Dizzying new Channel 4 ident

Unlucky, Eratosthenes. It turns out Earth is flat after all ... At least it is in the folded world of Channel 4's new 4seven ident, in which a camera pans 180 degrees above a busy motorway.

The ident is the third in a series of collaborations between post-production company MPC, London-based design, motion studio ManvsMachine and Channel 4's communications arm 4Creative.

Using over 1,000 photographs of Gravelly Hill interchange taken from a helicopter, the 3D team was able to build a topographic base for the landscape.

Maya and Nuke

The photos were then projected on to further geometry – either imported from Maya or made entirely in Nuke – to dimensionalise the scene.

The road and cars were built and animated in Maya and the piece was then composited entirely in Nuke, adding things like clouds and ripples in the lake. 

These elements combine bring the scene dizzyingly to life: