Watch the VFX breakdown reel featuring the studio’s work crafting 210 visual effects shots across 4 episodes; highlights include the parasite-ridden Greylock, reimagined Roach Hounds, and the unsettling Mother and Little Rusalka swamp duo.
One of Us has shared details with AWN and VFXWorld of their work crafting 210 visual effects shots over four episodes of Season 4, which focused on key creatures, magic FX, and immersive environments.You can see their VFX breakdown reel and sequence images below.
Highlights of the work include the parasite-ridden Greylock, reimagined Roach Hounds, and the unsettling Mother and Little Rusalka swamp duo.The Rusalka creatures feature fully CG body replacements, hand-animated hero vines, and procedural FX to create mossy, vine-covered bodies with animated details.“The Rusalka duo was definitely a challenging one,” VFX supervisor Louis Laflamme-Fillion told AWN.
“The biggest challenge probably being scheduling.The decision to go with a full CG body replacement came quite late in the game, and with creatures that intricate, each shot involves many steps that all need to be tackled linearly.” “The design process itself wasn’t easy, but for me there was a very clear direction: whatever we did to complement the prosthetic work,” continued Laflamme-Fillion.“There was a huge amount of thought and craftsmanship put into those practical designs by the creative team.
Even though they weren’t intended to be captured as on-set reference, I wanted to treat them as the best reference we could possibly have.Our goal was for the CG creatures to speak the same visual language as the prosthetics, while also achieving things that simply aren’t possible in a suit: like arms made of vines filled with holes and negative space.That’s where CG really allowed us to push the design further.” Magic FX in Episodes 402 and 406 established the season’s visual language, from shields and portals to projectile attacks, which were created with Houdini procedural workflows and inventive comp techniques.
In Episode 407’s Swamp of Sorrows, fully animated CG foliage, reactive vines, dynamic water, and rock formations created a sentient forest, which blended Maya-blocked animation with Houdini simulations for a living, breathing environment.“When working on the magic for Episode 2, we reached a moment where we thought, ‘Yea, this looks pretty awesome.I’ve never seen something quite like this before,’ added Laflamme-Fillion.
“When that magic started being referenced for other moments across the season, that’s when we realized, ‘Okay, the client thinks this is awesome too.’”
Check out the VFX breakdown reel now:
Journalist, antique shop owner, aspiring gemologist—L'Wren brings a diverse perspective to animation, where every frame reflects her varied passions.
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