Rushes Make Bold "Silhouettes" For Grey

Post-production and special effects company Rushes have announced a new 30-second commercial called "Silhouettes" for the Bold 2in1 Infusions range, which follows on from the recent "Spirit Dancer".
Focusing specifically on the "White Diamond and Lotus Flower" fragrance from the range, this is another stunningly sumptuous piece from Director Howard Greenhalgh. The objective of the creative was to communicate the elegant and luxurious fragrance of Bold in1 Infusions "White Diamond & Lotus Flower" and how it would really indulge the consumer's senses.
Rushes' 3D team, led by Lars Holmgren, were again set the task of creating sumptuous jewels and flowers emanating from within the folds and waves of the freshly washed clothes. Although the principle task of the commercial was the same as before, there were a whole set of new ideas and challenges to overcome. One of the key ideas was that the white diamonds and lotus flowers should feel as though they are flowing and tumbling within the body of the woman's dress, flowing with her movements and following her throughout the commercial.
Firstly, a 3D dress was modelled and then hand tracked to match the live action in each shot. A scaled down version of this dress was used to emit particles, while the 3D dress itself acted as a bounding box to contain them. Using Maya's dynamic tools the animators were able to control the movement of the particles within the dress shape to create the desired flowing and tumbling, while the dress geometry was used as a collision object so that any particles which strayed towards the boundaries would gently bounce off and tumble back into the mix. Various diamond and lotus flower models were then instanced to the particles to create the finished effect.
In addition to the main body, extra flowers and diamonds were also animated flowing off the woman's pashmina as she walked through the commercial. Due to the specific nature of the pashmina's movements and the level of control required, these were all hand animated to match the folds and creases as they twisted and turned. Certain shots also had higher resolution 'hero' lotus flowers and diamonds added to give the scenes a real sense of depth.
The finished shots were rendered using Maya's renderer and split into an array of different passes ranging from diffuse, specular and reflections through to self-shadows and caustics cast onto the woman’s clothes and skin. This gave the compositor maximum control over the look, and gives the finished commercial a beautiful and decadent feel.
Further information is available at: www.rushes.co.uk.
(KMcA/JM)