CG Masters HP Nvidia PDF

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FILM BROADCAST COMMERCIALS

INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Computer Graphics Masters
WELCOME
To a celebration of artistic creativity and the technology that makes it possible.
In Computer Graphics Masters, we showcase some of the extraordinary imagery
being created for todays movies, broadcast TV and commercials, and explore
how hardware from HP and NVIDIA helps artists make the magic happen
W
elcome to a celebration of the
worlds best computer graphics.
Whether youre an award-winning
professional or on your way to
becoming one, this is for you.
At HP, weve always been driven by
creativity. We are passionate about technology
and inspired by what talent can do with it.
Computer graphics is a wonderful expression
of this, which is why weve put this celebration
together. Its a showcase of the very best in
movies, commercials and broadcasting. Theres
some extraordinary work here which was made
possible by the combination of award-winning
creative talent and the right technology.
Weve listened to industry influencers, talked
to leading artists and promising talent. We
visited studios, homes, garages and knocked on
the doors of our R&D labs to understand how
W
elcome to this celebration of the
worlds best computer graphics.
For over two decades, NVIDIA
has been helping artists to make
their dreams a reality. From Guardians of the
Galaxy and Gravity to Doctor Who, and from
on-screen graphics for the BBC and Fox Sports
to award winning commercials for Honda
and Coca-Cola, some of the worlds most
inspirational imagery is being created with the
help of NVIDIA graphics hardware.
Empowering creativity
At NVIDIA, we develop technologies that
enable artists to create dazzling images
more quickly. NVIDIA Quadro is built for
professionals: it brings more performance to
your professional applications, provides higher
color fidelity and enables display management
like Multi-4K or Mosaic multi-display support.
It designs on large datasets and enables a pro
ecosystem using our CUDA parallel computing
4 Computer Graphics Masters

COMPUTER GRAPHICS MASTERS presented by
1
Creativity powered by HP technology 1. VFX facility Weta
Digital rendered Avatar, James Cameron's ground-breaking
2009 movie using HP ProLiant BL2x220c blade servers
2. Milk creates the CG for Doctor Who on HP Z-Series
workstations, including the top-of-the-range Z820s
3. Glassworks TalkTalk Model Britain ad. HP Z400s and
Z420s are standard workstations for artists at the studio
technology enables great work. We worked computer hours to render and the work of some
with partners like Adobe, Autodesk, and Avid 400 animators over three years, while Gravity
to optimise the software you use. We partnered took 15,000 processor cores working at peak
with NVIDIA CUDA platform to bring more load. At the other end of the scale, small studios
power to your imagination. and freelancers focus on storytelling, compiling
Weve been working with industry the most diverse footage in any type of format
3
professionals for more than 30 years in into the edit. That requires the use of the best
progressing technology to inspire the next equipment available.
award-winning movies.
Our thanks to you
From blockbusters to indie productions We hope you enjoy this celebration of the art
In this bookazine youll see blockbuster and science thats shaped the last decade of
productions that needed talent and technology this industry. Its our way of saying thank you.
performing at peak levels reliably and securely.
For example, The Croods. This CG animated
movie from DreamWorks, required 80 million Cesare Zavalloni | HP
1
NVIDIAs graphics hardware is in use at facilities worldwide.
These three very different projects were created by studios
with the help of NVIDIA Quadro GPUs. 1. Pixars new CG
short LAVA 2. Real-time broadcast graphics created by
BBC Sport for Match of the Day 3. Nexus Productions'
award-winning Honda 'Hands' commercial
platform. It harnesses the power of the GPU for and algorithms is incorporated in over 120 M&E
complex processing tasks and is used by a new design tools across the globe.
breed of fast, GPU accelerated render engines: And now, artists can supplement the power
from the iray renderer built into Autodesks 3ds of the graphics card in their workstations with
Max and the real-time interactive preview inside the power of the virtual GPU. NVIDIAs GRID
Chaos Groups V-Ray to exciting new visual server boards and the new Visual Computing
effects production tools like Redshift. Appliance enable artists to harness graphics
Today, Quadro is the industry standard processing power on demand whether the
for professional visualisation whether hardware is in a server room or in the cloud.
3
youre creating digital characters, designing We worked with our partners HP on this
groundbreaking VFX, reviewing client content, book to celebrate the amazing creativity of
or telling spectacular visual stories. For the the people who use these technologies: from
sixth consecutive year, every film nominated for the independent studios creating visionary
the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects was commercials and television content to the
powered by NVIDIA technology. Studios like worlds largest movie effects facilities. Artists
Framestore, MPC, ILM and WETA Digital rely of the world, this is for you.
on NVIDIA GPUs to achieve groundbreaking
visual effects. Quadro powers 80 per cent of
the worlds workstations and its suite of tools Alex Micallef | NVIDIA
hp.com/eu/workstations | www.nvidia.co.uk 5
FILM
VISUAL EFFECTS
AT THE MOVIES
VFX have never been more important to the continued success and
popularity of films at the cinema than they are now
T
1
he first time cinemagoers realism and fidelity and in stereo
were treated to 3D CG 3D to boot.
visuals was in the 1976 When we look back at some of
SECTION CONTENTS movie Futureworld the key moments in CG history and
(including a CG-animated hand compare them to whats possible
VFX: THE BIGGEST STAR IN
created by Ed Catmull and Fred today, its remarkable just how
MOVIES TODAY _______________________ 8
Parke in 1972). Despite a few far things have progressed for
REAL-TIME ANIMATION notable cameos later that decade, what is still such a young industry.
WITH PIXAR PRESTO _________________ 14
including small elements in Alien Although the visuals of Jurassic
2
PAINTING FILM WORLDS THAT ARE and Star Wars, it wasnt until the Park hold up remarkably well, if
BIGGER THAN REALITY_______________ 18 early 80s that the technology really you compare that film to a visual
BUILDING A REALISTIC hit the limelight. effects blockbuster from recent
DIGITAL UNIVERSE___________________24 Tron was the first feature-length times, they are worlds apart.
COLOUR MATTERS: BEHIND
film to showcase full CG animated Take Dawn of the Planet of
HOLLYWOODS HUES ________________26 shots, but it was sequences in Star the Apes as an example: a film
Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn and The which features entirely CG lead
CERTIFICATION: THE
KEY TO RELIABILITY _________________32
Last Starfighter that really saw the characters, acting alongside their
technology become a viable option human counterparts to create a
GOING BESPOKE: THE INEVITABILITY for the creation of visual effects. film thats both visually astounding 1. Anything filmmakers can
OF CUSTOMISATION _________________33
CGs reputation was cemented yet emotionally engaging. imagine, such as James
HOW REMOTE WORKING by Young Sherlock Holmes in 1985, Camerons vision of the
IS BECOMING A REALITY _____________38 when Industrial Light and Magic Tools of the trade world of Pandora, can now
PRE-VIS AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT ______39 created the first photo-realistic The perpetual struggle to achieve be realised on screen
animated character in cinema greater results is a virtuous circle, 2. Techniques such as
VIRTUAL PRODUCTION:
REAL TIME, RIGHT NOW _____________ 40
history. At a key moment, a stained with artists needs driving the motion capture have helped
glass window, illustrating a knight development of tools and those to deliver lead characters
in full armour, comes to life and new developments opening more that are entirely CG
joins the characters in combat. creative opportunities for directors
and animators.
Anything goes And as the software tools
Since those early days, CG in film have evolved, so advances in
has gone from strength to strength workstation power and graphics
with projects wowing audiences hardware have played a huge
with ever-greater realism, subtlety part in helping artists achieve the
and visual impact. Indeed weve seemingly impossible.
pretty much reached the point Over the following pages, we
where anything a screen writer or showcase some of the success
director can imagine can now be stories created by this rare
realised on screen, with incredible combination of art and science.

FILM
Introduction
FILM HIGHLIGHTS
We speak to
Framestore,
Double Negative
and Whiskytree
about their work
8
on big-budget
VFX blockbusters
including Gravity
and Elysium.
Pixars Presto an
NVIDIA-powered,
GPU-accelerated
proprietary
animation tool
14
looks to change
the way animators
work. Read all
about it here
Gravity was the

biggest film of
2013 and one of
the most ambitious
special effects
24
movies ever made.
Framestore talks us
through its journey
into space.
How much does

the use of colour
effect the look,
feel of a film? We
talk to the people
26
behind Life of
Pi, Oblivion and
Pacific Rim to find
out more.
When it comes to
film production,
bespoke software
is inevitable,
but the types of
33 18
customisation
happening might
not be what
you think
FILM
The evolution of VFX
2014 Marvel Studios.
FE AT U R E : T H E E VO LU T I O N O F V FX
VFX: THE BIGGEST

STAR IN MOVIES
How Hollywoods reliance on visual effects is driving new workflows
and technological advances in the VFX industry
H
ollywoods affair with screen trickery spectacular advances in technology
is nothing new. From Gertie the and workflows, with powerful bespoke
animated dinosaur in 1914 and the software solutions, automated systems
intricate miniature models in Fritz and vast amounts of processing power.
Langs Metropolis in 1927, to the first appearance of
fully computer-generated scenes in Stephen Lisbergers A BLACK BOX
1982 Tron, visual effects have played an integral part in One of the major shifts undergoing
filmmaking for over a century. VFX is the sheer scale of the work: the
But in recent years, visual effects have shifted from number of shots, the amount of data
simply providing a solution to a problem to instead generated and the complexity of the 3D
being at the very heart of the production process. The projects. Having worked in the industry
desire for greater spectacle on screen is driving equally since the mid-1990s, Jonathan Harb,

PROFILE
Guardians of the Galaxy was one of JONATHAN HARB
2014s most awe-inspiring movies, Harb owns and operates
Whiskytree. He manages
delivering epic battles in stunning 3D client relationships,
supervises and produces
its work, directs various
productions that it takes
on, and has contributed to
more than 45 feature films
and dozens of commercials.
whiskytree.com
PROFILE
VOTCH LEVI
Levi is Whiskytrees
computer graphics guru.
The Amiga Computer
was his introduction to
CG, but these days he
spearheads all CG and
pipeline-driven tasks at
Whiskytree including
Distill, its proprietary
pipeline framework.
whiskytree.com
PROFILE
PAUL FRANKLIN
After a stint as a game artist
at Psygnosis, Franklin co-
founded Double Negative
in 1998, and has grown the
company from a team of 30
to the huge effects vendor
it is today. Franklin was joint
recipient of the VFX Oscar
in 2010 for the studios work
on Chris Nolans Inception.
dneg.com
PROFILE
MARTIN PRESTON
Preston completed his
PhD in computer graphics
at Manchester University,
followed by stints in
computer games and then
software development for
animation houses. He spent
five years at Weta, and then
joined Framestore as Head
of Research & Development.
framestore.com
PROFILE
KYLE MCCULLOCH
McCulloch has been in
visual effects for more
than 15 years, working at
many studios including
Curious Pictures, The
Orphanage and ILM. He
joined Framestore in 2009
and was most recently one
of two VFX supervisors on
Guardians of the Galaxy.
framestore.com
Guardians of the Galaxy is a massively
effects-heavy show, but is notable
for the scale of its spectacle and the
flawless integration of digital characters
FILM
2010 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

2

1. Double Negatives groundbreaking work on Inception garnered an Oscar for best visual effects
2. A lot of the development work on Gravity helped Framestore deliver Guardians of the Galaxy tools, and so on there was nothing
that could handle something like that.
CEO and creative director of renowned Harb and the Whiskytree team are Now, we rely much more heavily on
California-based studio Whiskytree, all too familiar with complexity, having off-the-shelf software. We use Softimage
can remember a time when dealing with provided approximately 80 VFX shots pretty much straight out of the box. Yes,
VFX meant delving into the for Neill Blomkamps sci-fi action film we write some tools, but theyre not the
mysterious unknown. An Elysium, which is centred on a luxurious same kind of tools they wouldve been
overwhelming dynamic space habitat. back in the 1990s. Now we just write the
thats changed is that Elysium is a great example of glue to speed up some of the processes,
back in the mid-1990s, VFX, especially the difference in complexity, Harb to really help us build efficiencies and
digital VFX, was a black box still, he comments. Back in the 1990s, youd be automation into the system.
says. There was very little that was excited if you could render a couple of
understood about just how this stuff million surfaces. And with Elysium, we SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS
got done, and so there was much more were literally working with trillions of This combination of knowledge
surfaces thats a big number! and more accessible software has also
Back in the 1990s, youd be excited if you could As the industry has continued to changed the visual effects industry
render a couple of million surfaces. With Elysium, evolve, so too has the technology, says from being a niche field to an incredibly
Whiskytrees visual effects sought-after profession. But despite
we were working with trillions of surfaces supervisor Votch Levi. this, there are still areas that need some
_ Jonathan Harb | Whiskytree As Jonathan says, things work, suggests Harb. Theres definitely
were very black box in still a portion of work where constant
mystery surrounding it and it was a the 1990s, and even into the early to innovation and invention are required,
much more rarefied experience on the mid-2000s, there was a lot of proprietary even now. No doubt, there are still black
whole. Now, its more understood about software being used, he says. If you boxes, but now theres an awful lot of
how visual effects happen. This has led wanted to do something like Elysium in work that can be done by so many people
to the complexity of whats possible the early 2000s, youd have to write your in so many places. And thats a major,
really changing. own tools, your own renderer, layout major change.

Another big change thats affecting
the industry is globalisation. The usual The creation of Rocket, the
territorial borders of being a US effects smart-mouthed raccoon,
house or UK VFX shop no longer apply; was the hardest part of the
most big vendors have satellite offices Guardians project, says VFX
situated all around the globe. During supervisor Kyle McCulloch
2014, Framestore opened an operation
in Montreal, while Industrial Light &
Magic set up a facility in London.
One studio thats realised the benefits
of having artists based in different parts
of the world is Double Negative. Having
originally formed in London in 1998,
the studio now has offices in Singapore
and Vancouver. The VFX
film industry has changed
a lot, both globally and
locally, says Paul Franklin,
VFX supervisor at Double Negative.
The business has become a lot more
international in that the US studios,
who are the main purchasers of feature
film VFX, are much more willing to
look at VFX vendors all over the world.
That isnt to say they werent doing so
in the 1990s, but back then the primary
reason to go overseas for VFX was price.
Price is still very important today, and
there are plenty of tax incentives and
subsidies to encourage filmmakers
to pick one location over another, but
quality and working relationships with
the filmmakers play a much larger part
than they did 16 years ago. A large part
of [Double Negatives] success is down to
us developing strong relationships with
great filmmakers who come back to work
with us time after time.
Franklin has also noticed significant
changes much closer to home. In terms
of local business, the VFX industry in
In pursuit of realism
London has grown from a couple of
hundred people to a couple of thousand Photorealistic characters, like Guardians of the Galaxys Rocket, drive
and more, he says. UK VFX houses
have gone from being niche specialists
technology forward, says Framestore VFX supervisor Kyle McCulloch
to comprehensive one-stop facilities,
capable of handling all aspects of the [For Rocket] we implemented right up next to him, render all of developing the face shapes and the
VFX, even on the largest shows.
our own fur model and fur shader. those hairs and have it not buzz and sculpts for Rocket, we would always
UNIQUE OPPORTUNITIES Theres a guy called Steve Marschner have it not look like anything other render it before and after, showing the
Despite the industrys competitive who wrote the paper on physically than hair. puppet and the fur, and play a game
nature, Double Negative has remained a
accurate rendering for hair, and we [Not seeing the fur] was a major of charades, where you look at a pose
leading VFX vendor, providing various
effects for some of Hollywoods biggest went ahead and implemented his hurdle for us in the animation process and, without the animator telling you,
hits, including The Dark Knight Rises, model mostly because when we because traditionally you have an guess what theyre going for.
the Harry Potter series and Godzilla. But were doing side-by-side comparisons, animation puppet thats got smooth Then on top of that we
it was the studios work on Inception that
rendering our fur next to real fur, it surfaces and is grey-shaded, and implemented a system where our
saw it gain the major plaudits. Limbo
City and the Paris fold-over sequence got great looking results very quickly. youre putting that in the plate and animators could kick off a relatively
required extraordinary effects work, an The disadvantage is that its doing your animation. And on a inexpensive version of the furred
achievement recognised by the Academy
computationally expensive, so then grey-shaded model its really easy to render. We realised we needed to
Awards in 2011 when the team bagged
the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. we had to dive in and figure out see every wrinkle and curve of every be showing [director] James Gunn a
Inception was a unique opportunity how we were going to make it more sculpted shape, so performances read render, and not playblasts, so we did
to do something a bit different, says
efficient. That was another huge piece very clearly. And then you put the fur a lot of relatively low-res renders early
Franklin, where VFX was placed at the
2014 Marvel Studios.
heart of storytelling, and it was good fun of development we had to do because on it and it all disappears. on and got those in front of him rather
making it. Rockets got millions of hairs, and we We took a couple of different than playblasts which helped us get to
For this project, the art led the
needed to be able to get the camera approaches to tackle that: in exactly the right performance faster.
science, requiring the Double Negative
team to build custom tools in order to
FILM
Powering the VF X industr y

