Poetica recently delivered a surreal identity spec spot for Trek Bicycles. The piece was conceptualized by Poetica creative director Steve Tozzi and brought to life with the help of CG director/lead animator John Clausing and senior flame artist Aaron Vasquez.
The film revolves around a cyclist traveling through a series of hyper-stylized landscapes, each populated with phantasmagorical cranes and flowers made of bicycle parts.
Poetica relied on Softimage and Arnold, a powerful new 3D CG-rendering program to render some 200-plus passes of CG to bring the stunning images to life with a quick turnaround. Additionally, programs such as Exocortex, Slipstream and ICE were employed to give the VFX a natural and organic look.
“We wanted this film to be a something of a vision, but to also turn it into something that moves and lives,” said Tozzi. “We used the bicycle as a toolkit to build other things while relying on the refined look of the elements and this real sense of light throughout. It’s really pushing the limits of 3D design.”
The film was developed as an identity piece for the bicycle company, originally founded in 1976. Poetica took the piece as an opportunity to deliver a unique vision of an already well-known worldwide brand using cutting-edge CG.
