How Resight used Maxon One to ingeniously conquer an array of obstacles to craft a stunning story trailer for ‘Blood of Heroes.’
By Lewis McGregor

With thousands of games released every year, it takes a standout trailer to capture the attention of inundated video game consumers. But the team at Resight, a Tbilisi, Georgia-based VFX studio renowned for producing breathtaking visuals, rose to the challenge last year with a cinematic trailer for Vizor Games’ “Blood of Heroes”.

Next, they were asked to create an engaging CG story trailer, so we caught up with Resight founder Andrey Voytishin to talk about how his team used Cinema 4D, ZBrush, Red Giant tools, Substance Painter and Octane to visualize the birth of the “Blood of Heroes” universe. 

Talk about how the project began.

Voytishin: We received a poetic myth created by Vizor about the emergence of the game’s universe. Based on that, we concentrated on creating a script for the video and because the style of the cinematic trailer was close to the actual game aesthetic, we needed to create a new, original style for the story trailer. 

Our first challenge was finding the right way to assemble the story in an understandable way that would hold the audience’s attention. We collected many references from trailers, movies and series and used them as inspiration to find the right atmosphere and visual style.

What made this project uniquely challenging?

Voytishin: At the time of the story trailer creation, the game itself was still under active development. But the client needed a complete understanding of how the environment, characters, gods and everything else in our take on the myth would look. So, we began the process of concepting every aspect of the trailer.

Initially, we thought of creating our environment with statues and having the camera move from one scene to another, but we felt it was not speaking to the sweeping epic feel and scale of what was happening. It just wasn’t capturing the spirit of majestic gods and the tree of life from Scandinavian mythology. We decided to skip the idea of statues and come up with a world of our own that would allow us to show grandiosity and fascinate the viewer. 

Walk us through your production pipeline.

Voytishin: As always, our primary hub was Cinema 4D with ZBrush for character development. UV mapping and texturing was handled by RizomUV and Substance. We also relied on SpeedTree for trees, and World Creator for mountains and other environment elements.

For the simulations we used X-Particles, Realflow and Turbulence FD. Octane was our render engine. Everything was composited in After Effects with extensive use of Red Giant tools including Universe.

What were some of the main technical challenges faced by your team?

Voytishin: Some scenes were extremely complex with many objects and particles,  as well as smoke and fire simulations all happening in a single camera shot without cuts. To keep them manageable, we needed to optimize each scene, divide it into layers and separate related scenes, and then composite all the separate elements together in After Effects.

For example, a large scene would be split into five separate scenes with the main scene including the gods, mountains and trees. Then we would create additional scenes with layers of clouds and storm details. (Watch the CGI mountain breakdown here.)

All the shots would use the same camera so the layers would match later during composting. That approach was extremely time consuming because there were vast number of layers at once, but the flexibility that allowed made it worthwhile.

Talk about some specific workflows your team utilized.

Voytishin: ZBrush proved to be an indispensable tool for us. The main mountains and all the god statues were either finalized or created completely with ZBrush. DynaMesh saved us a lot of time, and the new Bas Relief and ZRemesher 4.0 came in handy.

We created procedural material assets for earth, rocks, stones, landscapes and characters. Though it was time consuming, taking the time to develop procedural materials greatly simplified all subsequent work and made revisions and changes much more efficient.

How did you create the beautiful nebula sequence?

Voytishin: That was a single-shot sequence with constant forward movement, and it was important to have it work in both close-ups and long shots as the camera flew through the scene.

We started with 3D models of the nebula and gods, and then used the geometry as the source for Turbulence FD and X-Particle emitters to create surfaces, details and constellations. That was another example of needing to break the scene in to separate parts, and in this case, we also added some matte painting to tie it all together.

Do you have any advice for 3D artists wanting to create work like this?   

Voytishin: My recipe for success is to sincerely love what you do, give yourself entirely to your passion, have patience and never give up. Only then will you succeed, sooner or later. I believe those principles can apply to any professional area, whether you are an artist, engineer, economist or anyone else.

Lewis McGregor is a freelance filmmaker and content writer from Wales. 

The post The Birth of an Epic Universe appeared first on Mograph.com.

How renowned artist Deborah Wright created a sculptural extravaganza for the star’s seventh headlining tour.
By Helena Swahn

When large-scale prop company Jet Sets required a ZBrush artist to create a tree-inspired piece for Lady Gaga, traditional and digital sculptor Deborah Wright jumped at the challenge. A set piece of the 2022 Chromatic Ball tour, the complex, twisted fiberglass tree fully encompassed Lady Gaga’s signature piano. 

A native of Los Angeles, California, Wright grew up with the magic of Disneyland and Hollywood on her doorstep. Describing herself as a born maker, she trained as an illustrator and traditional sculptor before finding her way to ZBrush. 

With a 20-year career in themed entertainment, she designs and creates small- and large-scale characters, props and products for film, TV, stage and parade shows, including seven multi-component projects for longstanding client Disney. Among the most notable are the Legend of Mythica at Tokyo DisneySea Japan, The 50th Celebration of Disneyland Mainstreet Parade and Stage show and the Sorcerer’s Apprentice at Disneyland Paris.

We talked with Wright about her unique skillset, how the “Tree of Thorns” piano came to her, what inspired the tortured form and how ZBrush helped her create it. Read on to hear what she had to say, and dive more deeply into her process by joining Maxon for “Demystifying Post-Production: 3D Sculpting for Stage and Screen,” a series of webinars in which Wright shares the entire creative process of taking a client brief for a themed entertainment project from inception to final delivery in ZBrush. 

Tune in for each of the weekly webinars on July 10, 17, 24 and 31 at 9 a.m. PDT / 5 p.m. BST / 6 p.m. CEST. Check out the first one here.

Describe your path from traditional to digital sculpting.

Wright: I trained as an illustrator and sculptor, jumping into scenic work for TV, movies and Broadway shows. When my son was born, I gave up those crazy hours. I joined a mannequin factory in Hollywood, where I spent almost four years learning traditional sculpting, from design and project management to manufacturing. 

When 3D printing began to replace traditional sculpting, I retrained and fell in love with ZBrush. The breadth and depth of what I can do as a digital sculptor is astonishing, but my traditional sculpting skills serve me every single day. Working in entertainment, most of my designs are produced in real life and it helps to understand the physicality of objects and materials. 

Can you share a few career-defining projects or people? 

Wright: Twenty years ago, I sculpted an 18-inch caterpillar smoking a hookah; it was my first project sent to parade development at Disney Live Entertainment. A year later, I saw my little sculpture, now 18 feet tall, smoking its hookah and moving and rolling its eyes. I loved making maquettes; the challenge of working in scale, knowing that one inch would translate into one foot, really focused me on refining my skills. 

I have my great, supportive, inspiring friend Michelle Millay to thank for bringing me in on various life-changing projects and for pushing me to develop my skills and learn ZBrush. 

