broadcaster, in which topics from the fields of science and technology are presented in an easy-to-understand format. The Cologne-based film and television production studio, taglicht media GmbH, regularly produces documentary films for the “Abenteuer Wissen” series.

In order to illustrate scientific processes or demonstrate invisible or highly complex procedures, the right type of animation must be created – and this is what Düsseldorf-based designer Marc Potocnik does using CINEMA 4D.

Marc has been working as a 3D visualization and special effects professional under the alias, “renderbaron”, since 2001 and has successfully completed projects for such noted clients as BMW, ZDF, BMBF (Federal Education and Research Ministry), 02, Actionconcept, PorscheDesign and many more.

On behalf of taglicht media GmbH, Marc uses CINEMA 4D to create animations for “Abenteuer Wissen”. In doing so, Marc often crosses the border between visualization and special effects: “When creating 3D animations that illustrate scientific correlations, a cinematic approach offers a stronger emotional appeal than a simple, sober presentation of these processes. Camera work, image resolution and the quality of the 3D renderings are integral elements for successfully conveying a message”, explains Marc.

In order to clearly demonstrate processes such as global water shortages or how seismic undulations are localized, Marc created a realistic model of the earth, which will subsequently be combined with informational graphics.

“The look of the earth model reflects the cinematic standard. Its construction was simple yet effective, consisting of three spheres, various shaders, a NASA texture and compositing in After Effects. Especially effective are the Layer and Fresnel shaders – used to simulate atmospheric effects, visualize a cross-section of the earth or for use with subsequently added graphic elements”, continues Marc.

Marc also made liberal use of CINEMA 4D’s procedural shaders for the visualization of the German Westphalian countryside in combination with a cross-section of the earth. Layer and Fresnel shaders were used here as well.

In taglicht media’s documentary about global water shortage, Marc Potocnik created a 3D visualization of scientists’ search for underground freshwater sources in the steppes of Namibia. A helicopter carrying an electromagnetic sensing device flies over a vast steppe land. Cinematic camera work and the detailed modeling of the scene – ranging from the dry savannah itself to the sparse vegetation and the mud huts – combine to create impressive, dramatic scenery.

The scene’s foundation was a simple landscape surface with baked procedural shaders applied to simulate sand, boulders and beaten paths; the sky and mountain range were created using a simple gradient; the vegetation was based on three base models of a bush, a shrub and a tree that were duplicated into about 13,000 real instances using the CINEMA 4D plugin, DPIT 3.5, and distributed across the landscape via a bitmap texture. At the center of the scene is a village in the middle of nowhere, for which Marc modeled simple mud huts, to which he applied image textures and procedural shaders. PyroCluster was used to generate swathes of dust that blew through the village.



“The lighting of the scene was very easy. In addition to being illuminated directly, the village, helicopter, and other elements were illuminated using light domes or point light arrays to simulate indirect light. Ambient Occlusion was also used or was simulated by well-placed gradient shaders or shadow-casting lights. As in all my projects, GI remained deactivated”, states Marc Potocnik.

Combined with CINEMA 4D’s legendary render speed, each frame took only from 30 seconds to 2 minutes to render at a resolution of 1024 x 576 on an Apple Mac Pro Dual Quadcore 3.2 GHz system. Motion blur, chromatic aberration, borders and camera shake were added in post-production.

This project was presented as part of the MAXON Roadshow in Düsseldorf, Germany. The next animations for the “Abenteuer Wissen” series are already in the works. This time the renderbaron will be using CINEMA 4D to visualize the ocean floor. Check with us for more info!

www.renderbaron.de
www.taglichtmedia.de
www.abenteuerwissen.zdf.de