Case Study 06 — 3D & Realtime
Snowflake Build
The darker, more cinematic side of the Snowflake brand. Four years running the 3D for Snowflake's developer conference.
The darker, more cinematic side of the Snowflake brand. Four years running the 3D for Snowflake's developer conference.
Build is Snowflake's annual developer conference, every November. Summit is bright, core brand, full of Snowflake blue. For Build we push the opposite direction, more cinematic and dramatic, with the snowflake bug logo built out in 3D, lots of lens flares, and heavier music. Every year since 2022 I make a short teaser, a longer promo, three opener videos, the keynote graphics, and a refresh of the whole template library of intros, outros, lower thirds, and transitions.
The wireframe look is the heart of it. Taking our snowflake bug into 3D and breaking it down in wireframe feels like deconstructing the brand in a good way, exactly the cinematic, developer tone Build wants. It's my favorite event of the year to design for, because it's where I get to really push the limits of my 3D rendering craft.
I used Polycam to scan actual Snowflake developers and drop them into the art, so as the camera flies around the scene you see real people. I also filmed them on green screen, so for the moments where they're talking I transition seamlessly into the green screen footage, then back to the Polycam geometry when the camera moves around them in 3D. I'd switch between Element 3D and Unreal depending on the shot: Element 3D when I needed green screen footage sitting inside 3D models, Unreal when I needed the extra global illumination and ray traced reflections.
This one is less a system than a four year progression. I've led the 3D for Build every year since 2022, and each year is a step up in what I can pull off. You can line the openers up side by side and watch the craft get more refined as the tools and my skills caught up to the ideas.