Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1144162
42 cgw s u m m e r 2 0 1 9 W hat started as small hatchlings eventually became behe- moths, as the dragons contin- ued to double in size yearly since Season 2, requiring new models as their proportions changed – which, in turn, required filmmak- ers to frame them closer. "In Season 3, if you saw a dragon, you generally saw it nose to tail. By Season 6 and definitely in Season 7, you might be as close as an eyeball, or a nostril, or a few teeth," says GOT's overall VFX Supervisor Joe Bauer. "Or, just the area immediately around Dany as she's sitting on a dragon." In fact, Pixomondo has been raising and caring solely for the dragons since Episode 2, spearheading the final design and texturing them each year, along with designer Dan Katcher. But as the show became more complex, with more dragon scenes, other dragon vendors have come on board utilizing the Pixomondo models. As the size of the dragons increased, so, too, did the model's complexity. By Season 3 and 4, new features were added. For ex- ample, in Season 3, the beasts acted as kind of guard dogs for Dany, so frills were added to their neck that would pop up when they went into attack mode. Their growth spurt stopped, however, at Season 7. According to Sven Martin, VFX supervisor at Pixomondo, the studio used a 2D and 3D design approach for the dragons, employing Adobe's Photoshop and Pixologic's ZBrush, respectively. Autodesk's Maya was used mainly for animation, and rendering was done with Autodesk's (Solid Angle's) Arnold since Season 6. Compositing was done in Foundry's Nuke. Pixomondo created a new muscle system for the dragons this season that was much faster and easier to control. It involved using standard Maya muscles along with custom tools and deformers that take over skin jiggle and the transformation of the muscles un- der the skin – a more complex calculation, says Martin. "Getting some jiggly muscles is pretty straightforward, but having a good transfer from the muscles to the actual skin makes it look good," he adds. When the dragons were mere babies, the scales were part of the sculpt, but stretching became visible at Season 3, requiring the artists to build the scales individually. And the number of scales continued to increase from that point forward. Image Engine animated nearly all the dragons in Season 8, either taking the shot to completion or, as was the case in about half the shots, worked with partner vendors (mainly Weta and Scanline) to provide the completed dragon animation as a cached file while the partner vendor completed the scene. As Thomas Sche- lesny, VFX supervisor at Image Engine, points out, one of the more difficult tasks in Season 7 when the studio began working with the creatures, was the addition of the photographic element (the live actors) onto the dragons. With four times the dragon work in Season 8, Image Engine streamlined the process so that Jason Sny- man, animation supervisor, could disburse the work among the other animators there, rather than continue setting up all the live-action cards himself. "I wanted to make the hardest task from Season 7 one of the easiest in Season 8," says Snyman, who created a tool that groups the stage elements, places them on the dragon, and maintains the perspective that's established through the shoot via the shot camera. "It's basically one button. The last thing we wanted is the actor's hands or knees not lining up with the dragon as it makes a turn," he says. As a result, there was less technical setup, allowing for more time to animate. In all, Image Engine created more than 400 individual dragon animations for the season, which were craed mainly with- in Maya, modeled in ZBrush, lit in Arnold, textured in Foundry's Mari, composited in Foundry's Nuke, and rendered in Arnold. VFX were done in SideFX's Houdini. Recent improvements to Maya enabled the artists to add realistic skin sliding, as well as subtle muscle flex under the dragons' skin, for add- ed realism. They also revamped the facial system for subtle expression, particularly for key sequences this season.