Visual Effects of X-Men 3

[SynthesisNY]

if anyone has those phoenix concept pics that were "deleted by owner's requests", could u email them to me? It's no longer on the owner's website. Just want to see them again. thanks [email protected]

 

[Retroman]

From Side Effects Software Inc:

One of the great things about a superhero movie is the chance to watch talented visual effects artists have some fun. In this summer’s blockbuster X-Men: The Last Stand, audiences will be amazed as Magneto redirects the Golden Gate Bridge and Juggernaut smashes through thick concrete block walls. These kinds of shots present a technical challenge that studios such as Framestore CFC and CIS Hollywood enjoy meeting head on. To help hit their deadlines without sacrificing creative freedom, both studios chose to build their effects around Houdini’s new dynamics architecture.

The Golden Gate Challenge

One of the shots that Framestore CFC was charged with was the important and complex one of Magneto uprooting the Golden Gate Bridge and reattaching it to Alcatraz. Sean Lewkiw, Ben Schrijvers and Joe Thornley, Senior FX Artists at Framestore CFC, knew that they would have to rely on dynamic simulations to give this and the other shots a more natural feel.

“To achieve the large-scale destruction, we relied on Houdini’s dynamics to perform simulations that would be impossible using any other software package,” says Schrijvers. “We ended up doing many more dynamic simulations than originally planned because of the success and speed of being able to provide iterations.”

When Lewkiw, Schrijvers and Thornley first started these shots, the new dynamics architecture in Houdini 8 had just been released. Every shot brought with it a learning opportunity and the chance to keep pushing boundaries. Schrijvers points out that they ended up with different and better methods for every shot. VFX Supervisor, Craig Lyn, adds that he was very happy with the quality as well as the complexity of the shots being run through Houdini's RBD simulations. “Many of the simulations were being approved on the first pass through, which just goes to show, something must be working well," he adds.

Another major benefit using Houdini was the ability to save time by testing shots using low resolution geometry. “Houdini allowed us to run a simulation using proxy geometry and then substitute high resolution geometry at render time,” says Lewkiw. “This gave us major productivity benefits we wouldn’t otherwise have had”.

As the 1.7 mile long, 887,000 ton bridge is uprooted, moved and reattached, the resulting dynamics simulations would need to raise some dust and smoke. The team at Framestore CFC relied on Houdini and Mantra to pull off this particularly dirty job. For the smoke volume rendering, they used a Houdini Digital Asset that encapsulated the whole rendering setup, including details such as shadow maps and pipeline tasks like sending the shot to the render farm.

For Framestore CFC, Houdini’s tools and techniques provide a creative freedom necessary to create high-quality shots. “Our Houdini pipeline allowed us to experiment freely with ideas because it’s so easy to swap data into an operator chain,” says Schrijvers. “Maya requires so much more setup and has much less reusability, so you’re less likely to try something because of the hassle.”

Juggernaut Crashing Through Walls

CIS Hollywood was called upon to create the important and effects-intensive laboratory scene in which the mutant Kitty Pryde is chased through successive walls by the villain Juggernaut. As Juggernaut bursts through each wall, a hole is created and pieces of concrete fly out in all different directions. John Cassella, Lead FX Artist at CIS, relied on Houdini’s Rigid Body Dynamics to achieve these dramatic effects.

Geometry was imported as OBJ files then converted to an implicit surface/volume representation within the dynamics environment. It was then run through several different levels of simulations. The set was built with pre-made holes in the walls and floor, big enough for the actors to run through, and the CIS team traced these holes and built pre-scored geometry for each chunk or rock or floor. These were then used as rigid body objects to be smashed by a match-moved proxy model of Juggernaut.

“There are really no other rigid body packages that I’ve tried that have enough control to do interlocking geometry well,” says Cassella. “Cracking walls and floors usually have interpenetration issues galore, but with Houdini, the implicit surface volume type of interpenetration checking makes it so much easier

From Maya to Houdini and Back Again

When it came to employing Houdini Digital Assets, Cassella used them to increase interactivity and the sharing of toolsets. Digital assets were used for the import/export of objects and animation data to and from Maya. On either end of the pipeline, Cassella created “conduit” GUI’s scripts and nodes which transferred data into a format that the other package could understand.

“On the Maya side, we would place wall and floor chunks in tracked/animated plates, and through some scripts export the scene tree that would get imported into Houdini,” says Cassella. “We also took the match-moved Juggernaut animation and transferred it into Houdini using this pipeline, which gave us a moving RBD Juggernaut that we slammed through the wall RBD objects for the proper effect.”

On the Houdini side, the “Maya Conduit” digital asset would read the scene data and animation curves, and build all the proper networks needed to recreate the scene. Then all that had to be done was hook up some fields and a solver to the rigid body objects and run the simulation. “This system of export/import allowed us to teach a new animator the whole pipeline, including tweaking simulations, in less than a day,” adds Cassella.

