Branch Education

Ray Tracing: How CGI Makes Incredibly Realistic Scenes.

This is the most meta video we've made yet simply because one of the main rendering engine inside Blender, the software we use to make our animation, uses Ray Tracing. So it's a video explaining the algorithm behind the making of the video.

Also, this video is a perfect example of seeing something on a daily basis, but no knowing the complexity and math inside of it. Like- I loved watching Shogun recently, and there is just sooo much CGI, but you'd never know because it was so perfectly done and seamlessly integrated. But really a lot of scenes in Shogun had some level of CGI. Same, but even more so applies to Game of Thrones / House of the Dragon. Anywho! We hope you enjoy the video.

Clips of the next 2 Videos: Standard Cells & Ray Tracing

Video 1: Standard Cells // How Transistor Logic Works // How Transistors are Organized [We're still workshopping the name]. This video will explore how transistors are physically organized and how they use local interconnects and Vdd / GND rails to perform basic logic. This is a great topic because it's a critical stepping stone in understanding how computers work as we will explore how physical transistors actually perform logic like AND / OR / XOR etc.

Video 2: How Ray Tracing Works // How CGI and Ray Tracing Works [A little more targeted of a video title, but still WIP]. This video will explore how CGI is generated and how realistic lighting using ray tracing is performed. I also really think this is a great topic, because it's how CGI is generated for all the TV shows and movies we watch. Like I loved watching Shogun for so many reasons, and one of them was showing off 1600s Osaka which was produced through some amazing CGI.

Updated Video on Microchip Manufacturing

We had to upload a new version of the Microchip Manufacturing video due a few minor issues with the previous version. (YouTube doesn't allow for editing uploaded videos easily) Sorry if your comment on the older video version upload is lost due to this re-upload. One interesting thing is that this is actually revision 20 of the progressively completed video, and the script went through 46 revisions, with 2 major restructures. Soooo, edits are nothing new.

Finally finished the video on Microchip Manufacturing

After 4.5 months of modeling, animation, and extensive editing, we've completed our video on how Microchips are made. We hope you enjoy the video and learn around 30-100 new things.

How Are Microchips Made? Almost Completed

We track the number of hours we work on each project and this video's research, script writing, modeling, and animation has surpassed 1200 hours! We're around 95% done with the animation, so hopefully we'll be uploading the video in a few weeks. We can't wait to be done with this behemoth of a video. On a different note, hopefully, in the next few weeks, I'll have more time to release some behind-the-scenes videos. - Teddy

Upcoming Video! Microchip Manufacturing

Our upcoming video has is the most complicated topic we've talked thus far!  The script took months to research and write, it has a ton of models of all the different tools in the microchip fabrication plant, and now we're well into animation.  So stay tuned!

Upcoming Video on Digital and Analog Clocks

We finished this video around the same time that we finished up the video game graphics video, so we decided to have this video be our January Video.  We're releasing it early to Patreon.  Also, note that the animation for this video was completed in November, and then the rendering took a whole month, so the Patreon list is a little old.  The next video on Microchip Fabrication will have the new updated Patreon list.  

1.574M Views in 10 days!

The video game graphics video was the most successful video we've released thus far!  It passed 1M views in 5 days and is continuously gaining more and more views every day.  We truly couldn't have created a video of this quality without your contributions so thank you for your continued support.

I'm planning a Q&A Patreon exclusive video for mid-January, so send me your questions!  

Latest Video on How Video Game Graphics Work!

We have been working non-stop for the past 2 months to finish this video before Christmas, and it came out better than we could have anticipated!  Thank you, everyone, for your continued support on Patreon, and 2024 is the year that we reach a consistent upload schedule!!  If you have any questions for a Q&A, or anything else, feel free to ask!

Big Updates & Upcoming Videos

First, with the big updates:  Starting in December, we'll release a monthly Patreon exclusive video.  These monthly videos will be behind-the-scenes, a studio tour, an Ask Me Anything, or some other bonus video.  December's video will be an AMA.  So please submit your questions as a comment to this post or by messaging me.  Also, not every video will have the list of Patreon supporters in the outro.  This is because YouTube penalizes videos with long outros that <10% of the viewers watch, so essentially, we are cutting the outro from a few (less than half) of the upcoming videos. 

Speaking of upcoming videos:  We're working on an incredibly detailed set of videos on GPUs, video game graphics, how transistors are manufactured,  how transistors work, and an elegant video on how clocks work!!  These are some of our most in-depth and model/animation intensive videos, so thank you for your support.

Latest Video: How do Electron Microscopes Work?

It's been a little while since the last video, but that's because of the big life update!!  My wife and I moved to a new house in June, and then we had our first baby boy in July!  Everything is going well, and I've found an extra amount of work time during the night shift hours of feeding and changing diapers.

That said, the Branch Education team is working hard, and here's the finished product on how Transmission Electron Microscopes can take pictures of atoms.  We are planning 4x videos (hopefully 5) to be completed by the end of the year, and each of them will hopefully blow your mind. 

-Teddy Tablante 

Upcoming Videos: Transistors & Electron Microscopes

The next few months will have some fascinating videos!  We're finishing up
a rather high-tech video on scanning and transmission electron microscopes [right picture] and how we use these multi-million dollar microscopes to see into the nanoscopic world.  After that, we're diving deeper into how computers & GPUs work, and to start it off, we'll explore the main arithmetic element of a GPU core [left picture].  Thanks for supporting our Patreon, and we're sure you will enjoy both of these videos and all the additional ones we have in the queue.

Latest Video on how Basic & Mechanical Keyboards work!