We worked together for many years before I went digital, on gigs like “Planet of the Apes” and again when we were part of the team that helped produce the dragon for Gringotts Wizarding Bank at Universal Orlando. She taught me that friendship is a story about support and pushed me to think big.

What kind of creative challenges do you find most inspiring? 

Wright: I love it when a client comes to me with an idea that’s not fully fleshed out and wants my contribution. That is a unique experience and what happened on the Gaga show. 

My friend Michelle recommended me to Matthew Pomerantz at Jet Sets , who was working on the show. Matthew and I just dovetailed. We both come from a theatrical world and really spoke each other’s language well. We leaned into the brief and had fun making the best we could. 

What were you asked to produce and how long did it take?  

Wright: They said, “We want a piano in a tree, and we want the tree to look tortured as if it’s suffering.” I also helped to design the piano bench and keytar. The whole project to design the individual pieces ready for production took about six weeks. 

What were the challenges of making such a large, complex, physical prop?  

Wright: There were some callouts for the tree. They wanted to embed the piano completely, and the whole thing needed to be easily broken apart, transported and reassembled for each show. We also had to accommodate the lift that raised the tree out of the satellite platform on stage. Those real-world problems took a little time to solve.

I worked on it for about three weeks, and there were a lot of changes and wrangling about how we would fit the fabricated fiberglass product to the supporting armature plus the actual piano. Figuring out how to attach the main branches to the armature and easily break the whole thing into parts for shipping to each show was like a 3D puzzle.  My practical sculpting experience designing toys and mannequins for disassembly was really helpful. I believe we ended up with five limbs and a trunk that could be packed into cases. 

Talk about how you translated suffering and torture into a tree form. 

Wright: The brief was wide open for me to design, and I was provided with some mood board imagery and sketches of a skeletal tree. It was very conceptual and brutalist with elements of horror; this tree of thorns was suffering and beleaguered. It was barely alive. I was inspired by a twisted, leaning cypress tree I had seen in Torrey Pines, California. When the first draft of this idea came back with a roaring ‘yes!’ from Lady Gaga herself, we just ran with it.

I researched textures, spending a lot of time running my hands over old trees near my home to get a feel for their branch and bark structure. Then I jumped straight into ZBrush and started modeling this tortured tree, incorporating conduits and wires that emerged from the concrete base with the idea that they had broken through and were feeding it and keeping it alive. 

After the tree, it took about a week to design the piano bench. I drew inspiration from the Korova Milk Bar tables in “A Clockwork Orange” and some Aztec sculptures to create the contorted skeleton frame with a horror theme. 

Please dig into how you modeled the branch and bark details using ZBrush. 

Wright: Addressing each limb and twig individually was a big part of this job. There were no modular elements except for how the branches were attached. Each branch had a unique look, and my brush touched every twig. 

I started with a ZBrush plug-in called Ztree by Ignacio Cabrera Peña, which essentially propagates trees, and then used the ZSphere tool to move the limbs, branches, and twigs to get the shapes I wanted. 

I always set up the big forms and shapes first, and then I’ll return and do the refinements. I’m a big fan of the Move Topological, Inflate, DamStandard and Chisel brushes. I find that sticking with the basics will take you far. 

I used alphas pulled off photos from my research of tree bark to map the rhythm of bark texture on the model. The unification of surface texture came together utilizing Pablander’s Digital Clay pack. 

I also made a custom rake to create the tree bark surface texture and grew the tree using a rhythmic massaging technique, raking and moving topology. The challenge was to make each piece as seamless as possible, and knowing it would be manufactured in fiberglass, I used the branch and bark texture to hide seamlines in the material. 

Did you get to see your work live on stage? 

I saw it in Las Vegas, and the whole presentation with paint, lights, and the atmospheric magic of a live stage show really got me. Everything came together so well, and the bench really worked like I wanted it to—not too obviously human bone but a slow unfolding horror. 

It was really special to be entrusted with this project and I’m so proud to have designed and modeled the print files for this vital and complex instrument. Theatrical shows, dramatic set pieces, magnificent pianos and keytars are Lady Gaga’s trademarks and it was spectacular to know I had intuited the design teams’ intention and hit the mark straight out of the shoot. 

Do you have any tips for artists who want to get into themed entertainment?

A few of the really important things that have made a difference to me – be generous in your knowledge and fearless in asking questions; to the right people, questions don’t expose your ignorance but your willingness to learn. And be curious and say yes; this has given me more than I ever thought I could have as an artist. 

If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be?  

What breaks my heart a little bit is ageism, and I hope that will change. The people I want to work with will consider portfolios primarily by the content and experience demonstrated. Age, race and sex of the artists are inconsequential. Wise art directors remember that artists only get better as they age. This is why it is called an ‘art practice’ as one only becomes a master through perseverance and time. 

Finally, are there any new tools you’re learning or want to experiment with? 

I’m still infinitely curious and constantly teaching myself new things. Right now, it’s Maxon One. But I think in 3D, and my perfect dream would be to work as a physical sculptor using digital technology. So, fingers crossed that ZBrush will figure out a way to combine haptic gloves and VR. That excites me! 

Helena Swahn is a writer in London, UK.

The post Using ZBrush for Lady Gaga’s Chromatic Ball Tour  appeared first on Mograph.com.

NMBRS Studio on using Maxon One for their first cinematic trailer for the upcoming video game ‘GOALS.’
By Todd Blankenship

Upcoming free-to-play football game “GOALS” is set to be a cross-play enabled, e-sports-friendly rival to the other few competitors in the football video game space. While there is not yet a lot of information available about the game itself, there is one thing that has gotten some initial buzz—a visually impressive cinematic trailer by the team at NMBRS Studio . 

Based in Stockholm, Sweden, NMBRS Studio is a group of gaming-inspired, e-sports-loving artists who relied in Maxon One to create a trailer that felt international and inclusive. The message: No matter who or where you are, you can “Play the Best.”

“Working together with NMBRS is always a pleasure,” says Filip Nordin, head of art at GOALS. “The vast creative output and keen eye to what works is amazing, and the force and attitude they bring into every project is what makes us come back for more! And the fact that NMBRS understood our challenge, brand and tonality; has been a key part in helping us shape our high-level art direction.”

To learn more about the project, we spoke with Victor Hedström, the creative director at NMBRS, as well as 3D Lead Egor Gavrilov.

Please tell us about your studio and how you got started working together?
Hedström: I’m the founder of NMBRS, and I started the studio because of my love for gaming and my obsession for e-sports. I worked as an editor and director in the past, but I always felt like I was missing something. Two of my brothers are professional gamers and that inspired me to get into the gaming sphere.

During the process of building NMBRS, I was fortunate enough to come across exceptionally talented individuals who now form the heart and core of our team. We are all interested in gaming, fashion, music and cultural trends, which fosters a comfortable and collaborative working environment. We also try to operate on a flat hierarchy where everyone has a say in the creative process, making it a truly collaborative effort.

