Computer Graphics World

March 2011

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n n n n Broadcast were able to do some very large simulations distributed across the farm, producing vast amounts of data describing water, which we then could pass back into RenderMan.” With this setup, explains Wickham, the team only has to write hooks into other software, such as Houdini, Maya, and Autodesk’s Softimage, saving a great deal of time otherwise spent do- ing complex coding. Tat decision paid off when it came time to simulate the water for the Poseidon se- quence. “We were able to get those sims out very quickly,” says Wickham, noting that the studio shares the framework across its film and commercials divisions. In fact, the water module was used extensively in the animated feature Legend of the Guardians: Te Owls of Ga’Hoole. Animal Logic’s teams in both Los Angeles and Sydney worked together on “Epic Ride.” According to Brown, all the previs and shoot prep was done in LA, and the spot was post- ed in Sydney. As Wickham points out, “Te agency was a little nervous sending [the work] down to Sydney, but with our review tools, it’s now easy to work remotely.” And that’s a con- cept the crew proved true in epic style. A mix of in-camera and digital elements fuels the unique “Epic Ride” spot. Animal Logic used its own water modules to create the all-CG Poseidon at top, while a range of off-the-shelf tools, including Maya, were used to create the digital elements for the bottom scene, which also includes a live actor. began with live-action plates, though a good portion of the objects needed to support the story line were built in CG. Even the alien landscape is practical, shot near the Mojave Desert, albeit with digital moons augment- ing the landscape; a 3D alien completes the scene. In addition to the practical backdrops, the commercial incorporates matte paintings and digital set extensions. “We were faking quite a lot. Every shot was touched in some way,” says Andy Brown, VFX supervisor. Te most obvious computer-generated ele- ments (by way of the action) are the helicop- ter, boat, and, of course, Poseidon. Mostly the star of the spot—the car—is practical, though at times, it, too, had to be built digitally. Maya was used to create and animate the models; texturing was done in Maya and Adobe’s Photoshop, with some experimenta- tion conducted in Te Foundry’s Mari. Mean- while, Te Foundry’s Nuke and Autodesk’s Flame were employed for compositing. For tracking, the group used 2d3’s Boujou. Ren- 30 March 2011 dering was done in Pixar’s RenderMan and Animal Logic’s MayaMan, the studio’s Maya- to-RenderMan software. One scene that especially challenged the art- ists, and for which they are most proud, is that with the all-CG, water-simulated Poseidon. During the past few years, Animal Logic has been developing ALF, its 3D software framework, and when it came time to “tie up some lose ends with the water module,” Gid- ney had sat down with the studio’s R&D team to determine the best solution to incorporate into the framework. After a test period during which time the developers examined Side Ef- fects’ Houdini, Next Limit’s RealFlow, and in- house solutions, Animal Logic committed to extending the functionality of the proprietary water modules for the ALF Nexus tool set. “We decided that we could get more done within our own framework, because once the coding was done, we could iterate on the so- lutions quickly, saving expensive resource cal- culations,” explains Gidney. “We just have to code a particular solution once. As a result, we NFL: Best Fans Ever Perennial advertising giants Budweiser and Coke are not the only brands known for cre- ative Super Bowl commercials. In fact, the NFL has been coming up with smart plays of its own in recent years, including 2011’s “Best Fans Ever,” featuring digitally altered clips from a range of favorite television shows past and present in which the characters are re-dressed in team gear and football-centric elements are inserted into the scenes. “We were tasked to create a story for the Super Bowl built around the experience that everyone shares,” recalls editor Ryan McKenna from Te Mill. Te group settled on the con- cept of “preparation,” focusing on the antici- pation and excitement of the big game. A large crew from Te Mill’s New York of- fice spent weeks sifting through mounds of television footage—from iconic series such as Seinfeld, Cheers, 90201, Te Brady Bunch, and the Sopranos, as well as Glee, Te Family Guy, and more—looking for certain moments that had potential. Tat is, potential for the clip to be re-created into a fan moment. Tose clips were then placed into categories describing the scene—for instance, stars delivering one-liners,

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