Citrix | Future Vision

Corporate Film

The challenge that was presented by Citrix was to inspire their employees and position themselves as a thought leader when it comes to anytime, anywhere workplace solutions. Working with an amazing team at Centerline Digital, the end result captures the potential of Citrix technology in the future, and how it could be used to better our day-to-day lives.

Role: Art Direction / VFX Supervision / Animation

Agency: Centerline Digital
Client: Citrix Systems, Inc.

The Creative Process

This project’s goal was to showcase Citrix and the future of collaboration. The main story revolves around a busy day in the life of a family. Here we show how Citrix products and services can increase productivity and help navigate a busy schedule. We showcase some of the main industries that Citrix operates in, including business, healthcare and architecture.

A series of boards called “Moodboards” helped communicate visually the overall aesthetics and concept.

The Storyboard

The storyboard for this project was created using various pictures, establishing the camera angles and actions of each shot and how it would fit into the story.

AI-enabled UI / Adaptive UI

The final design of the UI was based on a near-future concept in which AI will be smart enough to adapt to conversations and context. It would understand and adapt to user’s needs based on contextual information within the conversation on the Citrix platform, such as pulling up relevant research or images based on your questions.

We found the perfect inspiration in the modularity of the ‘Metro UI Design’ style created by Microsoft.

Final UI design created by the very talented designer Marcos Zanet.

On-Set Vfx Supervision

Shooting the video starts after a very thoughtful pre-production and planning of each individual shot. Every action the actor will perform is predetermined and carefully planned so that it will merge perfectly with the animation process. For each specific device featured in this project, I created a custom green screen image with integrated tracking markers that would track the animation, and help the actor orient and interact with precise areas on the screen. These actions have to match perfectly with the final design and animation of the UI for a flawless final image.

My presence on set ensured that both technical and creative aspects of the shoot transitioned smoothly into the post-production phase, through direct ongoing collaboration with the client, director and actors.

Reference environmental photos (HDRI – High Dynamic Range Imaging) were taken in order to match the lighting conditions of the computer generated models with the real world light.

[Pro Tip: the integrated tracking markers I use in my green screen are generated in various shades of green. By using different shades of green as tracking markers, they will disappear from your images automatically using ChromaKey. This saves me valuable time, avoiding the need to manually remove each marker without influencing the quality of the tracking.]

Working with Live Action

Matchmoving was done with PFMatchit – markers placed within each shot allowed for location of 3D animated objects with correct relationship to the virtual camera and surrounding scene.

Before and After: use the green sliders to view before and after images demonstrating the placement of animated objects within each shot.

The Animation Process

The final animation you see here is a combination of 2D and 3D animated elements. The data from the tracking markers demonstrated above allow us to locate the 3D animated elements within the scene. Technical graphic elements and computer generated models were used to demonstrate the concept of a virtual building being visualized within a future construction site with the use of augmented reality glasses.

The animation software of choice was Adobe After Effects for the UI. Autodesk Maya was used for the 3D computer generated elements.