Pre-Production

Concept & Scripting

This project kicked off as a high-impact launch animation for AWC’s newly upgraded TorqueMaster Xpress (TMX) and HydroMaster Xpress (HMX) frac valves. These redesigned systems introduced a new level of efficiency—interchangeable bonnets, external adjustability, and streamlined retrofit compatibility. The goal was to communicate those upgrades clearly and authoritatively. Script development was a tight collaboration with AWC stakeholders, drawing directly from engineering documentation and field experience. The aim wasn’t just to show physical updates—it was to clearly articulate their real-world advantages: less downtime, faster conversions, and no disruption to inventory management.

The structure of the narration mirrored the structure of the hardware. It started broad with side-by-side comparisons, then drilled into specific features like drift adjustments, actuator design, and indicator visibility. Precision was key—technical language had to match industry standards. Client feedback helped refine phrasing on terms like “external stroke adjustability” and “retrofit compatibility,” ensuring the script spoke to both engineers and decision-makers.

The visual tone was established early through reference gathering and competitive benchmarking. AWC provided STEP files of both legacy and updated valves, as well as branding guidelines—color palettes, typography systems, and logo lockups. These informed everything from supers layout to the hierarchy of graphic callouts. The production pipeline was built around Cinema 4D and Redshift, with After Effects and Element 3D supporting post work—giving us flexibility for title animations, compositing, and render optimization. From day one, the mechanical logic of the product shaped every decision—from camera staging to the flow of animation. Nothing was arbitrary.

Rapid Prototyping

The Rapid Prototyping phase was all about locking in animation logic, motion flow, and pacing—without getting bogged down in shaders or lighting. Working in Cinema 4D, we imported STEP files and began optimizing geometry right away. That meant stripping non-essential fasteners, simplifying topology in unseen areas, and prepping the main assemblies—actuator, bonnets, valve body—for animation. We used grey clay materials to keep things fast and focused.

Animations were built using the fracture system, linear effectors, and falloffs—giving us control over morphing from legacy to updated components without over-keyframing. Rotations for TMX and HMX models used null hierarchies, enabling synced camera movement and modular scene swaps. Booleans were used for quick cutaways—no geometry rebuilds required, just toggled visibility between internal and external views.

The emphasis here was clean camera composition, readable motion, and intuitive sequencing. Each shot had a purpose: show off retrofit compatibility, highlight actuator redesign, reinforce how parts interact. Camera paths were designed to support those reveals. A temp voiceover track was used to align pacing and preview the full experience for the client early. Clay renders from this stage were synced with early After Effects mockups, where callouts and supers were positioned using exported camera data.

Early Visual Styles Explored

Once structure and timing were locked, we pivoted to look development. Redshift lighting tests kicked off using high-res HDRI domes and physical lights to simulate a clean, high-end studio setup. The goal was to balance technical clarity with visual polish—a precision industrial style that still looked sharp and modern.

Material dev focused on realism: brushed metal, anodized finishes, chrome threading. Nothing stylized, nothing exaggerated. We used layered metal shaders with subsurface plastic tinting and roughness maps driven by procedural noise to bring tactile realism. Lighting was tested for how edge highlights and soft ambient shadows would separate components during movement.

In parallel, we overhauled the TMX and HMX logos. The client-supplied versions didn’t align with AWC’s broader brand standards, so we rebuilt them using the corporate font family. Visual cues from valve geometry—semicircular locks, piston shapes—inspired the design. 

Prototyping Animation Concepts

With the visual direction firmed up, we dug into animation logic. These were engineered movement studies, not just style passes. Every swap, compression, and drift adjustment was built from real mechanical behaviors. Valve assemblies were rigged hierarchically—null groups controlled bodies, and parts were offset for sequential timing. Key moments like bonnet swaps and stroke changes mirrored actual field procedures, keeping everything grounded.

No deformers, no cheating. Each motion stayed true to its function—rotations, slides, and compressions reflected how the real product works. Motion curves emphasized speed and accuracy: snappy accelerations into soft landings. Camera moves followed the same logic—mostly linear and cubic interpolations, with restrained easing to keep the movement precise. These setups were reviewed with engineers and tweaked for accuracy as needed.

Client Feedback Shaping Direction

Client input in pre-production was ongoing and precise. Early notes zeroed in on animation accuracy—especially with internal movement and adjustability. They emphasized that external drift control must remain visibly accessible after assembly, and that internals needed to reflect the current generation exactly. Several feedback rounds fine-tuned the indicator animations, actuator shapes, and placement of callouts. Timecoded notes helped guide updates efficiently.

Typography and wordmark changes were fast-tracked based on brand concerns. We replaced all supplied assets with updated versions midstream—logo, type, layout—and integrated them into both video and high-res stills. A final round of review reshaped the core values sequence at the end of the video, modifying the order and tone to better reflect AWC’s messaging priorities. Throughout this stage, we kept refining camera pacing, visual clarity, and callout legibility to make sure every frame did its job—clearly, confidently, and with brand fidelity.