HP Z-Series workstations are rigorously tested to ensure that they
hold up to even the most demanding of visual effects tasks
Many of the big visual effects and animation studios Each workstation is engineered to work 24/7, with electrical discharges to ensure that static wont
employ HPs Z-Series workstations for their artists to particular attention to temperature dissipation and cause key components to fail.
use, whether for the creation of CG assets, editing of low noise levels. The tests designed to ensure that the Z-Series
content or compositing of imagery. Each major component of an HP workstation is workstations will withstand any rough handling they
As well as their power, flexibility and rigorously checked in the companys Turn On Lab. receive during shipping are even more extreme. Each
expandability, a key factor in the Z-Series Experts stress-test storage, graphics cards, displays, new design of workstation is packaged as it would
machines appeal is their durability: phrases like power supplies and more. be for delivery and dropped from a height of several
robust, incredibly well designed and virtually Engineers also test the units electromagnetic feet no fewer than six times: once for each face of
indestructible keep cropping up. Almost everybody output in a 10-metre chamber: a 65-by-52-foot the box.
in the studio is using HP workstations, said Pixars steel box with acoustic panelling and doors with If the machine still works when removed from its
director of industry strategy Bill Polson. Theyre very electromagnetic seals. An array of detectors monitor packaging, its put back in the box, placed on a large
reliable; they stay up for months at a time. Hardware the workstation as it runs through a programmed vibrating assembly and shaken repeatedly to see if
failures are very rare on them. sequence of exercises. anything works loose internally.
With VFX shops pushed to deliver bigger, more In a separate series of tests, workstations are And if it survives the ordeal unscathed, the tests
complex shots on shorter schedules, any downtime placed in temperature-controlled chambers, at still arent done. The workstation is tested for a final
can be a major issue. This is one of the main reasons varying levels of humidity, to ensure that they will time on the vibrating platform this time while the
for the HP Z-Series machines formidable reputation. work in any climate. Theyre then subjected to system is on. Impressive.
achieve the correct result. Without effects for TV and film. Arguably its Bullocks and George Clooneys faces,
a doubt, the biggest challenge was greatest project was the groundbreaking says head of R&D Martin Preston. We
creating a dilapidated shoreline of Limbo work it produced for Alfonso Cuarns delivered approximately 84 of the 86
City, says Franklin. The original idea space thriller Gravity. A film of minutes of the film.
was to have a city that had grown so considerable technical achievement, its The incredible complexity of these
dense and so old that it resembled a not hard to see why the team picked up shots required a mixture of commercial
natural land form, such as a cliff line the 2014 Oscar for Best Visual Effects. and proprietary tools, with a team of
or a glacier bordering the sea. After Providing the majority of effects for the artists driving them to achieve the
fruitless attempts to conceptualise
the city directly through drawings On a normal VFX show, we would expect a shot to be
and paintings, we developed a piece on average around 100 frames in length. On Gravity, shot
of software that analysed the interior
volume of a 3D model of an actual glacier lengths could run into minutes
from Antarctica to solve the problem. It _ Martin Preston | Framestore
would have been very difficult to realise
some of the scenes in Inception without film, which account for about 80 per directors vision. We primarily use
modern VFX technologies. cent of whats seen on screen, Gravity Maya, says Preston, but we have a large
pushed Framestores visual effects collection of custom tools built on top of
EFFECTS HEAVY pipeline to new heights. it. Framestore has dedicated software
Another company thats had a front-row The space suits, vehicles, teams responsible for the development
seat in the evolving VFX industry is space environments and and maintenance of our custom
Framestore. Formed in 1986, Framestore the majority of the interior technology, and a large number of tools Alfonso Cuarns Gravity required huge
has become one of the worlds leading sets are all computer generated, with the were developed for this show. Some of amounts of development work and a switch
VFX vendors, providing all manner of only real elements often being Sandra this was motivated by moving to the to an entirely new renderer, Arnold

1. A wide view of Elysiums surface, which needed to be built without
repetition 2. As we get closer, we can see the complexity of the parks and
buildings 3. Part of making Elysium a convincing station is its combination
of organic areas and huge structural elements 4. Up close, we see the
individual buildings and paths of Elysium (and, in this case, debris)
Render
1
noticed since his career in VFX began
back in the late 1990s. I think the
biggest change has been the need for
people working in the industry to have
a greater degree of technical knowledge power
in their area of specialism, he says.
Previously it was common to find The new wave of
generalists filling the bulk of roles in
VFX houses, but over the years each area
GPU-based tools
has become considerably more complex,
and as a result its unlikely any one With the number of effects shots
2
individual would be able to contribute as
in a typical Hollywood movie
much unless they focus on one area.
steadily increasing, VFX studios
CENTRAL ROLE are under pressure to deliver
Perhaps the biggest transformation
finished work more quickly. One
undergoing VFX production is its shift
from a purely post-production role to way in which this is happening is
the very centre of the movie-making through a new wave of GPU-
process. I feel like visual
accelerated rendering software.
effects has really expanded
to touch every part of a GPU-based renderers were
3
film, says Framestores initially more widely adopted in
Kyle McCulloch, VFX supervisor on the visualisation industry, where
Guardians of the Galaxy. When I first
started, especially on big projects, youd tools like NVIDIAs iray and Otoys
have a handful of visual effects shots and Octane Render quickly became
theyd be very expensive and very time- standard parts of many artists
consuming, and a tremendous amount
workflows. Such renderers are
of work would go into planning and
creating the shots. What you see now, in physically accurate, generating
2013 Sony Pictures Digital Productions Inc.
a film like Guardians, is that over 90 per very realistic images, but at the
4
cent of the shots in the finished film have
expense of higher render times.
visual effects in them.
McCulloch explains how the crew is However, as GPU processing
increasingly called upon to do all manner power increases, renderers like
of work. Its not just your talking
Chaos Groups V-Ray which
creatures and digital environments, he
comments. Were fixing make-up, were features a GPU-based interactive
doing beauty fixes [such as removing a preview engine, V-Ray RT GPU
female extra who looked like she was
are increasingly being used in
making a rude gesture], were merging
plates where you get two different movie effects; while new tools like
performances that the director prefers. Redshift Rendering Technologies
Arnold renderer during the movie, and making the technology cope with such This in turn means that the VFX team
Redshift are proving that biased
hence requiring new lighting technology quantities of data, and, secondly, coming is now tightly integrated into the entire
and shaders, and some was in response up with a workflow that allows multiple production. From the sound to editing renderers of the type traditionally
to the unusual nature of the film. artists to work on separate parts of the to pre-production and pre-visualisation, used in VFX production can
Preston explains how Framestore same shot. The technology changes visual effects touches everything now. also be GPU-accelerated.
had to make changes to its pipeline to included work such as extending our I think thats a huge change, he adds.
Such tools enable studios to
cope with the abnormally long shots in in-house geometry file format, to allow
the film the opening sequence runs animation to be split into beats too. This ART LEADING SCIENCE harness the power of graphics
As technology continues to evolve, its cards like those of NVIDIAs
What you see now, in a film like Guardians of safe to assume the visual effects industry
Quadro series to generate more
the Galaxy, is that over 90% of the shots in the finished will follow in its footsteps. Fortunately
for us and everyone else in VFX complex images, faster.
film have visual effects in them Moores Law continues to march on
_ Kyle McCulloch | Framestore with no sign of stopping, giving us faster
Read more about GPU-based renderers
and faster computers every year, says
for 17 unbroken minutes. On a normal means we could more easily manage Paul Franklin. But its also clear that, in iray irayrender.com
VFX show, we would expect a shot to the I/O requirements. Similarly, we many cases, art is leading science, with Octane Render render.otoy.com
be on average around 100 frames in needed to develop technology to allow talented VFX artists developing the
V-Ray www.v-ray.com
length. On Gravity, shot lengths could simulation TDs to layer up simulation new tools they need to fully achieve the
run into minutes, so to cope with this we so they didnt need to do hours of work directors visions. Redshift www.redshift3d.com
split shots into sub-chunks, which we prior to knowing whether they were
called beats. heading in the right direction. Creative Bloq explores if
There are two main difficulties Having artists specialise in such FYI VFX artists are taking over
working like this, says Preston. Firstly, specific areas is a change Preston has Hollywood at bit.ly/VFXtakeover.
FILM
Pixars Presto
C A S E S T U DY: PI X A R S PR ES TO
REAL-TIME ANIMATION
WITH PRESTO
Pixars new proprietary animation system
harnesses the power of NVIDIA GPUs, enabling
animators to work faster and be more creative
A
PROFILE s its name suggests, For example, fur has always
DIRK VAN GELDER Presto Pixars been a hairy subject for animators.
Van Gelder joined Pixar proprietary GPU- Sullivans fur, which is composed
in 1997 as a software
engineer working on accelerated animation of 900,000 hairs, each with four
subdivision surfaces. He system is a seemingly magical CVs, can be controlled live within
has worked on software
for each of the studios tool for animators. Powered by Presto. Animators now have a
movies since, and
played a key role in the NVIDIAs Quadro GPUs running tremendous amount of control
development of Presto, on HP Z-Series workstations, without any slowdown, where
Pixars new in-house
animation system. Presto leverages the power of previously fur could never be seen
pixar.com 1
the card to drive an OpenGL 4.0 and manipulated in this way.
system capable of displaying Van Gelder used the example
fully animatable characters with of Sullivan sitting in a lecture
tens of millions of poseable hairs, hall, emphasising the difference
Ptex texture maps and real-time between a furry and fur-less
shadows. This means animators monster. Without visible fur,
PROFILE can view their animation in real animators had to make decisions
BILL WATRAL time, making changes on the fly on poses without seeing the whole
Watral is FX TD at and enabling them to work faster picture, and shots may have had
Pixar, having joined
the company from and more effectively. to be re-posed after rendering.
VFX facility Charlex. Originally developed for With Presto, this guesswork is
He has won two Visual
Effects Society Awards, Brave, then used on Monsters eliminated. Every part of him is 2
for his work on Pixars
CG features WALL-E University and every Pixar project live and poseable in the system,
and Brave. He was since, the system brings a playful said Van Gelder. If we didnt have
supervising TD on
LAVA, Pixars new short. environment to the companys fast graphics, we wouldnt be able
pixar.com
animators, giving them pretty to make this happen.
much instant feedback.
In 2014, at NVIDIAs GPU ROCK SOLID
Technology Conference in San For LAVA Pixars new short, due
Jose, California, Pixar engineering to be screened alongside Inside
lead Dirk Van Gelder entertained Out in spring 2015 the animators
a crowd of more than 2,500 with were running into problems when
a stunning demo of the tools creating the expressions for its 3
capabilities. Using everyones volcanic hero, Uku. We had huge
favourite blue monster James P. pieces of rock geometry that 1. Presto gives animators unprecedented real-time feedback
Sullivan (Sulley from Monsters, made up the mouth pieces of the as they work, with hair, shadows and textures
Inc. and Monsters University) as an characters sliding past each other, 2. The system harnesses the power of NVIDIA GPUs to give
example, Van Gelder revealed how explains Bill Watral, the films animators a free and playful environment in which to work
Presto has empowered the movies supervising technical director. 3. Presto can handle multiple characters, with real-time fur
animators to see if an idea works It was difficult for the animators and shadows, providing a high quality preview of the final
without costly rendering iterations. to see what was happening and rendered image
From the subtle posing of a hand how much motion was going to
or even a single finger to dropping be perceived by the viewer. We
on new expressions, Presto gives needed representation of rock
animators a creative environment textures on these characters in
without traditional constraints. real time on the animation rig.

Pixars engineering lead, Dirk Van Gelder,
captivated the audience at NVIDIAs
annual GPU Technology Conference
with a demo of Presto, the companys
GPU-powered animation software
Ukus mouth consists of many

rocks, each with their own texture,
but when displayed as a smooth
surface, the animators couldnt
pick up the subtle movements.
So Watral approached the GPU
engineering team. Typically you
just slap a texture on there for
characters, says Van Gelder, but
these characters were shaded
procedurally so there wasnt a
texture we could just grab, and
[the mouth was] made up of many
different rocks so there wasnt an
individual mesh we could shade.
The team needed a way to
drop on the textures without
interrupting the shading and
animation, and in a way that would
stand up while the characters were
being worked on. To solve the
issue they went to Katana The
Foundrys lighting and look-dev
system and baked out textures
from particular viewpoints. Custom
GLSL shaders were then written to
bake the CPU shader textures into
the GPU textures, and place them
on the character within Presto.
If we didnt have fast

graphics, we wouldnt be
able to make this happen
_ Dirk Van Gelder | Pixar
LAVAs female character, Lele,
provided her own problems, with
mouth movements that could only
be envisioned at render time.
[Her] mouth is a hole carved
into the surface of her face using
a technique that we couldnt
visualise in Presto, says Watral.
We had no way to visualise the
expressions the animators were
putting into her face.
It was important that she had
rocks for her lips and those rocks
would slide around, he continues,
but you couldnt really see the
angle that it was forming for her
face; you couldnt get a read on
her performance.
We solved that using some
code wed written in the past
to do reflections and mirrors.
We do a multipass OpenGL thing,
where we do one pass that draws
a little cookie-cutter piece of
geometry and then we use that
as a feed to the second OpenGL
pass, which uses that to establish
FILM
Pixars Presto
transparency, based on the

animated mouth.
Presto employs other GPU-
accelerated effects, such as barrel
lens distortion, which also came in
useful during LAVAs production.
Our director was very clear that
he didnt want to see the horizon
warped on the edge of the frame,
says Watral, yet he wanted to use
fairly wide angles on some of the
shots. Sometimes, as the camera
moves down, the distortion on
the horizon would change across
the duration of the shot. So what
we needed from the layout artist
was a very specific visualisation
of that lens distortion so he could
go in and monkey with that value
until he got the horizon flat again.
Normally we dont do a full render
cycle in layout, just first frame, last
frame, so being able to see that in
real time was huge.
Although the GPU team often
write their own code, Van Gelder
comments that they also employ
middleware like Silicon Studios
YEBIS, which is used to preview
depth of field and other effects.
In Presto we have some things
that are only for interactive use,
he explains, where we take the
camera parameters and feed them
to YEBIS so that we get accurate
depth of field representations. In
the viewer we can show how deep
the focal planes are, so you can
see in real time how much depth of
field youre going to get.
The Presto viewer can show how deep the

focal planes are, so you can see in real time
how much depth of field youre going to get
_ Dirk Van Gelder | Pixar
1 2
A key development of Presto was the baking of procedural

textures in to the OpenGL display, enabling the animators to
visualise Ukus mouth movements. The real-time feedback
in Presto (pictured right) closely matches that of the final
rendered image (above).

