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Already familar wth the Nike branding, SD looked into some of the first Flyknit animations spots done for the company and came up with this updated piece. This version explores some particular aspects of the technology; a shoe that resists the cold and other natural elements, that lets the athlete breathe just like a second skin. The director realized the concept with realistic, physically-accurate visuals.

The atmospheric elements, fog, heat, cold air are telling a story. A story of formation, endurance, strength and more important adaptability. Everything, from the tiny flying particles to the fabric fibers was made to feel more authentic and more biotic. There is a movement within the color, shapes are fluid, with constant organic motion and transformation.

D'Atelier knew the story he wanted to tell and how to do it. He imagined a scene where the forces of nature react to a force like Nike. What is portrayed on screen is the cycle of life⏤and SD thought the origin story of water would be appropriate as the theme. He loved the poetic suggestion of the shoes been born of water and ice. It was crystal clear that the textures would be the hero. So SD decided to focus on building the surface of the shoe to feel and look rough. It was also important to accurately show how the light would shine on these materials in the real world.

After the storyboard was completed, SD made multiple experiments and looked in each of his favorite programs, Houdini and Redshift was, of course, the preferred option. It's impressive how the Houdini software depicted the current state of the natural cycle of ice⏤almost as if the shoe was been unearthed from the planet, the result was visually stunning.

It was all quite abstract, but the storyboard helped informed each step with a much-needed structure to work with⏤There was a massive amount of time dedicated to exploring the technicality behind these scenes. With such a high-level vision it is important to stay focused on the finishing line and to believe in the idea.

There is a storm of threads forming while the shoe is weaved, like a tornado of weaving tendrils, attaching to each knot and functioning as the final threads to realize the Flyknit shoes. The first scenes show how a knitting simulation is done in Houdini, as this process occurs, the shoe heats considerably demonstrating the effects of the technology in the apparel. The cinematic reveal was designed in Houdini, and the sequence where knitting occurs was conceived in cinema 4D. The atmosphere is very cold at first, the lighting design made to be dramatic, suspenseful. The knitting made self-aware is a key to the narrative and the scene was modeled after a preceding CG campaign by the Nike Flyknit team. The ice acts like a cast inside which the shoe was molded and is a metaphor for the weather.

This approach allowed for graceful, wheedling camera moves, creating this amazingly unique CG video, that offers experience from the perspective of the engineer. This exciting experience is best viewed on a large 4K monitor.

Linking the blueprint of the Flyknit with something tactile and real like a fabric relied almost entirely on the process. Microfiber, knots, and floating fibers as well as heat, materials, and vibrations, were all made to showcase the physicality of shoe manufacturing. Since this film required many fast cuts, it was so important to retain a rich library of scenes that could be used to stitch everything together. Having many cuts gave d'Atelier much more freedom in the way he created motion in the edit.