DB × DHB
About the Project
For the Deutsche Bahn Handball EM commercial, eye-candy.xyz collaborated with the Berlin VFX production company SPC to deliver photorealistic 3D assets for a high-profile national campaign. The brief called for CG elements that would seamlessly blend with live-action footage under close scrutiny.
The team was responsible for creating multiple key props, including a handball, the DB ICE train, and recognizable Berlin landmark buildings, each modeled, textured, and shaded to hero-shot quality.
Final Result
ICE train seamlessly integrated with live-action footage
Berlin landmark buildings integrated as CG environments
Props
eye-candy.xyz was responsible for creating multiple hero assets: the official Handball EM ball, the DB ICE train, and several famous Berlin buildings. Each asset was built to survive the closest camera scrutiny while remaining consistent with its real-world counterpart.
Handball – Cross-Polarized Scanning
The handball was scanned with our in-house cross-polarized imaging system. This technique captures pure diffuse albedo free of specular highlights, providing the exact surface microdetail needed to build a physically accurate shader. The result is a photorealistic ball that holds up in every close-up shot.
Physical on-set reference for CG reconstruction
Cross-polarized photoscan capture – pure diffuse albedo
360° turntable – photorealistic handball with cross-polarized shader
Deutsche Bahn ICE Train
Every panel line, branding detail, and reflective surface of the ICE train was modeled from reference and matched to production specifications. The materials needed to respond convincingly under a wide variety of lighting conditions, from overcast to direct sunlight, across multiple shots.
360° turntable – Deutsche Bahn ICE train with production shaders
Buildings
With reference images gathered from many famous Berlin and German showplaces, the team created textures and delivered the shaders for each landmark. The buildings needed to read as instantly recognizable while blending seamlessly with live-action plates.
Brandenburg Gate – 360° CG turntable
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche – 360° CG turntable