February 2016

Why CGI? Part Two

Traditional photography or CGI? At Pix-US, we hear that question almost daily. Although traditional photography could be the right fit, there are many short- and long-term reasons to choose CGI. In part one (post below) of our series, we talked about versatility and some of the ways CGI can save resources. Here, we discuss ease of use, creative control, and post-production benefits. Easier to Use How many times have you gotten your images back from a photo shoot only to find that your product is covered in dust that requires hours in post-production to clean up? In the CG world our sets can sit forever without an accumulation of dust. Now that doesn't mean you can't have a little grit and grime in your work if it's appropriate. We just have to plan for it and add it into the texture files as we go. Just Science Want your images to look like they came from the real world? The one we actually live in? Well that's what this process is all about. With the Pix-US process, we can follow the laws of nature, how the light falls, how gravity works, or we can take artistic liberties to help illustrate the story we are trying to tell. We can place the camera in unexpected places, even seemingly impossible places. We are able to control all elements of time and space for the image in order to create the most believable, or the most unbelievable visuals you can imagine. Remember that files produced for engineering purposes can have elements that depend on things like gravity or materials expansion to fill out curves and need some gentle nudging to make them look just right. They're great for work on the factory floor but they're just not very pretty. But all of that said, great CAD files generally produce great results. Post-production We rely on the very best post production techniques and practices to make the images really shine. The compositing of live photography of organic props and fabrics, flowers and food items, clothing or people enable us to include real-world elements that are too time consuming (and less than cost-effective) to build...

Why CGI? Part One

Traditional photography or CGI? At Pix-US, we hear that question almost daily. The truth of the matter is that your product and desired end result will determine the answer. Although traditional photography could be the right fit, there are many short- and long-term reasons to choose CGI. Here, we examine just a few of them in the first part of our series on the case for CGI. Dollars and Sense One of the immediate, and largest, savings generated from the Pix-US process is that the hard-prototyping cycle  can be beaten or eliminated. Photo-realistic, print-quality images can be produced long before products are available for shooting, and the required architecture needn’t be built in the real world or in a studio, keeping the project both green and on budget. Add the savings realized in not having to ship all of your product (your products move as CAD files via email or ftp) or salvage product at the end of a project, and the advantages become even clearer. Versatility Cutaways and exploded product visualizations don't require destroying anything. If you need different views that emphasize other features, they can be produced without a lot of grief. Unlike traditional video methods, exploded views can be mapped and executed until the final refinements exactly match the production needs. And, since these are digital files, they're stored for future use and changes when the need arises, a process that simply doesn't exist with traditional capture methods. Investment Virtual Sets. That's the name of the game. They exist, and they have for a long time. There's no need to tear them down to make way for a new project that's coming in behind yours. Or at any time! They're sitting there, painted, lit, rigged, and waiting for re-use. Simply getting an actual camera back to the same spot on set is nearly impossible. Yet with Virtual Sets your starting point for changes and re-use are where the project left off before. Change the color way? Okay. Move the camera into a tight corner? No problem. In fact, both cameras and lights can be positioned into places that are actually impossible in the real world, giving you more versatility overall....