Visual Effects of X-Men 3

[xwolverine2]

***in awesome!!!!

 

[Neto Magnus]

wow interesting stuff.

 

[XCharlieX]

Astounding visuals for x3... it was definitely an eye feast. I did think it was cool to fool the audience into thinking they took a really bad turn with the danger room title card "in the future" but before that scene they couldve put much more character scenes easily. Thats one area that couldve fleshed out cyclops.

One of the less mentioned cgi feats was icemans new ability to freeze himself... it couldve came off cheesy, but i liked how it looked.

 

[BMM]

As always, nice find Retro. Wow, between 2 and 12 hours of rendering per frame. It was well worth it though. Some of them are really nice shots.

 

[Retroman]

^^No prob.

 

[spideyboy_1111]

As always, nice find Retro. Wow, between 2 and 12 hours of rendering per frame. It was well worth it though. Some of them are really nice shots.

it takes a month or so to render a cg movie

 

[XCharlieX]

Yep.. those are good reads Retroman. Glad i did.. it seems 2 disc US dvd wont be here for a while heh.

 

[Retroman]

Saw this over at fxguide. Moving Picture Company have relaunched their site. They've posted details on their work on X3 as well as an awesome reel of footage showcasing the things they did on big budget films (incl.X3). Theres lots of hi-quality clips of Storm and the amazing Phoenix sequence at Jean's house in this vid. Its worth a check.

Footage (File is 60 MB): http://www.moving-picture.com/assets/reels/VFX_SR_WITH_LOGO_2.mov
Source: http://www.moving-picture.com/reels

X-MEN
Brett Ratner has directed the third installment of the Marvel comic inspired X-Men trilogy for 20th Century Fox. MPC has supplied visual effects for six sequences which range from creating atmospheric effects including storm clouds and rising leaves, rocks and water, to creating fully cg environments and the sequence where we see Xavier atomize along with his surroundings.

The X-Men, mutant heroes sworn to defend a world that hates and fears them, are back! This time, with the help of new recruits The Beast and Angel, they must face evolution itself in the form of their former teammate, Jean Grey. Possessed with the cosmic power of the Dark Phoenix, the resurrected Jean Grey has become a danger to herself, her mutant comrades, and the entire planet. To stave off this imminent threat to humanity, a potential cure is discovered and processed to treat -- and ultimately eliminate -- genetic mutations, once and for all. Now, as the battle lines are drawn, the X-Men, led by Professor Charles Xavier, must contend with both Jean Grey's world-consuming powers, as well as the malevolent Brotherhood, a band of powerful mutants organized under Xavier's former ally, Magneto.

MPC was involved during the early stages of pre-production to develop the look of Jean Grey. The process was multi-faceted including development of the look of Jean’s eyes, skin tone, skin glow and veins as well as the range of stages that the character progressed through throughout the film. Once the effects had been blocked out into all the various sequences a process of fine tuning was undertaken to establish the final look. The effects achieved using the practical photography enhanced with 3d bone, skin and vein layers the balance of which was adjusted and manipulated using Shake.

For the climactic sequences featuring Xavier and Jean, MPC built a fully 3d environment and cg body for Xavier. The only practical components of these shots were Jean Grey and Xavier’s head. As Xavier atomises, his body and the room break up into myriad tiny pieces.

This was achieved utilizing MPC’s in house rigid body dynamics system ‘PAPI’ which simulates the properties of bodies and how they re-act to external stimuli. This was a particularly challenging sequence which needed extensive choreography of the many varied cg elements comprising each shot. Texturing was of paramount importance; all the cg elements mirror the exact texture properties of their natural counterparts which meant simulating that of a flying sofa, plants, books and windows. The team also created a specific tool to emulate the disintegration of wallpaper.

For the ‘Jean and Scott’ sequence, the team seamlessly combined two plates, where live action trees and forest intercut with a fully cg lake environment. To create this, fluid simulation was carried out in Maya and then rendered using Renderman. The CG water reacts to an underwater explosion in the lake, with waves and ripples realistically emanating from the site of the explosion. A significant development phase was undertaken to establish a bespoke look for the CG water. The brief was to create something surreal and peculiar as a precursor to Jean Grey’s resurrection.