After a good simulation was approved, channel data could be written out for all of the rigid body objects; sometimes there were over 500 simulated objects. This channel data was then brought back into Maya using another “Houdini Conduit” script and applied to the original geometry.

“For people unfamiliar with Houdini, this pipeline made the transition pretty simple,” says Cassella. “There was little hand wiring of networks, the conduits on either end took care of most of the low level connectivity, and the ability to wrap GUIs and buttons around the scripting on either end allowed even higher level controls to simplify things.”

Productivity Leads to Creativity

For both Framestore CFC and CIS Hollywood, the productivity gains achieved with a Houdini pipeline gave them more time to focus on the creative process. The procedural nature of Houdini allowed the artists to prototype an effect in one shot and/or by one artist, and then share those techniques across other shots by exchanging digital assets, procedural networks or scripts. Being able to quickly publish and share data gave them freedom to explore a variety of ideas.

For CIS Hollywood, being able to make changes quickly was a pleasant surprise. “More often than not, the words ‘creative’ and ‘simulation’ don’t jive well together,” says Cassella. “Being able to revamp a simulation quickly and with little pain definitely helped us be more creative and achieve these great results.”

Source: http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=484&Itemid=68

 

[Retroman]

From Framestore CFC:

The Bridge Sequence contains the most complex visual effects in an effects-heavy picture. It features a huge array of elements – CG, digital backgrounds, miniatures, full-size sets with digital extensions, night-shot material that had to be matched with day-shots – all of which had to be brought together as a seamless whole.

We started the Bridge Sequence first and finished it last, and throughout it all Framestore CFC's contribution was never less than outstanding.
John Bruno, Visual Effects Supervisor, X-Men: The Last Stand

X-Men: The Last Stand is the third film in the highly successful series about mutant heroes and villains possessing extraordinary superpowers. It opened 26th May around the world, and broke the Memorial Day weekend box-office records in the US, taking over $120m over the 4-day period. Starring Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry and Patrick Stewart, the film is a 20th Century Fox production. X-Men: The Last Stand was directed by Brett Ratner.

In the final chapter in the X-Men trilogy, a 'cure' for the mutants' condition threatens to alter the course of history. For the first time, mutants have a choice: retain their uniqueness, though it isolates and alienates them, or give up their powers and become human. The opposing viewpoints of mutant leaders Charles Xavier (Stewart), who preaches tolerance, and Magneto (McKellen), who believes in the survival of the fittest, are put to the ultimate test - triggering the war to end all wars...

Chief among Framestore CFC's contributions to the movie's VFX are the Bridge Sequence – wherein one of the mutant groups use their telekinetic powers to wrench San Francisco's famous Golden Gate Bridge from it's foundations and redirect it to form a link with the island of Alcatraz. The company's VFX team also gave CG wings to Angel, a character new to the mutant pantheon, as well as replacing him in some shots with a full digital double. In addition, the team handled a sequence where a fountain and pond are instantaneously frozen. Altogether, Framestore CFC provided the production with 175 VFX shots.

Bridge of Size
Framestore CFC's VFX Supervisor for the project was Craig Lyn, who had personal reasons for wanting to win the bid for the Bridge sequence. "Our VFX Producer on this project, Mei Ming Casino, and I had both lived in the (San Francisco) Bay area," he says, "And we both have very fond memories of it. The chance to play with one of the world's most famous bridges in a location we loved was just too good to miss." Lyn also attributes the quality of the work that the Framestore CFC team had produced for X-Men's VFX Supervisor, John Bruno, on Alien Vs. Predator as another factor that finally gained them the Bridge Sequence, despite competition from ILM, Weta and others.

The sheer scale of the sequence elements was a little daunting. The Golden Gate Bridge is 1.7 miles long, with its two towers stretching 746 feet above the water and weighing 44,000 tons each. "Just getting a structure as big and complex as this rigged for animation and then eventually rendered was a technical feat in itself," points out Lyn. Originally the team had planned for a mixture of around 75% miniatures plus CG, with live action back plates. An exceptionally high number of 'fog days' around the Bay area during the shoot, combined with night-for-day material from a further shoot in Vancouver, as well as sequence changes, meant that Framestore CFC's bridge had to quickly evolve into a full highly detailed CG element, equipped to move in any way the production required. Some 90% of the shots required CG matte paintings for backgrounds. The shots also required CG Cars, CG debris and FX simulations, dynamic cable simulations and mutant digital doubles.

Paul Beilby, CG Supervisor for the project, describes some of the work that would go into shots of the bridge being wrenched from its moorings. "We'd frequently have no specific plate for a shot, and would generate it from scratch. The background would be created using a tiled environment, generated from photographs and assorted water elements from the area. In other shots where there were no suitable water elements, CG water was generated. The bridge and associated debris are all CG, using a combination of many techniques in order to convey the required epic scale and realism. This included multiple types of simulation, cloth, rigid body dynamics and fluid simulation as well as key frame animation. The dust and splashes were computer generated, using a mixture of particle and fluid simulation, then mixed with 2D elements from our element library." Alcatraz Island was enhanced using 2.5D methods, extending the compound to match the set that would be used in the final sequence.

