In Silico : Chapters 8-11

The next few chapters of 'In Silico' were focused on shading and lighting a scene, followed by animating a camera and finally rendering a finished piece.

I was given a scene which contained four objects which were already modeled and animated. A background plane was then added, and I applied simple coloured shaders to each object, and created a standard 3-point lighting setup (using key, fill and back lights). Shadows were enabled using depth-maps rather than raytracing. A camera was created with an aim constraint (a new technique to me) which forced the camera to always look at a designated point (around which you can then freely rotate). The camera was also attached to a circular motion path to give it a smooth consistent movement.

According to the author, the four objects in the scene represent the four chains (or subunits) of hemoglobin - the oxygen-transport molecule found in red blood cells.

This was my first attempt at working with this kind of data. I found it very interesting, and gained an understanding of how important photography/cinematography techniques are, and should not be underestimated when visualising information.

Another important point to make, is that we can still clearly see what is happening within the video - proof that the use of photo-realistic visuals is not always necessary. However, without pointing out that it depicts a hemoglobin molecule, it does not make much sense. A descriptive title can work wonders for a scene which has simpler visuals.