None of this functionality is just
LAVA, Pixars latest CG short, is eye candy, asserts van Gelder;
the story of a millennia-spanning it all goes to help the animation
love affair between volcanoes process. For example, LAVA uses
Uku (pictured) and Lele light and shadow to generate
different moods, and by using
Prestos real-time shadows,
the layout artists were able to
communicate any changes to the
director early on in the process.
CUDA POWER
Presto is continually under active
development, driven by the needs
of Pixars animators to view their
work as near to final quality as
possible. The system already
utilises Pixars OpenSubdiv system,
which uses massively parallel
CPU and GPU architectures to
display subdivided meshes so the
animators can view limit surfaces
within a pixel of final render.
Previously, animators could only
work with unsubdivided geometry
as refresh speeds were too slow.
Now the trick is to be able to keep
that same speed, says van Gelder,
but amp up the visual quality to
give more accurate visual cues to
the animators.
Using the power of OpenGL
and CUDA acceleration with
NVIDIAs GPUs, Pixars Presto is
able to deliver better texturing,
better reflections, real-time fur
and faster geometry drawing but
theres more yet to come. As we
stress our OpenGL pipeline more
and more we realise some of our
3 4 5 6
infrastructure around imaging is a

The evolution of Uku, the star of LAVA, Pixars latest short 1. A black-and- little old, admits van Gelder. So
white concept sketch 2. A more detailed coloured concept image 3. A clay were in the process of rewriting it.
sculpt of the volcano 4. A 3D scan of the clay sculpt 5. The 3D geometry We have a new OpenGL drawing
cleaned up for animation 6. Fine details: the geometry of Ukus brow engine called Hydra and thats part
regions was crucial in order to enable the character to convey emotion of the Universal Scene Description
project. Our next step is to take
Hydra and integrate that in Presto.
At some point toward the
end of 2014, the next version of
Presto will deliver faster OpenGL
performance, with multiple
shadow passes, high-performance,
low-overhead drawing and the
ability to handle lots and lots of
geometry. And all this with the
help of NVIDIA GPUs.
Watch Dirk Van Geldars

FYI Presto presentation at GTC
by directing your browser to:
bit.ly/presto-gtc.
FILM
Matte painting
F E AT U R E : M AT T E PA I N T I N G
PAINTING FILM WORLDS

BIGGER THAN REALITY
From set extensions to fantastic landscapes, matte paintings take movie viewers
to new worlds. Discover how technology is changing the way they are created

Warner Bros. Entertainment.
F
The tools of matte painting
rom simple extensions to live-action sets may be changing, but the
to complete imaginary landscapes, the PROFILE PROFILE aim is constant: to transport
work of matte painters transports cinema DAMIEN MACE DAVE FREEMAN viewers to new worlds or
audiences to fantastical new worlds. Mace is a digital matte Freeman is a concept artist simply imaginary parts of
painter at Framestore and digital matte painter
The arrival of digital technology in the 1980s and London, where he has at Double Negative, where the real world, as in this shot
1990s transformed the role of the matte painter from worked on movies including he has worked on titles created by Framestore for
the upcoming Dracula like Godzilla and Thor: The
a traditional craftsperson, working in oils or acrylics Untold. He was previously Dark World. He previously Edge of Tomorrow
lead matte painter at worked in TV on projects
on sheets of glass, to that of a digital artist, creating 2D visual effects companies such as Doctor Who and
backdrops for scenes in tools like Photoshop. Pixomondo and BlueBolt. Being Human.
framestore.com davefreeman.prosite.com
The digital revolution enabled matte artists to begin
incorporating photographic elements in their work,
enabling visual effects facilities to create backgrounds PROFILE PROFILE
of unparalleled detail and realism. ROBERT JUNGGEBURT DAVID LUONG
Now technology is transforming workflows once Junggeburt is a matte Luong is a senior
painter who has worked cinematic artist at Blizzard
again, as increasing use of 3D software blurs the lines at Framestore, Double Entertainment, having
between the role of the digital matte painter and that of Negative and MPC. Starting previously worked at
out as a character animator, Rhythm & Hues and Luma
the environment artist. The convergence of 2D and 3D he worked on games and Pictures. He has worked on
in broadcast design before a wealth of famous films
techniques enables directors to create more complex, switching to matte work and games, including Diablo
dynamic virtual camera moves than ever before, but around six years ago. III and Superman Returns.
vfx-digitalpaint.com davidluong.net
requires artists to master new tools, and places new
demands on the hardware on which they work.
FILM
Matte painting
We talked to four leading digital In future, I think we will see 2D

matte painters to find out how their and 3D applications merge together,
jobs are changing, and the role new
technology plays in their work. making it possible to do matte
painting, 3D sculpting and texturing
LIFE ABOVE 4K in the same software
Like every other part of visual effects,
the scope of the work matte painters _ Robert Junggeburt | Matte painter
create for movies is getting larger.
In 3D, where you once did
1
a building collapsing, now
you do a city collapsing.
Its the same for a matte
painting, says Damien Mace, a digital
matte painter with over a decades
experience in the industry, currently
working at Framestore. You used to
do one big still frame of a castle and a Harrison Ford hangs from a skyscraper
mountain now you go through the in 1982s Blade Runner. Concepts for
castle and the mountain and back into the background matte painting were
the valley. created by legendary designer Syd Mead
One obvious way in which matte
shots are getting larger is the
2
dimensions of the images that matte
painters create. As Mace points out,
matte artists typically work at at least
twice the resolution at which the movie
will eventually be displayed. If youre
working on a 2K project, you paint at 4K.
When you compress [the matte
painting], you retain a lot of high-
frequency detail, he explains. It will
still have a lot more information than if
you were working at a 1:1 scale.
But with the advent of new digital
cameras such as the RED EPIC,
Hollywood movies are increasingly
being shot at resolutions higher than 2K,
while the photographic source material
used to create matte paintings may be
shot at even higher resolutions still.
Images are getting bigger and
bigger, says Mace. Where before you
were working at 2K, now its 4, 5, 6, 10
even 25K.
PROCESSING POWER
To work on images at such high
resolutions, increasingly powerful
hardware is required. Adobe has
been gradually incorporating GPU
acceleration in Photoshop since CS4,
while Mari, The Foundrys digital
painting software, has been GPU- That camera motion is important, image and not a 3D environment. The Is the camera moving one or two metres
accelerated from the outset. because it changes the nature of the solution is to make the background in a scene that extends kilometres
Such tools make use of the processing work. Its less just about establishing a three-dimensional at least to some into the distance, or is it [hundreds of
power of professional graphics cards [scene], or a locked-off wide-angle shot of extent. At its simplest, this can involve meters], like a complex chase sequence?
like those of NVIDIAs Quadro series to an environment. Directors dividing a matte painting into its key The polygon count of the 3D
enable artists to work on even very large want to fly around more and elements for example, sky, mountains geometry also depends on how much
images without a creativity-breaking lag have the camera be freer in and foreground buildings and of the matte painting must be displayed
while the software recalculates the on- movement, explains David displaying them on flat planes or cards on it. If its just a car or house, it can
screen display. Mace himself currently Luong, now senior cinematic artist within a 3D application or a compositing be a few thousand, says Mace. If its
uses a Quadro 4000 graphics card, at Blizzard Entertainment, but formerly package such as Nuke. an entire CG landscape, we can end up
running in an HP Z600 workstation. a matte painter working in the movie For more complex shots, it becomes splitting it into sub-assets because its too
visual effects industry. necessary to create more complex 3D heavy to load into the scene [without the
THE NUMBERS GAME Dynamic camera moves are exciting geometry onto which the matte painting 3D application running out of memory].
Another figure thats increasing is the for the audience, but they create is projected. Exactly how complex the For an extremely complex camera
number of shots that matte painters are problems for matte painters. In the real geometry needs to be depends on the move, it may be necessary to build a
asked to work on over the course of world, as a camera moves, distant objects nature of the camera move: both its complete 3D environment, particularly
a movie. Whereas before you had one appear to move more slowly than those extent and its direction. if that environment will appear in a
or two big establishing shots with a in the foreground: a phenomenon known If its just a pan, [the painting] can number of shots.
matte painting, now you have 20, 40, as parallax. The further a virtual camera be on a spherical environment with the If its something youre going to see
60 environments shots with the camera moves, the more it becomes apparent camera in the middle, says Mace. If its again and again, some kind of asset-
moving a lot, explains Mace. that the background of a scene is a flat a translation, how big is the translation? building strategy makes more sense,

Warner Bros. Entertainment/Everett/REX.
INSIGHT
TH E HISTORY OF
M AT T E PA I N T I N G
Two different examples Matte painting has come a long way knowledgeable about how to integrate
of contemporary digital since its inception. What are often matte paintings into the film, and
matte painting, both claimed to be the first true matte computer technology started to make an
from Framestores work paintings were created by director impact on the creative methods used.
on Edge of Tomorrow Norman Dawn for the 1907 movie The first digital matte shot was
1. Background Missions of California, and were painted created by painter Chris Evans in 1985
details from the dam on sheets of glass placed between the for the movie Young Sherlock Holmes.
sequence of the movie camera and the live action. It was achieved by scanning an acrylic
2. A complete digital The techniques popularity grew painting into the computer at effects
backdrop of the war- rapidly, and by the 1930s and 1940s, had house ILM for further manipulation.
torn Paris skyline achieved considerable sophistication, This was the beginning of a new era.
with notable examples including Soon, matte images could not only be
Dorothys approach to the Emerald manipulated digitally but integrated
City in The Wizard of Oz (below). Back digitally 1990s Die Hard 2 was the first
then, matte painters were exactly that: film to digitally composite a traditonal
Warner Bros. Entertainment.
skilled landscape painters, working with glass painting with live-action footage.
acrylics and oil on glass plates. As rendered 3D imagery and virtual
Up until the 1980s, traditional matte environments also became a possibility,
paintings were still in heavy use. A the era of glass paintings slow to
latterday example is Blade Runner, in create and largely confined to locked-off
which the technique was pushed to a shots drew to a close. Although major
whole new level to create the cityscapes movies were still using traditional matte
of a dystopian future Los Angeles. paintings at the turn of the millennium,
After that, matte painting started in the next decade, the work would
Even though matte painters have the option to use changing. Artists became more become almost exclusively digital.
camera projections and 3D geometry, its still important
to be a skilled painter, and to have an eye for perspective
_ Robert Junggeburt | Matte painter An iconic painting of the
Emerald City from The
says Mace. You spend more time [up Wizard of Oz. Glass painting
front] building better geometry [and was widely used by the 1930s
creating] textures and secondary
textures, so when you come to matte
painting, you just bring in elements from
pictures to make [the result look] real.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Such workflows blur the boundaries
between matte painting and 3D tasks
like modelling or lighting, changing the
nature of the software required.
Matte painting used to be a
Photoshop profession, but now its
just one tool among others, the most
FILM
Matte painting
1
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. and Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.
Modern VFX often blends matte painting

and 3D elements, as in Framestores David Luong goes even further. Its Matte painting used to be a Photoshop
work on RoboCop 1. Matte painting in almost fully become an environment profession, but now its one tool among others,
the background; the mid and foreground role rather than just a matte painting
cityscape and set extensions are 3D 2. CG role, where one takes over all of the the most important being Maya and Nuke.
rice paddies with a matte painting behind environment creation in a generalist Being able to use Arnold is also a plus
type of workflow, doing the modelling,
important being Maya and Nuke, says texturing, shading, lighting, rendering _ Damien Mace | Framestore
Mace. Some matte painters also use and compositing, he says.
ZBrush, and being able to use Arnold is However, distinctions still remain active role on set. In order to execute
definitely a plus [at studios that use the between the work of a matte painter todays complex effects, its increasingly
renderer as part of their movie pipeline]. and a 3D artist. Damien Mace notes that necessary for matte artists to work
Robert Junggeburt, an experienced while it is necessary to multi-task, very directly with cinematographers and
matte painter whose CV includes stints complex work is still usually handed camera crew, influencing or planning
at Framestore, Double Negative, MPC over to specialist modellers or lighters, camera moves, and playing an important
and Digital Domain, believes that we while Robert Junggeburt points to the role in art direction.
may even see a new generation of hybrid importance of traditional art skills. As more and more Hollywood
tools. In future, I think we will see Even though matte painters have the productions are shot largely or even
[2D and 3D applications] option to use camera projections and 3D completely against greenscreen, the
merge, making it possible geometry, its still very important to be importance of digital matte painting
to do matte painting, 3D a skilled painter, and to have an eye for and digital environments in the movie-
sculpting and texturing in perspective, he says. making process can only increase.
the same software, he says. A program With the processing power provided
like Mari would be the one to watch. WHERE NEXT FOR MATTE WORK? by hardware from manufacturers like
However, the visual effects industry HP and NVIDIA making it possible
NEW SKILLS FOR THE JOB moves quickly and job roles are still to manipulate larger and larger
With these new tools come new skill sets. evolving. Whereas in the past, the assets in real time, the result will be a
Back in the day, it was enough to know matte painting team was more rigidly series of increasingly complex virtual
how to paint in Photoshop, whereas segregated from the 3D departments, environments with which the directors
today you need to be able to understand matte artists are increasingly called camera can interact in ever-more
camera tracking, photography, upon to collaborate with modellers, spectacular ways. Or, as Dave Freeman
projection and how to work in 3D, says animators and texture artists. succinctly puts it: In the future,
veteran concept artist And whereas in big productions, anything will be possible.
and digital matte painter matte painters were typically not
Dave Freeman, currently involved until the end of the post- See galleries of leading matte
working at award-winning production process, senior matte FYI painters and concept artists
VFX house Double Negative. painters are beginning to play a more work online at www.artstation.com.

Ten tips for incre dible
mat te paintings
Leading industry experts share their tips for working faster and
smarter to create better digital matte paintings
1. 8.
DONT RUSH Good cloning is invisible cloning. Practise USE LAYERS SENSIBLY
The deadline may be pressing, but removing a tree from a photograph of a Make sure you label all of your layers
skimping on preparation or trying to skip landscape or similar. clearly in Photoshop, and sort them into
steps in the approval process just creates layer groups. Work like a painter from
5.
more work later on. Ensure that the colours, SHOOT YOUR OWN REFERENCE background to foreground. Start with the
composition and lighting are signed off, and Keep a digital camera with you at all sky, then move on to the clouds, mountains,
that the perspective is accurate, before you times, and jump at opportunities to go out background atmosphere and layers of
begin work on the details. on location. Shoot everything you might buildings. You may end up with 50-100
need, including general views, textures and layers, grouped into about ten folders for
2.
PRESENT ONLY YOUR BEST WORK lighting conditions. Where possible, shoot ease of colour grading. It may seem like a lot
Although most directors like to have in raw format and bracket your exposures to of organisation, but its worth it.
choices when considering how elements of retain detail in highlights and shadow areas.
9.
the matte painting will work with the story, KEEP YOUR ELEMENTS LIVE
6.
never present more than three images. Youll OUTSIDE THE BOX IN GOOGLE Never flatten an image or merge
inevitably be asked to take things from each When looking for reference images layers unless youre sure youll never need
and end up with an image that doesnt work. online, the obvious keyword isnt always to tweak that element in isolation. Changes
A still from Gary Meyers the best. Need an image of the edge of a may be requested until the moment
3.
Gnomon Workshop MASTER PERSPECTIVE forest taken from 20 metres above the trees? before delivery. If youre unable to shift
DVD Fundamentals
Even with the best knowledge of Rivers form natural breaks in woodland, a background element to match the new
of Perspective 3: one
of many good guides to Photoshop in the world, you wont be a so searching for river edge or view from position of a CG element, youre in for a lot
three-point perspective great matte painter unless you understand bridge may give better results than forest. of unnecessary paint fixes.
perspective. If youre unsure about
7. 10.
constructing multiple vanishing points, nows DONT FORCE PHOTOS TO FIT WORK WITH THE COMPOSITOR
the time to pick up one of the numerous While photographic images are often Discuss with the compositor
books and training videos on the subject. the best starting points for a digital matte which layers they would like to work with.
painting, dont force the wrong photos to These will typically include atmosphere,
4.
LOVE THE CLONE STAMP TOOL fit. A good matte painting isnt a collage highlights, shadows and mattes. Elements
It may sound obvious, but learning of photographs bound together with a few that will need to be animated, or that may
how to use Photoshops Clone Stamp tool painted pixels. If a photo doesnt work, become a foreground to live action, should
well is an important trick of the trade. shoot or paint from scratch. be created on their own separate layers.
Expertise provided by: Alp Altiner welcome.alpaltiner.com | Dylan Cole www.dylancolestudio.com | Charles Darby www.eyeqube.com
Dave Early www.davidearly.co.uk | Lubo Hristov www.christovfx.com | Damien Mace damienmace.blogspot.com
FILM
Building a realistic digital universe
C A S E S T U DY: G R AV I T Y
BUILDING A REALISTIC
DIGITAL UNIVERSE
Alfonso Cuarns Gravity wowed audiences and bagged
awards by the armful. And as we discover here, most of
it was created digitally...
T
PROFILE he definition of Cuarn and Lubezki chose long, scarily close, says CG sequence
STUART PENN cinematography is immersive takes mapped out early supervisor Stuart Penn. A lot of
CG Supervisor Stuart changing. Digital in production and kept these shots that comes down to planning.
Penn was a research
physicist before joining lighting, composition and elastic starting wide, coming Chivo came over and sat with
Framestore in 2000. His camerawork are at the centre of close, then wide again. Gravity the lighting team, getting quite
credits include Avatar,
The Dark Knight and big budget projects, Oscar winning used a fraction of the cuts an involved. He visited a few times and
Gravity, for which
he helped develop films and 3D masterpieces. Want average movie uses hundreds when he was shooting other films,
many innovative proof? Look no further than rather than thousands to make we did cineSync sessions with him.
shooting techniques.
stuartpenn.co.uk Gravity, the big budget, Oscar it feel more real, immediate and Lighting was also crucial in
winning 3D masterpiece created intimate. Lubezki has likened it to blending the actors faces with
by director Alfonso Cuarn, watching the action in real time. virtual environments later in the
cinematographer Emmanuel process. This called for using
Lubezki and Tim Webbers VFX A FIVE YEAR MISSION naturalistic light on the faces and
team at Framestore. The five year project began with later matching the CG animation
Aside from one Earth scene physical puppets used to block lighting as closely as possible.
shot on 65mm film, Gravity out the actors positions in zero In Lubezkis light box the CG
was shot digitally, mostly on gravity. These formed the basis of environment played against the
Arri Alexa Classics. And in the black and white block animation walls to light the actors faces and
majority of space scenes such of the whole movie produced by provide visual cues. For instance,
as the 17-minute continuous take Framestore. Layers and layers Framestores raging CG space
showing the Earth below with of colour, volume and light were station fire was played to ensure
three astronauts floating, then then added. But with humans the match of tone, colour and
hurtling, around a space station and cameras spinning at different rhythm with Sandra Bullocks face
the only real elements are the rates, the blocking and camera as her character tries to escape.
actors faces. choreography also had to be It was really applying what
That doesnt mean the worked and reworked until it fit a DoP does to visual effects,
cinematographer wasnt present together spatially. Scenes were says Penn. Most of what you see
on set, lighting and shooting live regularly scrapped and begun on screen is visual effects, its
action. What it means is that again from scratch to respect the rendered. Chivo got involved in the
Emmanuel Chivo Lubezki was also physics of space. visual effects side more than a DoP
involved in every stage of creating Lighting was key. In Gravitys usually does. And we got more
the images that make up the film case, this required Framestore, involved in the cinematography
both those shot on set and those under Lubezkis close supervision, side than we usually do. There was
generated digitally. to design prelight for the entire film definitely a lot of backwards and
I had to learn some new (from the distant sun plus bounced forwards collaboration.
tools that are part of what light from Earth and occasionally Tim [Webber, Framestores
cinematography is becoming, the moon) eleven months before visual effects supervisor] built a
Lubezki told American shooting started. very good relationship with both
Cinematographer. We wanted to Working with Framestore CG Chivo and Alfonso. The relationship
surrender to the environment of lighting supervisors, a precise between the three of them was key
space, but we couldnt go there map around Earth was plotted to making the film look so good.
so the only way of doing it was to pinpoint lighting and colour
through all of these technologies. references. If you look at the Framestore also worked on this
How to make a film set in prelight and previs we did FYI year's Jupiter Ascending. See
zero gravity look believable? then compare it to the film, its www.framestore.com for more.