The bridge was primarily modelled in Lightwave. It was assembled, rigged and animated in Maya for rendering with Renderman using image based lighting. Some of the destruction of the bridge was animated in Houdini before being passed to Maya for rendering, and Houdini also provided additional smoke and debris elements. There was, needless to say, a lot of custom code involved too.

The team compositing the various CG elements was headed by Matt Twyford. "The main challenges," Twyford says, "Were getting the initial look and time of day for the whole sequence. The elements consisted of cold, rainy night live-action footage from Vancouver, sunny day miniature elements, traditional misty day background plates of San Francisco, and of course the CG bridge and fx elements. We used the CG to glue all the disparate layers together by initially creating a 'golden-hour' sunset look entirely from CG and matte painting for the trailer. We then used this reference to aggressively grade and to repaint the background plates until we had a full selection of de-misted matching golden-hour plates. A lot of the water was replaced with CG, and the sky fully replaced with a 180 degree dome for continuity. The CG bridge was beauty lit and the FX lit in comp to blend the whole together. Lots and lots of additional live action FX elements were used to give scale to the shattering of the bridge."

Tools used during the composite of the Bridge Sequence included Shake, Silhouette for rotoscoping, and Commotion for paint. Photoshop was used for all the matte paintings using Framestore CFC's own colour space setups to keep the float space pipeline.

The other two effects that Framestore CFC brought to the X-Men table were the enormous wings sported by the new Angel character and the frozen pond used by the Iceman and Shadowcat characters. The team were fortunate in being able to build on the proprietary feather system based on technology the company had developed for the Hippogriff for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and the Pegasus in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. They used Maya and Renderman to add CG wings to a live action actor, as well as replacing him altogether with a full CG double in some shots.

The box-office figures attest to the enduring appeal of the X-Men franchise, and Framestore CFC is pleased and proud to have brought a little of their own magic to the series. John Bruno, who supervised the X-Men: The Last Stand VFX, was at the movie's recent Cannes screening, and he says, "I'm thrilled with (Framestore CFC's) results, as were the Cannes audience, which loudly applauded the Bridge Sequence."

Source: http://www.framestore-cfc.com/feature/xmen/index.html

 

[Retroman]

Syflex in "X-Men: The Last Stand"

What
Special Effects

Who
Client: 20th Century Fox
Special Effects: Framestore CFC
VFX Supervisor: Craig Lyn
Senior Technical Director: Carl Bianco

Where
SyFlex was used by Framestore CFC quite intensively in the spectacular special effects work they did on the Golden Gate Bridge sequence in the super successful X-Men 3.

More
VFX Supervisor Craig Lyn gave us a few more details:
"The Golden Gate Bridge sequence is one of the central scenes of the film, and we really put SyFlex at work here. We used it to simulate the numerous cables of the bridge first tearing and flying around Magneto, and then as they also create a torus shape around him when they receive his powers.

Carl Bianco did a wonderful job on this, as did SyFlex! We were a bit concerned about this scene, because the client was very particular in every other case and we were sure we were heading for quite a bit of work, however Carl just nailed it with each shot on the very first try! There are about 25 shots here, and the work Carl did with SyFlex is really fantastic!"

Source: http://www.syflex.biz/gallery_framestore1.html

 

[TNC9852002]

You've done it again, Retro...

the GG bridge sequence...it was so cool, but I wish it was like, 10 seconds longer...

-TNC

 

[Retroman]

^^Yeah and i wished they released it in Imax theatres too.

 

[Retroman]

From genarts.com:

Hydraulx Makes its Mark with Sapphire Plug-ins on
X-Men: The Last Stand


The third and final installment of the Marvel Comic's cinematic X-Men series finds the mutant population facing the threat of extinction by way of a "cure". A mutant antigen is created, which the government exploits &ndash ultimately resulting in open war between humanity and the anti-cure mutants. Ever seeking a peaceful coexistence, the decimated X-Men join forces with their human counterparts in a parry to restore the balance of power between the two races. From digital facelifts to levitating the Golden Gate Bridge, X-Men 3 is hailed as a visual effects masterpiece.

With a total of 900 post production shots, Twentieth Century Fox entrusted over a quarter of them to Hydraulx, an 80-person visual effects and design company out of Santa Monica. Esteemed for their award-winning commercial and video work, Hydraulx and its sister company Lola Visual Effects are rapidly gaining prestige as lead vendors for feature film visual effects. Co-Owner and VFX Supervisor Greg Strause asserts, "Our company has been built around two primary goals: hire the best artists in the industry and arm them with the latest and greatest in tools and processing power." Among these premiere tools are multiple Discreet Inferno and Flame systems, the world's largest 64-bit Burn installation, and GenArts Sapphire Plug-ins loaded across the board. According to Strause, "I couldn't imagine having any compositing system without Sapphire installed. It's a bread-and-butter, go-to tool over here for all of the artists."