How did you get involved in this project, and how did it begin?
Hedström: We were approached by GOALS co-founders Andreas Thorstensson and Hampus Ericstam, and we clicked right away. We worked on a teaser to help them secure funding for a new game and, after that, they asked us to create a trailer for their upcoming game.

I started by dashing out a concept where the prime focus was to showcase that it doesn’t matter where you are from, what your background is or if you are poor or rich. The only thing that matters is to become the best by playing the best. I also wanted to include the point that “GOALS” is play to win rather than pay to win. And all of this needed to be wrapped up in a trailer that spoke to the peak of confidence, boldness and action.

Our Creative Producer Tiyam Pour Khabbaz on this project and Egor, our 3D lead, started to really dive deep into the mood boards, color palettes and music references. Finally, we made a cut based on reference videos and pictures to set the mood and tonality of the trailer.

How did the team collaborate and keep a cohesive vision?
Hedström: It was not a straightforward task, but we ensured that everyone comprehended the project’s goal. Egor and Tiyam deserve recognition for their performance in maintaining the creative direction. 

As a result, the rest of the team had a clear understanding of where the project was heading. Additionally, we held numerous meetings to keep everyone on track. We typically conduct weekly meetings where team members can showcase their progress and receive feedback to ensure that projects are moving in the right direction.

Talk about camera work and shot choices.
Gavrilov:When I started to work on this project, I thought a lot about how I could replicate the feel of the game, and decided to start by showing how football feels in real life. Football is such a dynamic and strategic game where players need to focus on a lot of things at the same time. I watched a lot of commercials for Nike and football in general. 

I’m a big fan of Guy Ritchie’s “Take it to the Next Level” spot for NIKE . I have always liked the feel of dynamic handheld camera movement, but in a computer game it’s quite the opposite, with smooth, clear camera movement focused on the player. I tried to combine the feel of a live dynamic camera with a game camera using different techniques in the creative process.

What sort of tools and process did you use to tackle this concept?
Gavrilov:Any sports video should contain dynamic, non-linear movement, and I created this action complexity using various animation tools in Cinema 4D. It made the process of working with the camera almost feel like I was playing football.

I really enjoy experimenting with camera movements and used several methods in this project. For example, I made one camera with keyframe movements only, and another controlled by a small rig comprised of null objects to add more robotic and clean secondary movements. After creating a variety of cameras, I used the camera morphing tools to jump between them. 

I also used animated target tags on cameras in C4D, which gave me the ability to change the angle simply by reassigning which object the camera should follow. Additional animated nulls helped with secondary movement, and a vibrate tag ensured that the movement felt even more randomized and natural.

How was the character animation done for this piece?
Gavrilov:We captured the movements for the character using our Xsens motion capture suit. We rented an indoor football field and had the client checking and approving the movements along with our producer and creative director. 

We brought the finished motion capture into the project and applied it to the characters with keyframe cleanup happening later in the process. Uniforms created with Marvelous Designer completed the players.

What new projects are you working on now?

Hedström: We recently finished a big project for League of Legends where we helped LCS create their opening for the spring finals, and we will soon release our new case for the new key art we’ve helped GOALS create. We are also working on our own IP, “Reo,” a more long-format series film. It draws substantial inspiration from anime aesthetics while incorporating a realistic visual style reminiscent of the beloved Final Fantasy: Advent Children. 

The story is about balance, how everything around us always has to be in balance.
We follow Reo, our protagonist, and his crew as they unravel the truth of their world. Along the way, Reo discovers fragments of his own enigmatic past, gradually realizing his pivotal role in preserving the delicate equilibrium of light. As his journey unfolds, we delve into the narrative, witnessing how Reo becomes the key to light retaining the balance.

Todd Blankenship is a writer in Denton, Texas. 

The post <strong>A Football Game for People Who Love to Play</strong> appeared first on Mograph.com.

How Fraser Davidson used C4D, Redshift and more to create a figurine collection celebrating wrestling’s glory days.
By Logan Baker

Maxon recently had the opportunity to speak with Fraser Davidson, the mastermind behind a campy, fun 3D-crafted figurine collection of some of wrestling’s all-time greats. Using Cinema 4D, Redshift and Greyscalegorilla Plus, Davidson brought Hulk Hogan, Dusty Rhodes, Vince McMahon and others to life in a spirited homage. Here’s what he had to say. 

Tell us about yourself and your studio. 

Davidson: I co-own and run Cub , an animation studio in Brighton in the U.K. We work predominantly in sport, but we also do a lot of work with tech companies and a bit of TV and film work here and there.

For a long time, I was exclusively a 2D animator, working mostly in After Effects. In the last six years, though, I’ve tried to bring Cinema 4D into the mix more and more. We are always conscious that we are not 3D specialists, so we don’t try to compete with the big guns in terms of simulation or photorealistic rendering. We try to corral 3D techniques into our After Effects workflow in unexpected ways that are in-keeping with our flatter style.

 Projects like “Trump Facts” and our “Nancy Cartwright MasterClass” use tools that bring more typical 3D-looking prerendered Cinema 4D assets into After Effects. That allows us to create 3D characters that are super easy to animate and quick to render.

Talk about the design and inspiration for your wrestling figurine project?

Davidson: I’m a collector of vintage action figures, having become obsessed with pro wrestling as a child. I was particularly taken with the Hasbro toys series that really defined the cartoonish style we have adopted in making these original models.

When I was nine or ten, I looked upon the characters as legitimate superheroes. Thirty years down the line, I have a greater understanding of the industry and more of a fondness and appreciation for the men and women who brought the various personas and gimmicks to life. 

Learning that the ’sport’ is contrived, and that what I was presented with was not on the level, was a watershed moment for me, akin to finding out there wasn’t the Tooth Fairy, but in fact it was my parents who were swapping incisors for cash. At the same time, I have come to have a deep appreciation for the somewhat carny nature of wrestling. It’s such an odd phenomenon and the fact that it persisted into the ‘90s, let alone to this day seems ridiculous!

I mostly focus on 1987-1992, my ‘golden’ era, so the characters have that nostalgia-laced aesthetic with a lot of neon spandex, face paint and some weapons-grade mullets.

Talk about how you used C4D, Redshift and Greyscalegorilla Plus?

Davidson: During the Covid pandemic, we in the U.K. were locked down in our homes several times and I chose to spend any spare hours learning how to do some rudimentary box modeling in Cinema 4D.

Having spent a lot of time making all the basic errors, I found that I was never going to be a master of topology. But I could treat the curves of the subdivisions a bit like the tangents of vertices in Illustrator. The fewer polygons I used, the happier I was with the models because I could iterate quickly and reuse elements to create a fun toy-like aesthetic.

Texturing, normal maps and all the professional level stuff you need to learn have come more slowly to me. Redshift and the tools created by Greyscalegorilla have been great for creating more realistic renders than I would otherwise have been able to achieve.

Did you run into any problems along the way?