Where Jean demonstrates her power as a young girl a background build was required. Elements such as rising cars were composited into the window and much cleaning was necessary to remove crew, reflections, rigs and so forth. Other work included iconic X Men effects such as Storms eyes, Wolverine’s blades, Scott’s lazer beam and speeding up Calisto. Similarly, more of MPC’s atmospheric effects are seen in the ‘storm bothered’ sequences where Storm’s inner turmoil inadvertently summons swirling storm clouds and angry skies. As she calms, so does her environment, which MPC re-created through 3D cloud simulation enhanced with 3d and 2d effects elements and sophisticated compositing techniques.

‘X-Men III; the Last Stand’ is on theatrical release from May 26th 2006.

Source: http://www.moving-picture.com/xmen

 

[XCharlieX]

Im an instant supporter of their decisions reguarding phoenix's appearance as opposed to firebird. That pic even gives me chills. Stay out of her head for god sakes its too late!

 

[Retroman]

Vital Distraction worked on pre-visualization for the Golden Gate sequence and they've posted a video reel of their work. The sequence was quite different from Ratner and crew decided to do.

(Click on the X logo to see the previz): http://www.vitaldistraction.com/prepro.html

 

[BMM]

Ha. I like that of all the places to go, Storm craftily flies the X-Jet right through the middle of the destruction Magneto is unleashing upon the Golden Gate bridge. Nice find Retro.

 

[La_She-Beast]

Speaking of visual effects... I was looking at some of my art books-compare this

-DYNAMIC ANATOMY- Burne Hogarth (Book of body anatomy)
with this:

-Art of X-Men: the Last Stand

I guess they weren't creative with the Sentinel either...

Head: Millions of money spent for this??? I wish I were in a Transformers movie...

 

[AznBABYBANDIT]

Yes, a million for a head ;p

 

[Cosmic Mind]

exactly......a waste of money...

 

[spideyboy_1111]

Speaking of visual effects... I was looking at some of my art books-compare this

-DYNAMIC ANATOMY- Burne Hogarth (Book of body anatomy)
with this:

-Art of X-Men: the Last Stand

I guess they weren't creative with the Sentinel either...

Head: Millions of money spent for this??? I wish I were in a Transformers movie...

umm.. you do know that feet look like feet right? they copied the anatomy of a foot.. not nessicarily the foot in your pic... a foot is a foot. and i rather like the design of that foot, though it doesnt say sentinel to me

 

[Retroman]

Video of effects house CIS Hollywood X3 work.Some cool before and after shots of the Cyclops at Alkali lake, Mystique been cured and Juggernaut vs Kitty.

Direct download link: http://www.cishollywood.com/movies/xmen3_hi.mov

http://www.cishollywood.com/movies/xmen3_hi.html
http://www.cishollywood.com/movies/xmen3_lo.html

Source: http://www.cishollywood.com/cis_flashindex2.html

 

[flavio_lebeau]

the chasing scene was supposed to be some takes longer


edit: oops, nope, it's the same

 

[Retroman]

the chasing scene was supposed to be some takes longer


edit: oops, nope, it's the same

Yeah..i was just about to say.

 

[storm-x-fan]

Continued....

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

awesome!!!!!!!!!!

 

[X-Maniac]

I noticed the plot summary given in the quoted material above:

The X-Men, mutant heroes sworn to defend a world that hates and fears them, are back! This time, with the help of new recruits The Beast and Angel, they must face evolution itself in the form of their former teammate, Jean Grey. Possessed with the cosmic power of the Dark Phoenix, the resurrected Jean Grey has become a danger to herself, her mutant comrades, and the entire planet. To stave off this imminent threat to humanity, a potential cure is discovered and processed to treat -- and ultimately eliminate -- genetic mutations, once and for all. Now, as the battle lines are drawn, the X-Men, led by Professor Charles Xavier, must contend with both Jean Grey's world-consuming powers, as well as the malevolent Brotherhood, a band of powerful mutants organized under Xavier's former ally, Magneto.

Notice how the Phoenix is described as a trigger for the cure, which didn't happen in the movie. I asked Zak/Simon about this idea, I think, because it had occurred to me ages ago that the destruction caused by Phoenix (especially as part of a Brotherhood of mutants) would of course prompt government action such as Sentinels or a cure. In the movie of course, it's Angel who triggers his father's search for a cure; Phoenix is unknown to the authorities....