IBM Smarter Planet Spot
Client: IBM, through Motion Theory
Provided: visual effects design, programming
Date: 2010
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to do visual code artistry on the IBM Smarter Planet campaign at Motion Theory, specifically for the "Energy" spot. In this campaign, traditional 3D animators using Maya and Cinema 4D, worked alongside a team of code artists, designing visual elements in Processing and OpenFrameworks. The coder team was lead by JT Nimoy and Keith Pasko, and consisted of Jeremy Rotsztain, CJ Cenizal, Ryan Alexander, Elise Co, Ekene Ijeoma and myself.
View the final commercial
"Energy" embraces generative images drawn from sources like windmills, transformers and homes as dimensionalized expressions of data flowing from energy, in chaotic yet elegant ways.
I created these elements to visualize energy for the power lines shot. Each band is composed of hundreds of hair-like lines, modulated intermittently by Perlin noise and sine waves, and anchored to invisible points along 3D models of telephone poles. Programmed in C++ with OpenFrameworks.
This visualization captures the flow of energy and inductance along the charge nozzle of an electric Tesla vehicle. Energy undulates around the surface of an invisible 3D model of a tube, later superimposed onto live-action footage. Programmed in C++ with OpenFrameworks.
In a render for the overhead city shot, wires swerve along roads and congest at the intersections. Occasionally a straggler breaks free and whips around a building or two before returning to the streets. Programmed in Java with Processing.