Oliver Zangenberg-Minde

3D Generalist
Technical Director

15 years in
Visual Effects - Visualization - Real-time 3D

Photo of Oliver Zangenberg-Minde

Hi, I am Oliver,

seamlessly blending my proficiency in 3D computer graphics and high-end visual effects with the latest advancements in real-time technology.

Visual Effects for Film and TV

From 2008 to 2017, I worked in various roles in 3D computer graphics (CG) for movies and TV shows, catering to the American, European, and Chinese markets, with production budgets reaching up to $200 million USD.

As a generalist, I contributed to previsualization, animation, and FX (dynamics/simulation).

Notable movies include "2012" (dir. Roland Emmerich), "Fast & Furious Five" (dir. Justin Lin), and "Hugo" (dir. Martin Scorsese), the latter earning the Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Visual Effects in 2012.

My contributions to television shows earned me an Emmy Nomination in 2013.

Find the full list of credits on imdb:
Oliver Zangenberg - imdb Senior CG-Artist, Technical Director, Previsualisation, Animation Lead, FX Artist

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Conceptual Design

In my role as a Previsualization Supervisor, I had the privilege of collaborating closely with Visual Effects Supervisors and Directors, designing shots and sequences. This involved working as a vendor, on the client-side, and on-set, in both the U.S. and the UK.

Following previs work, final shot production was then awarded to us or assigned to other vendors.

Dynamics, Simulation and Tools

Building on my extensive experience in destruction animation, I expanded my expertise by delving into the procedural world of Houdini, focusing on smoke, water FX, fire, and Rigid Body Dynamics.

I support production pipelines through Python tooling, streamlining workflows with proceduralized asset production and data pipelines.

Visualization, Real-time 3D and the Web

As a freelancer, I leverage cost-efficient real-time technology for product and process visualizations, serving clients in the medical, engineering, and advertising sectors. Although distinct from entertainment, this work requires all the competencies mentioned above.

My mission is to simplify access to 3D content by placing it directly into users' hands through the use of modern web technology and game engines. This journey has led me to problem-solve using a range of modern web technologies, from WebGL and TypeScript to PostgreSQL.

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News & Notes

A showroom for demos, tests and everything else I do. Be it 3D content creation, 3D interactive web content or realtime rendering.

A Takes System in Blender

A "Takes" System in Blender

The final image consists of dozens of render passes. The client says, 'Looks great, let's change the camera angle.'

In basic terms, a final CG render is the product of a single source of truth (a 3D scene file) with many outputs (the renderings), which are then composited together.

In this article, I write about the backbone of my CG pipeline: a 'Takes'-System in Blender that lets me produce arbitrary outputs from a single scene file by writing simple Python snippets. This is not an add-on or product but a description of a workflow I use. It is powerful and not user-friendly 😄

Read the article ➡

Solarjourney

Talented webdeveloper Julian Fella took an interactive 3D scene of mine to the next level. The Solarjourney website got quite some recognition on several awards websites.

My work included the 3D content creation, ThreeJS development and API development to connect and control the 3D scene from the website.

Try the web experience ➡

Pre-rendered product visualisations - another one

Turn, open, look inside... There are many options for product showcases. Here are some combinations. These are pre-rendered image sequences that can be controlled by dragging over them.

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Pre-rendered product visualisations for the web

Product interaction with high visual detail for shops, landing pages or any marketing platform. I like it as a quick and budget-friendly solution for playful customer engagement. Since it is only image-sequences, it runs everywhere.

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Web interactions and pre-rendered product visualization

Interactive 3D experiences on the web come with limitations in visual fidelity. On the other hand, static images and videos can achieve the highest level of visual detail, but they lack interactivity. A compelling compromise between the two is a sequence of images that responds to various web interactions. For example a scroll based interaction as in this example.

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Medical Visualization

Working with clients in the medical sector does not always produce purely technical visualizations; at times, it allows for the creation of highly creative and artistic imagery. Here is my stylized version of red bloodcells trapped in a fibrin bloodclot.

Simulation in Houdini and rendered in Blender.

Scrollytelling but with 3D!

3D objects with animation can be seamlessly integrated into any webpage. You tell a story by controlling where the animation plays to when users scroll. Just by adding attributes in your HTML.

This demo renders actual 3D content with ThreeJS. Depending on your device, you can place the product in your environment with Augmented Reality.

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Interactive 3D

Controling a 3D object in the browser with user interaction. A demo with modelviewer and SwiperJS.

The 3D content is setup with named states that describe aspects of the 3D scene: what animation to play, where to place the camera etc. These states can then be triggered in all the ways possible with modern web interfaces.

Try it out ➡