Small Choices, Big Impact – short animation on environmental awareness
The Rochester Institute of Technology created this video on environmental pollution and what you can do to prevent it.
Mark Sniffen writes:
Hi all,
My name is Mark Sniffen. I work running a graphics department for the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in upstate New York. A few months ago we finished production on an animation that was realized for the most part using Blender. All of the 3D work was done in Blender, in which the Cycles render engine was put to good use!
A sustainability lab at RIT approached us to create the project. The piece (and the lab) was sponsored by Staples, the office supplies giant that everyone probably is familiar with. They wanted to create a piece that would reveal to consumers how their actions can impact the planet; that when you order something seemingly simple online, there is a vast number of people, places, and parts of the planet that are involved with delivering that product to your door.
As director of animation, I worked with a few student artists on this project. One 3D artist and two After Effects compositors. I’ve included links to quick breakdowns from my personal website as well as Kat’s, the other 3D artist I worked with.
While there is a ton of different software that we use in my department, Blender remains at the heart of my production pipeline. As an consistent user for over 10 years, I find that Blender can easily handle the challenges of a high end workflow while offering unique and efficient ways to approach creating beautiful images. I am the only staffed individual in my department, all my employees are all students. Some of these students are in a 3D animation degree program, and when each one starts, they have experience in either Maya or Cinema 4D. Their first few days on the job are going through CG Cookie’s introduction to Blender. They never regret it!
Great animation and style … and by the way, I wasn’t aware that cloud computing requires more energy than global aviation! That’s a lot of energy.
Yeah that surprised me too. I really wonder if that can be true though..
Wouldn’t be surprised, the supercomputer the US are planning on building will have an estimated $60m a year electricity bill:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33718311
No doubt a lot of that electricity goes to cooling as well as powering the machines…
Excuse me, but I cannot resist to quote a real king:
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?”
Obama doesn’t seem to be someone who is able to make calculations for himself. A super computer will not be helpful if he turns his own brain off.
Anyway … I watched the video of Mark’s team again and again. I’ve noticed that despite it is “low poly style” it has so many details. And the After Effects compositors played with the coloration in order to bring in the right mood at the right moment. We can learn a lot of this video.
Ha ha ha. I think he wants it just to have a faster computer than China :)
That’s nothing – United Airlines alone spent $3 Billion in the first quarter of 2014:
http://ir.united.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=83680&p=irol-newsArticle&id=1921731
I really don’t believe the claim that cloud computing is using more energy – aviation is just too widespread.
Save aviation, shut down the clouds!
That’s canon food for all conspiracy theorists.
United Airline spend even more on fuel than on salaries. If this would be the same in the IT that would be terrible.
Thanks for the comments — when creating a piece like this it is easy to twist or inflate issues or facts. The client wanted to be sensitive to that fact and actually has a page of citations for each of the facts that are displayed throughout the piece:
http://www.rit.edu/gis/ssil/small%20choices_big%20impact_video_references_2.pdf
The specific paper on the energy use of cloud computing can be found here:
http://www.tech-pundit.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Cloud_Begins_With_Coal.pdf
It is worth saying that the reason the client chose to display these facts was not to make the claim that we should entirely abandon an industry just because its abuse harms the planet. The goal was to inform buyers of everything that goes into creating the products they buy so that they can make more informed purchasing decisions. If one believes that we rely too much on the coal industry, for example, the only way the industry will change is if buyers change their purchasing habits.