Davidson: When you’re learning things like modeling, texturing and topography, every few weeks you look back at the work you have completed with slight horror. You have a much better idea of how you should have gone about the process and the temptation is to start again from scratch armed with that new knowledge.

That seems to be a common thread amongst 3D artists.

Davidson: Yes, I ended up retexturing the models several times, returning to try to sort out normals, and introduce noise textures to various elements, which meant I was often retreading ground. Ultimately, to complete the project you have to just make peace with some of the choices you made when you didn’t know what you were doing. On top of that, the 3D printing process exposed several blind spots in my modeling.

What might you do differently next time? 

Davidson: Producing a project like this from technical entry level means that you will always feel a little dissatisfied with results. It’s important to remind yourself that the real goal is to improve your skills. The output itself—in this case an Instagram feed—is really just me documenting the progress in a way that maintains my own interest.

In all likelihood, I’ll start over at some point in the future and further apply what I’ve learned to a new set of figures. Pro wrestling has always been a source of inspiration for projects, so future projects will probably somehow be based around the same gang.

I think I might also venture into creating additional detail using ZBrush or something similar. Experimenting with 3D printing has highlighted that small details like logos, stitching, tassels and chains really come out nicely in the prints.

Do you have a favorite wrestler that you worked on? 

Davidson: I have lots of favorites, ha. A few I’m most proud of from the series include Jake “The Snake” Roberts as he required some careful spline wrapping to incorporate the snake. 

The “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes is another favorite, as I feel I captured something of his lop-sided, squinting grin with my super basic topology. The Road Warriors (below) took the most work in terms of figuring out how to create and apply all the elements of their attire from the makeup to the spiked shoulder pads.

What’s next for you? Will you be tackling another sport next??

Davidson: We will definitely experiment further with printing the models. We are even hoping to release a small initial range of officially licensed toys based on six of the existing models with the guys at Wrestling Trader, so we’re looking forward to that. In terms of tackling other sports, we have been looking at using Cinema 4D to bring an animated element to the physical work we have been printing.

I love zoetropes and other real-life, illusory animation techniques, so it would be great to push some of those tests into our live work. So far we have printed around 80 of our characters. I think I’ll fill the holes in the wall display before we call time on this particular project. Aside from anything else, it’s costing me a small fortune in printing resin.

Logan Baker is a writer based in Denver, Colorado.

The post Using 3D to Bring Back the ‘Golden Era’ of Professional Wrestling appeared first on Mograph.com.

TACTYC Studio on using Maxon One to capture the spirit of off-road freedom.
By Helena Swahn

Art directors, motion designers and 3D artists Marius Eder and Tristan Fischer are busy forging their own creative path. After founding TACTYC Studio in January 2022, their abstract approach to visual storytelling struck a chord with clients looking for a fresh approach to product visualization and brand messaging. 

Among those clients was Effect Etage, a German company working with Volkswagen’s commercial vehicle division. In need of a 3D animation partner, they tapped TACTYC to help realize visualizations for the new Volkswagen Amarok launch campaign. 

Using Cinema 4D, Houdini and Redshift, Eder and Fischer worked closely with Effect Etage and Volkswagen’s teams to create a series of eye-catching teasers for the campaign, which abstractly highlighted the Amarok’s origins, qualities, features and spirit. “We’re really passionate about having design at the center of our work and having the freedom to show and develop our own creative ideas,” says Fischer. 

Telling Abstract Visual Stories

Both Eder and Fischer like to invest time in personal projects that allow them to experiment with tools and techniques, refine their craft and express complex ideas through abstract visual storytelling. Their transformative approach was the catalyst for TACTYC to pivot to full CG shorts and abstract 3D simulations and visualizations that proved a great fit for the Amarok project. 

The project came to them as a direct result of their submissions to the 2022 36 Days of Type challenge, which they released as a series of 3D animations on TACTYC’s Behance and Instagram channels. “We were amazed at the response from other artists and the many new clients, mainly fashion brands, asking us to work with them,” Fischer recalls. 

TACTYC’s 36 Days of Type submission. 

For the Volkswagen project, Effect Etage wanted to create a slow reveal of the vehicle over a period of several weeks, releasing only short teaser clips of new design details on social media. To make the visuals more interesting, they asked TACTYC to produce a series of twelve abstract simulation shots that blended into a different design feature, like lights, emblem, wheels, etc.”

For the concept, Volkswagen referenced Manvsmachine’s MINI Cooper spot, as well as the Amarok’s wolf-like spirit and premium lifestyle features. “The task was to combine the Amarok’s origin as a tough, offroad commercial vehicle with luxury appeal,” Eder says. 

Early style frames created by TACTYC.

Tackling Creative Challenges

Throughout the project, the main creative challenge was how to express complex ideas using abstract imagery, and TACTYC, Effect Etage and the VW team spent a lot of time exploring ways to best to present different features. 

For example, they decided that the most elegant solution for revealing the Amarok emblem in the vehicle body while simultaneously showcasing the finish, was to use an abstract particle simulation that transitioned into a liquid. 

TACTYC used a particle simulation for the emblem reveal.

“We used Houdini for simulations, and Cinema 4D and Redshift for further lighting, shading and texturing,” Eder says, explaining that alembic files or Redshift proxies allowed them to exchange project files with other team members. Redshift’s progressive RenderView was particularly integral for quick look development.

“Creating the particles in Houdini, the Redshift particle parameters allowed us to shade and adjust all the particles at the object level,” says Eder. “Then, we exported this huge number of particles using Redshift proxies to Cinema 4D, so everything looked consistent all along the pipeline.” 

Volkswagen specifically requested that the animations showcase the Amarok’s new, adaptive Matrix LED headlights, so a crystal simulation was chosen to represent the clarity and intensity of light rays. 

A crystal simulation representing the Matrix LED headlights. 

Eder explains that they created it procedurally in Cinema 4D with Matrix objects and Effectors with a Fields setup, which made it easy and fast to adjust to client feedback. And Redshift’s ability to read the Field colors from the Matrix Object meant that they could create complex animations that the materials would react to.

Looking to the Future

The campaign rollout began with the release of teaser clips, culminating in a complete reel comprised of all the animations. Delighted by client feedback and amazed by the many artists who congratulated them and asked about specific effects, Eder and Fischer agree that the tough timing and expectations of quality and quantity pushed them to improve their way of working and helped them develop their own look. 

“We came up with few new cool tools and presets that we still use for other projects,” says Fischer. “I also think we got better at lighting, an important part of this project, and Cinema 4D and Redshift helped with that.”

Looking to the future, both are confident that their focus on abstract simulations and visualizations is not just right for them, but also timely. “I’d say we’re most comfortable with things that you can’t create in real life,” says Fischer. “We love it when clients come to us and say: ‘Ok, let’s do crazy or really cool stuff.’” 

Helena Swahn is a writer in London, UK.

The post <strong>Volkswagen Amarok’s 3D Reveal Campaign </strong> appeared first on Mograph.com.

