POP Creative Studio Creates Balanced Hybrid Imagery with Andy Glass for Zoetis
With their global neighborhood of creative and technical talent, POP Creative Studio is poised to work with artists with unique perspectives and be able to deliver highly specified content to clients. Their collaborations with Photographer and CGI/AI Director Andy Glass have spanned many genres and have required a variety of technologies over the years. Recently, Bader Rutter approached Andy with a challenging technical project with Zoetis for their hatcheries and egg health processes.
The images needed to communicate the science used but be clear and engaging for audiences. POP and Andy partnered closely from the earliest stages of the concept, combining Andy’s experience directing talent in conceptual spaces and POP’s talents in building complex digital environments. Together, they mapped out how real technitans would interact with a monumental egg and chick that would exist in post-production. Through sketches, 3D previzualization and CGI, POP ensured that Andy’s photography and their CGI elements would blend together in a believable way.
What was the brief for the Zoetis campaign?
The goal was to create a set of visuals that captured the complexity of Zoetis’s hatchery systems while keeping the message clear: stronger chicks from the very beginning. The imagery needed to communicate the science, equipment and teamwork involved in protecting chicks before they hatch.
Working with Bader Rutter and Andy Glass, we built a visual world where technicians interact with a giant egg and chick, representing the early-stage care Zoetis provides. By combining photography and CGI, the final images highlight both the technical precision and the human expertise involved in the process.
How did you establish the scale of the scene?
Scale was one of the most important decisions in the project. The egg and chick needed to feel monumental, but the people performing the tasks still had to be clearly visible and believable.
We designed the environment so the egg and chick could exist at a larger-than-life scale while maintaining a strong relationship with the technicians working around them. Finding that balance ensured the storytelling remained clear and engaging. Each technician represents a real hatchery task, so the proportions had to support both the visual idea and the real-world actions being depicted.
How did previsualization shape the production?
Once the layout of the scene was established, we moved into detailed previsualization to determine the technical parameters before the shoot.
The studio space Andy would be working in was smaller than the scale of the final environment, so we needed to carefully match lens choices, camera angles and distances to the CGI world. Camera height, perspective and the placement of props were all mapped in advance. That blueprint allowed the photographed talent to interact naturally with elements that would later be built in CGI.
By solving those variables ahead of time, the technical groundwork was in place before the shoot day began. That allowed Andy to focus on directing performance and capturing the best actions from each person.
How were the people and hatchery tasks incorporated into the scene?
While the oversized egg and chick create the immediate visual impact, every person in the scene represents a specific part of the hatchery process.
Technicians handle frozen vaccine canes in a thaw bath, inspect chicks with a flashlight, administer subcutaneous vaccinations, and monitor temperatures using equipment like a Dewar tank and nitrogen measuring stick. Scaffold structures were designed to provide realistic access points around the egg and chick, while plinths and platforms supported each subject.
Every prop and piece of equipment was scaled and positioned to reflect how these tasks happen in the real world. The goal was to create compositions that feel imaginative while still staying true to the actual hatchery environment.
What CGI elements were created for the project?
The large-scale egg and many of the hatchery tools were built entirely in CGI using real-world references.
Key elements included the Dewar tank, egg baskets, trolley, thaw bath, subcutaneous vaccinator and scaffold structures. Each object was modeled to scale and positioned carefully so it aligned with the photographed talent.
The egg itself used scanned eggshell textures to add realism, while a placeholder CGI chick was placed in the scene during production to provide volume and help cast accurate shadows. That also allowed the chick to bounce subtle yellow light into the surrounding environment, helping unify the elements.
How did everything come together in post-production?
With the photography and CGI elements complete, the final stage was integrating everything into a cohesive image.
Up to 30 individual talent performances were combined and balanced within the scene. Contact shadows, lighting adjustments and tonal refinements helped ground each person naturally in the environment. The chick itself was assembled from multiple high-resolution stock images and carefully refined so the feathers, eyes and feet appeared healthy and well defined.
The final color grade unified the photography, CGI and stock imagery into a consistent visual style. The result is a campaign that captures both the scientific precision and the human care behind Zoetis’s hatchery work, bringing the story of early-stage protection to life.