O n set in
zero gravit y
Framestore built the
thousands of models needed
for Gravitys universe
Framestore built more than 2,200 models for
Gravity a number more like a CG animated film
than a visual effects-heavy title. From incredibly
detailed interiors for the International Space
Station to props for the space shuttles, most of
the models were later destroyed too. Far from
generic space design language, familiar and
iconic sets had to be made photo-real.
The biggest asset build, the ISS, was a
100-million-polygon model, made possible by
rendering in Arnold, which is fast at raytracing
polygons. Cuarn was involved in moving virtual
props like space station posters and changing
colours in individual modules. In collaboration
with Cuarn, Framestore built everything that
physical set builders would create and fine-tune.
Framestores Light Box

contained 1.8 million
individually controllable
1 LED bulbs to dynamically
light the actors without
having to spin them around
We wanted to surrender
to the environment of
space, but we couldnt go
there so the only way of
doing it was through all of
Images courtesy of Warner Bros. and Framestore. 2013 Warner Bros. Entertainment.
these technologies
_ Emmanuel Lubezki
G ravit y in numbers
l 2,217 unique CG models were built for the film
l Total lines of Arnold Renderer shader code: 71,178
l Framestore coordinators took over 2,100,000 words of notes during
production thats four copies of War and Peace
l To render the whole show on a single-processor laptop, Framestore
2 would have needed to start around the dawn of Egyptian civilization
l Total number of computer generated stars in our star field: 30,741,312
1. Sandra Bullock brought a human warmth to the l Thirteen shots are longer than one minute in length in total they
cold depths of space 2. Framestore worked for many make up 68% of the movie
months on Gravity before a single second was shot l Around 80% of the film is computer generated
FILM
Colour Matters
2013 Universal Pictures
PROFILE PROFILE PROFILE

DAVE COLE MIKE SOWA JASON BAYEVER
David Cole has worked as a colourist on Mike Sowas credits as a digital intermediate Jason Bayever, currently serving as Head
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of colourist at Technicolor include Oblivion, of Production Technology for Rhythm &
the Ring, King Kong and TRON: Legacy Stranger Than Fiction and Walking With Hues Studios, has been working in the VFX
amongst others. He won an HPA Award for Dinosaurs 3D, in addition to HD Mastering, industry for over 16 years. Jason served as
Outstanding Colour Grading for his work Digital Preview and colour grading for TV. a Digital Effects Supervisor on Life of Pi,
on Life of Pi. technicolor.com as well as Yogi Bear, Night at the Museum:
Twitter: @davec555 Battle of the Smithsonian, and The Mummy:
Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
rhythm.com

F E AT U R E : L I F E O F P I | O B L I V I O N | PA C I F I C R I M
COLOUR MATTERS: BEHIND

HOLLYWOODS HUES
We look at three major films that wouldnt have had the same impact without the
very specific application of colour and visual creativity
E
very creative decision on a feature film
from lighting and composition to colour
grading and shaping counts, whether the
audience is conscious of it or not. When it
comes to colour, its one of the most instantly engaging
aspects of a film. Its also one of the most tricky aspects
to get just right, with countless variables to factor in.
Here are three feature films that do. The first is Life
of Pi, based on Yann Martel's so-called unfilmable book,
which the author nonetheless describes as cinematic.
The second is Oblivion, which makes Earth itself one
of the main characters. And Pacific Rim is the third,
arguably achieving more with its visuals than its script.
FILM
Colour Matters
1
1. Pi finds himself lost at sea with only an
equally stranded tiger for company 2. The
storm sequences in the film represent the
lowest ebb of Pi's epic journey 3. To convey
this they have a much starker look than the
2012 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
rest of the film which is extremely bright

and colourful
LIFE OF PI
from that era, he says. We worked a
TH E COLOU R
lot, finessing the colour, getting the hues
right and the balance between them so
3
OF MAGIC
it had that vintage, postcard feel but was
still uber-bright, saturated and modern.
Ang Lees 2012 Life of Pi is a real Colour infuses the action with a LIGHT AND MAGIC
technical achievement. CG animals, CG sense of nostalgia in the scenes set in For many, the most mesmerising and
sky, CG ocean and real actors are brought Pondicherry, India, where Pi grows up. memorable sequences in the film are
together with impeccable craftsmanship. Later, its used to enhance the magical when Pi is stranded in a calm ocean.
But its the colours that stay with you realism of a fantastical, yet believable, VFX from Rhythm & Hues give the
colours that tread a fine line between account of surviving a shipwreck with scene the look of a painting as the
magic and reality. only a tiger, zebra and chimpanzee for water becomes a mirror for sunlight
In a different type of film a dark company. The colour palette is rich, and clouds. We really started pushing,
sea would have raged against a grey sky saturated and accentuated for the enhancing it and shaping it, says Cole.
and all would have been misery, says majority of the movie the two relatively We ended up pushing the goldenness of
Sophie Monks Kaufman, Staff Writer at desaturated storms being the lowest it a lot more than the file that came in.
Little White Lies. Yet Ang Lees vision points in Pis journey. Pushing the palette too far was
sometimes instils peace in a small boat always a concern and some of the
via the azure blue of the lapping sea, ROSE-TINTED MEMORIES
swarms of tropical fish and a merciful You want to have ebbs and flows in You want to have ebbs and flows in terms of colour
gold sun that lights up the world. The terms of colour contrast to follow the contrast to follow the story... It's like having a good
contrast between the facts of the matter story, says Dave Cole, lead digital
and the feeling created by this colour colourist on the film who graded using score, it's there to accentuate what you're feeling
palette is a cinematic way of expressing Lustre and won the 2013 HPA award for _ Dave Cole | Modern VideoFilm
emotional transcendence from a Life of Pi. Its like having a good score,
desperate situation. Its also a technique its there to accentuate what CG work on the ocean and sky was
4
for staying loyal to the magical realism of youre feeling. The big thing reworked. The bioluminescent jellyfish
Yann Martels book. that Ang wanted was for in a nighttime scene began life in a shade
Lee and his director of photography Pondicherry and India to be of green but was later finessed to cyan.
Claudio Miranda had plenty of visual almost hyper-real. To be believable but Underpinning all the VFX and colour
cues to work with from the source through the minds eye a fond memory work was Mirandas spectacular lighting.
material. Martel had hoped a film of a childhood. So you have that rose- Lee himself grounded the action in
would one day capture the cinematic tinted glasses view of what that world reality by pinpointing a time of day
aspect of his book. The novel is full of was like. We wanted to express that reference with different levels of cloud
contrast colours, he told The Hollywood through the colour. cover and weather for every scene: say,
Reporter. The blue ocean, the white Cole is most proud of the DI work 4:20pm rather than late afternoon. This
lifeboat, the brown boy, the orange and on the montage scenes of Pis uncle at 4. The inclusion of bioluminescent creatures combination of creativity and discipline
black tiger. And India is very visual. In a French swimming pool. We wanted helps bring a sense of believable unreality was key to adapting an unfilmable
some ways, it was a very visual novel. to have the heightened feel of postcards are these events actual or merely imagined? book into a visually stunning movie.
The sk y s the limit with NVI DIA

Rhythm & Hues produced incredible projection-mapping tool that enabled matte paintings onto 3D geometry
VFX work for Life of Pi including artists at the studio to quickly replace and preview in real time. R&H also
the amazing CG skies. A proprietary the skies in each shot with custom- developed several other GPU tools
visual effects tool called Rampage, made matte paintings. With Rampage that were used including its in-house
along with the power of NVIDIA GPUs running on NVIDIA GPUs, artists at compositing package, Icy, with several
made this possible. Rampage is a 3D R&H were able to project custom 2D nodes written using CUDA.

1
2013 Universal Pictures

OBLIVION
2
that itself is a slightly desaturated
TA K I N G A M I N I M A L
world, it still comes across as a beautiful
landscape thats his favourite spot.
APPROACH SKY SCRAPER

The Sky Tower is the most traditionally
Joseph Kosinskis 2013 post-apocalyptic pure blue, says Mike Sowa, digital sci-fi set on Oblivion in visual terms.
film Oblivion uses the near absence intermediate colourist at Technicolor Home and workplace for Jack Harper
of bold colour to produce a believable who worked on Oblivion. and Vika Olsen its a clean and clinical
sense of reality. It shows the versatility Im used to being told all-glass apartment in the sky with
of Claudio Miranda, the DP on both this Really pop the colours or white, shiny surfaces and minimalist
project and the hyper-real Life of Pi. the contrast. That movie designs. Kosinski and Mirandas
The action of Oblivion takes place in was the opposite. Just enough contrast masterstroke is the floor-to-ceiling
four main environments: exteriors on to get things to pop off the screen but not windows which wrap all the way around.
Earth, the clean and clinical Sky Tower, into the realm of unbelievable. Why a masterstroke? This meant
the underground Raven Rock and The Raven Rock mountain complex, that Sky Tower scenes could be lit by
protagonist Jack Harpers hideout. an underground rebel HQ, is similarly projection. A 500-foot wide by 42-foot
desaturated with an industrial look. tall painted white muslin wrapped
POST APOCALYPSE Different mixtures of sodium paper around 270 degrees was used with 21
Oblivions Earth in 2077 has been and mercury paper lighting were used projectors for real-time front projection.
ravaged by nuclear war, earthquakes and to provide green and yellow tints to It played 15K images of sunrises, cloud
tsunamis. The directors choice to shoot the scenes on this set. In fact, the only formations and night skies, captured by
in Iceland, in order to keep as much of punch of relative vibrancy is the cabin three cameras over a volcano in Hawaii.
the look of the film natural, lent itself hideaway, a retro oasis of record players, For me, that was a first in a 30-year
well to a story set in desolate, snow- soft furnishings and basketball hoops, in career, says Sowa. Claudio and Joe
pulled it off beautifully. It didnt feel like
Im used to being told Pop the colours or the contrast. the scenes were lit. Again, its supposed 1. The bleak greys and greens of Oblivion
Oblivion was the opposite. Just enough contrast to get to be very natural. Its influenced by gave the film a very different feel to the
sunlight or moonlight. When the sun bright colours of most mainstream movies
things to pop off the screen but not unbelievable is setting, you have a beautiful orange 2. Tom Cruise plays Jack. He is one of the
_ Mike Sowa | Technicolor sunset while there is a confrontation last surviving humans on a ravaged but
between the two characters. Then a ravishingly-realised future Earth
covered and volcanic landscapes. The an area of rare vegetation and life. Its a night time scene with the dinner and
film was shot in Sonys 4K RAW format simple juxtaposition but it works. the swim is a very cool blue. Because the
with an F65 camera. Due to finances and Thats really the only place you whole movie is so desaturated, those two
time, the DI was done in 2K and thats get green, lush trees, says Sowa. The scenes come across as very saturated.
the resolution it was released in. way his cabin is set up, its got a lot of Again, colour signifies life. During
Theres a very desaturated, black colourful fabric around, thats kind of the argument, Harpers gift of a purple
and white kind of feel. But when there the only place thats supposed to have a flower is rejected by his lover as he urges
was blue sky, it really stood out as a kind of colourful beauty. Even though her to leave the cold, lifeless Sky Tower.
Working around Sony c ameras

Oblivion looks very different to most blockbusters and that pushed facilities into a world that they had to expand their
is due in part to the technology that was used to shoot it. technology a little bit.
On production, they used F65 and F55 cameras and shot We had to figure out how to actually utilise the
with the EXR file system, says Mike Sowa, the colourist resolution and the bit depth and be able to play that back
on Oblivion. The EXR file is something that not too many on screen. Some of the systems had to be modified before
vendors in town have used or have set up. So it kind of we started the movie to be able to do that cleanly.
FILM
Colour Matters
There are a lot of saturated colours in some of the

scenes. The look was set in a digital setup and needed to
be translated into film with the same bold statement
_ Maxine Gervais | Warner Bros.
Colour
unit y
The importance of
colour management
Properly colour-managed
workflows are essential and, as
ever, the technology isnt standing
still. NVIDIA is speeding up the
processing of high-precision
graphics, including 30-bit colour,
with its Quadro line of GPUs.
Combining a Quadro-powered
system an HP Z620 for example
with a HP DreamColor Z27x
professional monitor (above)
which can display over a billion

PACIFIC RIM
colours, makes for a formidable
THE MONSTER
setup. The 27-inch HP display
achieves a completely accurate
rendition of both sRGB and the
Adobe RGB Colour Gamut and has

MAKERS
DisplayPort 1.1 connectivity. A giant monster movie from Guillermo neon lighting and torrential rain fill ILM worked for two years to
del Toro is the simplest way to sum up the screen. ILM VFX artists were told bring the Jaeger robots and
the intriguing visual beast that is Pacific to find their inner Mexican by the their alien Kaiju opponents
Find out more about NVIDIAs range of Rim. The end credits dedicate the film to director who wasnt satisfied with the to life for Pacific Rim
graphics cards at www.nvidia.co.uk Ray Harryhausen and Ishiro Honda but city as photographed. Its a very specific
del Toro, together with his Director of look for the near future, in Del Toros
and HPs range of DreamColor monitors
Photography Guillermo Navarro, creates words, romantic, crazy atmospherics.
at www.hp.com/eu/workstations
a unique, new world for Kaiju creatures Later, as the Jaeger Gipsy Danger walks
and mecha Jaegers to fight over. down the street in the Hong Kong battle
The aesthetic of Pacific Rim clashes with a Kaiju, it is being lit by the pink,
big, bold colours against dark, stylised purple and blue buildings and the signs
environments without straying too far not by VFX moonlight.
into the comic book style favoured by Maxine Gervais, colourist at
most summer blockbusters. Del Toros Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging
aim was a graphic feel, close to painterly, graded Pacific Rim in Baselight. In
to enhance the ILM effects throughout. anticipation of the work to be done in
Take the Hong Kong scene, where post-production, Navarro shot in wide
scientist Newton Geiszler hits the dynamic range in ISO 800. Colour is
streets before a Kaiju attack: deep blacks, very much used to tell the story, she

4
The
stor y of
I LM
From a small team
working on the
original Star Wars to
the kings of VFX...
A VFX studio founded by George

2 3
Lucas in 1975, ILM (Industrial
Light & Magic) is responsible for
the first completely CG character,
the stained glass man in Young
Sherlock Holmes as well as
producing visual effects for over
300 films. It developed the image-
based motion capture system in