Jayse Hansen explains the screen UI design behind the action-packed sequel.
By Meleah Maynard

Renowned Futuristic User Interface (FUI) Designer Jayse Hansen is known for his work on a long list of blockbusters, including “Star Wars,” “The Hunger Games,” “Iron Man,” “Batman,” “Spider-Man,” “Guardians of the Galaxy” and many more. 

We talked with him recently about the screen UI designs he created for “Top Gun: Maverick,” a sequel to the 1986 “Top Gun” film starring Tom Cruise as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. 

Working in collaboration with Lockheed Martin, Hansen used Cinema 4D, After Effects and Illustrator to design and animate the film’s storytelling hero screens. Here’s what he had to say about his creative process. 

How did this project come to you, Jayse. 

Hansen: My legendary buddy Bradley “Gmunk” Munkowitz was directing a team of badass lead designers Nicolas Lopardo and Toros Köse. Lopardo called me up as they were looking for some wingmen to handle the day-to-day on-set graphics during filming. 

Our newly formed crack squad was led by the famous VFX Supervisor/Animator David “Dlew” Lewandowski, and included me on design and animation and James Heredia rockin’ the keyframes.

At first, it seemed like we’d only be attached for a few weeks, but it turned into about four months of design and animation as they wrote and evolved the story.  These iterations are always, rush, rush, rush because they’re filming, and you’ve got to have things ready for them when they need them. 

Tell us about your process.

Hansen: Cinema 4D always plays a major role in all of the screens I do for films, and that’s even true of scenes where you might think something is 2D. I start by sketching on paper, and then I go to Illustrator and then into C4D and After Effects. I go back and forth, and the final renders come out of After Effects, either as Quicktimes for the playback screens on set, or EXR sequences for the final film. 

I used C4D for the Darkstar cockpit and mission control, as well as for the F-18 “Who’s in the air?” schematics, the 5^th-gen bad-guy fighter jet schematics and working out the 3D aspects of the training scenes.

Your attention to detail is extraordinary. How did that come into play for this film?

Hansen: Well, I’ve spent the last four or five years reimagining future fighter jet cockpits for films and real-world, next-gen designs. So, by the time “Top Gun: Maverick” came along I was like, ‘Oh, this is totally my jam! Let’s go!’ 

I’m just so curious about how all these systems work and are displayed to an audience. Some artists just aim to make things look cool, or super complicated, without understanding the function. But to me, that is a huge missed opportunity. And those kinds of designs often tend to look and feel kind of like clip art. 

I’ve always loved the artists that really get into their jobs, like a costume designer who knows exactly how tiny fabric patterns will reflect light or fit a certain period in time. I do a similar kind of research for screens. It’s work, but it’s really just part of the fun.

How did you do research for this?

Hansen: I’ve created huge databases of military and aerospace UI references and guides. I often have to find my own experts to consult with for films, but with “Top Gun: Maverick,” they assigned them to me. 

There were so many meetings with pilots, as well as experts from Lockheed Skunk Works, a tight-knit, super top-secret division at Lockheed Martin that makes the latest-and-greatest stealth planes. 

It was great because I could call them anytime, nights, weekends. I was basically a kid in a candy store. They were very involved in the opening scenes with the cockpit and mission control screens for Darkstar, Maverick’s next-gen, hypersonic fighter jet. 

It was important to Lockheed and Tom Cruise that the cockpit’s displays depict the full flight in real time as it would happen in real life. That was so Tom could react to the controls and situations as they filmed, and it was the big “wow” opener that set the tone for Maverick’s character. If they got it wrong, they’d lose the audience from the start. So there was both a lot of pressure and excitement in the prep. 

Tom’s a great pilot and took a lot of pride and ownership over organizing the Darkstar cockpit to his liking. I would work with his notes on specific placements of the displays and what could make it all more cinematic.  

We also did all of the massive screens for the Darkstar Mission Control center. For any designs that we’re doing, I always try to get the important parts to read in a second. I don’t know how long things will be on screen, or how zoomed in or out they will be. So I always try to make important parts read “at a glance, like the mach number display.” (Shown in the upper left corner of the image below.)

I designed it to be detailed, but the important part, the number, is easily readable. That turned out to be a good thing because we suddenly learned that the twenty-foot, high-resolution Sony display had to be swapped at the last moment with an extremely low-resolution billboard display. I think it had fewer vertical pixels than an old Nokia cell phone! 

As a designer who moves pixel-by-pixel, that was a nightmare. I couldn’t sleep. But, as a testament to the skill of director Joseph Kosinski, he worked with it like a pro and got insanely tight shots. In the final cut, he used them repeatedly to add intensity to whether Maverick would reach mach 10. In the end, I love the extreme pixelation, as it really adds to the art and drama of the final scenes. It just feels real in a way that a perfectly clear graphic wouldn’t have. 

What was it like working with Skunk Works?

Hansen: When I needed to do the second-by-second real-time animation of the Darkstar cockpit breaking up, I got to work with Skunk Works’ subject matter expert Norman “Spock” Eliasen. I would ask him a barrage of questions, and he would give me back PowerPoint presentations and PDFs from the team that I could design from.

As the cockpit was continually being physically reworked by Tom and crew, I built mockups of it in Cinema 4D to help get a spatial sense for where the five displays I designed for would be located.

These kinds of details were really important to Tom. As a pilot himself, he knew other pilots would freeze-frame the screens, and he was right. Almost immediately there were dozens of YouTube videos and articles breaking down the sequences frame by frame from pilots’ perspectives, analyzing the HUDs and displays. 

Say more about the use of 3D for the film’s UI?

Hansen: It’s interesting because this film is the first time anyone has asked for everything to be done in 2D. I think the director really wanted a more low-fi look compared to his other films, like “Tron” and “Oblivion.” Definitely no holograms!

But we were able to use 3D in some F-18 sequences, and we made it look almost 2D. I worked with Dlew on all the modeling, animating and initial rigging for the 3D training sequences. As the story kept tightening in post, Blind also rocked some of the finals on those. 

Working from different drafts of the script, I consulted with my F-18 fighter jet pilot Dave “Schleprock” Biggs. I’d draw out the sequences in 2D and 3D, and we’d use those in meetings with Kosinski. Then, Dlew and I would craft them in Cinema 4D and render them for the big training screens. 

Was any one part of this particularly challenging?

Hansen: I’d say this film had a lot more weekly script revisions than usual. But it was understandable. As they worked out with the Navy what they could and couldn’t do with the real F-18 jets, they would rewrite, and I would redesign. 

In the original script, the pilots are being shown how they’re going to have to fly really low to avoid being detected by the radar of the enemy’s air defense systems. There were three routes they wanted shown in green, red and gold. When I designed those, it looked really cool on the map, but it wasn’t easy for the audience to follow. The scenes were rewritten over and over again, and they finally decided it should be just one route so the audience would not be overwhelmed or lost. 

