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Christmas Post for GoTreads

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A recent tradition for GoTreads is to have a fun social media post for Christmas. This year, we worked on animating a toy-like Land Rover blasting through a winter forest; complete with Christmas lights and a tiny set of GoTreads mounted on the side.

Behind the Scenes

For the curious.

This scene, with everything enabled, has polygon counts in the millions. Even with instancing, the project runs at a snails pace. But why render everything when the camera can only see part of the scene?

This scene, with everything enabled, has polygon counts in the millions. Even with instancing, the project runs at a snails pace. But why render everything when the camera can only see part of the scene?

Camera culling is nothing new but we had to create our own solution on this scene with how the trees were being instanced. A custom geometry node tree hides any objects not visible to the camera greatly increasing software response.

Camera culling is nothing new but we had to create our own solution on this scene with how the trees were being instanced. A custom geometry node tree hides any objects not visible to the camera greatly increasing software response.

The little Rover is fully rigged and follows a defined driving path. Complete with suspension travel and body sway. The sphere around the camera is another custom geometry node named “Tree Trimmer”. In some shots, the camera passes through the forest. The sphere trims any trees as it passes through them to keep anything from blocking the camera view.

The little Rover is fully rigged and follows a defined driving path. Complete with suspension travel and body sway. The sphere around the camera is another custom geometry node named “Tree Trimmer”. In some shots, the camera passes through the forest. The sphere trims any trees as it passes through them to keep anything from blocking the camera view.

Details matter. The snow particle system uses actual snow flakes. Here is a shot zoomed in on one falling through the air. Again, the camera culler is working hard to hide the millions of snowflakes not visible to the camera.

Details matter. The snow particle system uses actual snow flakes. Here is a shot zoomed in on one falling through the air. Again, the camera culler is working hard to hide the millions of snowflakes not visible to the camera.