What does a young visual effects studio specializing in episodic
television and commercials do when offered the effects lead on a
feature film? "We had to grow up," says Zoic Studios co-founder Loni
Peristere. That meant shifting from television to a feature-film
workflow for Serenity, the film version of Joss Whedon’s sci-fi series Firefly.
Zoic repurposed some of the show’s digital assets and part of the
pipeline, but needed dozens of new hires (including VFX supervisor
Randy Goux), 400 new processors, 20 additional TBs of storage, a new 3D
platform and a high-end renderer to jump to 2K. Illusion Arts and
Rhythm & Hues worked on several sequences, but it was still a trial
by cinematic fire for the Zoic crew.
television and commercials do when offered the effects lead on a
feature film? "We had to grow up," says Zoic Studios co-founder Loni
Peristere. That meant shifting from television to a feature-film
workflow for Serenity, the film version of Joss Whedon’s sci-fi series Firefly.
Zoic repurposed some of the show’s digital assets and part of the
pipeline, but needed dozens of new hires (including VFX supervisor
Randy Goux), 400 new processors, 20 additional TBs of storage, a new 3D
platform and a high-end renderer to jump to 2K. Illusion Arts and
Rhythm & Hues worked on several sequences, but it was still a trial
by cinematic fire for the Zoic crew.
On Firefly, Serenity‘s TV incarnation, a core group of 12
artists led by LightWave 3D guru Emile Smith, did all the work – each
artist took an individual shot from start to finish. For Serenity, the
studio hired 85 more artists and built out a VFX pipeline that could
handle the 2K work. Goux, who had been a sequence lead on The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring at Weta Digital and CG supervisor for The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions
at ESC, decided Zoic would need three times the render nodes and 10
times the network storage in order to do a 300-shot show at 2K.
artists led by LightWave 3D guru Emile Smith, did all the work – each
artist took an individual shot from start to finish. For Serenity, the
studio hired 85 more artists and built out a VFX pipeline that could
handle the 2K work. Goux, who had been a sequence lead on The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring at Weta Digital and CG supervisor for The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions
at ESC, decided Zoic would need three times the render nodes and 10
times the network storage in order to do a 300-shot show at 2K.
Film resolution would push LightWave to its limit, so Goux chose Mental
Images’ Mental Ray as a high-end renderer, and some of his colleagues
from The Matrix helped set up the pipeline. Steve Avoujageli, a
former technical director at ESC, became Zoic’s TD and co-wrote
Z-logic, Zoic’s rendering pipeline, with Markus Stokes, whose film work
included I, Robot, Spider-Man 2, and Star Wars: Episode II- Attack of the Clones.
LightWave was a known commodity, so Zoic also built a custom system for
getting it to produce 2K frames. Most of the spaceships that would
appear in the movie, however, were rebuilt in Alias Maya, then moved
into LightWave via a custom script for animation, lighting, and, often,
rendering.
Images’ Mental Ray as a high-end renderer, and some of his colleagues
from The Matrix helped set up the pipeline. Steve Avoujageli, a
former technical director at ESC, became Zoic’s TD and co-wrote
Z-logic, Zoic’s rendering pipeline, with Markus Stokes, whose film work
included I, Robot, Spider-Man 2, and Star Wars: Episode II- Attack of the Clones.
LightWave was a known commodity, so Zoic also built a custom system for
getting it to produce 2K frames. Most of the spaceships that would
appear in the movie, however, were rebuilt in Alias Maya, then moved
into LightWave via a custom script for animation, lighting, and, often,
rendering.
Meanwhile, Goux addressed compositing with Patti Gannon, compositing
supervisor, who felt that Combustion could handle a 2K project.
(Autodesk agreed.) However, Gannon had to train new people, most of
whom were familiar with Shake rather than Combustion. Peristere
believes the trade-off meant compositing took longer than it might
have, but the result was good. "We couldn’t put 25 Shake licenses into
the budget," explains Peristere. "We re-fitted tools to match our
needs, not our wants."
supervisor, who felt that Combustion could handle a 2K project.
(Autodesk agreed.) However, Gannon had to train new people, most of
whom were familiar with Shake rather than Combustion. Peristere
believes the trade-off meant compositing took longer than it might
have, but the result was good. "We couldn’t put 25 Shake licenses into
the budget," explains Peristere. "We re-fitted tools to match our
needs, not our wants."
This meant rather than filming live action against green screen,
getting shots in camera. To previs a hovercraft chase, Zoic brought in
previs supervisor Rpin Suwannath and his crew. They removed rigs from
plates, replaced the road- an old highway north of Valencia, CA- and
added 3D vehicles and smoke. Suwannath’s crew covered the terrain with
grass and trees using a custom Mental Ray tool that pulled plants from
a database. "Most of it was shot with live action using two
Technocranes and actors on wires going 40 miles per hour," says
Peristere. "We didn’t have the money to use virtual backgrounds."
getting shots in camera. To previs a hovercraft chase, Zoic brought in
previs supervisor Rpin Suwannath and his crew. They removed rigs from
plates, replaced the road- an old highway north of Valencia, CA- and
added 3D vehicles and smoke. Suwannath’s crew covered the terrain with
grass and trees using a custom Mental Ray tool that pulled plants from
a database. "Most of it was shot with live action using two
Technocranes and actors on wires going 40 miles per hour," says
Peristere. "We didn’t have the money to use virtual backgrounds."