How else are you using C4D in UI design these days?

Hansen: I’m using C4D more and more in UI design. With VR and AR and Apple’s new glasses coming out this year, spatial user interfaces will be all around us soon. Those interfaces exist like holograms, all around you, rather than trapped on your screen.

In the very near future, we will wrap the UI around furniture and other physical objects, so it complements and integrates with those things, more like great interior or product design. Imagine that your fridge, stove or coffee pot could have a UI that’s part of the physical design of it, rather than just having a flat little screen stuck on like we currently suffer from.

I’m loving that exploration because humans are meant to work in three dimensions. User interfaces can feel really natural and disappear out of the way when we don’t need them if they’re designed to work with our environment. 

One of the spatial UIs I’m developing at Army Research Labs allows commanders in a next-gen tank to put on a Varjo XR-3 headset and see completely through the interior. As you can imagine, having this view while completely protected is vitally important. I’m making sure they also have sweet holographic 3D maps at their fingertips. 

What are you working on these days?

Hansen: 

I’m working with Disney Imagineers to create UIs, holograms and visuals for Marvel-themed attractions. And I’m working again with some of the Navy people from Top Gun. I can’t say much about it other than it involves some pretty insane holograms and, of course, future fighter jet displays. 

Meleah Maynard is a writer and editor in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The post <strong>Behind the Scenes of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’</strong> appeared first on Mograph.com.

The Bungie team on using ZBrush to create characters and weapons for the most recent ‘Destiny’ expansion.
By Helena Swahn

Founded in 1991, Bungie is the game studio behind legendary titles “Destiny,” “Halo,” “Myth,” “Marathon” and more. With global headquarters in Bellevue, Washington, the company has come a long way from its beginnings in a one-bedroom apartment in Chicago.

We talked with several artists on the Bungie team—Creature Designer and Senior Character Artist Alex Velazquez, Character Artist Cherylynn Lima, and Senior 3D Hard Surface Artist Dylan Mellot about “Destiny 2: The Witch Queen,” the 2022 expansion to the popular action MMO (massively multiplayer online) game. 

Here’s what they had to say about using ZBrush to create characters and weapons for a storyline that brings the Guardian protagonists face-to-face with the devious Savathûn and her Lucent Brood.  

Please tell us a bit about yourself, the game, and your role as a character artist. 

Velazquez: I’ve been at Bungie since 2015 and I’m a senior character artist on the Combatants team, meaning that I’m as much a curator as an artist. We manage and build the content library for the six combatant factions in “Destiny.” 

With content spanning over 10 years, there are many systems and layers of detail that add up to making the enemy experiences so unique and enjoyable to play. “The Witch Queen” features a definitive new campaign and is a major beat in the story we have been weaving for the last eight years. It has brought players a new destination, Weapon Crafting, a new weapon archetype with Glaives and more. 

A Lucent Brood Acolyte.

For character artists, a season could require anything from kitbashing a new Cabal mini boss to re-sculpting a whole faction, as we did for the Lucent Hive [aka Brood] in “The Witch Queen.” And our work doesn’t just start and end with the art. Collaboration is crucial, so we are embedded with FX, animation and design teams, all working together to ensure Destiny’s combatants look good and convey necessary information and enhance the gameplay. 

What’s it like to work at Bungie as part of the armor team?

Lima: I’ve been with Bungie for three years and can say wholeheartedly that this has been my favorite game dev role because they do a fantastic job creating a fun, supportive, and inclusive environment. 

The armor team is constantly thinking about what a player might like to see from the next armor sets. We keep an eye on current and future fashion trends, notice what’s popular with the community and consult amongst ourselves about what we think players might like. 

A Lucent Brood Knight.

Reactions to recent work have been positive, and we love seeing how players interact with different ways of changing armor they already know. Our current focus is on shaders that let players customize armor. I’m often handed an armor concept and I build up the high and low polys before moving on to texturing and handling some of the more technical elements. The work is challenging at times but always rewarding and skill building. 

Tell us about your role as 3D hard surface artist on the weapons team? 

Mellot: As a fan and artist on the franchise, the thing that really stands out is just the sheer range of weapons in a world as diverse and multifaceted as “Destiny.” From alien designs and surprisingly organic weapons to straightforward firearms that might exist in real life one day, having a highly adaptable skill set that supports work across many kinds of shape languages and forms is essential and something I enjoy. 

We are always looking for ways to make weapons more exciting and interesting for players. And, as we’re building what will be the final asset, we look for scenarios where we can add cool vertex animations, moving textures, complex materials, visually interesting shader effects and so on. Personally, I’m a sucker for weapons with glowing elements or moving panels that expose hidden parts underneath.  

Describe how you used ZBrush and other tools for the Hive Combatants.

Velazquez: For “The Witch Queen,” we introduced three Hive Lightbearers, enemy analogs to the player classes. We updated the five Hive base units and created the Hive Ghost, which our consumer products team used to develop the Collector’s Edition.

A Hive Ghost.

I use ZBrush heavily in the front end of the creation process, utilizing a wide variety of workflows. For instance, we could start with ZSpheres, a DynaMesh cube or a mesh we GoZ in from another app. 

Whether we aim to build hard surfaces or organics, there is a workflow in ZBrush that is ideally suited to the task. That said, I also allow myself to experiment and play with all the different tools in the box, even if there is a straightforward way of doing something. For me, ZBrush is a journey. 

A Lucent Hive Acolyte from “The Witch Queen” expansion.

To build the Lucent Hive look, I created an IMM curve brush with a size modifier and used it to generate additive and subtractive meshes. Next. I leaned heavily on ZBrush’s powerful boolean tools and combined Polygroups and ZRemesher to produce clean, usable topology and UV Master for a one -lick unwrap. Finally, I used some displacement maps and Surface Noise with Morph/Masking to detail many different pieces of armor quickly and consistently. 

Talk about the Inspector Warlock’s Armor. 

Lima: During the development of “The Witch Queen,” I was privileged to work on the Inspector Warlock and its subsequent Gambit, Crucible and Vanguard armor variants. The inspiration for this set was noir/detective, so a trench-coat vibe was a must, and I did a lot of clothing research. 

Initially, I created the robes in Marvelous Designer, but I now use ZBrush’s cloth dynamics as often as I can, as it does an excellent job with drapery and fabric crafting. I also used ZBrush’s library of brushes to create my own alphas and seams to enhance the construction of the garments. ZBrush’s layers tab gave me the flexibility to adjust the intensity of the details as I saw fit. 

Inspector Warlock’s Crucible variant.

Inspector Warlock’s Vanguard variant.

Dylan, describe your work on some of the weapons.

Mellot: Some of the first things I got to work on with the team were a reprisal of the whole set of sniper and scout rifles from The King’s Fall Raid. For the scout rifles, the major elements are bone and a soft, fleshy material. I leveraged ZBrush quite a bit, creating a custom material to get the detail right. 