Fittingly for X-Men: The Last Stand, Strause relied upon the proven prowess of his Discreet systems pipeline and Sapphire Plug-ins to handle everything from ground-breaking vanity work to photorealistic special effects.

The Fountain of Youth

Magneto before, and after
Hydraulx's digital rejuvenation technique

Magneto can bend metal to his will, and Professor Xavier can read minds &ndash human and mutant alike, but these supermutants have nothing on the digital wizardry of the Inferno artists at Hydraulx and Lola VFX. The critical, audience-grabbing opening sequence begins in the past, depicting former allies Magneto and Charles Xavier visiting a young Jean Grey on a mission to bring the powerful girl into the X-Men fold.
Tasked with making two sixty-something actors look twenty years younger, the Hydraulx team created a revolutionary technique they dubbed "rejuvenation" &ndash involving a sophisticated series of parts whose sum is a face-lifting, jaw-dropping whole. GenArts Sapphire Plug-ins were integral to the overall success of this de-aging technique, specifically a patented threesome of effects which Strause and his team have previously used on CG shots to create organic, photo-real results.

Strause explains, "We have a proven set of tricks that involve the BlurChroma, Glow and Layer Sapphire sparks, simulating light absorption for a cool optic effect. With CG footage, even if you're using global illumination, sometimes there's just too much light. Sapphire GlowDarks makes everything more real looking by blurring and darkening edges in the source film. The Layer spark then brings chroma from background through to the foreground which simulates the natural color of the environment's lighting reflecting off the CG."

"For the rejuvenation sequence, we added BlurChroma to the mix, which is effective at smoothing out the skin tone of an aging actor without removing detail. Sapphire Glow also mitigates inconsistencies while maintaining the sharpness of the pores and hairs. In general, adding a Glow makes people look more youthful &ndash sort of like a digital facial."



Lethal Lightning Bolts

Controlling Mother Nature is all in a day's work for Halle Berry's character Ororo Munroe. In fact, her mutant moniker &ndash Storm &ndash says it all. With a glance heavenward, her eyes cloud with cataracts, and then any manner of foul weather rains down upon her foes.

In X-Men: The Last Stand, Storm meets her match in the form of Callisto, a malevolent, Magneto-aligned mutant whose enhanced reflexes and super-human strength are among her many formidable talents. Storm and Callisto face off in the final battle sequence; and after a good old fashioned cat fight, Storm summons an impressive electrical show, ultimately directing a deadly fistful of lightning at the vanquished Callisto.

For this shot, Strause and his team relied on the Sapphire Zap effects to create organic, credible lightning bolts.

"Our Inferno artist MaryBeth built this entire special effect with Sapphire's Zap and ZapTo effects &ndash laying it out and easily animating where the bolts were coming from and going to. Then she applied different variations of the Glow spark, and then various Sapphire Lens Flares on top of that. So by layering these three effects and then animating the flares on and off, we created a cool, believable sequence in the movie &ndash with convincing lightning bolts that everyone was very happy with."

Storm with Sapphire lightning effects

Strause stresses that GenArts Sapphire Plug-ins allows him to easily create essential optic effects, and he appreciates that each plug-in is highly customizable.

"Sapphire is the only way to achieve certain vital effects on our Inferno. We pound on them pretty hard over here. Really, I can think rarely of a Hydraulx shot where Sapphire Plug-ins weren't used."


About GenArts, Inc.

Founded in 1996 in Cambridge, Mass., GenArts, Inc. is the premier provider of digital visual effects plug-ins for the film, broadcast and video industries. Their product, Sapphire Plug-ins, equips digital artists with a collection of over 190 state-of-the-art image processing and synthesis effects such as: Glows, EdgeRays, LensFlare, Lightning, FilmEffect, Warps and Textures. The effects seamlessly integrate into a number of editing and compositing systems including: Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro; Apple Final Cut Pro and Shake; Avid AVX Products; Autodesk's Discreet Systems and Combustion; Eyeon Fusion; Sony XPRI; and Quantel generationQ products.

Sapphire Plug-ins have become the industry standard for high-end visual effects creation by providing unrivaled image quality, a unique organic look, and ease of use. They have been used extensively in an array of television programs, music videos and feature films, including: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Star Wars - Episode I, II and III, Spider-Man 1, 2 and 3, Sin City, The Matrix trilogy, X-Men 1, 2 and 3, Titanic, Lost and CSI. Additional GenArts product information can be found at www.genarts.com.


Contact:
Nicole Panas, GenArts, Inc.
1-617-492-2888
[email protected]




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
©2006 GenArts, Inc. All rights reserved. GenArts and Sapphire Plug-ins are registered trademarks of GenArts, Inc.
Images: TM and ©2006 Twentieth Century Fox. All rights reserved. X-Men Character Likenesses TM and ©2006 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.
All other trademarks mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.

