About A More Sustainable Austin

Our project is based upon creating two animations of various 3D rendered environments throughout the city of Austin. The two videos will be virtually identical with the only difference being that one is in present time and the other is 15 years in the future in 2035, when Austin Energy intends for Austin to achieve 100% carbon-free energy generation. Every pair of shots will be rendered the same and show the same environmental layout, with no alterations other than the environment assets to identify the time period. These two videos will then be overlapped and the user will have the ability to swap between them in real-time playback to compare and contrast the two differing ways of life. This will also help identify the key aspects that we believe will define a society that has a more sustainable future, as well as serving as an opportunity to highlight the environmentally-friendly steps already being taken by the city of Austin. 

 

The two videos will also have a text overlay that does not change between the two time periods, explaining the present situation for each scene and then describing the different steps that are being taken in 2035-era Austin. For instance, the present view of a scene may show a gas station with cars fueling up, while the text explains the various environmental issues with gasoline and diesel fuel. The text will then shift to explaining the benefits of electrically-powered cars, and the viewer will have the chance to shift to 2035 and see the same station with a lot of electric car charging stations.