Sprint Sneaker Mania

Bringing Sneaker Mania to Life

When the brief for Sprint Sneaker Mania landed on our desks, the goal was to create something that felt fast and tech-forward. Instead of just showing shoes on a shelf, we wanted them to feel like they were part of an urban dreamscape—popping out of phone screens and orbiting athletes on Dhaka rooftops and in gyms.

As a VFX studio in Bangladesh, we’re used to ambitious timelines, but this project was a massive logistics exercise. We had to bridge the gap between a standard shopping experience and high-end CGI. To make the sneakers feel real, they couldn't just look like generic 3D models; they needed the exact texture, fabric grain, and rubber wear of the physical products. We focused on blending live-action footage with these digital assets so that the "Mania" felt like it was actually happening in the real world.

Technical Execution

To get this done without burning out the team, we had to move away from traditional manual modeling and lean heavily into automation.

• Photogrammetry for Accuracy: We digitized the collection rather than building it from scratch. We took over 600 high-res photos of each shoe from every possible angle. This ensured that the mesh and textures were 100% faithful to the real product.

• Blender Python Automation: Manually cleaning up 3D scans is slow. Our technical team wrote a custom Python script in Blender to handle the "grunt work"—automatically converting heavy scans into light, production-ready models, unwrapping UVs, and baking textures. This saved us weeks of manual labor.

• 3D Tracking with PFTrack: To make sure the floating sneakers didn't "slide" against the live-action footage, we used PFTrack to recreate the camera movement. This kept the digital shoes locked perfectly into the environment, whether it was a gym or a skyline.

• Giving Shoes "Personality": We handled the animation in Blender, focusing on the weight and physics of the shoes. We didn't want them to just float; we wanted them to move with a sense of momentum that matched the "Sprint" brand.

• Final Compositing in After Effects: This is where we tied everything together. We used virtual lighting to match the sun on the rooftop and the fluorescent lights in the gym. We also added motion blur and speed lines to give the final video its high-energy, "manic" feel.

The Pipeline:

• Main Tools: Blender (Animation & Scripting), PFTrack (Tracking), After Effects (Compositing).

• Tech used: Photogrammetry, Custom Python scripts.

At FireDrum Studios, we’ve been operating since 2015 with a team of about 20 artists. Projects like this are exactly why we love what we do—using a bit of smart coding to solve creative problems and delivering high-end post-production in Dhaka that can compete on a global scale.