Learning how to build integrated circuits:

My friend Matt Venn runs Tiny Tapeout where you can build your own ASIC / custom integrated circuit!!  It's a great way to learn about how microchips work.  Check it out:

3D Animated Teardown of a Desktop Computer

After hundreds of hours of modeling and animation, here's our next video exploring all the parts of a desktop computer.  

Upcoming Video : Computer Dissection

We're actively working on our next video that will explore all the parts of a desktop computer and what it looks like inside, and here are a few preview images.  This video will have some of the most model-intensive 3D animations we've made thus far, and just like you- we also can't wait till it's done!  

Shorts video of an iPod Teardown

We're working on a video showing some of the evolution of iPods to smartphones, and with the models, we decided to make some short animations.  

If you're wondering why we're making these types of videos, tbh- it's because we have to mix up research-heavy videos with videos that require minimal research.  Research-heavy topics usually take ~3-4 weeks of reading/researching followed by an additional 3-4 weeks of writing & editing.   Whereas the YouTube algorithm likes a minimum of monthly uploads.  Thus some videos are lighter on the research, and ones like this have 0 writing.

Would any of you be interested in a Q&A video?  If so- what are some questions you may have?

1 Meeeeliiioon! Thank you everyone!!

Thank you everyone for helping us along this journey!  For those curious, here are the progress thus far:

First Video 5/25/2018

Reached 50k 5/13/2019

Reached 100k 5/21/2020

Reached 200k 8/4/2020

Reached 500k 11/21/2021

Reached 1M on 12/28/2022

This averages out to 596 subscribers / day

Happy Holidays!! | Latest Video | Updates

Teddy Tablante Here:  Happy Holidays!!  Thank you for joining our Patreon, and we just uploaded our latest video that is not yet released-  we are working on improving the thumbnail and title before we make it public.  Take a look at it, and let us know if ya have any feedback on things to improve, thoughts, etc.

As for the new year- we are focusing on creating more high-quality, in-depth videos for 2023, and we'll definitely be getting through more components in the computer and how they work in detail.  

Help on WiFi routers and Antenna Design

Happy Holidays!!  We're planning a video on WiFi routers for 2023, and are looking for a technical expert who has worked on WiFi- either from the router side or the computer / smartphone side.  Perhaps someone who is familiar with NFC, antenna design, and the circuitry inside the router?  If you're interested in helping it would be greatly appreciated!!  

Upcoming December Videos!

We're trying to ramp up our rate of videos / month, so for December we're working on 2 videos!  The first one will be a full 15~min, whereas the 2nd will be just a 59s short, but will be worked into a longer video that dives into the evolution of smartphones.

Upcoming short video- Any guesses as to what it is?

We're currently modeling this device for an upcoming short video!  This will help to fill the gap in uploads between longer more complicated videos.

Motherboard Desoldering Scan

If you're wondering how we made the model for the desktop computer in our latest video.  Well essentially we just got all the parts, some new, most of them were broken and purchased on Ebay.  Then we tore them all apart, took tons of images, and then desoldered all the components, and took scans.  This motherboard was too large for the scanner, so it had to be scanned twice.  Once we have the images we clean them up with photoshop.  And then we meticulously model them in Blender.  

Latest video on Computer Memory!

It's taken months to make this video, but we finally finished!  There are many more very complicated models, and I'll release some images of the process.  We hope you enjoy the video!

Latest video on how Smoke Detectors Work!

You probably have a few smoke detectors throughout your house, but did you know that many designs of smoke detectors are radioactive?  Well in this video we explore how smoke detectors work, and how they use the radioactive isotope Americium-241 to detect smoke.  We'll also explore how Geiger counters work, and then how atoms of high atomic numbers are counterintuitively small.  Smoke detectors are perfectly safe, and save lives.  So make sure that they work on a regular basis.

Update & August Model Giveaway

Thank you to everyone who joined after watching the Starlink video!  People seem to have really enjoyed the video.  We are underway working on the next video on smoke detectors, and then on DRAM!  Hopefully, we will be getting to monthly uploads from here on out!!

This month's model giveaway is of the PCB in your smartphone!  There are some more controls in the model to move the chips up and down.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/frq3tucaft2tvvd/AABA0Ne3IRYlj_udU_tQ558Ra?dl=0

The longest video we've made thus far.

We finally posted our video on Starlink!!!  It's taken us forever to make it, with months of research, writing, editing, modeling, and animation.  We hope you enjoy it!!  Let us know if it's too complicated of a topic.

Branch July Model Update & Giveaway

    This month I've been very busy animating, and finishing up the next video which will be on Starlink Dishy and how data is sent from a dish on the ground to an orbiting satellite!  So stay tuned for that video!

   This month's model giveaway is of the camera in your smartphone!  

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bv5yz16bl49xoc3/AADiezseCG5B5N0Xa7LZBww3a?dl=0

Thank You!

Teddy

Branch June Update & Model Giveaway

Thank you everyone for supporting Branch!!  We hope you took a look at our latest video!  For June we are giving away the model of the AirPods.  Probably July and the following 2 months the giveaways will be for scenes that we built our animations off of.

Also, we updated our logo on YouTube.  I'd love to hear your feedback and what you think of it!  

We're still working hard releasing hopefully 5 videos throughout July, August, and September, so stay tuned!

-Teddy Tablante

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/dm497v5tashkea1/AADSTBFq0_9wQXRScyNDFj-7a?dl=0

New Video! Technology Size Comparison 🤯🤯 3D Animation

Here's our latest video on the size of different devices, and how they have shrunk down to the nanoscopic scale over the past 50 years!  This video is a little different than some of our other ones, and we hope you like it!!