Source: http://genarts.com/story-hydraulx.html

 

[Retroman]

From Autodesk:

X-Men: The Last Stand

(C) 2006, X-Mmen: The Last Stand, 20th Century Fox Corporation. Image courtesy of Hydraulx

Specializing in digital clean-ups, LOLA VFX used Autodesk’s Discreet Inferno system as a fountain of youth for the opening sequence of X-Men: The Last Stand. Digital artists relied on reference footage, consultations from plastic surgeons and special techniques developed with Inferno to make Professor Xavier and Magneto look up to 20 years younger. While digital clean-ups such as wrinkle reduction, eye enhancements and dental corrections are becoming more common in film, this is the first time that such a drastic age-reduction effect has been undertaken.

LOLA VFX’s sister studio Hydraulx also worked on the film, completing 235 shots with Inferno, Flame, Burn, Maya, Combustion and Backdraft. For the Convoy sequence, in which Magneto uses his magnetic powers to throw cars out of the way, digital artists at Hydraulx used Maya to digitally re-create and animate the cars. Autodesk’s visual effects tools were also used to enhance this scene by blowing out the car windows, popping the tires, etc. Next, Hydraulx used Maya to create a mutant who is able to regenerate his body when injured. In one scene, Wolverine is fighting this character and repeatedly cuts off bits of his arm, which then grows back. The actor playing this mutant was filmed with green screen socks over his arms, and artist at Hydraulx used Maya to digitally re-create them.

In addition, Framestore CFC completed approximately 110 shots for X-Men: The Last Stand using Maya software. “We used Autodesk Maya to assemble, rig and animate the Golden Gate Bridge,” explained Craig Lyn, VFX supervisor on the film. “The sheer size of this 3D asset was a major issue that we overcame using Maya. The software fit into our existing animation and rendering pipeline seamlessly and allowed us to create custom tools that improved our workflow.” The facility also used Maya to create a digital double of actor Ben Foster (who plays the part of Angel), as well as to give him computer-generated wings.

Source: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=7611937#section16

 

[AznBABYBANDIT]

Retro, once again you find it all

 

[Retroman]

No problemo.

 

[AznBABYBANDIT]

It seems like u work for fox and you know all their secrets lol!

 

[Retroman]

Soho VFX posted two shots of their effects work on Quills and a cured mutant from the final battle.

Source (click on '2006' and them 'X-Men TLS': http://www.sohovfx.com/filmography.htm

 

[AznBABYBANDIT]

Thx again Retro... I'm beggining to think, that if u work for Fox, We'll know SOOOO much more ^_^

 

[X-Maniac]

Soho VFX posted two shots of their effects work on Quills and a cured mutant from the final battle.

Source (click on '2006' and them 'X-Men TLS': http://www.sohovfx.com/filmography.htm

The cured mutant is Glob Herman from the comics, whose internal organs are visible....

 

[Retroman]

Thx again Retro... I'm beggining to think, that if u work for Fox, We'll know SOOOO much more ^_^

Uhm...okay.If you say so.

 

[Retroman]

The cured mutant is Glob Herman from the comics, whose internal organs are visible....

Thanks

 

[N_z0]

It's articles (and pics) like these that make me want to make the leap from games to movies. If only it wasn't so complicated.

 

[AznBABYBANDIT]

Lol inner organs... Ewww... Bottom...

 

[Retroman]

Another effects article incl. a look at previs for the Mystique transformation scene. By the looks of it the orginal script had more prisoners in the convoy. 4 instead of 2.

From VFXWORLD:

Concept Art and VFX: Managed Collaboration
J. Paul Peszko finds a collaborative relationship between conceptual artists and vfx teams on the biggest of visual effects blockbusters.
By J. Paul Peszko

[ Posted on July 27, 2006 ]

Testing out the look of a scene from X-Men: The Last Stand. All images ™ and © 2006 Twentieth Century Fox. All rights reserved. X-Men character likenesses ™ and © 2006 Marvel Characters Inc.


Although the collaborative relationship between conceptual artists and vfx departments appears to be improving on larger, effects-driven features, the people skilled with pen and brush that design the overall look of a film still find their craft a solitary one. As Daren Dochterman, a veteran concept artist, puts it: “By the time the vfx company has started, and brought their own artists on, the pre-production artists have been laid off.”
As for collaboration between the two, Dochterman suggests it is very rare in the early stages. “The only people actively working on the film early in pre-production are the people in the art department. If it is a visually complex movie, this usually includes concept artists. At this point, the company that will ultimately perform the vfx duties isn’t even chosen. So, there is little chance for collaboration.”

Dochterman, with a long list of credits, including Poseidon, X-Men: The Last Stand and Monster House, believes this is an effect of compartmentalization. “Hollywood has always involved different ‘factions’ working on a film, from the director to the art department to production to special effects to set dressing to visual effects. The only real collaboration happens in countless early meetings where the department heads and their key people discuss the script.”

