Sheffield Pharmaceuticals, a Connecticut-based manufacturer, supplier of store brand OTC products, and home of Dr. Sheffield All Natural Toothpaste brand approached Sonalysts Media with the idea of developing AR (Augmented Reality) app technology. Sheffield had seen this innovative technology being used in the marketplace and knew it had to be leveraged for their brand.
The challenge was to bring Dr. Sheffield to life in a way that entertained, engaged, and educated Sheffield’s customers. With only one existing portrait of Dr. Sheffield, we were tasked to develop, design and deliver a native AR app. In addition to app development, our creative team provided concept art, character animations, and scripts. The animations and scripts were played when Dr. Sheffield came to life at the beginning of the AR experience. Oh, and we needed to make sure it would impress CVS!
Our solution included several layers: Creative, Design, and Technical. The technical solution involved writing code for the application, like triggering the AR experience from the product’s package, and tracking it’s movement. The animation had to complement the product’s existing box art, and couldn’t alter it, so object tracking had to be precise. The app also required a fairly robust User Interface functionality.
Our design team used Photoshop to create a front-facing rendering of Dr. Sheffield. They began with a single side-facing portrait of the him, the only portrait in existence. From the recreated image, they were able to key frame animations for a smooth and realistic head turn.
The face was then cut into features (eyebrows, eyeballs, jaw, etc) and visemes, which were imported into Adobe Character Animator for lip syncing and live motion capture. Character Animator allowed the team to bring Dr. Sheffield to life. Any movements performed by the animators were echoed by the Dr. Sheffield character. The motion capture data was then composited into video. By working closely with the technical team, the design team blended the animation seamlessly with the box art.
The creative team worked with the client to develop scripts and source voice talent for Dr. Sheffield. The most important part of this process was developing the attitude and personality of Dr. Sheffield. The goal was to shape him into a friendly but slightly arrogant type of character. Once the app was complete, we deployed the app to Google Play and iOS App Store.
The Dr. Sheffield’s app brings 19th-century dental pioneer Dr. Washington Wentworth Sheffield to life through augmented reality. With humor and storytelling- a hypnotic beard – the original inventor of modern day toothpaste shares his time-tested secrets to historically natural oral care.