Full Production

Look Development

With core animations established in the Rapid Prototype phase, the Full Production focus shifted to realism and polish. Material refinement and lighting development took top priority from day one. Redshift powered the renders, giving full support for physically based shading and multi-pass compositing. Every valve model underwent intensive shader work to mirror the real-world materials used in AWC hardware—from brushed stainless steel and anodized aluminum to painted bonnets and machined actuator housings.

Materials were built using multi-layered BRDF models. Procedural textures drove the base metal layers, adding subtle imperfections that gave components a lightly worn, tactile feel—detailed enough to feel authentic without undercutting the product’s engineered precision. Clearcoat and Fresnel reflection layers were dialed in on polished and cylindrical surfaces, especially on actuators, to add realism under clean, high-key lighting setups. Shader parameters were fine-tuned per scene based on camera angle, light position, and the amount of ambient occlusion needed to visually separate dense component clusters.

Lighting followed a clean three-point setup across most scenes, anchored by a broad, soft key to emulate a product photo booth. Rim lighting was added only where it helped define curvature or silhouette during rotation. For cutaways, fill lighting was adjusted to show internal structure without flattening contrast. In some shots, lighting intensities were keyframed to shift focus from the exterior to interior mid-sequence. A neutral gray environment dome with subtle falloff provided consistent lighting across the board while keeping ambient color bleed to a minimum.

Compositing was planned from the start. EXR multipass output included object buffers for all major components—top and bottom bonnets, actuator housing, indicator—giving downstream flexibility in After Effects. We rendered both cutaway and standard versions of each shot, perfectly aligned frame-for-frame to allow clean dissolves between views using soft masks in post. Renders were tested at different exposure levels to ensure lighting consistency across full and exploded scenes. The result: a flexible, robust render pipeline that gave post the tools to work fast without doubling back for geometry edits.

Design & Animation

Once the look was approved, we built out full-resolution scenes in Cinema 4D. The focus was on refining motion, tightening timing, and integrating graphic elements. Every valve movement—from rotations and component swaps to actuator compressions—was animated with precision to reflect real-world mechanics while hitting the rhythm of the voiceover. The actuator and bonnet sequences were particularly intricate, requiring nested hierarchies and exact keyframe timing to match narration beats.

All camera paths from the RP phase were carried forward but refined for smoother transitions and less stutter. Subtle dolly-ins were added to key scenes like the indicator reveal and the adjustability demo, drawing attention without overplaying the movement. Crossfades between different valve models and interior/exterior cuts were blocked early and synced later to the VO cadence, keeping the narrative progression fluid and intentional.

Exploded views were handled with surgical control. Each component group—valve body, actuator, indicator, stem—was animated with frame-accurate timing, using invisible guides to keep alignment tight. Visibility switches and motion graphs were tailored to convey mechanical clarity. The motion wasn’t flashy—it was confident, controlled, and built to reflect the engineered simplicity of the product.

Style Choices and Reasoning

Stylistic restraint was the rule throughout. This wasn’t about flash—it was about clarity, trust, and precision. The look and feel needed to reflect AWC’s values: safe, reliable, engineered. That meant skipping the cinematic tropes—no lens flares, no artificial depth of field, no over-designed transitions. Everything—from lighting to camera curves to shader gloss—was built to support that goal.

Lighting stayed consistent to maintain visual coherence as scenes moved from external to internal views. Camera movement was mechanical, not theatrical: long, steady tracks with clear focal priority.

Unique Animation Techniques

Some sequences called for more advanced techniques. The transition from legacy to upgraded valve setups used fracture and linear effectors instead of keyframes—giving us more control and making revisions faster. All exploded views were animated with null-based parenting and offset timing, letting us tweak sequences globally during review rounds. Boolean cutaways were rendered as standalone passes, then composited in post using alpha masks—this prevented geometry glitches and gave us clean transitions.

Value titles and icons were built in Element 3D, then shaded and lit to match Redshift’s look. This saved time on low-priority assets while keeping them visually consistent with the hero renders.

Challenges and Solutions

Several technical hurdles came up during full production. The biggest involved cutaway transitions. Booleans tend to be unstable at render time, so we rendered both cut and uncut versions and composited between them with alpha masks—clean, stable, no geometry errors. Metallic realism was another pressure point—fireflies and noise cropped up in tight reflections. We solved this by fine-tuning Redshift sampling, adjusting light falloff, and simplifying reflection depth where needed.

Camera motion brought its own challenges. Some shots needed subtle dolly-ins while internal parts animated independently, which created alignment risk. We solved it by anchoring the valve model to a parent null, stabilizing it, and moving the camera along a controlled spline path. That gave us reliable spatial consistency and smooth motion without introducing drift.

Post-Production & Delivery

Final Compositing & Color Grading

With the final renders locked, the project moved into compositing and finishing. After Effects was the main hub for this phase, running a 3D-aware pipeline that pulled in Cinema 4D’s camera and null data directly. This let us anchor screen titles, labels, and callouts in true 3D space, so they tracked naturally with animated objects. Titles stayed locked to motion—no floating or slipping during dolly moves or rotations.