For the overhaul, I used a lot of the basic hard surface brushes, like Trim Dynamic and HPolish, to retain some of the sharpness and rigidity of bone while using some of the shape-building brushes—Clay Buildup and Dam Standard—alongside the Smooth Brush to add depth and height to the flesh to keep it looking soft and almost squishy. 

I also used DynaMesh for “Destiny 2: The Witch Queen,” leaning on it to get workable topology when a weapon requires a fair bit of boolean work or sculpting. 

The Doom of Chelchis scout rifle.

The Eyes of Tomorrow rocket launcher demonstrates more traditional hard surface qualities.

Do you have any tips for artists pursuing a “dream job” in game creation? 

Lima: My number one tip would be to find what you love, something that gives you purpose and brings you joy. When you find the aspect of game creation that really excites you, you will be compelled to learn more about it. The hardest part about this industry isn’t the competition, it’s the tedium of learning and the level of commitment required to finish projects.

I love characters, life drawing and storytelling, and I’m interested in fashion and sewing. These are all in the background when I’m practicing or creating professionally. Having a real passion for what you’re creating helps you keep your cool when the going gets tough—and it will. 

Mellot: Working in video games can be exciting, engaging and energizing. You get to add something to this organic, evolving, complex thing and put it out there for the world to see and enjoy. But making 3D art that is visually superb and awesome to look at is just one aspect of the show. It’s still a job, and sometimes it’s difficult, frustrating and exhausting. 

A Lucent Brood Acolyte. 

It’s never about the artist but about collaborating with many other departments to make each weapon set or Exotic feel really special. It’s important not to let go of what brought you here in the first place. Mark milestones for yourself after significant accomplishments, remember where you drew your love from and find moments to reengage with that. 

What’s the best part of working with such an epic game?

Velazquez: Launch days are the best. There is a feeling you get when you’ve worked hard to create something new with a team of people you respect and you have tens of thousands of people waiting to see your work. It is a mix of adrenaline, excitement, trepidation and camaraderie. I see it on the faces of NASA engineers when they send up a shuttle, and I get it at Bungie on a seasonal cadence. 

Can you hint at what’s next for your team and Bungie? 

Velazquez: The penultimate chapter to the Light and Darkness saga is coming with “Lightfall,” our next major expansion, which will be followed by “The Final Shape” expansion. The future beyond that is a new frontier that we will need help building. So now is an exciting time to get on board and help build Destiny.

Helena Swahn is a writer based in London, UK.

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How Sanctum Studios used ZBrush and other tools for Hulu’s ‘Prey.’
By Logan Baker

A love of design and VFX inspired friends and collaborators Justin Fields and Jordan Broe to start Los Angeles-based Sanctum Studios in 2019.

A collective made up of top artists from around the world, Sanctum has worked with a wide range of high-profile clients, including Marvel Studios, DC Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, SONY and Blizzard Entertainment.

Known particularly for their design and 3D sculpting work, Sanctum recently collaborated with studioADI on Hulu’s “Predator” prequel, “Prey.”

We talked with Sanctum about how they used ZBrush for character and prop design, particularly the Predator mask.

Can you talk a little bit about your process for “Prey.”
Fields: The outer part of the Predator’s mask was described to us as an alien skull. We didn’t really know what that would look like. When I got my hands on it, I found there was also a rough conceptual sculpt done by Michael Eppinette.

His work on the outer part of the skull was very interesting, often pulling references from undersea creatures’ bone structures. At one point, we were briefed on a reference image of a hippopotamus skull!

We worked closely with the design team at studioADI, which I was once a part of, to design and build props, and we were also part of the team helping to fabricate items using 3D printing. 

How did you approach the development of the new “Prey” mask? 

Fields: While Michael was responsible for the skull exterior, I was responsible for the techie bits inside the mask. We took a step back and looked at the current Predator and his gear and reverse-engineered it to see where it all came from. 

That understanding gave us an idea of how the tools should be designed. We wanted to make it ominous and powerful against the humans of the time, but not so powerful that they didn’t have a chance. 

So we wanted to imply where the tech was heading, but also make clear that the predator was still working on advancing its visual capabilities. We used some custom alphas in ZBrush to build directly into the skull. Next to DynaMesh ZBrush alphas are one of my favorite features. 

How did you handle the expectations of the “Predator” fanbase? 

Fields: Director Dan Trachtenberg had a really good vision of where he wanted to take the “Prey” franchise. His choice to bring on Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. through studioADI was great. Both worked on the original “Predator” films and are legends in this field, and we were lucky to work with creatives like that.

But it can be difficult to give the audience something new while honoring the past. The original changed the game for a lot of creatives, including me. We saw what was possible with effects, so the pressure was immense with this prequel. 

Can you talk a little bit about how ZBrush fits into your process in general? 

Fields: I’ve been working in the industry for about 11 years, starting with attending the Gnomen School of VFX. I started using ZBrush in school, but my understanding of the program really took off when I started working at a design firm. 

It’s been crazy to see ZBrush’s evolution and how we use it on a day-to-day basis. Initially, I used it for the hyper-realistic lighting and rendering for concept illustrations. Now it’s become a big part of our pipeline and I rely on it for everything from quick creature sculpts to character, costumes, and prop designs. I’ve really fallen in love with sculpting. 

What’s next for Sanctum Studios?

Fields: We’re working on Zack Snyder’s next film, “Rebel Moon,” which is going to be amazing. We also did some work on Guillermo del Toro’s “Cabinet of Curiosities” for Netflix, fabricating the creature as a 3D-printed model. 

At Sanctum, I really try to replicate the experience I had with my first internship in the industry. It’s great to be around like-minded people while having fun creating things, and I would love to do more of our own internal projects. 

Logan Baker is a writer based in Denver, Colorado.

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DNEG’s creature supervisor explains the design and vfx behind Marvel’s shape-shifting character, Carnage.
By Michael Maher

Lucas Cuenca was born in Ushuaia, Argentina, one of the southernmost cities in the world and a last stop for boats on their way to Antarctica. He made his way to Buenos Aires to study multimedia design, and that was where he first saw “The Lord of The Rings” in a theater. 

Cuenca fell in love with the creatures and monsters and decided to finish school and move to New Zealand to work in film. “I was very naïve to think I was going to knock on the door, and someone was going to give me work,” he says, recalling how he saved up as much money as he could, grabbed a backpack and moved.

But after working for several studios in various countries, he was able to work his way up to being a part of bigger and bigger films. These days, he is creature supervisor at DNEG , one of the world’s top VFX and animation studios for film and episodic projects. 

We talked with Cuenca about how he used ZBrush for “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” one of the most challenging projects he’s ever worked on.

Tell us about how you became creature supervisor at DNEG and what it’s like working there. 

Cuenca: I worked for years in the industry and finally got some work with DNEG on “Assassin’s Creed” and then “Pacific Rim Uprising.” I was also in the Art Department where I worked on Kaijus, and then I moved into the Build Department and Creature Effects. 

