FEATURE
Orbit: Earth’s Extraordinary Journey: complex processes had to be presented in a clear and simple way
Broadcast TECH
ORBIT: EARTH’S
EXTRA ORDINARY JOURNEY (BBC)
Post house Lola VFX 3D modelling and animation and particle simulations and effects VFX supervisor Rhys Williams Software Modelled, animated and rendered in Softimage XSI; composited in The Foundry’s Nuke; Mootzoid plug-ins used for fluid simulation
What was your brief? Rhys Williams A lot of the shots were meant to demonstrate the effects of subtle changes in the earth’s tilt and orbit. The challenge was to visualise these changes in a way that was obvious and understandable for individual shots, while being coherent across the series. We try to keep shots cost-effective through developing a good working relationship with our clients, which allows us to suggest differ- ent approaches and solutions. A well-focused brief is a good starting point, but the shots and effects can also be developed over time in liai- son with the client. We’re experienced in these types of shot, which limited the need for R&D.
Break down a key VFX shot RW The movement of warm and cold air over the Earth required a graphical treatment
32 | Broadcast TECH | March/April 2012
across the build, texture, animation and com- positing of the shot. The VFX were achieved using a combination of manipulated 2D ele- ments and Ice Particle systems in Softimage XSI. The shots of gyres, where water moves in a cyclical manner around oceans, again used Ice Particles and Strands. We had a lot of textbook information
about how Hadley Cells (where heat rises from the equator and falls back to earth in cyclical bands that determine weather pat- terns) formed, but we had to translate that into a 3D scene and 3D images. The diffi- culty was presenting it in a clear way. As there is so much involved, everything has to be separate and easy for the viewer to see. We didn’t want something that was obvi- ously just particles going down a curve, so we created a fluid movement. We used Moot- zoid plug-ins for Softimage XSI to create this motion, along with 2D elements taken from actual water footage, and this was then applied to the 3D model. Particle systems were then used to add colour. All the 3D artists at Lola use Nuke for compositing. The scenes are divided up into passes (renders of single aspects of the scene, such as highlights) and then compos- ited back together. The different passes offer more flexibility in the Nuke comp. As it developed, the production team would see
‘We had a lot of text- book information. The difficulty was presenting
it in a clear way’ Rhys Williams
different versions and would guide the bits they’d want to see more of, so they’d push certain things while others would fall by the wayside. Eventually, we came up with something that looked smooth and pre- designed, but there was quite a lot of to-ing and fro-ing involved.
How did you achieve the look you wanted? RW Before anything started, we had designer John Kennedy create a lot of con- cept stills and mood boards, so we had an idea of where we were heading. The idea of doing all the design work at the start of the process was to create something functional and beautiful, and to present the information in a novel way. So all shots, no matter how different, had to relate back to that. Getting scale into the shot of the planets
was quite a tricky thing to do. We had to add a lot of fine details to create complexity. That’s where it takes ages, unfortunately, but tricking the eye is what makes it convincing.
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