TED-Ed series Ada fuses storytelling with eye-catching animation. The Should We Studio production team explain how they relied on V-Ray for rendering, refining the process as production progressed
By Contributor
Published: March 28, 2025 Updated: March 31, 2025
TED-Ed series Ada fuses storytelling with eye-catching animation. The Should We Studio production team explain how they relied on V-Ray for rendering, refining the process as production progressed
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>
After years as a senior editorial producer at TED-Ed, where she wrote over 200 scripts, Elizabeth Cox took the leap and founded Should We Studio to create content that raises awareness of issues shaping our future. We specialise in tackling consequential topics with exuberance, explains Cox. For us, exuberance means humour, vibrant settings, and above all, a willingness to engage with the weird.
Ada, the studio's first major production, stemmed from Cox's interest in the ethics of emerging technology and the challenge of making these discussions accessible. We all have a stake in the future, she says, but the discourse around this stuff is so off-putting and exclusionary of everyone but a small set of sci-fi/tech enthusiasts with a particular aesthetic.
Eager to find a way to bring these concepts to a wider audience, Cox and her core team of 12 started work on the series. They worked on Ada with no external guidelines and complete creative freedom, creating their own big-picture guidelines for the production:
Vibe: Sci-fi for non-sci-fi fans
Subjects: topical yet timeless
Tone: conversational, humorous but thoughtful
Worlds: lush, timeless-not overtly futuristic
Uncertainty: the future depends on our choices
The team set lofty goals for Ada's look and feel, striving for a handmade feel while finding a realistic way to achieve it within their restraints. With our relatively small budget and team size and quick turnaround time, we decided pretty early on that the best way to achieve the look we wanted within our constraints was to use a 3D pipeline to achieve a handmade look, says Cox, also adding that projects like Arcane and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse inspired them due to their completely new looks achieved in 3D animation.
After deciding on a 3D approach, the Should We Studio team turned to V-Ray, among other tools, to help execute their vision.
How V-Ray helped shape the look of Ada Because each episode of Ada contains two distinct worlds: Ada's reality, which stayed the same throughout the season, and the future she imagines, which looked different in each of the five episodes, the Should We team had to create a total of six distinct visual styles across the series.
Then, when it came to the characters, the team animated them in 3D and rendered them in a flat style to fit with the 2D painted backgrounds, which closely evoked traditional animation. The team didn't render lighting from 3D but instead created lighting using rim lights in After Effects and other 2D tricks. This simple render is very forgiving and well-suited to our production constraints but creates other problems to solve, Cox explains.
The team needed to render a stroke pass for the characters so their internal features, like noses and the distinction between jaw and neck, would not disappear in the flat render. Moreover, the team wanted the stroke pass to be variable, with some strokes appearing and disappearing depending on the characters' movement. It was here that V-Ray was able to render the stroke pass, giving the team the look they needed.
Wing Luo, Should We's technical director, spent time experimenting with how to land the right look for the series, ultimately deciding on V-Ray. With our small team and tight timeline, we needed to minimise manual corrections, Cox says. So being able to refine our process in V-Ray was essential.
With each episode, the team refined their workflow, mastering V-Ray to meet their vision. By the end of the series, the team's approach had evolved so much that they made the bold decision to go back and re-render the stroke pass on the first two episodes, ensuring consistency across the entire series.
This wasn't just a technical improvement-it was a testament to how much the team had grown in their mastery of V-Ray. What began as an experiment in achieving a handcrafted 3D look had become a fine-tuned process that ultimately elevated the series as a whole.
A unique series that resonated with audiences With the series completed with the help of V-Ray, Cox, and Should We Studio began finding the right distributor for Ada.
Though Cox had worked at TED, Ada wasn't made for TED-Ed-but after exploring distributors, she found it was the perfect home. One thing that really appealed to me about hosting Ada on TED's channels is that the content isn't paywalled, she explains. An experience that is free to the viewer is very much in keeping with the mission of Should We Studio and the series.
TED released Ada one episode per week over five weeks, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Viewers praised the show's engaging style, thoughtful exploration of interesting, complex topics, and distinctive animation. Many even called for more episodes, eager to see the show's world expand into a longer format.
