HBV animatic from 2D to 3D

Goal: To replace 2D footage with 3D animation in opening sequence of animation about the hepatitis B cycle. 

In the opening sequence of this animation the camera follows the virion as it approaches a liver cell. I want it to feel frenetic, and to have many proteins fly past the screen as we move forward. ​

Set up: 
I used proteins from the cellPack model of blood serum, although not at the exact relative concentrations. The proteins are mostly IgG and Albumin.

This set up involves 4 cloners spinning towards the camera surrounding the virion to reduce the number of proteins in the scene. Their rotation is dependent on their position. I used the size of the cloner to calculate the rate at which they should spin. 

The virion is surrounded by a low poly sphere with a simulation tag on it and two of the cloners have simulation tags on them. 

A challenge was to get the virion to move randomly through the scene but to end up in the location I needed it to be for the cross fade to the diagram image. I ended up applying a turbulence field to the virus and having the simulation tag turn off once it arrives as the docking site. I couldn't use a random effector because it would also move all the surface proteins. Vibration tags gave me issues with permanently changing the location of the particle. 

I was able to render the scene at about 10 secs per frame with no ambient occlusion and no shadows. I used a depth pass and created the depth of field effect in After Effects. 

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