Mark Goerner, who has worked on such features as Minority Report and Constantine and is currently working on James Cameron’s upcoming Battle Angel, agrees: “The collaborative relationship between post-production artists and concept/pre-production artists is a rarity in feature film work. Most of the translation of content is done through the art directors and agents for the vfx companies. My personal belief is that any production that has interest in breaking new ground, or at least achieving an especially honed product would benefit from the occasional cross-pollination of ideas and methodologies from those two spheres of labor.”

James Clyne, who is also working on Battle Angel and lists X-Men: The Last Stand, Poseidon and Polar Express among his credits, doesn’t experience much collaboration in the early stages of a production either. “When I first start, it’s usually only myself, a director and maybe a production designer. We go over the broad strokes of a script with the director or production designer or both and hack out or block out the beats of the script. Then as the production progresses, I get more involved with collaborating with set designers, art directors and nowadays there’s lots of collaboration with the previs guy.”

Source: http://www.vfxworld.com/?atype=articles&id=2954&page=1

 

[xii22_loop]

yay! retroman proves hes like better then god, once again.

<3

 

[Retroman]

In an article on the recent VES Festival theres a blurb on how stressfull X3 was for the crew.

From VFXWORLD:

VES Festival Brings VFX to Heart of Hollywood

Next up, the vfx team on the latest X-Men franchise discussed the challenges of working on a tight schedule (April 20, 2005-April 8, 2006) and with various vfx houses in five countries on three different continents. Panelists were John Bruno, vfx supervisor; John “DJ” Des Jardin, vfx supervisor; Bryan Hirota, vfx supervisor, CIS and Edson Williams, vfx producer for Lola Visual Effects with Hunter moderating.

X-Men’s vfx team discussed the challenges of working on a tight schedule and with houses in five countries. ™ and © 2006 Twentieth Century Fox. All rights reserved. X-Men character likenesses ™ and © 2006 Marvel Characters Inc.

A main focus was the rejuvenation work Lola did to strip off 20 years from the actors. Williams said their digital makeup often involved 200 layers as they stripped shadows and restructured the faces of Ian McKellan (Magneto) and Patrick Stewart (Prof. Charles Xaiver). They collected photos of these well-known actors from their younger days. Then, primarily using 2D solutions, filled out their loss of bone density and muscle that comes with the aging process. In fact, they took them back too young and had to add shadows back to make them a bit older.
Lots of digital makeup was also used on the Jean Grey/Phoenix (Famke Jannsen), especially for the finale.

Bruno said all the actors were digitally scanned (a common practice in most films today) in case they had to replace them at any one point, especially with the flying bodies and shattering body parts in a digitized room.

They also lamented they had to remove some of the debris used in the stormy, final scene (assets were reused from Weta Digital just coming off King Kong) and played the vfx team’s favorite version that higher powers asked them to remove and simplify.

Bruno said the biggest lesson learned was never to try to do a picture in five countries in one year.

Source: http://www.vfxworld.com/?atype=articles&id=2959&page=2
http://www.vfxworld.com/?atype=articles&id=2959&page=3

 

[flavio_lebeau]

damn, they had to simplify the final scene?
good find, Retro

 

[Retroman]

Great new interview on the vfx with pics.

From vfxtalk.com:

August 4th, 2006, 08:32 AM

VFXTalk Interviews Craig Lyn, Framestore CFC VFX Supervisor on X-Men 3

About X Men 3
&#8220;X-Men 3: The Last Stand,&#8221; follows the tale of our favourite groups of mutant super beings. In this film we see the effects of humans finding a, so called, cure for mutation and it has obvious repercussions which result in a war amongst mutants.

Theatrical Trailer
http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/tls/

Official Movie Site:
http://www.x-menthelaststand.com

About Framestore CFC
Framestore CFC is the largest visual effects and computer animation studio in Europe, with over 20 years of experience in digital film and video technology. The company has won numerous international awards including two Technical Academy Awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, three BAFTA Craft Awards and eleven Primetime Emmy Awards.

Framestore CFC Website:
http://www.framestorecfc.com

VFXTalk Meets The Man Who Helped Put The X in X-Men 3

Welcome to our latest interview in the VFX Master series. We asked you to give us questions for Craig Lyn, VFX Supervisor representing Framestore CFC&#8217;s work on, &#8221;X-Men 3: The Last Stand.&#8221; Once again to your credit, you gave us plenty of questions for Craig. We got to sit down with the man himself and get you what you wanted&#8230;answers.

Craig&#8217;s early career in computing led him to write a book entitled "The Macintosh 3DHandbook" (currently in its 3rd edition), and his writing about 3d and compositing for film led him into 3D visual effects. After freelancing for several years, Craig eventually joined ILM for Star Wars: Episode 1, on which he worked in a variety of capacities. At ILM he broadened the range of his interests, ending his tenure there as a Technical Director in the CG Department.

