Making of "Robo A"

 

cebas: Firstly Besiki, would you kindly introduce yourself to our audience.

Hi, my name is Besik Mzhavanadze. I am 26 and was born in Batumi, Georgia. Currently, I work as a ‘Creator’ for an Advertising Company in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.

cebas: I think it's safe to say that "Robo A" was a very important project for you and your firm. Can you tell us how you were involved in the production process?

Yes, this project was very important for our Company. We made the video for a computer sales company, AlgoTech. The first video introduces Robo A. In the future, we are planning to make several animations with this character, in which Robo A will offer AlgoTech products to their customers.

 

 

cebas: Which shots in particular were you involved in?

The whole video I made by myself. It was not easy for me, because this was the first kind of production that I have made completely by myself. Also, it was the first character animation that I created by myself.

cebas: What Cebas software did you use in the production of "Robo A" and why?

cebas Visual Technology has interesting and very helpful programs. For this project, I used finalRender and finalFlares. I think that finalRender is the best renderer in the whole market. It has been perfected and can be used in every sphere - architecture, 3D modelling, animation, special effects, etc.

cebas: How did you use our software to achieve the effects?

Throughout the whole animation process, which included modeling and animation, finalRender was most important. Every scene in this project was rendered with finalRender, which produced photo-realistic resolution, allowing me to achieve the desired result. For additional flare affects, I used finalFlares.

cebas: What features in particular helped you achieve your goal and how?

It's very hard to choose one of them. Everything that exists in finaRender helped me create visual effects of the highest quality, for instance, fast and flicker free GI and excellent shaders. I like finalRender’s advanced materials very much. And of course, I use that very often. Also, Interactive Rendering (IR) is a very important innovation. Using IR, the workflow process is much easier, for example, adjusting lights and featured materials. It is no longer necessary to conduct test rendering; everything happens in near real time. You are welcome to view a sample of my work in progress in the video below:

cebas: What was the most difficult aspect of this project and how did you solve it?

As I said, the project was not easy. The first and hardest step was imagining the character, i.e. what it would look like. I researched many robots on the WEB, selecting the kind of details I wanted for my character from different robots. Then I modelled the character using standard polygonal modeling methods.

The next hardest step for me was Robo’s animation, because until this project I had very little experience with CAT. Thanks to this project, I was able to raise my professional skill level in a very short time. For my character’s dancing sequences, I utilized some video references from YouTube. And finally, the most complicated step was audio mastering which lasted almost 1 month. The whole project lasted 3 months.

cebas: Can you give us a step-by-step breakdown of a typical shot?

The first step was making the animation, which contained 7 animation layers. As shown below:

Before rendering, adjusting the GI light in the scene was also very important as shown below.

 

The next step was rendering and compositing. During the rendering, I also rendered additional layers - reflection, specular, z depth, caustics and flare pass. After that, I composited all of them in Fusion software.

cebas: How did cebas's software integrate into your production pipeline? Was this straightforward?

During the process of making the commercial video, we often used 3ds Max and finalRender together. finalRender has become more and more perfected over time. As a result, I am now able to use interactive render (IR) effectively to build material and adjust lights in all the scenes. As well, I like fR-dome light very much.

cebas: What was the most fun or rewarding part of this project for you?

Despite all the complications, the project was very interesting. I learned a great deal making this video; it was a good learning experience for me which I am sure will be very helpful in the future.

cebas: What projects can we expect from you in the future? (Assuming you're able to tell us that is).

AlgoTech is now working on several projects. As well, working at home, I have my own projects. I am trying to increase my knowledge and wish to learn more about thinkingParticles. Those are the my future plans. I will definitely share all my projects with you, as soon as they are finished.

 

More amazing work of Besiki can be found in his portfolio: Besiki's Portfolio

We would like personally thank you, Besiki, for sharing your video experience with us and the community. Every one is welcome to post his or her best work or samples on our webpage at www.cebas.com. Please join our Galleries and Portfolios and help build a strong community.