The first taste of an Agency
While finishing up my BFA in Graphic design at Cal State Fullerton I managed to get an internship at Saatchi & Saatchi LA. Here I shadowed the 3D artist department where I learned how Maya (a 3D program) was used to generated high-fidelity photo-realistic images of Toyota's vehicles using CAD data from the manufacturers. It's amazing how 3D technology can create imagery that is indistinguishable from reality.
It's amazing how 3D technology can create imagery that is indistinguishable from reality.
This opened up my eyes to the CGI industry and how many of the advertisements you see are created by teams of talented 3D artists, not photographers and videographers. I understood to be a successful designer and artist in today's digital environment it's critical you master your tools so your imagination can run wild.
What I Created
While I was part of the 3D Art Department, I made the decision not to follow a career in CGI as I wanted to continue to pursue a career in UI/UX design. With that clear focus I learned tools like After Effects to create motion graphic videos showcasing the 3D assets generated by the team.
Another task was to create a system to manage the precise color values of all the different vehicle colors from different vehicle model years of Toyota. To do this I created an interactive PDF with a front-page displaying a grid of every color swatch of the vehicles being produced by the 3D artist team. Clicking on a swatch took the user to a page where they could browse the 3D assets of all the vehicles that use that swatch color.
Along with these tasks I assisted the team wherever I could. Being here taught me humility and what it truly meant to be a professional creative in an agency environment.