For Cox, this reaction reaffirmed the studio's approach to storytelling. I hope people will take away the following message from Ada: We should invest in the social structures to support transformative technologies in parallel and in proportion to our investment in the technologies themselves, she says. And I hope Ada models the value of an exuberant spirit of inquiry-a willingness to engage with weird or off-putting questions and reach surprising conclusion
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
28/11/2025
Nadia Fall attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Brides at the Egyptian Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Donyale West/...
28/11/2025
It's easy to ignore those little red update available badges. But when it ...
28/11/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for the December Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 18, 2025 ...
28/11/2025
The Professional Fighters League is looking to super-serve fans of mixed martial...
28/11/2025
Fubo has released in beta on select Roku devices a new feature that lets users display up to four simultaneous streams at once....
28/11/2025
The WNBA playoffs and Week 4 of the NFL regular season highlight the list of live sports events airing on television this weekend....
28/11/2025
The 32nd class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York's Ziegfeld Ballroom on September 26 for a gala induction event. Click below...
28/11/2025
We hold in our hands the very last Next Text for Next TV, the weekly back-and-fo...
28/11/2025
DirecTV said it made a deal with EchoStar to buy EchoStar's video businesses, including satellite-TV provider Dish TV and virtual MVPD Sling TV, for $1 plus...
28/11/2025
The Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, the premier industry event paying tribute to the influencers, innovators and shining lights of broadcast, cable and streami...
28/11/2025
Friday 28 November 2025
Sky Sports x Slawn drop limited-edition football jersey...
28/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz shows resilience in a challenging environment, revenue exceeds t...
28/11/2025
Unwrapped: The Toy Show Appeal - airing this Sunday on RT One and RT Player- s...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders Marks a Grand...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things 5': Prepare for One Last Adventure With O...
27/11/2025
The media industry has a paradox at its core. It's an industry built on light, color and imagination, yet behind the scenes, it's powered by one of the ...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
26/11/2025
A cinematic snow sculpture at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Randall Michelson...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
Mumbai, November 24, 2025: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, JioStar, in collab...
26/11/2025
LONDON Factual content producer ITN Productions has launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins....
26/11/2025
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision said it struck a new multiyear distribution agreement with YouTube TV that includes distribution of TelevisaUnivision's U.S. network...
26/11/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leader in software-defined data storage and data services, today announced the launch of the Atlas Corporate Creative Solution. This new Atl...
26/11/2025
Disguise, the industry-leading company powering the world's biggest live performances, is partnering with pioneering LED wall manufacturer DVS to give atten...
26/11/2025
HighField AI, the pioneer in agentic and multimodal automation for broadcast and media production, today announced the expansion of its global channel partner n...
26/11/2025
As high-stakes Premier League fixtures approach and additional premium content launches, with MONO positioning themselves to dominate Thailand's sports stre...
26/11/2025
Hosting a wide variety of events from high-intensity NHL games to complex live music concerts and major entertainment productions, Montreal's 21,000 capacit...
26/11/2025
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology revolutionizing viewer engagement and experience, releases AI-driven advances focusing on speed, intelligence, a...
26/11/2025
ITN Productions, an award-winning factual content producer, today launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins. Responsible for delivering a leading...
26/11/2025
Ikegami reports ongoing advances throughout 2025 in developing and delivering coordinated television production solutions that maximize quality, versatility and...
26/11/2025
Following the Nov. 21 blackout of NBCUniversal channels on Fubo, the two sides have traded barbs about their inability to reach a new carriage deal....
26/11/2025
LONDON As TV sports rights become increasingly important for both broadcasters and streamers, Ampere Analysis predicts global investment in the genre will surpa...
26/11/2025
LOS ANGELES Vubiquity said it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency as part of the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designa...
26/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau said it has entered into a consent decree with Comcast calling for the cable company t...
26/11/2025
Berklee Named to the Hollywood Reporters Top Music Schools List The publication highlights the college's screen scoring program, industry partnerships, and ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Animated Series Love Through a Prism' Casts New Light on ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
NALIP Unveils Fifth Cohort of Director Incubator
Social Impact
26 November 2025
United States
Link copied to clipboard
The National Assoc...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
TED-Ed series Ada fuses storytelling with eye-catching animation. The Should We Studio production team explain how they relied on V-Ray for rendering, refining the process as production progressed
