Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1509389
amount they had to do to get around the fact we didn't have supporting data." "The production team were monumen- tal on this as well," Comley adds. "Gareth was working with a relatively modest budget on this one…not small by many standards, but certainly modest for [this] kind of sci-fi blockbuster. We needed that production team to absolutely be on it, to try and get every last ounce we could." The distinctive visual style of the plates allowed ILM to seamlessly integrate VFX. "You've got that visual framework, so many clues and cues to riff off, that embedding our stuff becomes a really en- joyable exercise," Comley explains. "We've got that aesthetic that we can lean on and put back into the images — all the imperfections, grain structures, lens astig- matisms and pretty-heavy vignette." The ILM team utilized their in-house software platform, Zeno, as a major part of the VFX workflow backbone, as well as Maya, Houdini and Nuke. "We were quite Houdini-centric in terms of some of our mega explosions," Comley explains. "And that also helped with our destruction pipeline." Nomad, the massive US military base that floats above New Asia, was an especially-detailed asset. It is shown from many different vantage points, both inside and out, requiring a massive 1.3 terabytes of data. "In order to be able to destroy that," Comley reveals, "We had to create a proxy version of the asset. Then we could pre-fracture into smaller chunks that were of a size that animation could actually work with in Maya. Then back in Houdini, we're able to transpose those sort of manageable proxies back into the full-density asset again and build on various procedural layers in the process, and augment and destruct." CG supervisors Amanda Johnstone- Batt and Roel Coucke played an essential role in this process. Edwards' briefing requirements about who was a human and who was a robot evolved several times during production. "In some instances it had to be from our hero kit of robots or hero characters, and very much had to go the full-3D route," Comley recalls. "But in other cases, when it was perhaps more of a background layer or midground layer, we could use Nuke-centric, realtime robot heads to render out additional passes to do more rudimentary tracks to get people erased and replaced rapidly. That was Juan [Antonio Espigares Enríquez], one of our comp supe's baby." The team utilized 2D tools to over- come budget and time constraints. "We had to think in ways of being efficient," Chan explains. "As someone coming from a 2D background, I think we really tried to utilize as much as we could in comp using Nuke. It pushes us forward to try and do more in different ways." Overall, the unique challenges of the project proved to be extremely reward- ing for the ILM team. "People are very proud of their work, as they should be, because it looks abso- lutely stellar," Chan shares. Comley adds, "There aren't many projects where there's an amazing, beautiful, rich world that you're now able to almost walk around in…We got the framework and then we were allowed to play in it. It was really special." VISUAL EFFECTS www.postmagazine.com 13 POST SEPT/OCT 2023 www.postmagazine.com 13 POST SEPT/OCT 2023 The Creator incorporates some 1,700 VFX. ILM's Zeno platform played a major role in the VFX workflow. Nomad, the massive floating military base, required 1.3TBs of data.