Santa Monica, Californias Computer Cafe provided 3D animation and visual effects services for a new spot for Bayer Home Health. Conceived by Chicago agency Euro RSCG Tatham, the 30-second spot promotes Bayer Home Health Total Termite Control system. The spot opens on a man lying in a magnetic resonance imaging system. The machine's scanning bar performs a pass and reveals an interior view of the man's chest. The scene then shifts to the man's home and dissolves to a MRI-like view in which the insides of the home's skeletal structure are plainly in view. The MRI house was created by layering 3D animation over live-action footage. Computer Cafe artists produced all of the 3D elements, preparing highly detailed models of the insides of people, the family dog, a motorcycle, furniture and the house itself. In order to marry the animation with the live action, artists had to ensure that the size, placement and movement of each element precisely matched that of its real life counterpart. Basing its work on reference footage of real termites, Computer Cafe artists prepared several CG termite models and animated them in a highly realistic manner. "This was a unique assignment in that, while we were modeling real objects and animating them in a realistic manner, their appearance wasn't realistic at all. Rather, it represents how the scene might look if you could run an MRI of the whole scene," Stone said. "In order to pull that off, the animators had to aim for an extraordinary level of detail."