Craig joined Framestore-CFC as Lead Technical Director on Dinotopia (which won an Emmy and four VES Awards), subsequently sequence supervising on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He was the CG Supervisor on Thunderbirds, for which Framestore CFC created over 600 VFX shots - one of the largest and most comprehensive undertakings ever achieved in the UK. Craig has just finished the work as VFX Supervisor on X-Men 3: The Last Stand.

Can you please tell us a little about yourself and your history in VFX?

CL: I came over to the U.K around 5 years ago to start working on, &#8220;Dinotopia,&#8221; which was a long format show for Framestore CFC. Before that I was at ILM in the bay area of California which is where I got my start in the VFX industry. After 4 years at ILM the last show that I worked on was, Michael Bay&#8217;s &#8220;Pearl Harbour&#8221; and really wanted a change, the U.K seemed like it was a market that was about to boom and so I came over here.

I was on the Emmy team for Dinotopia. I also worked on Mistress of Spices, a few of the Potter films, Star Wars Episode 1, Thunderbirds, Mission to Mars, Galaxy Quest, Amistad, Deep Impact, Mrs. Henderson Presents, a little bit on Doom, and many commercials.

Can you just explain the process of what you did on the bridge scene?

CL: We were bidding against ILM for this sequence and both myself and Mei Ming Casino our VFX Producer, used to live in the bay area. Also I used to drive over the golden gate bridge all the time&#8230;so we had 2 great incentives for wanting to win the sequence.

Another company had started off doing the pre-vis, and there were a lot of changes going on, The show was constantly in flux it is very important for you to realize that&#8230;originally it was supposed to be Bryan Singer directing, then Matthew Vaughn and then finally we ended up with Brett Ratner, with changes like that the story is going to change. The pre-vis was done and then redone and we ended up doing a lot of it as well, in fact I did a lot of it on my laptop out in Vancouver.

The scene itself plays out in two main parts: The practical set piece and then the big CG shots. The set piece was built out on location in Vancouver BC and was 6 lanes across and around a hundred of metres long&#8230;that was used for all of the live action pieces on the bridge. The change of directors led to a change in DOP&#8217;s which meant changes in lighting strategies. At one point they just couldn&#8217;t decide at what time of the day that sequence was going to be&#8230;originally it was a night time theme, the lighting was set up for that and it would have worked&#8230;but things changed and they ended up wanting it to take place at golden hour, however, it was shot at night, in the rain on a green screen&#8230;so we ended up shooting night for day, which is one of the worst conditions you can have. We had to deal with spill, light bounce and so on. We fought with it all the way through, but I think it turned out pretty well. The second bit was all CG&#8230;the problem with that was the constant change in vis and plates. Since we often didn&#8217;t end up with the plates that we wanted, we had to create a lot of matte paintings and digital environments.

What did you use to do it with?

CL: The majority of the animation and lighting was done in Maya. Some of the rigid body simulations and all of the dust work was done in Houdini. The cable simulations were done in Sy-flex, which is a plugin for Maya. The compositing was done in Shake, rendering done through RenderMan and a lot of custom code for miscellaneous parts of our pipeline.


What kind of research were you able to do?

CL: Actually the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington, would you believe that there was a suspension bridge that was built and the frequency of oscillation matched what the wind was doing, so when the wind was blowing&#8230;the bridge would wobble and eventually one day it flew apart. That was great reference footage. The great thing about the sequence is that everyone knows what the Golden Gate Bridge looks like, you can find reference for it everywhere you would look. We could find the lighting and anything we needed from any postcard.

What did it take to model, animate and composite the wings of Angel?

CL: It was all of our custom code. It&#8217;s legacy code, which is a good and a bad thing because we adopted another show&#8217;s work. We took the code from the Hippogriff, (which was like a Pegasus,) in the Harry Potter movie. That was part of the reason why we got the work. We used a lot of that code to create the wings for Angel. Parts of the wing was procedurally generated, specifically the smaller feathers.

How exactly did the experience form Harry Potter with the Hippogriff help you out there on the modelling and animation side?

CL: In terms of the bidding process it helped us a lot because we were able to offer an off the shelf solution. The problem with that of course you don&#8217;t develop something specifically for the movie.


How many feathers and muscle systems make up the wings?

CL: Feathers oh my, thousands, in fact hundreds of thousands because there are all the small little downy feathers, it&#8217;s not just the big ones. There wasn&#8217;t as much of a muscle system, as a dynamic system&#8230;you know getting the flap and the flutter and all of that. The muscle system was just clever rigging, trying to get something to fold up like that is very very difficult, in fact getting a wing to fold is a rigging nightmare to begin with.


What was it like building the skeleton/ik chain for the wings?

CL: A lot of that work was already done for us from another show. A wing really is a wing and we didn&#8217;t have to modify it that much. We did in some ways, but if you imagine any guy with wings on his back is going to look a little goofy. It was prosthesis in shots where the wings were folded up on the back of the actor, and that was done on set by another company. When the wings were spread and flapping that was us.

