Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1495163
j a n u a r y • f e b r u a r y • m a r c h 2 0 2 3 c g w 2 1 emotes accurately to what was captured on the performance stage. Paul Pianezza: In total we shot 42 days on our stage in LA, and created workflows for the director to call out selects as we were shooting. We would then process them and post them up at the end of the shoot, so that the Supermassive team in England could wake up to find files waiting for them. They would then put them into the game, send it back, and the director could then view dailies in-engine before the next day of shooting. CGW: How did your team optimize facial tracking for this project? Aruna Inversin: Digital Domain uses a specific marker set that we have optimized to give us the best facial performance visible through an HMC. We additionally run our HMC cameras at a higher framerate to reduce the amount of motion blur between markers, as well as use stereo cameras to triangulate where these marker positions are during a performance. Paul Pianezza: Because we had millions of frames to process across 32 hours of facial performance, any hiccup in the system was magnified. When that happened, we had to write our own new tools to be able to stay on schedule and process the tracks. With 32 hours of facial performance, you can't brute force anything, so the systems had to work. CGW: Which programs, plug-ins, and tools were most vital to your team's work on this project? Aruna Inversin: We have a number of proprietary tools and plug- ins that were created for this project, but the standard DCC [digital content creation] toolsets were also used, including Unreal Engine 4.27 and Maya. On stage, we used UE4 as a visualization tool com- bined with MotionBuilder and Vicon capture system. Paul Pianezza: On the production side it was Shotgun, and mak- ing sure we tracked everything at all times. Zoom was also vital — at any point I could ask any member of the production team where we were and get an answer. We had a stellar production and leadership team on this. CGW: What did you enjoy most about working on this project? Aruna Inversin: We were able to deliver over 30 hours of facial performance across fieen actors during a pandemic. The ability to pick up on the nuances of the actor's performance and being able to convey that emotion in game puts The Quarry above many games in this genre. Being able to see the results of our labor across multiple game consoles and platforms is also exciting! Paul Pianezza: This project was the most challenging and sat- isfying project I've ever worked on. We delivered something that no one else has done, with 32 hours of high-fidelity facial solving using machine learning, while having almost no animators. Of the 4,500- ish shots we solved, we only had animators help with 27 of them, and that was just to adjust globals and not fine-tweak or polish the anima- tion. The quality we achieved was amazing, and getting to represent the project in situations like this is extremely humbling. The people who make up Digital Domain are the best artists in the world, so get- ting to say that I produced this job at Digital Domain is a little surreal. So while it's cliché, the most enjoyable part of this project was work- ing with the teams not only on the Digital Domain side of things, but also with Supermassive Games, and the actors. When we were on the last days of filming, I remember talking to many of the people on the crew and just wanting to keep shooting and not stop, we were having that much fun. Then when we were working on the shots, we spent so much time together we became a family. We were working on this project before COVID started, so being able to maintain the team through all of that was really special, and I believe we all be- came closer because of it. CGW: Do you have any advice for up-and-coming VFX artists? Aruna Inversin: Think outside the box and play well with others! Paul Pianezza: I tell every one of my coordinators that you can't produce unless you know the process, so hang out with the artists and learn as much as you can. I also have them get a Kindle copy of The Visual Effects Handbook by the Visual Effects Society. It's a great resource, especially when you're starting out and taking notes in a meeting where you have no idea what the vocabulary is. With the digital version, you can use it as a reference, search key terms, and then speak with artists to learn more about what you don't know. If you can work with someone named Aruna Inversin, you're halfway there. ¢ Gameplay is directed by a script exceeding 1,000 pages with 180 possible endings.