RealFlow and its plug-ins slick up a video game trailer

When Raven Software wanted to stir up some excitement for the upcoming release of its video game X-Men Origins: Wolverine-launching this Friday, in conjunction with the premiere of the film-it turned to LA facility Blur Studio. Cinematic, effects-laden game trailers, especially for those Xbox 360, PS3 and PC games with movie tie-ins, are something of a specialty at Blur. The shop’s secret? Add effects you’d find in feature films, like realistic fluid dynamics, and watch the game fans literally claw their way to the nearest Best Buy.
Brandon Young, a RealFlow contract artist for Blur, went to work adding detail and depth to Wolverine’s transformation in a vital scene from the game (seen above in the trailer) that mimics the watertank scene in the film. Young first discovered RealFlow, a standalone software package from Next Limit Technologies for creating astonishingly real fluid effects, in art school. The 32- and 64-bit software was used extensively in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, winner of the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, and in countless commercials and TV show produced in the U.S. and abroad. RealFlow plug-ins, which let artists move in and out of a variety of 3D hosts from Maya to Max, provide the connective tissue.
Young didn’t start out in 3D when he entered school and his transition from traditional to digital artist came when he purchased his first student license of RealFlow, for $100. “I went to art school for illustration and concept art,” he says. “But one day, the director of the school handed me a freelance job that had some water simulation in it. I found RealFlow, figured it out on the fly, and I’ve been using it in my 3D work ever since.” He’s been using the software for about six years and also continues to do matte paintings in 2D for various clients.

After working in RealFlow (www.realflow.com), an artist uses the appropriate RealFlow plug-in to port to their 3D application of choice for lighting and rendering. “It’s now a pretty seamlessly integrated process,” says Young. “Especially from what it used to be in the earlier versions. When I first started, things wouldn’t always work right. But now it’s super, super simple to move back and forth from RealFlow and other 3D programs.”

Interested in pushing RealFlow to the next level, Young has recently been experimenting with the fluid dynamics of bubbles. “I guess because I know that RealFlow isn’t designed to do this, I’ve just wondered if I could start scripting and figure out how to make it work.” (Check out how well he plays with bubbles in RealFlow here www.youtube.com/watch.)

These experiments, he says, have not only brought him to the attention of Next Limit engineers (he is now an official RealFlow expert) but also give him more ammo when going after a job. “A lot of clients are scared to use fluid simulation, just due to the nature of rendering,” says Young. “They think it’s all about calculations. I’ve learned you have to give it a hard sell, especially if they’ve never seen RealFlow in action before. Once I give them the rundown, however, and they see how fast it is, that usually seals the deal. Everybody would use more water in their FX shots if they could.”

Watch the full game trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine from Raven Software and Activision here.