Challenge:

In other to help bringing awareness of the opening of Scalpers' brand new building in Sevilla, the client asked Cekai, an agency in Los Angeles and Tokyo, to help with the production of a CGI piece where we can see a Xmas Tree (since the new shop opening was during that time and they wanted to promote their massive decorated tree) growing inside the facade of the building in a surprising way.  

Execution:

With the help of Playsense, an agency and production house where I worked as Creative Director, I directed this piece and delivered it to the client in record time. Due to the restrictions of a tight schedule and budget, and not being fully satisfied with the final output, I decided to redo it myself. Here I show a bit of the process and the final result.
FINAL OUTPUT
PROCESS

Tree Design.


Something that was clear to me is that we had to create a tree that looks healthy and gorgeous with ornaments that make it look premium and irrevent, following the aesthetics of the brand. 
After trying with different types of trees, these were the selected designs. 


Mood board.
3D Ornaments Design.
3D tree design.

Working on the density and growing process.
Storyboard & Visual Development.

Initially the tree was going to "pop" outside of the building, as shown here, so it looks like it nearly falls on top of the people. But it was decided to be kept inside of the facade. These are the comps I made in order to explain how the facade would open, how the tree would grow and how finally pops outside of the building.
Animation & Physics

The tree animation was truly challenging because it was not only about simply making it grow bigger, but doing it in an organic and natural way by animating every branch. Each of the ornaments had to be animated using physics so that it feels that they bounce when they pop from the tree. Last but not least, making the lace "hug" the tree avoiding collisions with the tree or the ornaments was probably the hardest part.
Making of

Although it doesn't truly reflect the huge amount of work this project needed, you can get a brief idea of the process by watching this video, :)