1. One of the film's told the FilmLight blog. There are a Mori is orphaned in a Kaiju attack on 2006 and is a giant in the industry,
stunningly realised Jaegers lot of saturated colours in some of the Tokyo while wearing a blue coat. This employing over 500 artists.
2. Raleigh and Moris scenes. It is great to be that saturated but connection to her memory explains the
In 2014, at the time of writing,
reflective slate grey suits still maintain good skin tones. The look revenge she seeks without the need for
are neutral until lit by the was set in a digital setup and needed to conversations to slow down the action. Lucasfilm is about to open an ILM
Jaegers brightly-coloured be translated into film with the same Moris guardian, Stacker Pentecost, is outpost in London, north of Soho,
bold statement. similarly bathed in a heroic golden light
2014 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.
cockpit 3. Moris character

to work on films including Age of
is defined by the colour in the flashback. Elsewhere, del Toro has
blue, representing the EYE PROTEIN Moris red shoe act as a stand-in heart Ultron, the follow-up to Avengers
trauma suffered as a child With dialogue often giving way to fight and Raleighs white armour emphasises Assemble, as well as the next
4. Former-Hellboy, Ron scenes, del Toro uses colour to provide his lost innocence when its stained with
Star Wars. ILM is also investing
Perlman played black visual cues for characters. The film has blood and soot. Pacific Rim is rich in
marketeer Hannibal Chau, been criticised for being a dumb action colour connotations. in the development of real-time
whose red and gold outfit movie, but the director has said he doesnt rendering and Disney Researchs
do eye candy he does eye protein. Pacific Rim is available as a
FYI
matches that of his dealers
facial animation software Medusa.
Moris female fighter is clad in grey limited edition Robot 3D
for the majority of the film, but the tips Blu-ray pack from 24thNovember
of her black hair have been dyed blue. 2014 from Zavvi. Find out more at You can find out more about ILM's
Later, we see a flashback scene in which www.zavvi.com/pacificrim.
illustrious history at www.ilm.com
FILM
Certified solutions
INSIGHT: CERTIFIED SOLUTIONS
CERTIFICATION: THE
KEY TO RELIABILITY
Graphics professionals need to know their hardware
will work flawlessly with their software of choice
and thats where certification comes in
PROFILES
JOSH PETERSON
Peterson is director
C
of worldwide product
management for HP hoosing the right flawlessly, and certification helps to what theyd like to see in future
desktop and mobile hardware for your ensure that the hardware and hardware. We discuss how we
workstations, based at
the companys offices in software, whether its software play well together. need to adapt to each others
Fort Collins, Colorado.
Part of his role is to liaise AutoCAD or Photoshop, But what about the cost does trends, and we adjust our plans
with third-party hardware is one of the most vital decisions certification raise the price at all accordingly, says Peterson.
manufacturers and
software developers during you can make. One of the key when it comes to buying new The same kind of process
the certification process for
workstation PCs. indicators of reliability when hardware? Even if it does, says happens at NVIDIA, whose
hp.com buying is Independent Software Peterson, the amount is likely to workstation-class Quadro GPUs
Vendor (ISV) certification. Simply be negligible, and in any case are certified by partners across
MICHAEL STEELE put, this certification ensures that the long-term advantages far a wide range of markets. Its
Steele is strategic alliances the hardware has been stringently outweigh any initial disadvantage. common for NVIDIAs own
manager at NVIDIA and is
responsible for technical tested with the software for which When youre in the business of software developers to work side
partnership with Media and its certified, so that it meets and creating intellectual property, you by side with key partners on new
Entertainment ISV partners
for GPU visualisation and exceeds the requirements of the dont want to cut corners on the GPU-accelerated capabilities in
parallel computing. He
joined NVIDIA in 2008. software developers. tools, says Peterson. By way of next-generation applications, says
nvidia.com ISV certification is critically example, the best craftsman a the companys strategic alliances
important to HP, says Josh woodworker or cabinet maker for manager, Michael Steele.
Peterson, global director of HP instance doesnt use cheap tools For example, NVIDIA and
desktop and mobile workstations. to save a couple of bucks. They Adobe co-developed the powerful
Its a requirement for our need to be able to focus on their Mercury Playback Engine using
customers because they cannot craft, so they buy high-quality NVIDIA CUDA technology. The
afford to have their expensive tools they can count on. Mercury Playback Engine speeds
talent stalled due to software Its a two-way process too, up Adobe Premiere Pro CC by as
or hardware issues. HP Z-Series with both software developers much as 23 times over dual Xeon
workstations and HP ZBook mobile and third-party hardware CPUs and also enables real-time
workstations need to perform manufacturers providing input as playback on ultra-high-resolution
4K video footage.
ISVs certify Quadro as they
1 2
need to guarantee a stable and
known platform to their customers.
Software partners will certify
and recommend Quadro GPUs
specifically, Steele adds. NVIDIA
GPUs are designed to improve
users experience across many
segments and the only way to truly
accomplish that is by listening to
the market.
1. HP Z-Series workstations go through rigorous testing for
Find out more about HPs
FYI ISV certified workstations at
certification at HP Labs 2. At HPs online product store,
you can narrow down certified hardware choices based on
your chosen suite of software www.hp.com/eu/workstations.

Images courtesy of Warner Bros. and Framestore. 2013 Warner Bros. Entertainment.
F E AT U R E : C U S TO M I S E D S O F T WA R E
GOING BESPOKE: THE

INEVITABILITY OF CUSTOMISATION
When it comes to major studios, adapting or creating bespoke software is
inevitable but the types of customisation happening might not be what
you think. We discover that efficiency is key...
FILM
Customised software
P
PROFILE PROFILE icture the effects industry like a snowball.
In the beginning, it was small. It started
Images courtesy of Paramount Pictures and Framestore. 2013 Paramount Pictures/Marvel Studios.
STEVE MACPHERSON MARTIN PRESTON
Steve MacPherson began Martin Preston is head of to grow and maintained a steady pace.
his career working at research and development
NASA before moving to at Framestore, where he However, as it gained more technology,
Framestore in 2010 as leads the team developing power and presence, it led to more studios and artists.
Chief Technology Officer. proprietary technology and
He is responsible for the the advanced tools needed Today, the snowball is an avalanche. Its at the point
companys technical to create Oscar-winning
operations worldwide. visual effects. where effects can easily swallow the largest part of
framestore.com framestore.com a movies budget, while simultaneously remaining
affordable enough for the majority of advertising
projects and commercials.
But theres a cost that comes with this level of
success. The early days of visual effects were very much
a cottage industry; because the numbers were smaller,
vendors were able to offer so much more support when
studios needed to customise software.
As those users grew, the studios expanded and
technology gathered pace, the needs began to vary.
Steve MacPherson, chief technology officer at
Framestore, the Oscar-nominated British visual effects
house describes a corresponding shift that happened
as a result. It went from having to write everything
yourself, to making a more concerted effort to only
do things that had the greatest benefit to production.
There simply wasnt the time or support to produce
bespoke tools for every little thing. You dont need to
do twelve hair systems, says MacPherson. Do one hair

1
show starts to grow we need to balance
1. Flush is Framestores proprietary solver. It that growth against shows that may be
can create long simulations of fire, and can delivering and shrinking, he says.
have fully body-tracked characters walking
through so that most of the scene is CG WHO DOES THE JOB?
2. Framestores main lighting tool fRibGen Once a studio has decided that
enables lighters to generate render passes something needs customising, who is
that manage the application of shaders and the task passed onto? Its a common idea
data to geometry. It was just one tool that that a technical director will pick up the
had to be tweaked to fit when the studio development. But at Framestore this
brought in Solid Angle's Arnold renderer would be a misconception, says Preston.
We have dedicated software teams
responsible for the development and
Framestores approach to bespoke maintenance of our custom technology.
is a balance between allowing for This is testament to the size and the
creativity and increasing efficiency. scope of Framestore as a company, and
While the latter keeps the wheels especially to its desire to customise
turning on the commercials side, software to achieve certain things.
the former is put to work on huge Preston refers to Framestores R&D
blockbusters such as Iron Man 3 team, which develops the studios
2
lighting software and fluid simulator:
We have a dedicated pipeline team, a
production tools group, which develops
technology for producers, a shaders
department and a systems development
team which develops Framestores own
renderfarm software.
Thats not to say that the technical
directors dont have a hand in the
production. While theyre more likely to
work to address shot-specific problems
which tend to be more ad hoc patches,
they still need a strong understanding
of the underlying fundamentals of their
specialisation. Preston explains: A
lighting TD might need to have a fairly
good grasp of how rendering algorithms
work, or an effects TD might need
to have a solid understanding of how
talk about certification programmes, tweaks are made on a project-by-project fluid simulation works. So long as they
in which software providers work basis, Framestores head of research understand how software works they
alongside hardware providers such and development, Martin Preston, is far will be able to gain the benefit as the
as HP and NVIDIA and the artists more blunt as to the nature of creating software teams develop and advance it.
themselves to produce the kinds of bespoke tools or patches.
features that studios look for. Its inevitable, he says. ALL ABOUT EFFICIENCY
However, it doesnt always work Every show presents With the description of Framestores
out that way. In practice, its difficult new challenges to us and, tools, its no wonder that Preston
as the financial goals of commercial as the VFX production process is so considers the idea of technical directors
system that is adaptable to developers are not always in sync with technology-heavy, we always need to running round creating all the flash new
a variety of differing needs. those of any one specific post facility, change something! tools a misconception. A huge proportion
Do it well, make sure it runs says MacPherson. Occasionally, vendors Even though bespoke software is a of the studios bespoke tools are designed
consistently internally, defy competitive conventions and common occurrence, it still has high in the name of efficiency: to keep
make sure people get training and that actually work together. costs attached to it. A major studio would the show running, both literally and
the tools are intuitive. Then support it. figuratively. While smaller studios may
Efficiency is a theme that You dont need to do twelve hair systems. Do one hair focus on the creative side of bespoke, or
MacPherson often returns to. A popular system that is adaptable to a variety of differing needs. settle for off-the-shelf, if a major studio
notion is that an effects house will wants to compete on a global scale,
create a bespoke piece of software to do Do it well, make sure it runs consistently. Then support it efficiency gains have to be made in order
something incredible, to produce a shot, _ Steve MacPherson | Framestore to maintain back-to-back projects.
or a simulation that hasnt been seen by For the development teams under
human eyes before. The reality, however, More often than not, the only option have its own R&D department and my watch, we are very specific in
is that the majority of customisation is to is to customise the software in-house perhaps others that it has to maintain our requirements and these are less
keep the machine running, particularly to produce the tools that are needed, or to look at bespoke possibilities. But on the creative side and more on the
when working on commercials, as the to ensure that data can communicate are there steps that an effects house efficiency and analysis side, continues
work is far more cyclical and therefore in a specific way to present to another like Framestore can take to avoid MacPherson. How do we measure what
more transferrable. package downstream. While software customising software, or at least were doing with greater accuracy? How
vendors have been known to make this minimising the amount of work theyd do we deliver multiple versions easily
ALWAYS CHANGING happen, as MacPherson describes, it isnt have to do? MacPherson describes the and consistently?
Bespoke is, by-and-large, inevitable. But always the way a project will pan out. difficulties in the varying advertising This means that for MacPherson, the
the conversations dont start with, How Despite MacPhersons earlier projects Framestore works on and most critical tool is FQ, an in-house job
do we customise this piece of software optimistic view that developers may talks of the delicate balance between submission tool. It provides artists with
to do what we need? They start before sometimes work together to produce allocation of resources and the way data an easy way to submit and monitor their
and they involve putting those features features that studios need regardless of is laid out on disks with the number and work and keeps our rendering hardware
in off-the-shelf software. Vendors will commercial influences, and that bespoke complexity of shots on a project. As a running at 94-98 per cent.
FILM
Customised software
While Framestore is known

for its incredible in-house Another key tool that we use is However, this is not to say that working on more projects that involved
hair tools, its also got great fAssetDB which is an in-house toolset Framestore is some kind of stuffy, furry characters. The previous version
asset management tools that manages the versioning of elements corporate machine its simply of that tool worked, but on the larger
such as its fAssetDB put to and scene assembly. Where it crosses well-oiled to allow for creativity and shows could take a lot of set-up time to
work on films like RoboCop, over into the Technology group domain efficiency. Preston sees the approach to accommodate collisions, says Preston.
so scenes can easily be is in the potential it has to make our bespoke as two-pronged, but notes the So weve improved the efficiency of
recreated quickly archiving process much more surgical presence of efficiency in the decision to [the studio] by substantially rewriting
and efficient. create bespoke tools. Fundamentally how the tool worked internally.
Despite its approach to efficiency
Every show presents new challenges to us and, while working on commercials, the more
as the VFX production process is so technology-heavy, creative and therefore disruptive side
will come from the movies. The biggest
we always need to change something! technology shift that Framestore has
_ Martin Preston | Framestore seen arrived in its work on Gravity, the
Sandra Bullock-starring, Oscar-winning
The tool is an interesting one in that it we develop our own technology for two effects masterpiece from 2013. As the
creates a foundation for the Framestore reasons: either to enable us to generate demands of the show became clear we
archive. Working on major projects effects that we would otherwise be realised we would need to switch our
alongside other studios will mean that unable to, or to improve our efficiency at renderer, says Preston.
shots are more likely to be revisited. achieving a particular effect. It was the combination of Gravitys
Bringing material back from the archive In regards to the latter, Framestore extended and practically fully CG
could be laborious, but Framestores has recently evaluated fDynamo, its hair shots, combined with director Alfonso
tools bring back only relevant material. simulation tool. The studio found it was Cuarns dedication to details, that

tend to be designed with customisation
in mind, explains Preston. However
because changing a renderer can be
a traumatic process we worked very
closely with the developers of Arnold,
Solid Angle, and had a developer on-site
at Framestore for over a year.
At the same time, changing or
installing new technology or software
for a project is just as likely to happen
outside of the show. Preston points out
that Framestore will often find it difficult
to deliver work on a previous project
and, as a result, will scale up for the
next. The example I use is of developing G aining G PU
fluid simulation technology in response
to the difficulties we found in scaling acceleration
up the detail in commercial fluid
simulation tools. Sadly, our clients have with Fabric
Engine
ever-increasing expectations, and so we
needed to develop our own software to
match them!"
SOLID PARTNERSHIPS The development system lets TDs

Despite the support they saw from Solid build custom tools with the added
Angle, this kind of partnership seems
bonus of free CUDA acceleration
Images courtesy of Columbia Pictures and Framestore. 2014 Framestore/Columbia Pictures.
to only echo the early days of the effects

industry. It would likely not have been
possible for smaller studios that werent Fabric Engine is a Fabric Engine is one of the
working on such an important film to
development framework that worlds first single source
command such assistance. And if studios
are to keep up with the demands of enables technical directors platforms for CPU and GPU
production companies, theyll have to to rapidly build custom tools. compute. What this means is
keep their technology moving forwards It provides an easy way for that you can run Fabric code
outside of, if not at least alongside,
in-house developers to create on the GPU without making
vendors. Preston notes that, rather
handily, VFX vendors now design their code that can either run as any changes.
software with extensibility in mind, to standalone applications, or Any TD can write Fabric
make customisation easier. We have few
within existing apps, such code, and that code can now
difficulties in extending the software,
he explains. However, we do work with as Maya, Softimage, Arnold be run on the GPU with zero
vendors like Autodesk or The Foundry." and so on. However the implementation cost. Its not
But these collaborations will still
latest version Fabric Engine always going to be faster,
only happen if they support the key
elements of Framestores bespoke 1.12 features the ability but Fabric is turning GPU
decision-making: letting the studio to accelerate code using compute into a commodity
do something new, or something that
the power of NVIDIA GPUs for TDs and developers.
previous systems cannot achieve, or
something that will greatly improve without needing to learn a The end result in many
the day-to-day running of the studios single line of CUDA. instances is a speed boost
projects and its artists. MacPherson puts
I think our new GPU of 510 times, simply by
led the studio to switch to the Arnold it into words, highlighting the kind of
renderer. Of course, changing questions that need to be asked: How compute technology for turning GPU acceleration on
off-the-shelf software can trigger do we measure what we are doing with Fabric is a game changer, and using the raw power of
customisation within software, or greater accuracy? How do we deliver says CEO and founder of any NVIDIA cards in your
even re-customisation. As a result multiple versions easily and consistently?
Fabric Software, Paul Doyle. HP Z workstation.
of switching renderers, practically And how do we make sure the material
every piece of Framestores in-house conforms to proper standards?"
technology that was previously Preston explains that this is indeed
a simple test but the enthusiasm for
Our clients have ever-increasing bespoke solutions means that these tests
expectations, and so we needed to are often failed. Youd be surprised how
often requests from our artists dont
develop our own software to match! pass those tests, he says. However,
_ Martin Preston | Framestore the enthusiasm from artists who make
requests could be seen as highlighting
set up to talk to the old renderer the drive from members of the effects
had to be reconfigured and adjusted industry to create visuals that provide With GPU acceleration
to play nicely with Arnold. It certainly something that weve never seen before. activated, this animated
wasnt an easy task. 5,000,000-vertex figure can
The company had to substantially Find out more about
FYI
be previewed in real time
rework all of its lighting software, as Framestores proprietary
well as rewriting the studios shader software and its incredible work at
library. Renderers, by their very nature, www.framestore.com.
FILM
The rise of virtualisation
I N S I G H T : T H E R I S E O F V I R T UA L I S AT I O N
HOW REMOTE WORKING

IS BECOMING A REALITY
Discover how GPU virtualisation is enabling
3D artists to work and collaborate remotely by
sharing hardware resources more efficiently
PROFILES
WILL WADE
Will Wade is director of
F
product management
at NVIDIA. He is or far too long, working as of an office. For instance, if youre
responsible for a 3D artist has meant being drawing on the streets of London
virtualisation and
remoting technologies. bound to your desk and and want to get that feel, you can
He previously worked
at HP for 15 years. a heavyweight computer. just walk outside, take your laptop
www.nvidia.co.uk/grid But thats now changing rapidly outside, sit down and animate.
and its all thanks to virtualisation. Working collaboratively is also
HARRY SKOPAS Virtualisation changes where going to get easier as more firms
Harry Skopas is director GPU compute power is located adopt virtualisation, Wade notes.
of technology at The
Mills New York studio. within a studio: from individual Say youve finished your
He has over 30 years artists workstations to a central animation and you want to show
experience in building
and managing state- server. It enables a single artist to your colleagues [or the client]
of-the-art systems
and technical teams in to access multiple GPUs, or for review. You used to have to
complex digital video multiple artists to share a single call them into your office and have
and film environments.
themill.com GPU, ensuring that resources are them huddle around your chair.
used more efficiently. Now, thanks Now you can take it to them on a
to a partnership between NVIDIA tablet or laptop.
and companies such as HP, its
potential is being realised fully. Data security
Another key concern for studios
Shared access working on high-profile movie
NVIDIAs GRID virtual GPU projects is data security. By
technology already being used in enabling artists to access assets
HP servers such as the DL380z stored on a central server
virtual workstation makes it remotely, virtualisation systems
possible for up to eight users to reduce the need for them to
access a single physical GPU. transfer sensitive commercial data
As NVIDIA director of product to their own personal computers.
marketing Will Wade explains, We asked Harry Skopas,
NVIDIA is partnering with HP to bring GPU virtualisation it's transforming the way the director of technology at The Mills
technology to the 3D industry. This DL380z virtual 3D industry goes about working New York studio, if he thought
workstation makes use of NVIDIAs GRID graphics boards with large amounts of data. virtualisation would offer more
Usually the CPU and GPU security for a companys assets.
in a high-powered workstation If working remotely, yes, he
are sitting idle 90 per cent of concurs. It would allow artists to
the time, he says. Once youve access work while the assets live in
taken the GPUs out of individual the data centre.
workstations and put them into Such clear and identifiable
a data centre, you also get the benefits suggest that virtualisation
advantage of being able to work is likely to soon become the de
anywhere, on any device. facto workflow in computer
graphics. By providing GPU
Freedom to animate processing power on demand and
Once youve taken the GPUs out This option to use even complex freeing artists to work securely
of individual workstations and put graphics software on lower- on any device, virtualisation
powered laptops and mobile stimulates creativity, making it
them into a data centre, you get the devices by accessing a remote easier to create quality 3D work,
advantage of being able to work server running GRID GPUs enables even against tight deadlines.
anywhere, on any device 3D artists to work in new ways.
You can animate at any time, Find out more about GRID
_ Will Wade | NVIDIA anywhere, Wade enthuses. Its FYI technology at www.nvidia.co.uk/
freeing to be out of the confines grid and HPs DL380z at bit.ly/DL380z.

