Learn how narrativ used anima ALL to quickly breathe life into Portsmouth's Gunwharf Quays visualization with 3D people and 4D humans.
Summary:
- narrativ, a UK-based CGI studio, specializes in large-scale projects like Landsec’s designer outlet at Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth.
- To showcase the planned overhaul and future visitor experience, they created a film using anima ALL’s crowd animation capabilities.
- anima ALL enabled narrativ to quickly populate their scenes with dynamic crowds, enhancing viewer immersion.
- By blending CGI with stock footage, narrativ brought the architectural vision to life, creating a powerful film imagining the venue five years into the future.
London-based CGI studio narrativ creates visualizations, animations, virtual tours, and marketing films to present architectural visions in a relatable and immersive way. As a high-end studio, they provide clever CGI solutions for complex architectural projects like Landsec’s upcoming plans for the designer outlet at Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, U.K
This complex is situated on the waterfront, and a planned £45m overhaul will see it further enhance its offerings to visitors, with a premium retail and leisure experience, and hospitality hotspots. To properly convey the scale of this project, Director Robin Walker and the narrativ team created a film using anima ALL, Corona, and 3ds Max that would give viewers a look at the upgraded space, imagining it five years in the future.
Problem: How to showcase scale and breathe life into architectural visions
Landsec's renovation plans for Gunwharf Quays are vast and include removing vacant retail space, creating a city square, and establishing a hospitality destination. To convey this, they needed to visualize a space that would “look epic and bursting with energy,” explained Director Robin Walker. Having seen narrativ’s work on the Olympia film, Landsec knew exactly what the studio could do. "Landsec trusted our artistic eye," said Robin. "The most important guideline was simply to do what we're best at."
For narrativ's artists, showing the changes in the buildings and space was something they could easily achieve using 3ds Max and Corona. The most important aspect of this project was producing a film that made audiences feel like they were there. Landsec wanted to use the film to market to existing and potential retailers and to build visitor anticipation.
To achieve their artistic goals, narrativ aimed to visualize Gunwharf Quays as it would be—a vibrant complex with crowds of people using the space for shopping, relaxing, and eating. They planned to include some live-action stock footage to help set the scene, but to show off the upgrades in a believable way, they needed an effective crowd visualization solution with access to 3D people models that looked and moved realistically. Additionally, all 3D people assets had to be render-ready and of consistent quality to work well together.
narrativ turned to anima ALL as a complete crowd visualization solution to streamline this process. This gave them access to a vast collection of models and tools to control animations efficiently.
Solution: Use anima ALL to create immersive and dynamic crowd scenes
Because narrativ’s projects are often focussed around public gathering spaces, the studio likes to include people models from the start of the animation process. ”The films were really all about people—without them, it would have felt like a strange ghost town,” says Robin. Using anima Drop—the studio’s favorite feature—adding people models can be done within 3ds Max, seamlessly fitting into the studio’s workflow. “We can simply drag and drop 3D people into our Max scene, including 4D people,” explains Robin. “Then continue to move, rotate, scale, and work in an organic and artistic way.”
When adding any crowd, large or small, narrativ start by importing the background objects that will serve as areas to avoid into the anima app; in the app they create the socialization areas where the 3D rigged models will walk and socialize, such as paths, stairs, ramps or escalators. "You draw an area or path and generate loads of 3D people with a button; then, if you want to reduce, change the people, or add more, you can simply regenerate or even swap in and out manually."
4D people always look amazing, and we're not afraid to feature them prominently.
Robin Walker, narrativ
For the models appearing closer to the camera, narrativ gravitated towards anima's hallmark models, 4D walking humans, to show off the upgraded complex. These models were a big part of the overall film, influencing the composition of shots and helping to guide the viewer's eye throughout. Although narrativ's film would feature the 4D models close up, it had no qualms about them being a viewer distraction. "4D people always look amazing, and we're not afraid to feature them prominently."
Better yet, narrativ was even able to find 4D models that matched people featured in the stock footage portions of the film. “It really helps that anima has such a comprehensive library of people,” says Robin. “We can always find the right models to match the stock footage, which is incredibly important for maintaining consistency.”
While anima can handle a lot of the heavy lifting with its automated features, it also allows you to fine-tune the results when needed, and that's really important.
Robin Walker, narrativ
Throughout the crowd creation process, the narrativ team let anima automatically generate the models' positions and the clothing color. Then, when it came to the 4D walking models, the team could make small changes to move their positions or alter the movement sequences to allow them to get the shots they needed. This flexibility to automate, while also being able to make manual changes is something the narrativ team values in their work. "While anima can handle a lot of the heavy lifting with its automated features, it also allows you to fine-tune the results when needed, and that's really important."
Once the crowd was in place, the final touches on the Gunwharf Quays film were completed. Despite the extensive use of anima models, the project rendered smoothly. “Having hundreds of anima people doesn’t seem to affect render time,” said Robin.
Result: An animation that thrills clients and shows narrativ’s competitive edge
The Gunwharf Quays animation was a clear success for narrativ, delivering exciting and vivid storytelling faster than its client expected. With anima ALL, the video went beyond showcasing physical upgrades, allowing viewers to grasp the project's scale and envision how visitors will experience the complex.
Presenting the new and overhauled Gunwharf Quays in an animated video allowed Landsec to market what existing and potential retailers, the local community, and visitors can look forward to.
You don't have to worry about purchasing the correct model. You will always be able to find the one that's right for the job.
Robin Walker, narrativ
Using anima ALL to add crowds and models to their animation was a boon for narrativ. Not only was it highly time-efficient due to anima's automation features, but it was also cost-effective due to being an all-in-one solution. The full access to the vast anima ALL people library is yet another reason for narrativ to choose it as the only crowd solution for their visualization projects. The library contains over 3000 people assets in five main categories. "You don't have to worry about purchasing the correct model," explains Robin." You will always be able to find the one that's right for the job." This and anima's automation tools have allowed narrativ to deliver projects quickly, helping the studio maintain its edge over competitors.
narrativ's expert use of anima ALL's capabilities showcases its value as a comprehensive solution for adding crowds to visualizations. With its intuitive tools and automation features, the studio plans to continue using it to enhance efficiency and storytelling in future projects.
