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September/October 2022

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controls to bring intuitive live-action lighting and camera movement to the episode's animation workflow. Blur Studio also developed Light Rig, a pro- prietary tool for Nuke that mimics the way a cinematographer controls lighting on a live-action set. The tool interactively controls the exposure of each individu- al light without requiring re-rendering, which makes it possible for the environ- ment, characters and fluid sims to be lit in realtime. "It allows you to turn off lights for all of your render elements," Karnik explains,"so you can quickly see what it would look like if you turned off the key, for example." This allowed Fincher and the team to easily experiment and find the precise look they were seeking without the chal- lenge of extensive render times. Crafting an immersive seascape A crucial environmental element of the episode is its treacherous seascape set- ting. The animation of the waves needed to feel immersive to deliver the full emotional impact of the story. The team utilized V-Ray's infinite VRayPlane tool to define the horizon lines throughout each sequence and maintain a constant sense of realism. "Everything in 'Bad Travelling' happens on a boat at sea," explains Cambier. "This represents a relatively-contained space, so we knew that our representation of parallax and scale was key to making the final render look realistic." After defining the horizon lines, the team tackled the task of creating the constant swaying motion of the ocean's waves. They had the option of swaying the entire ship and its contents — includ- ing the characters' clothing and hair — or simply moving everything around the ship to create the illusion of swaying. "The choice was quickly made to sway all that is around the boat, as it would have been a nightmare to animate ev- erything happening on the deck," recalls Cambier. "Using the VRayPlane was essential for this too. It allowed us to do some simple coding to include and snap that infinite ocean in all our renders, from animation to lighting, all the way to the final comp." Love, Death + Robots is now streaming on Netflix. Kendra Ruczak is the Managing Editor of Post's sister publication, CGW. www.postmagazine.com 27 POST SEPT/OCT 2022 As the episode plays out, a 50/50 lighting style reflects changes in the characters. 'Bad Travelling' marks director David Fincher's animation debut. Blur Studio helped deliver the director's cinematic aesthetic. Chaos' V-Ray was used to achieve realistic lighting.

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