Did you use any off the shelf plugins?

CL: Sy flex we used for the cable sims, which worked very well and did it&#8217;s just, but that was it really for plugins.

How did you get the green screen scenes so clear and unnoticeable?

CL: The green screens to be honest were really bad. The conditions which they were shot under were just horrible, it was night, it was raining, there was mist and fog all over the place and you&#8217;re shooting through glass&#8230;So I would have to say we just had really good compositors.


What tools did you use for motion tracking to make it all look seamless?

CL: Our motion tracking, or camera match moving was done in Boujou and Matchmover.


I loved the frozen pond piece it was looked so simple but so effective, how did you do it?

CL: It wasn&#8217;t simple, (he laughs.) All of that work was done through Houdini which worked really well. We had a fantastic Houdini crew working on that, I can&#8217;t say enough about them. Defining the look of it was so difficult, it&#8217;s hard for people to articulate what that would look like with words. But we locked it down. It&#8217;s in the trailer and everyone seems to like it.

Source: http://www.vfxtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6355

 

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Continued....

Did you do the entire bridge sequence or just the moving of the bridge, if it was the entire sequence, did you have trouble taking the scene day to night?

CL: No we did right the way up until when the bridge slams down on Alcatraz&#8230; at that point we handed it over to Weta.

How long were you working on the film for?
CL: Me, wow, we geared up in April/May 2005. So a year and some change.


You guys must have run in to some problems at some stage, how did you overcome them?

CL: The creative side was the hardest with all the changes in directors. The only way to overcome that is to be flexible, ultimately at the end of the day they are our clients and we give them what they want. It&#8217;s tricky because when someone asks for the world, you have to deliver it. To make a large change, there aren&#8217;t enough processors or bodies to render it&#8230;so that was a frustration for us. On the technical side&#8230;getting something as large as that bridge rendered&#8230;was a miracle, that and people making changes, but hey, we managed to do it. We pulled it off. We were just prepared to do anything and everything, but sometimes you have to be prepared to say no, which is the most difficult thing.

How do you feel when you watch the film now?

CL: I can&#8217;t watch the film yet, it&#8217;s too fresh for me. You have to re-live your whole year/year and a half. You lose the illusion of film. You stop enjoying it. You tend to find that the films you enjoy the most are non visual effects films.


How did it feel to finish the film?

CL: Relief, empty, I think everyone goes through that. You work so hard up until the last minute and then all of a sudden there&#8217;s nothing left and it&#8217;s done. You have a great feeling of loss.


Are you happy with it?

CL: It&#8217;s too soon for me to say. I need to look at the show again in a year. There are so many shots that we did that didn&#8217;t make it in for whatever reason. I&#8217;ll let you know in a year.


Is there anything that you weren't happy with?

CL: We didn&#8217;t have a ringer in this one no, there usually is one or two that you look at and don&#8217;t feel they should be on the screen, but not in this movie, so I would have to say no.

VFXTALK: Did you have to develop/ customise anything to get the job done?

CL: We had to change our pipeline a lot, just getting that amount of data and it rendered&#8230; the geometry, the millions and millions of polygons that the bridge was&#8230;it&#8217;s goofy huge.


How many shots did you do in total?

CL: Around 175, there were a lot of omits. We would put beautiful shots together and all of a sudden they would be gone from the edit, which is so frustrating.


How long did it take to render?

CL: Beauty renders of the bridge, anywhere between 2 and 12 hours per frame. The shots were long, they were between 8 and 10 seconds per shot&#8230;so the camera holds on it. Rendering was just a bear.

How real/close do you actually feel you got to what they visualised?

CL: It&#8217;s funny, because like I said the vis was changing, which takes you in a new direction, but once we locked on it the shots never changed so I felt better about that. We originally were supposed to be finished in October last year&#8230;we didn&#8217;t get the plates turned over to us till January 06. The good thing about having them so late, which was the only good thing I might add, was that we got to revisit the action of some of the shots and see how it worked. Once we had it locked down nothing changed&#8230;so hey, something must have worked!

Is there anything else you would like to add?

CL: London is in a really good spot right now, especially Framestore, it&#8217;s an exciting place to be. All of the major studios are now looking to London for their quality work, which is great.

Do you have any wise words for our community?

CL: I remember being there, trying to get in to this industry and it was really hard. The schools didn&#8217;t exist back then. The only thing I can tell you guys is that you have got to be persistant, stay on top of it. You have to keep on submitting your work, send a new reel, send a new reel, send a new reel.. Go to the talks, find out who&#8217;s giving the talks, go up to them&#8230;you can&#8217;t be shy about these things, introduce yourself, talk to them, get in to their radar and stay in that radar. Persistence, that&#8217;s the only thing you can do!

On behalf of all of VFXTalk, thank you ever so much Craig.

CL: Not at all, it was great and good luck to you guys out there.

Written by Kelly Campbell

Source: http://www.vfxtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6355

 

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