INSIGHT: REAL-TIME PRE-VIS
PRE-VIS AT THE
SPEED OF LIGHT
Built on NVIDIAs OptiX technology, MPCs Dekko
renderer visualises complex CG scenes in real time.
We explore how it will shake up VFX workflows
PROFILE
DAMIEN FAGNOU
Damien Fagnou is global
W
head of VFX operations
at MPC. His production hen people talk VFX operations. But there would preview of production scenes. It
credits include Pirates of about real-time always be a disconnect between isnt real-time rendering as a gamer
the Caribbean: On Stranger
Tides, the Harry Potter rendering, they what you previewed and the image would understand it: Fagnou says
films, and Prometheus
moving-picture.com usually arent talking you finally rendered. that MPC is happy with a couple
about visual effects. With polygon According to Fagnou, two key of frames a second, and since
counts rising, the sheer scale of factors in closing that disconnect the quality of the render increases
a 3D scene from a Hollywood have been the growing popularity progressively over time, it can take
movie makes it difficult to obtain a of ray tracing for VFX rendering, five or six seconds before you
meaningful render in minutes, let and the fact that it is now possible get a result you really like. But
alone fractions of a second. to perform ray tracing calculations that enables an artist to navigate a
But that could be changing, on the GPU further facilitiated scene interactively and crucially,
thanks to a new breed of by the multi-GPU configurations to do so on an unmodified version
specialist tools like Dekko, MPCs offered by workstations like of that scene, in all its complexity.
experimental new in-house HP's Z820. This narrows the gap The goal is to visualise
renderer. A fast, GPU-based ray between the preview generated by our assets, not a down-resd
tracing engine, Dekko is intended the GPU in an artists machine and version of those assets, says
1. An unmodified asset from to give the studio an accurate the final image generated on the Fagnou. [Once] you introduce
Ridley Scotts Prometheus, real-time preview of its VFX assets render farm. simplifications, the problem you
displayed in real time without having to make any Built on OptiX, NVIDIAs GPU- see [in the preview] might be
in Dekko, MPCs new damaging simplifications first. based ray tracing engine, and the related to those simplifications
interactive preview renderer Fabric Engine tool-development and the fact that it works may not
2. An in-house R&D project, Visualising complexity framework, which enables mean that the final frame works.
MPC hopes to roll out Weve tried to do real-time programmers to write code that
Dekko into production by previews in the past says Damien targets either CPU or GPU, Dekko Better effects, faster
the end of 2014 Fagnou, MPCs global head of provides users with an interactive MPC hopes that Dekko will roll out
in production later in 2014. Once
that happens, artists will be able to
1 2
make meaningful artistic decisions
based on the output of the NVIDIA
Quadro K4200 or K6000 graphics
cards in their workstations, rather
than having to wait for test renders
to come back from the farm.
As soon as you start [working]
in real time, you make a couple
of creative choices per second
instead of a couple per minute,
says Fagnou. That makes a
massive difference in quality.
2014 MPC
See more of MPC's work at

FYI www.moving-picture.com
FILM
Virtual production

FE AT U R E : V I RT UA L PRO D U C T I O N
VIRTUAL PRODUCTION:
REAL TIME, RIGHT NOW
New technologies enable directors to view CG worlds in real time. Discover
how this new breed of virtual production tools is redefining the way movies are
FILM
Virtual production
For many, James Camerons

2009 blockbuster Avatar
represents the birthplace of
modern virtual production
1. Real-time retargeted
on-set motion capture
previews helped Cameron
to direct his CG characters
2. New virtual camera
workflows enabled the
director to scout locations
on the planet Pandora
34. Such worfklows also
helped in planning complex
virtual camera moves
2 3 4
A
s technology advances to meet the needs PROFILE
of bigger and more adventurous VFX DAVID MORIN
blockbusters, the movie industry has found Morin is senior director of industry relations
and business development for Autodesk
itself in an age of virtual production. Media & Entertainment. He has chaired
Evolving out of simple pre-rendered visualisations the industry steering groups the Autodesk
Film CTO Advisory Council and the Virtual
of set layouts and camera moves, new real-time Production Committee.
autodesk.com
film-making techniques enable artists to design and
explore complete virtual environments in real time.
With space for a different real-time technology PROFILE
to suit every pipeline, we look at the most recent CEVAT YERLI
developments in virtual production tools, and examine Yerli is president and CEO of Crytek,
the game development company he
how they are helping shape the visual effects industry. co-founded in 1999. As well as creating the
multi-award-winning Crysis game franchise,
Crytek develops game engine CryEngine
SO WHAT IS VIRTUAL PRODUCTION? and new virtual production tool Cinebox.
crytek.com
For many people, the birthplace of modern virtual
production was Avatar. Although motion capture was
already widely used in visual effects work, the real-time PROFILE
retargeted previews of mocap data used on the 2009 JOHN GRIFFITH
blockbuster enabled director James Cameron to view Formerly director of previsualisation at
20th Century Fox, Griffith is president of
his CG characters performing against virtual sets live CNCPT, specialising in pre- and post-
on the motion-capture stage. The animation was then visualisation work for movies. The studio
used Cinebox in its work on Dawn of the
refined by VFX house Weta Digital, and the characters Planet of the Apes and The Maze Runner.
cncptla.com
rendered for final output using Wetas farm of 2,176
HP ProLiant BL2220c blade servers.

The term virtual production is
sometimes used to refer specifically to
this combination of motion capture and
real-time rendering. But more generally,
it describes the erosion of the boundaries
between pre-production and final
effects, enabling artistic decisions to be
made earlier in the film-making process.
In either case, a key aim of such
workflows is to enable artists to interact
with digital assets in real time. Creative
decisions for example, changes to The rise of vir tual c ameras
staging, camera placement, art direction
or lighting can be made quickly, and New hardware like Ncam Technologies ncam camera-tracking
the results of those changes saved for use
further down the pipeline.
system help directors create complex virtual camera moves
TOMORROWS TOOLS TODAY Originally used for adding a cinematographers camera in the form of green or bluescreen
Lightstorm Entertainment, Camerons
camera layouts to cinematic cut of choice. The ncam provides images which can be keyed out
production company, developed much of
its own technology for the production of scenes in games, virtual camera complete real-time position and by ncams internal keyer, and
Avatar. But in 2012, the firm announced a systems are becoming more rotation tracking information, plus replaced with virtual assets,
partnership with Autodesk and Weta to
popular in the world of film, due focal length and focus, with no providing a real-time augmented
develop a new generation of off-the-shelf
virtual production tools tools that are to the increasing use of fully CG need for time-consuming system reality system.
being rolled out in the tools of Autodesks environments. Used to lay down calibrations or environment Since the ncam provides an
Entertainment Creation Suite.
realistic camera moves that surveys. Most importantly, accurate visualisation of how a
Virtual production
is at the leading edge of would be difficult to achieve it doesnt require any tracking digital asset will interact with a
innovation in the motion with traditional keyframe markers traditionally used live-action plate, it enables the
picture industry today, animation methods, virtual on set, then composited out director to compose and frame
says Autodesk senior director of industry
cameras enable a director to during post production. shots in real time. As well as
relations and business development
David Morin. It is also a touchpoint direct CG animation in the same Data from the ncam can virtual cinematography, it can be
between linear and interactive media: way as a traditional shoot. then be streamed live into used to provide first-pass material
film and games. Autodesk provides
One example is the ncam MotionBuilder, giving the director for pre-visualisation or editing,
software and services to both markets,
so it makes sense for us to partner with (www.ncam-tech.com): a real- a real-time preview of the virtual avoiding the need to wait for
the companies leading the charge in this time camera tracking system camera move within a pre-built temporary effects shots, meaning
area. This helps develop the production
with a multi-sensor bar that is digital environment. Ncam also that it is fact becoming a tool of
expertise of our service group and push
the development of software like Maya unobtrusively mounted onto has support for digital video I/O choice for VFX work.
and MotionBuilder for our customers.
Virtual production is at the leading edge of even large production assets in real engines into film-making tools. Thanks
innovation in the motion picture industry. It is a time. Since its introduction, Autodesk to the ability of such engines to display
has steadily been expanding the list of complex textures, lighting effects and
touchpoint between linear and interactive media features Viewport 2.0 supports, which physics simulations in real time, artists
_ David Morin | Autodesk now includes ambient occlusion, anti- can now manipulate ever-more complex
aliasing, particles, nHair, nCloth and assets without having to wait for offline
Used on the set of Avatar to visualise Fluid Effects. With such sophisticated renders to check their work.
motion-capture data in real time, visual feedback to guide them, artists no A key player in this sector of the
MotionBuilder enables artists to set longer need break their creative flow by market is Crytek, which has been
up increasingly detailed interactive waiting for offline renders. developing its own in-house game
previews of virtual performances. Its Another tool embracing the power engine, CryEngine, for over a decade.
support for HD SDI video output enables of NVIDIAs graphics cards to preview The studio recently launched Cinebox, a
the software to be integrated with movie assets accurately in real time is standalone version of CryEngine with a
studio video broadcast systems, giving Mari, The Foundrys texturing software. focus on cinematography: a combination
production staff and camera operators Originally developed at Weta Digital of tools that Crytek dubs a film engine.
more accurate real-time feedback during the making of Avatar, Mari With features including physical
on virtual camera work. Using such enables artists to paint directly onto 3D lens parameter controls, accurate depth
systems, directors can record multiple models, even those running to millions of field and motion blur, and advanced
takes in rapid sequence, enabling actors of polygons and hundreds of 4K textures. skin and eye shading, Cineboxs ability
to work uninterrupted. This workflow minimises the time to preview real-time motion-capture
However real-time workflows are that artists spend wrangling technical data within a high-quality rendered
not limited to the sets of high-budget issues, such as dividing models into environment gives artists a much more
feature films. Included in Maya since the sections small enough to manipulate in accurate idea of what finished projects
2011 release, Viewport 2.0 introduced real time, or managing UV layouts and will look like.
artists to a what you see is what you maximises the time they spend actually Using a virtual camera in conjunction
get notion of preview rendering. The creating textures. with the software, directors can look
new architecture takes advantage of the through a small monitor attached to
processing power and on-board RAM LEARNING FROM GAMES a camera rig to see their actors and
of professional graphics cards like those Another important trend in virtual environments in real time, enabling
of NVIDIAs Quadro series to display production is the incorporation of game them to find the perfect camera moves:
FILM
Virtual production
M aking movies
with Cinebox
Real-time rendering powered CNCPTs
pre-viz for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Crytek has used Cinebox, its virtual movements of the camera and the
production software, on several of tank, the lighting, shadows, and
its own projects. But one of its first explosion and fire effects illustrate
uses on a movie was in the pre-viz the mood and colour of the shot.
work for Dawn of the Planet of the The videos literally became moving
Apes carried out by CNCPT: the concept paintings.
Los Angeles-based studio founded Crucially, changes to lighting and

1
by John Griffith, former director textures could be made in real time.
of previsualisation at 20th Century To ensure maximum performance,
Fox. CNCPT used Cinebox to create CNCPT uses the best available
a pitch-viz teaser for the movie, NVIDIA [graphics] cards.
and subsequently on key sequences Being able to make changes in
including the elk hunt and the tank real time enables us to provide a level
ramming the entrance to the human of detail not usually seen in traditional
colony. The work can be seen on pre-viz, says Griffith. Some studios
2 the studios Vimeo channel at who attempt this rely on After Effects
vimeo.com/channels/782595. to composite elements into their
CNCPT used Maya to create and shots after the fact. This slows down
manipulate assets, before rendering the pipeline and when changes to
them in real time in Cinebox. camera angles have to be made,
Although all of the animation the shot has to be completely re-
data for the final pre-viz clips was rendered. My pipeline is designed to
processed in Maya first, the studio take the burden of creating a fully
was also able to collaborate remotely realised shot out of the hands of the
3
with the production team on set in pre-viz animator, allowing him to do
Louisiana, exploring camera angles what he does best without worrying
and environments through the use of about the look, FX and lighting.
a virtual camera. Another benefit of Cinebox was
Using Cinebox as a viewer gave that CNCPT could use the actual film
CNCPTs artists accurate visual assets in its work, instead of having
feedback on the look of a shot to create separate pre-viz assets
Griffith praises its amazing physically lightweight enough to manipulate

4 based rendering and took the in real time. I was able to take
14. Stills from CNCPTs
visualisations for the elk visual sophistication of its final output [VFX facility] Wetas models and
hunt sequence of Dawn
20thCentFox/Everett/REX
to a new level. retopologise them for use in Cinebox,

of the Planet of the Apes.
Cryteks Cinebox software We were able to create the shots keeping the details and the textures
enabled the studio to for the tank in just a few hours with says Griffith. The pipeline enables
render actual film assets
an extremely high level of detail, us to put in detail that we wouldnt
in real time, and generate
shots with a level of detail he says. As well as showing the normally be allowed to do.
not usually seen in pre-viz

