Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/834195
24 cgw m ay . j u n e 2 0 1 7 F E A T U R E service. We present it either in the form of diagrams or annotated, split-panel Quick- Times. On Passengers, we did several passes of techvis for the zero-gravity pool sequence. The safety of the actress was dependent on every department wrapping their heads around the resources required for each shot. We included the hydro-crane rig and stunt rigs, and for visual effects, we included passes for background plates, greenscreen and bluescreen placement, and reverse engineered passes for practical camera and actress orientation underwater. I've led techvis efforts to inform depart- ment heads and executives which stunt rigs would be used in which shot and for which actor or stand-in. It's common to reverse engineer some shots for acqui- sition on a greenscreen stage when the actor is suspended by cables or by various stunt rigs. Some shots need to be laid out showing a clear demarcation between digital and practical elements or extensions. Motion- based shots generally require techvis in order to verify the legality of the movement well ahead of the shoot day. There's no shortage of good information that can be extracted from previs. Brown: Unfortunately, most of our clients don't require this type of service, so I have never had the need. Burbidge: Techvis is very much a part of our workflow here. Figuring out how to shoot the previs is a natural part of the process, whether it's in depicting detailed camera and shooting details through diagrams or QuickTime movies, or helping block and rehearse scenes with our in- house motion-capture or virtual camera systems. Our teams also go on set to pro- vide live visualization and simulcam, some- times actually porting the animation that was worked out in previs to drive physical rigs and camera dollies, and working with the on-set crew to develop shooting solu- tions on the fly. We've also been working with our part- ners in visual effects to ensure that data we create in previs can integrate easily into their workflows. There's a real interest in facilitat- ing continuity, not just of the creative intent being communicated in the previs, but bringing the work from previs more directly all the way through the film. In addition, we've been building tools to integrate virtual reality into our process. What software tools are you using for your previs/postvis work? Smith: At Halon, we primarily use Maya, Aer Effects, Premiere, ZBrush, Photo shop, Mobu, Nuke, SynthEyes, Unreal, and Nx Witness. Frankel: For previs, our primary tools are Maya and Premiere. We also make extensive use of Photoshop. For postvis, our primary tools are Maya, Nuke, Aer Effects, and SynthEyes. We occasionally use ZBrush and Blender. And for real-time work, we use Unreal. Floch: MPC's team uses Maya, Photo- shop, and Aer Effects extensively in previs. There are a number of packages for UV mapping and texture painting that our asset artists also use, and we have a number of proprietary tools at our disposal. We're finishing up development on a new VR/ game engine pipeline. In postvis, you can add tracking soware like Boujou, SynthEyes or PFMatchit to that list. Brown: We use Maya for all our pre- vis work and will either cut it together in Premiere or Nuke, depending on whether or not I want to tweak lighting, color, or any number of other factors. Ultimately, the soware isn't as important; it's the team you're working with that is critical to the success of your project. Burbidge: The tools we use include off- the-shelf soware, like Maya and Motion- Builder, Aer Effects, and the Creative Cloud Suite. We also use Nuke for postvis, along with various 3D tracking tools. The Third Floor also develops its own propri- etary tools, libraries, and surrounding pipe- lines to make our workflow as efficient as we can. We've recently been customizing tools, for example, in Epic's Unreal Engine. In the past few months, we've also put a lot of time and resources into building our own custom virtual production technology. We feel it's central to how projects of the future will be made. Linda Romanello (lromanello@postmagazine) is chief editor and Marc Lous (mlous@ postmagazine) is senior editor/director of Web content at Post, CGW's sister publication. The Third Floor: Fantastic Beasts The Third Floor: Fantastic Beasts