The pepsi commercial was created in 3ds max, using phoenix fd for the liquid splash simulation. all shots are cgi. here is my clay render of the first scene. i use these type of preliminary visualizers to preview if the shots align with the creative direction of the animation. all final renders are done in vray.
The setup for the first shot involves a single camera panning in slowly, and a basic 3 point studio lighting setup. for the sake of simplicity i choose to keep the background plane in the render as well, so that the liquid simulation could receive more back light, at the expense of render time.
as for the simulation, the liquid is set to emit from the front face of these 3 cylinders. they are rigged with some initial velocity, so that the liquid shoots out quickly and can collide with the cans. in the shot, these cylinders are not visible, since they are placed directly behind the cans
the second shot consists of a similar setup. the only difference is that the cylinders are placed on the left and right side of the can.
here is the setup for the 3rd shot. the emitters are once again hidden, and placed behind the cans. this time using rectangles instead of cylinders. the camera is also rigged along a circle spline allowing for this type of cool 360 shot.
here is the playblast for that shot, without any simulations from phoenix fd. i wanted to get a feel for if this shot held up on it's own. you can see behind the cans, where the emitters are set placed.
after rendering all of the shots with vray. I composite all the 3d passes per shot in after effects. then after having all of the shots composited, post processed, and color corrected, i add in any remaining video elements / motion graphics.