1 2 3
4
Cryteks Cinebox is a
version of its CryEngine
game engine built for
virtual production work.
One of its earliest public
uses was the Path of
Vengeance TV spot for
Ryse: Son of Rome 1.
CNCPT created five shots
for the end of the spot,
using Cryteks in-game
assets 2. A final render
3. The same shot inside
Cinebox 4. Crytek also
used Cinebox on Ryse
itself to help with on-set
performance capture and
virtual set viewing
either while shooting live on a motion- [to develop], from the first ideas to the With Cinebox we are taking steps to
capture stage, or while navigating shots street date. That was already impressive push real-time CG to new heights, to
that have already been recorded. by itself, but we also had a team myself empower cinematics and movies, and to
Crytek has used Cinebox on several included who had never made a game offer one solution for both game and film
of its own projects, including its before. Eighty per cent of the team was makers with the goal of [creating] better
recent game Ryse: Son of Rome to help completely new to games. worlds and better drama.
with viewing virtual sets and on-set We are now in our fifth iteration of
performance capture. Outside of the these pipelines and we are constantly A WIRE TO JIM CAMERONS BRAIN
studio, the technology is in use at improving to maximize our results, From new tools like Cinebox to
leading UK motion-capture facility continues Yerli. Real-time WYSIWYG established packages like Maya and
The Imaginarium, and was used in the Cinebox pushes the limits of real-time [workflows are] transformative and, MotionBuilder, real-time technologies
pre-visualisation work for the movies rendering, supporting advanced depth of most importantly, accelerate learning. are playing an increasingly important
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and The field and order-independent transparency You can fail and learn faster as you see role in visual effects production. Thanks
Maze Runner by LA-based firm CNCPT. results immediately. [Through tools like to the work of software developers like
CryEngine and Cinebox], that power Crytek and Autodesk, and the increasing
WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU PLAY is available to artists, designers and power of graphics hardware from
When we started other disciplines, and also now to manufacturers like HP and NVIDIA,
CryEngine in 2001, there other industries. artists are able to work faster and see
wasnt anything out there results more quickly than ever before.
that enabled us to design With Cinebox, we are taking steps to push real-time CG Such workflows break down barriers
worlds in a fast, iterative way where you to new heights and to offer one solution for both game to creativity, enabling directors to work
could jump into that world with the click not at the pace of offline rendering but
of a button, says Cevat Yerli, co-founder, and film makers with the goal of creating better worlds at the speed of the imagination.
CEO and president of Crytek. _ Cevat Yerli | Crytek As Godzilla director Gareth
With CryEngine, Crytek strove to Edwards put it in an interview with the
implement such a real-time workflow: Yerli believes that the convergence Los Angeles Times earlier this year:
a concept it called What You See Is of game and film-making tools has Filmmaking sometimes seems like
What You Play. We introduced the much to offer artists working in both punishment, but then the movie turns up
concept of 3D editing, which got rid of industries. [We are beginning] to share at the end, and you go, Oh, yeah, thats
the typical [quad views then common in fundamentally [the] same goals, and the reward. I wish you could just plug a
3D software] and focused on the users similar pipelines, he points out. Once wire into your brain for two hours and
point of view; how they would see the the film industry started to use motion press record. I think James Cameron is
world, says Yerli. One example of the capture and later introduced the idea of working on that.
benefits of these fundamentally new performance capture, virtual production
ways of working is the launch of Far Cry and other derivative techniques we Read more about Cryteks work
in March 2004. It took only three years were able to do pretty much the same. FYI on Cinebox at: bit.ly/cinebox.
BROADCAST
REAL-TIME GRAPHICS
AND VFX FOR EPISODIC TV
We explore the state of the art in broadcast graphics: from virtual sets
and real-time infographics to offline work on effects-heavy TV series
B
1
roadcast graphics is a footage must be keyed and
complex field, spanning composited on the fly.
many different disciplines.
SECTION CONTENTS Some of these will be Facing tomorrows challenges
familiar from the previous section The need to create ever-more
BRINGING STATS TO LIFE
of the book: the process by which complex real-time graphics is
FOR SPORTS FANS___________________48
the visual effects for an episodic just one of the challenges facing
THE CHANGING WORLD OF TV series like Doctor Who are todays broadcast professionals.
ON-SCREEN GRAPHICS_______________54
created is similar to that for a Over the next 34 pages, well
2
VIRTUALLY REAL: HOW DIGITAL feature film although the time also be looking at the impact
SETS ARE CHANGING TV _____________56 pressures can be far more intense. other trends in the market
THE GOLD STANDARD OF But live broadcasts present their including the move towards
LIVE BROADCASTING ________________62 own special problems, and need ultra-high-definition formats, and
very specific solutions. the need to stream footage to
TACKLING THE 4K CHALLENGE________64
mobile platforms are having on
THE VFX OF DOCTOR WHO ___________65 The growth of live graphics artists workflows, talking both
RENDERING: THE FARM Modern broadcasts of sporting to creatives themselves and key
VERSUS THE CLOUD _________________70 events almost always require tools developers, including Vizrt,
UNLEASH THE POWER
graphics to be overlaid on live Elemental Technologies and Adobe. 1. The creation of real-time
OF GPU PROCESSING ________________72 footage: anything from current We also look how new hardware graphics presents a unique
scores to animations tracing the solutions are addressing these technical challenge for
WHY CREATIVE PROS ARE
SWITCHING TO HP ___________________78
trajectory of a previous shot. challenges, including how NVIDIAs broadcast professionals
Take this a step further, and work on GPU computing is leading 2. VFX for episodic TV
you now often find programming to new workflows for digital approach the complexity
in which actors or presenters content creation, and how HP of those for movies, but are
are shown against virtual sets, server technology is powering new created to tighter schedules
meaning that live greenscreen cloud-based solutions.

BROADCAST
Introduction
BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS
From simple stats

to full infographics,
we explore how
Vizrt and partners
HP and NVIDIAs
54
technology brings
real-time graphics
to sports fans
screens worldwide.
Running on NVIDIA
GPUs, Elemental
Technologies'
video processing
platform helped
62
the BBC to bring
the 2012 Olympics
to today's range
of viewing devices.
As European
households
begin to move to
50-inch-plus TV
sets, we explore
64
how NVIDIA
GPUs are powering
UHD-ready
graphics tools.
Doctor Who is one

of the world's best-
known episodic TV
series and also
one of the most
65
effects-heavy. VFX
house Milk reveals
the technology
behind its work.
Cloud solutions are

giving broadcast
effects companies
new alternatives
to their in-house
70 72
render farms.
We assess the
pros and cons of
rendering off-site.
BROADCAST
Augmented reality in sports broadcasting
FE AT U R E : AU G M EN T ED R E A L I T Y I N S P O RTS B ROA D C AS T I N G
BRINGING STATS TO LIFE

FOR SPORTS FANS
Creative use of augmented reality is changing the way we enjoy sport on TV.
Vizrt and partners HP and NVIDIA are at the forefront of the revolution
W
hat does a 16-foot-tall robot in Times
Square have in common with the
overlaying of statistics on each lane of
an Olympic swimming race? Theyre
both examples of the growing use of augmented reality
in the broadcasting of sports events a trend thats
challenging the TV industry as never before.
Augmented reality overlaying live footage with CG
imagery has been used in broadcasting for around 20
years now. But its becoming increasingly ubiquitous,
with viewers now demanding animations that provide
informative and entertaining enhancements of every
sport they watch on TV. And at the forefront of this
revolution is Vizrt.
Vizrt is the company behind Viz Engine, one of
todays most powerful rendering engines and real-time
compositors of graphics and video. Thanks in part to
a long-running relationship with HP, which provides

Coates/LAT/REX
PROFILE PROFILE PROFILE PROFILE
IAN FINCH PETTER OLE JAKOBSEN REBECCA HOPKINS ANDREW PAGE
Finch is series producer Jakobsen is CTO of Vizrt. Hopkins is co-founder of Andrew Page is a senior
and director of Match of He was co-founder of Peak the Sports Technology product manager at
the Day. He worked on the Broadcast Systems, which Awards, set up to NVIDIA, where he is
BBCs Olympics and Super merged with RT-SET to recognise the growing role responsible for the
Bowl coverage, and is form Vizrt in 2000. Prior technology plays in sport, companys professional
responsible for introducing to Peak, he was senior and managing director of video and scalable
AR to its sports coverage. developer of Norways TV 2. sports PR agency ENS. display solutions.
bbc.co.uk vizrt.com sportstechnologyawards.com nvidia.com
workstations, servers and network Fox Sports used outdoor

equipment, Vizrt has become the AR extensively with
worlds leading provider of 3D broadcast
graphics for the worlds top broadcasters,
brilliant results, he
enthuses. So much so that Augmente d realit y
including CNN, CBS, BBC, Sky, ITN,
ZDF, Star TV, TV Today and NHK.
we think youre going to see, if not an
explosion, then a huge impact from heads outdoors
that production on most high-end sports
VIZRT AT THE SUPER BOWL and elections productions in the next
Take last years Super Bowl. In a few years. Its one thing to do augmented reality in
production that included Ultra HD Outdoor augmented reality has been a controlled TV studio, but it can be taken
replays, 600 crew members and 14 done for many years but not with any
robotic cameras, Vizrt helped Fox Sports significance. Youre going to see a lot
on the road with the right equipment
set a new standard for virtual graphics. more of that now.
Fox used Virzt technology extensively Fox Australia has been using GRIP system for the first time with
from robot mascot Cleatus running POWERED BY HP WORKSTATIONS augmented reality on outside new graphics designs at the World
around the stadium and graphics and Of course, its not enough to have
titles around New Yorks Times Square the right software tools to pull off a broadcasts to present stats and trails, Cup 2014 (also the first time theyve
to hanging banners on the field and wind production like Fox Sports did at the and this is something BBC Sport has used AR outside the Salford studio)
models showing weather behaviour Super Bowl you need powerful and
taken notice of and plans to explore. and outdoor broadcasts with virtual
inside the venue. (Why do fans care capable hardware too.
about the wind, you ask? Fox showed Thats why, when Vizrt demoed its Fox chose the Stype GRIP system graphics are due to appear alongside
how passes or kicks might have been graphics products at last years IBC in which all the calibration is done the return of the FA Cup to the
influenced by the cold weather.) It did trade show, it exclusively used HPs within the jib arm itself and theres broadcaster. The desired result? To
all this using Vizrts broadcast graphics high-performance and visualisation
no need to use external tracking take augmented reality at the BBC to
systems, supported by 24 Viz Engines workstations and monitors to show
and Viz Trio character generators. its software working at its highest cameras. The BBC will use the Stype the next level.
Vizrts broadcast graphics technology possible performance.
has been around since 1997, but with Based on our long, rewarding
Stypes GRIP system feeds the positional data of a camera directly to major render engines.
this Super Bowl coverage, Petter Ole relationship with HP, all of our product
Jakobsen, Vizrts chief technology displays and demonstrations at IBC were Read more about it at www.stypegrip.com
officer, was impressed. running on HP Z-Series workstations,
BROADCAST
Tracking
problems
Making AR look real means
not letting anything get in
the way of your tracking
Ian Finch and his team at BBC Sport worked
with Motion Analysis to get the tracking precise
enough for Match of the Days virtual graphics.
The tracking is crucial to the success of this
system and, despite it working perfectly now,
we had a bumpy landing getting it all up and

running, says Finch.
If you have a black hole in your virtual space,
then the tracking data will fail and the graphic
will jitter or disappear, ruining the illusion of the
graphic being a physical object in the studio. In a

servers, and monitors, explains Gerhard systems, while 20 HP Z420 1. Picking out a team of
studio as large as ours, with lights and structures
Lang, chief engineering officer for Vizrt. workstations ran other systems all-time great players
blocking line of sight to the tracking cameras, its HP desktop computing hardware including the Viz Trio live graphics on Match of the Day is
important we have enough infrared cameras to is the proven, trusted solution for our generator, Viz Pilot, Viz Weather, enhanced by seeing the
customers demanding, mission- theViz Multichannel channel-branding formation alongside the
capture the data we require for solid graphics.
critical, real-time media and system, and the Viz Artist real-time 3D presenters 2. Images from
Our initial tracking problems were resolved by graphics applications. modelling and animation tool. the days action are shown,
adding a further eight infrared cameras. To show its software in the best bringing immediacy to the
possible light, Vizrt used a range of HP DEVELOPED WITH NVIDIA late-night reaction 3. Vote
high-performance computing products Another important strategic partner results can be displayed
Motion Analysis has worked with many sports including 85 HP Z-Series workstations, for Vizrt is NVIDIA. NVIDIAs more dynamically, live in
broadcasters. Read more at www.motionanalysis.com 30 HP monitors, and several HP servers. GPUDirect for video is at the epicentre the studio setting
of high-definition and 3D stereoscopic
POWER AND PERFORMANCE production workflow. It consists of a
HP ProLiant DL 380p Gen8 servers Quadro GPU, a Quadro SDI capture
were used at the show to run Viz card and a Quadro SDI output card
Engine, Viz Map Server, the Viz Pilot supporting 2K, HD and SD formats.
server for template-driven graphics and When powered by a single
video management, the Viz One video workstation, such as the HP Z820 or
transcoder server, and the Viz One the new Z840, it is the industrys only
Online live transcoder. GPU-accelerated solution that enables
Of the 85 HP Z-Series workstations, broadcasters to acquire, process and
Vizrt used a mix of HP Z820 and HP deliver high-resolution video in both
Z420 workstations to run Viz Engine standard and 3D video environments.

3
1. Audi used AR to let SIGGRAPH

visitors customise the look of its R8
2. 3D printing was used to show what
the design would look like in real life
Designed to support multi-camera information in a way that we couldnt

environments and compositing live
video with virtual sets, the digital video
before. It also keeps those in the gallery
really busy, so its given us a lot more to NVI DIAs AR
pipeline can provide a direct feed of up
to four HD SDI video streams directly
think about as programme makers.
The speed and flexibility is impressive c ar buying
into the GPU.
Many of Vizrts products including
its new compositing, multi-viewer and
too if a goal is scored, our graphic
designers can have that player image cut
out and on screen within 10 minutes.
experiences
video wall technologies are built on The BBC worked closely with
and optimised for NVIDIA Quadro Motion Analysis from the start of its
professional graphics cards. The range augmented reality plans for Match of
Augmented reality doesnt have
extends from the entry-level K420 to the Day. The California-based motion to be a sit-back experience, as
the top-of-the-range K6000 (discussed capture specialist installed the system, NVIDIA and Audi proved
in more detail in the boxout on page 53). calibrated the camera lenses and helped
Towards the top of the range, the new producers iron out teething problems
K4200 and K5200 cards, with 4GB and (see the boxout on the left for details). NVIDIA teamed up with Audi interactive demo were given a
8GB of graphics memory respectively, Twenty four infrared cameras track and Christie in summer 2013 tablet to customise the paint,
provide extreme performance in the traditional BBC studio cameras,
for an augmented reality wheels and headlights of a
demanding environments such as live resulting in X, Y and Z co-ordinates for
broadcast graphics. All of the Quadro each location in the studio. This optical car buying experience at 3D printed, one-fifth scale
cards support CUDA, NVIDIAs parallel tracking data from Motion Analysis SIGGRAPH to show exactly model of an Audi R8. Christie
computing platform, enabling software system is then sent to Viz Virtual Studio what its graphics cards are projectors used a 3D WARP
to take advantage of the graphics cards and the final, composited graphics and
capable of. Powered by mesh to change the colours,
processing power. video are rendered in real time using the
NVIDIAs fastest ever GPU, rim options and side panels
[Thanks to augmented reality] the programme is more the flagship 12GB Quadro of the car and even show
visually stimulating. It enables us to present additional K6000, and RTT DeltaGen what the R8 would look like in
stats and information in a way that we couldnt before software, visitors to the different environments.
_ Ian Finch | Match of the Day
NVIDIA explains more about how it wants to change the car-buying
All of which makes this an exciting Viz Engine. The graphics can be tracked
time for broadcasters. One of those round and interacted with a real win experience with augmented reality at bit.ly/nvidiacar
leading the way is the BBC, with its for the technology.
2
implementation of AR in popular football
programme Match of the Day. THE FIRST SCREEN
The show uses in-studio graphics The experiment has paid off following
of images from the days matches to the BBCs lead, other major sports
illustrate what the pundits discuss broadcasters in the UK are now
from individual player stats and team embracing the technology.
formations to virtual VTs and celebration Match of the Day also scooped a prize
images. Series producer Ian Finch at the inaugural Sports Technology
believes augmented reality can add Awards in April this year for Best
an extra layer to studio presentations Use of Technology by a Broadcaster.
by combining a traditional set with Rebecca Hopkins, co-founder of the
cutting-edge virtual graphics. As a STAs, says MotD was chosen above rival
result, the programme is broadcasters for updating the usual
more visually stimulating, studio formula.
he says, It enables us to The BBCs approach could impact
present additional stats and both sports programming and wider
BROADCAST
Viz Arena
Viz Arena is Vizrts specific software ground during live coverage. It uses the
solution for sports the main goal (excuse same image processing technology as the
the pun) is to enable broadcasters to put flagship sports analysis system Viz Libero
virtual 3D graphics onto any venue, field and enables integration with any type of
or stadium they need. Graphics can be sports data provider such as STATS or Opta.
tied-to-field, above-field or attached to Unknown terrain in a major golf tournament?
Viz Arena enables broadcasters to players or positions. A typical use case is Viz Arena even integrates with laser
map virtual graphics onto venues placing targeted, regional adverts on the measurement devices.
bringing stats to the forefront
Viz Arena offers 3D enhancements for any sport, with image tracking and data-driven graphics.
You can read more about it at www.vizrt.com/products/viz_arena
uses of graphics in broadcasting by stay the preserve of TV for a little while fall to creativity [not technology]. but when you look at them on camera
competing with or complementing the yet, but no one can rest on their laurels. What do I want to achieve? How and start pushing around them, they
second screens so beloved by viewers. do I make this look really good? dont work so well.
Hopkins points out that the use of A CREATIVE CHALLENGE For broadcasters like Sky, the
AR is aimed squarely at a fanbase of The combination of new advancements challenge is not technical any more. FUTURE TRENDS
incredibly sophisticated technology in broadcast graphics software and Finding workable, achievable ideas Realism is king, then, and broadcasters
consumers who demand more data and hardware processing power frees for augmented reality is easier said than have the tools and the technology to
insight than previous generations. broadcasters creativity. done, according to Ian Finch. He advises achieve it using augmented reality.
Augmented reality Is this just the beginning of a wave of
allows for simple and Augmented 3D technology looks set to stay the preserve AR on every screen thats so realistic the
succinct explanations of of TV for a little while yet but, with the bar constantly audience doesnt think about whether
complex points which, its augmented or not? Or will virtual
in turn, gives viewers of all degrees of being raised, no one can rest on their laurels graphics on the big screen make way
knowledge a better understanding and _ Rebecca Hopkins | Sports Technology Awards for the sofa-friendly, app-driven second
appreciation of sport, she says. screens of smartphones and tablets?
Viewers, especially those in younger The evolution of more advanced anyone in the industry working with AR NVIDIA has already begun to push
demographics, are likely to be watching tracking systems and the impact of the for the first time to be patient and get augmented reality for mobile and
sport armed with a second and maybe performance increase of the NVIDIA used to rejecting ideas that dont work. wearables with its Tegra K1 chip:
third screen; broadcast, being a mass systems and graphics boards are the There is a fine line between AR the first step towards the kind of
communication platform, cant compete two reasons why realism is much higher graphics looking amazing and looking heads-up displays previously seen only in
with the peer-to-peer interaction offered than it used to be [in augmented reality cheap and cheesy, so not every idea will superhero and science-fiction movies.
by texting and social media, but they can work], says Vizrts Petter Ole Jakobsen. make it to air. There have been numerous At CES 2014, Neil Trevett, NVIDIAs
offer a far superior viewing experience. There are always challenges, but the graphics we have designed that look VP of mobile ecosystems, said: The Iron
Augmented 3D technology looks set to good thing is that more and more, these great on paper and within the computer, Man display is what many of us have in

