Sapporo Canada

The Task

We were contacted by the Managing Director of Aardvark Design Solutions, Inc., a creative agency based in Ontario, who asked if we could help produce photo-realistic 3D renderings of beverages for their client Sapporo Canada. Our goal was to produce high-quality 3D renderings for 4 beverage sku's for Sapporo Canada and each design required options both with and without condensation. To help aid the production, we were provided with 2D die-line artwork files along with shape, style, and camera angle references.

The Process

Our work began with the 650ml beer can. This design was the most complex of the three cans due to it's custom faceted edge profile and we knew that once we nailed this one down the other cans, and eventually the bottle, would build off of what we established here. We created a 3D model of the can based on the dimensions and reference material and initially provided the client with some preview "clay-style" renderings for structure and camera angle approval. After a few tweaks, we turned our attention to texturing and material setup.

It was important that the can have a brushed textured finish as a base material with the artwork overlaid on top. As we created our materials we also began working on preliminary test renderings with different lighting set ups.

Lighting is always very subjective, but the overall goal was to create a clean looking can rendering with studio style lighting.

The final step for the can was to create the condensation. Not only would this need to look very realistic, but stylistically we had to take into account droplet shape, size, and density across the can. We started with a procedural distribution of the droplets which provided fairly good results, but in some cases the droplets created a distraction over certain branded elements and so some custom editing was needed.

The Results

Once the 650ml can was completed and approved, we were able to optimize our workflow for the other can sizes and bottle. The workflow was very similar, but much more efficient thanks to our initial setup and the power of 3D rendering. In the end, our client was very pleased with the results and we were grateful for the opportunity to work on designs for such a well known and established brand in the beverage industry.