Working in the Art Department before production really allowed me to bridge the gap because those two departments are usually detached. In the Art Department, it’s all about making everything look amazing. In production, it’s about redesigning and figuring out how to make things move and perform because creatures are actors. 

I was working at the DNEG office in London, but my wife and I are both into nature, the outdoors, lakes, and all that so London was not our thing. When I got a chance to transfer to the Vancouver office, I took it and became a lead artist there. Right away I started on the CG dogs in “Togo,” and I modeled and sculpted the mouse for “Dune” before starting on the Carnage character. 

There’s a lot of teamwork here, lots of different departments working together. Sheena Duggal was the client VFX supervisor for Carnage with Mark Breakspear as additional VFX supervisor and Chris McLaughlin as DNEG VFX supervisor. I also have to give a shout out to the FX guys. They had to do so much work on the project, and the character’s gooey slime transformations are absolutely amazing.

What’s your workflow when you are designing a creature?

Cuenca: I am a designer and a technical artist, but I prefer design and I always want to do more on that side. Once I get a brief, I start in ZBrush right away. I’ve become very fast in ZBrush after all these years, and it’s cool because you can show a director or VFX supervisor things very quickly in multiple angles. 

ZBrush also helps me get that seventy percent done up front. We’ll spend months and months on the last thirty percent of a project, but that initial development is getting everyone involved with the design and redesign. Smooth workflow requires a good foundation, and I like to start from simple to complex. 

Describe your process for creating Carnage. 

Cuenca: Carnage was a very challenging asset, maybe the most challenging I’ve ever worked on. The character has transformations, multiple arms, facial performances, multiple tentacles, connective tissue, muscle simulation and FX all working together. 

There is not a word to describe his anatomy. He can become water, a rock or anything in between. But every character needs a structure. They need to move, they need to perform, so they need to have some kind of muscle or bone, or they won’t be believable. 

Carnage has 10 to 15 different arms and five to 10 tentacles that come out of his back. I built him like an action figure, with the limb connections hidden away from view. Different sets of limbs needed to be available, depending on the shot, so I designed them so they could be switched around easily. 

Topology is very important to me. Without proper topology, characters can’t move and express themselves the way we want. Carnage has human-based anatomy because he’s a biped and I’ve studied anatomy, so I knew where I could break things and still make it all work. I knew where his bones would be, but he was designed to have muscles in place of bones, so I built muscles that worked like bones. 

Even the muscle tissues were a challenge, though. When you see a shot of Carnage with all the connective tissue between the muscles, that was three-thousand lines drawn one by one in Houdini, which were later simulated in several shots.

Do you have any advice for those who want to break into creature design or VFX?

Cuenca: Regardless of what role you want to play in the pipeline, you need to understand how all the departments work together. You have to know how assets, rigging, animation, CFX and FX, lighting and comp work together. 

You don’t need to be an expert in every single area, but you have to understand the chain of events. I’m really lucky to have started in the art department and made my way around the various areas to gain a solid understanding of the creature development process.

All images courtesy of DNEG © 2021 Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Michael Maher is a filmmaker/writer from Dallas, Texas. 

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How NorthHouse Creative used projection mapping to create an unforgettable visual experience for the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
By Helena Swahn

Commissioned by BBC Studios , live event specialist NorthHouse Creative conceptualized, designed and created a visual extravaganza that brought Buckingham Palace’s iconic façade to life in celebration of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee last June. 

NorthHouse used Cinema 4D, Redshift, After Effects, Unreal and more for the two-hour and 30-minute show, which included projection-mapping the Palace, LED screen visuals and broadcast graphics that were watched live by thousands and viewed by millions around the world. 

Collaborating on Visual Experiences

Based in London, NorthHouse Creative was founded by Creative Director Tom Bairstow in 2011 and is known for doing award-winning design and direction for music and brands, as well as live shows for Coldplay, Beyonce, Hugo Boss, the Super Bowl, UEFA Euros and many others. 

“We have a great love for visualizing audio, and most of our work has been in the music industry,” but we’re also passionate about design, film and technology and we love exploring new ways of creating visual experiences for audiences in a variety of real and virtual spaces.”

NorthHouse collaborated with Diana Ross and other performers at the Platinum Jubilee. 

NorthHouse landed the Platinum Jubilee project after several collaborations with the BBC, including the 2021 EarthShot Awards, where NorthHouse projection-mapped Alexandra Palace for a Coldplay show. 

Explaining that the Jubilee project was their biggest collaboration to date, Producer Alice Ryland says NorthHouse drew inspiration from British artists, the history of The Queen’s reign and The Queen herself to create contemporary looks that reflected the spirit of the Jubilee weekend.

NorthHouse meticulously planned every aspect of the projection show. 

NorthHouse worked closely with BBC Studios throughout the project, but Bairstow notes that his team was given a lot of freedom to develop their ideas and underpinning concepts. “Our vision was to use the amazing architecture of Buckingham Palace as a 3D canvas that would be transformed by out designs to evoke an emotional response from the audience.”

Projection mapping was handled entirely by NorthHouse, and there were a few sections with very specific briefs, including the Prince of Wales’s speech. The team also collaborated with Duran Duran, Alicia Keys, Diana Ross and other artists, Ryland says. “We developed dozens of ideas for big moments, assigning moments to artists, such as the liquid platinum pouring over the palace, which was perfect for Alicia Keys.”

The liquid pour for Alicia Keys’ “Girl on Fire” was created with Cinema 4D, Redshift, Notch and other software.

Unpacking the Process

Because of the varied performances and themes, NorthHouse often needed to move between toolsets because “it was never a case of one size fits all,’ says Lead Motion Designer Lydia Caplan.

Playing with depth was central to the design concept, but the complexity of choreographing a visual narrative across a 360-degree canvas formed by three interconnected stages posed significant challenges.

“We had to contend with the scale of the building, the viewing angles of the broadcast cameras and the live audience,” Caplan recalls. To do that, the team built a virtual set in Unreal to test their projection design. 

Cinema 4D and Redshift were also used throughout the project. “Cinema 4D is so essential to us that it’s second nature to leap inside to begin creating and Redshift allowed us to hone the lighting and test rendering as soon as we got the animation down,” says Motion Designer Sean Bone. “Using the render view alongside tweaking lights, materials and camera settings meant that iterative design could be refined at an astounding rate.”

Foliage growth was an essential part of the terrarium transition for Green Future scenes in the show. 

To bring the projections together on location, NorthHouse worked with the team at Creative Technology, who were responsible for the 32 projectors and Disguise server set-up.  

Reflecting on the show, Bairstow says it was an honor to play a part in the celebrations of the late Queen’s life and legacy. These days, NorthHouse is back to work on an eclectic slate of projects, including a large-scale projection in Dubai and “Encanto at the Hollywood Bowl,” which is available to stream on Disney Plus.

Helena Swahn is a writer in London, UK.

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