Paul Harvey
3D CGI Bubbles & Oil pumps!
The personal project depicted this month, was an experiment to create & integrate 3D forms which are coherent with Paul's landscapes.
Paul recalls... "after much manipulation of landscapes shot earlier this year in Iceland, I was left with an intriguing series of images that I really wanted to use, but 'lacked a little something'. Together with one of my favourite retouch companies in Paris, we decided that these images would make a great bases for a 3D CGI series"
One idea from Paul's retouch colleges was to construct a giant floating bubble within one of the scenes, created in 3D. All agreed that this would enhance the rather surreal atmosphere of the original images. An alternative idea was to do the opposite & try to create a heavy engineering theme within the scenes.
He continues... "I personally found the real pieces of ice in the pictures so incredibly pure & beautiful, that I needed to find a contradiction to challenge the viewer. Thinking along engineering and apocalyptic lines, I came up with the idea of trying to create some abandoned disused oil pumps. The feedback so far has been very interesting, with some creatives believing that the ice had been created in 3D! Seriously though, the ice really is real...."
Technically, the project was very challenging. Paul had already completed various 3D car projects, but had never attempted to create objects other than a car.
The oil pumps in particular were tricky for the retouch team. The construction of the objects was time consuming, but the real difficulty was with the texturing of the forms themselves. Both oil, rust & weathering effects had to be created & applied to the structures to help with the continuity of the images. The final apocalyptic touch was to add a broken oil-rig platform in the background of this second image.
In comparison with the oil pumps, the bubble shot was more straightforward. Texturing the surface of the bubble was done in four layers however, including an important reflective layer.
Above is a close up of the second image to show detail of the 3D construction
Look out next month for Paul's campaign on Renault electric cars, which were launched recently at the Frankfurt motor show.