The compositing stack was layered intentionally: base render pass, object buffers for targeted masking and highlights, then UI overlays on top. Color correction came next, using curves and selective contrast boosts to bring out the metallic textures without oversaturating the image. Backgrounds were nudged toward neutral tones to push product contrast, and exposure levels were balanced to keep brand marks readable no matter the playback environment. Midtones were lifted slightly, with cool shadows layered in to give the piece a modern industrial finish—clean, sharp, and restrained.

Title integration followed a strict brand hierarchy. Every bit of typography used the approved corporate fonts, and the TMX/HMX lockups—developed in-house to clean up the client’s earlier versions—were dropped into the timeline with lighting and shadow styling that matched the 3D scene. Words like “Innovative,” “Reliable,” and “Safety” were animated to land on narration cues, using soft wipes and easing curves that matched the video’s calm but confident rhythm.

Redshift object buffers were critical in post. These gave us clean masks for components like the actuator, bonnet, and indicator. That control let us spotlight specific parts without disrupting lighting continuity—perfect for scenes showing two valves side by side or transitioning from full assembly to a cutaway.

Callouts hit in sync with narration, but were also precisely aligned to the animation. When the actuator compressed, the “Redesigned Cylinder” label eased in with a soft fade and slight scale shift. When the position indicator rotated into view, its tag slid in smoothly with consistent timing and easing. We used a unified visual language—directional wipes, subtle motion cues, consistent durations—to keep the graphics feeling tight and deliberate.

In scenes like “Retrofitting” and “Internal Components Remain Unchanged,” we used full-screen overlays with transparent text blocks. These were designed to sit cleanly over metal surfaces without interfering with mechanical clarity. All language in these sequences was reviewed with AWC for technical accuracy and compliance.

Final Edits & Optimization

After the composite scenes were assembled, we did a final polish pass across the board. We synced transitions, tightened up animation timing, and fine-tuned text layout. Title sequence updates from the client—like reordering core value statements or tweaking the final CTA layout—were applied here.

Because we had alternate render layers ready from production, we could flip between cutaway and full views on demand. This flexibility avoided re-renders and sped up revisions during the final feedback loop.

Every single frame was reviewed for brand alignment. Fonts were checked against AWC’s standards—title cards, supers, and callouts all followed the corporate type rules. Colors were locked in to match the approved palette with zero hue shifts or saturation drifts introduced during grading.

Logo usage, especially in the open and close, was double-checked for resolution, scale, and safe-zone margins. TMX and HMX icons were implemented using the new internal standard. Supers were rewritten and formatted in collaboration with AWC stakeholders to match the brand’s tone, grammar, and visual rhythm. Even the “Core Values” animation got a last-minute tweak—reordered emphasis and revised pacing based on brand team feedback.

Collaboration & Revisions in Post

Client feedback in post was focused and collaborative. Notes came in as time-stamped comments, most of them quick refinements—adjusting timing, nudging a title, sharpening a logo. Major updates included repositioning the “Standardize Parts Inventory” super for better balance, reordering value words in the close, and fine-tuning the cutaway transitions to better match VO pacing. All changes were made through non-destructive edits, with alternate versions rendered when needed for comparison.

Once the client cleared their internal review, final sign-off was quick. They requested a few more render assets for print and presentation use, which we delivered using pre-composed AE layers that let us stay modular and agile without breaking the timeline.

Delivery

Final deliverables included a 1080p H.264 master video, a batch of 4K stills for print, and an SRT caption file aligned to the VO script. All files were organized in a shared folder with open access for both the marketing and engineering teams.

Transcript:

Introducing the new AWC Frac Valves.

A complete product line upgrade of our TorqueMaster and HydroMaster products that include more safety features & a simplified assembly all while keeping the valve components between the bonnets the same enhancing performance, reducing risk and lowering the total cost of your assets, giving your operation better uptime.

Torque Master Xpress offers a more compact, streamlined unit with several design enhancements and benefits. 

Operator Conversion is simplified, with minimal adjustments that can be made after assembly.  

The top and bottom bonnets are designed with the ability for external adjustable valve stroke and drift. 

The new-generation bonnets require no additional machining and are interchangeable. 

A high-visibility position indicator provides an operator safety feature during multiple simultaneous fracking operations.

The HydroMaster Xpress can be readily converted from manual TMX mode without having to open the bonnet. 

A newly-designed AWC actuator adds to the compact package with a redesigned cylinder dramatically cutting down assembly time.

And the drift can be adjusted externally. 

Retrofitting of your existing valves by AWC technicians can be made using the new design features.

And, most importantly, internal components remain unchanged from existing AWC valves so your replacement inventory is not affected by our significant improvements.

The TMX and HMX upgrades are the newest reasons to rely on AWC.  

Safety Focused…Innovative… Reliable… Customer Oriented.

AWC, your partner in assuring frac valve performance.