H ow to handle
2
1. NVIDIAs technology
has helped to power
4K AR graphic s
on-screen graphics for
many of the biggest live
sports events
2. The BBCs use of AR
has won it awards and
at 60f ps
recognition as a leader
in the field
At high resolutions and frame rates,
you need high-performance hardware
like NVIDIAs Quadro K6000 GPU
NVIDIAs Andrew Page talks all the information was fed
us through an impressive into Vizrt software. The GPU
live tech demo with a RED provided the performance
camera and 4K display: In needed to render a visually
between the camera and rich AR character and moved
display was a system with the data in and out of the
at least one Quadro K6000 GPU as quickly as possible
rendering in real time a thats about 16ms per
character insertion of the Fox frame. Moving a 4K frame
Sports robot. As the camera in, processing that frame
moved, it stayed in the right and outputting the previous

our minds, its what we want to achieve. why not use them to replace real (and
place because they had frame to the display those
But to get a truly wearable display, often expensive) sets in entertainment
packed full of sensors and cameras shows and the like? the Quadro GPU to keep the three things can all happen
theres a long way to go. It could be a huge financial benefit rendering going at 60fps as simultaneously in the K6000.
But in future, it is conceivable that in soaps, for example says Jakobsen.
augmented reality graphics tools will When you are switching sets, its easier
run on a mobile chip. As NVIDIA senior to push a button than rebuild [them NVIDIAs Quadro product range goes from the entry-level 1GB K420 to
product manager Andrew Page says: physically]. One of our clients in India the high-end 12GB K6000. See the full range at bit.ly/nvidiaquadros
Vizrt is the high end is already doing it.
[of the market] and you can Once you achieve a higher degree
do the same thing on the of realism, people will start using NVIDIAs highest-end cards
low end with a Tegra K1. [the technology] to build sets more and are designed to make even
Thats the impressive thing. Its the more, he argues. advanced graphics at 4K
same graphics core. It would need further advancements easy to achieve
in the graphics cards but NVIDIA is hard
MORE THAN JUST SPORTS at work and its already a very enabling
And returning to more traditional technology. It will come: maybe not next
forms of broadcast, there are huge year but the year after that. I have no
opportunities for augmented reality doubt we will achieve it.
beyond enhancing news reporting and
sports punditry. You can read more about HPs
If virtual sets can be built to look FYI partnership with Vizrt at
more and more realistic using impressive bit.ly/hpvizrt and NVIDIA and Vizrts
tools such as Vizrts Viz Virtual Studio, work together at bit.ly/nvidiavizrt.
BROADCAST
Real-time infographics
C A S E S T U DY: R E A L-T I M E I N FO G R A PH I C S
THE CHANGING WORLD

OF ON-SCREEN GRAPHICS
Infographics have come on in leaps and bounds since the early
days of TV sport. Broadcast graphics company Alston Elliot
tells us how new technology helps it meet today's challenges
T
PROFILE he days when only of the information surrounding
OLIVER PEARSON commentators the broadcast, the range of
Pearson is creative announced the scores on information and graphics we use
director of broadcast
graphics specialist sports broadcasts is long has increased considerably.
Alston Elliot, having gone. With the rise of real-time This growing range of on-screen
joined as a graphics
operator 13 years graphics technology, creatives infographics has been made
ago. The firms clients
include Sky Sports, are continuously developing new possible by advances in broadcast
BBC Sport and ESPN. ways of bringing us statistical technology, particularly the move
aegraphics.tv
information, each more inventive from traditional 2D page-based
and eye-catching than the next. systems to real-time 3D graphics
pioneered by firms like Vizrt.
A CHANGING INDUSTRY Alston Elliot has worked 2
Each broadcaster is trying to with Vizrt since the turn of the
outdo its competition by using new millennium, helping transform 1. Some of the graphics that
techniques, says Oliver Pearson, European sports broadcasting. Alston Elliot produced for
creative director at UK broadcast Suddenly live broadcasts could the Indian Premier League
graphics specialist Alston Elliot, have the kind of graphics that cricket tournament
whose clients range from Sky had previously only been seen on 2. On-screen graphics
Sports to the England and Wales pre-rendered systems like Flame, arent just for the viewers
Cricket Board. [As they] strive to says Pearson. Once we did our they can be a useful tool for
keep the viewer more appraised first Vizrt job for Sky Sports in sports commentators, too

Nowadays every player is
accompanied by a range
of on-screen statistics
detailing different facets
of their sports career
1999, the rest of the main sports way to design and build graphics
[broadcasters] soon followed suit. so that the position they sat in the
3D world was comfortable and Tools of
THE 3D DESIGN PROCESS
Alston Elliot still uses Vizrts
realistic enough for the viewer at
home, says Pearson. The current the trade
technology including real-time popularity of augmented reality
modelling and animation package graphics in which the graphic
Viz Artist and compositing platform appears to be part of the pitch or Hardware from partners HP
Viz Engine for the majority of studio set is now redefining and NVIDIA powers Vizrts
its real-time 3D graphics work, in on-screen design in similar ways.
conjunction with traditional DCC Pearson also believes that new
on-screen graphics tools
applications like 3ds Max, Maya, forms of viewer interaction made
Cinema 4D and After Effects. possible by mobile devices and Even powerful graphics tools are nothing without
The design process begins long social media will play an increasing
the right hardware. For tools like Viz Artist and
before a graphic is used on air, with role in on-screen graphics. Online
rounds of client feedback. Once chat is already a big part of many Viz Engine, Vizrt recommends hardware from
the design has been signed off, the sports fans viewing experience: a a limited range of partners, including HP and
built graphic is passed to a team trend that will continue with people
NVIDIA. The firm has recommended hardware
of software developers who link it posting their own questions and
to databases of player career data analysis, or making more use of the configurations for different use cases: for
and team performance statistics. second screen experience apps. example, render engines. Most are based on
During live broadcasts, graphics
operators scan the databases for Sports graphics is a unique field. standard HP systems, including its Z420 and
Z820 workstations, running NVIDIAs Quadro

relevant information, enabling the
director to cue the corresponding You have to balance good design K5200 and K6000 professional graphics cards.
on-screen animations.
The need to deliver information
and rich features with legibility and Vizrt also makes use of HPs ProLiant ML350
in sync with the on-screen action speed of delivery and DL380 servers.
For Gerhard Lang, Vizrts chief engineering

imposes unusual constraints
on the design of broadcast _ Oliver Pearson | Alston Elliot officer, a key benefit of HPs hardware is its
infographics. Sports graphics is
reliability. Its both the QA [HP is] doing on its
a fairly unique field, as you have But thanks to modern graphics
to balance good design and rich hardware, one trend that seems side and [its ability to] deliver systems on time,
features with legibility and speed less likely to prove problematic he says. Sometimes we get notification from a
of delivery, says Pearson. We is the adoption of new high-
customer that they have an important production
need to get graphics to air with resolution broadcast formats.
seconds of notice from a director. Vizrt notes that the compute that they need new machines for in three to four
Once the graphic is on air it may power of workstation graphics weeks, and HP has proven to deliver.
have to animate out within three cards like NVIDIAs Quadro K6000
to four seconds, so the paramount is already sufficient to render
consideration is prioritising what graphics designed for modern
info you want the viewer to read. HD broadcasts in 4K, in real time.
This often means that higher-end In tandem with such hardware,
effects may have to be sacrificed in Vizrts tools are helping firms like
favour of legibility and speed. Alston Elliot pioneer another new
wave of broadcast graphics.
NEW CHALLENGES As technologies improve, the
While the speed of the human quality [and range] of animation
eye may limit the complexity of will increase, says Pearson. The
on-screen graphics, advances in possibilities are endless in this
technology continually throw up ever-evolving industry.
new challenges for Alston Elliot. Vizrt specifies NVIDIAs powerful Quadro K5000 and
One such challenge was posed Read about Vizrts range of
FYI
K6000 GPUs. Everything we do except decoding
by the growing availability of 3D real-time on-screen broadcast clips is GPU-centric, notes the firms Gerhard Lang
televisions. We had to learn a new graphics technologies: www.vizrt.com.
BROADCAST
Virtual sets
Illustration: Tysall (studio_tysall.prosite.com)

FE AT U R E : V I RT UA L S E TS
VIRTUALLY REAL: HOW DIGITAL

SETS ARE CHANGING TV
Virtual sets enable you to do more than ever with limited space. We find out how
broadcasters such as the BBC are leveraging the technology to the full
T
he broadcast industry has had many blue- and green-screen backdrops that the happy fiction that a programme
changes imposed on it over the past decade. deliver real-time rendered backgrounds, is being transmitted from an exotic
The move towards high definition and the virtual studios that have become a location or a high-tech nerve centre
then tapeless, IT-based workflows proved mainstay of sports and news production when, in fact, its originating in a TV
both costly and necessitated wholesale infrastructure in particular seamlessly combine live- studio in a drab industrial complex.
upgrades. However, while it has also been able to offset action elements with real-time rendered Viz Virtual Studio enables broadcasters
costs by exploiting new technology and harnessing CG elements in multi-camera studios. to do more with limited
the increased computing power epitomised by HP Z In many ways, theyre actually digital space, explains Gerhard
workstations kitted out with NVIDIA graphics cards, set extensions in their own right, with Lang, Chief Engineering
one of the biggest recent growth areas has been the field the caveat that they have to work in real Officer of Vizrt. Its
of virtual studios. time and as with all things broadcast possible to create a studio that looks
Developments in the field have taken the technology failure when going live is not an option. massive but is truly only three metres of
far beyond the clunky chromakey and virtual sets of And, while they still have limitations green screen. The use of live data makes
late 1980s weather forecasts. Locked-off cameras and for example, they have yet really to make the studio space intelligent, where the
thick black lines surrounding presenters are a thing inroads into the area of the big Saturday data can change aspects of the set for
of the past, just as modern digital set extensions are night Light Entertainment shows they sports productions, weather, finance
ahead of matte painting on glass. Instead of the simple have enabled broadcasters to maintain productions or other data-related news.
PROFILE
GERHARD LANG
Gerhard Lang joined Vizrt
in 2000 as the Head of R&D
Austria. Fourteen years later
he is now the companys
Chief Engineering Officer.
vizrt.com
BROADCAST
Virtual sets
Five of the 12 cameras at the BBCs giant

Elstree Studio D are fitted with MoSys
active optical system StarTracker
The technology is also being integrated Systems to create Vizrt in 2000)

into physical studios, which enables exploited technology created for Lavi
presenters to use graphics to help flight simulators and other parts of the
them tell a story. An example would development program to power the first
be analysing a ski slope during the virtual sets.
Olympics, by placing a 3D model of the It was Spanish company, Brainstorm
slopes in front of the presenter so they Multimedia, that broke break new
can highlight key elements. ground in 1993, using its eStudio product
In one of those entertaining twists to provide a daily weather program
of technology beloved so much by the for Spains Antena 3 channel. It then
fates, virtual studios have their genesis took the honours for providing the first
with Israels failed effort to build its virtual set used in live production during
Vizrt provides technology to help broadcasters do

more with virtual technology easily by providing options Electione ering
to produce a set
_ Gerhard Lang | Vizrt
at the B BC
own jet fighter, the Lavi in the 1980s. an interview with Mike Oldfield which Discover the technology used to turn a
Cost over-runs and US pressure forced centred around the 1994 release of his
studio into one giant infographic
its cancellation in the latter part of the Songs of the Distant Earth album.
decade, thereby releasing an estimated Several technologies had to come
pool of 1,500 experienced electronics together then, and have been developed Used for the first time during the 2014 European and local
engineers into the labour market and since, to make the virtual studio as elections and more recently for coverage of the 2014 Scottish
helping precipitate the countrys high- opposed to the virtual set an everyday
tech boom of the following decade. reality. Their key advantage is that referendum, Vizrt, Idonix and BBC Studios & Post Production
Both Orad (1993) and RT-SET (1994 the physical camera can move in 3D united to provide the Corporation with a true virtual studio.
latterly merged with Peak Broadcast space in real time, whereas a virtual

1
7
1. Track motion via infrared
2
2. Configure your tracking
ANATOMY OF VIZ VIRTUAL STUDIO data in Viz Virtual Studio
3 3. Create the virtual
environment in Viz Artist
4. Control your playlist with
6
Viz Trio or Viz Pilot
5. Video and graphics
composited with SDI or
DVI output
6. Optical or mechanical
camera tracking
5 4 7. Control your virtual
environment with the
Viz Anchor app
Types of tracking
There are a number of different methods for tracking your subject for the creation of a
virtual set. Here are the key mechanical and optical systems in use
A tracking system simply sends out mechanical and optical. Both have PEDESTALS Similar to PTZF systems, feedback as to position.
camera movements to the 3D graphics sensors for the lens (zoom and focus) but allowing movement for the pedestal ACTIVE OPTICAL Triangulates camera
computer, that receives them via that can be external, as a set of gears around the set as its XYZ position is position by placing a camera on the top
serial port or UTP using existing data fitting the original zoom and focus ones, tracked. Typically, uses a couple of of the video camera pointing towards
protocols. The 3D software then creates or internal, installed inside the lens by minicameras pointing towards the floor a ceiling populated by targets. Three
a virtual camera that matches the its manufacturer. The different types to see a zero point (a painted cross on are required to be visible at all times to
position and movements of the real available are: the set). triangulate position and orientation.
camera, even to the point of applying PTZF Consists of a sensorised head CRANES Add to the basic PTZF PASSIVE OPTICAL Places infrared
the optical aberration inherent in the placed on the top of the tripod which another two sensorised axes, pan and targets on the video camera. When the
lenses (which is why there is usually has to remain still in terms of position. tilt on the cranes arm. camera moves around the studio, its
a calibration process involved in the Only pan and tilt movements are RAILS A PTZF equipped camera position and orientation is tracked by
set up). There are two main groups, tracked, along with zoom and focus. mounted on rails which provide other cameras.
1 2
1. Brainstorms Infinity Set
allows the talent to cast
The system was set up at BBC shadows on pre-generated
video footage in realtime
Elstree Studio D in 2013, which
2. It also allows for camera
is usually reserved for the bigger
movements with full
Light Entertainment live events, perspective match opening
and includes equipment redeployed up a wealth of new creative

possibilities
from Television Centre. Five of the
12 cameras are rigged with MoSys
active optical system StarTracker, to
enable camera tracking of the virtual

set has to use chromakey technology to Viz Virtual Studio allows broadcasters to do more with
set elements (mostly relating to the integrate graphics (although some of the limited space. It's possible to create a studio that looks
giant map of Britain that presenter newly developed trackless technology
techniques muddy this neat distinction massive but it is truly only three metres of green screen.
Jeremy Vine moves around) and
somewhat). Either way, very few are _ Gerhard Lang | Vizrt
these include one mounted on a nine monolithic solutions from a single
metre MovieBird crane. developer but rather involve multiple tracking capability. These use optical or need for:
products from multiple manufacturers mechanical measurements to describe A video mixer to combine the video
The virtual set was rendered with
under the control of a virtual studio position, focus, zoom etc. Newer systems feeds and the rendered set and graphics
Viz Engine while Idonix provided program such as Vizrts Virtual Studio or are billed as trackless. to produce a final composition for output.
the content control interface for Viz Brainstorms Infinity Set. Heres what is Real-time rendering software which Video and audio delay systems
Virtual Studio, including a front-end
generally required to make it all work: uses the camera tracking data and video to compensate for the lack of
A blue or green screen, which provides feed to generate a composite image synchronisation inherent in most
interface that enabled journalists to
a background necessary to extract the combining all the elements. Increasingly systems. Millisecond delays, while
choose results and place them on air. subject during the shooting. these packages also provide mixing/ still effectively real time as far as the
Broadcast cameras married to camera compositing capabilities, excluding the computer industry is concerned, can
BROADCAST
Virtual sets
Sky Sports award-winning Monday
Vizr t Night Football virtual studio

incorporates technology from
and H P
Softimage, Vizrt, ChyronHego and
Motion Analysis
A partnership built
on power
HP Z workstations are the
preferred system for running
Vizrts range of applications,
including Viz Engine. HP desktop
computing hardware is the proven,
trusted solution for our customers
demanding, mission-critical,
real-time media and graphics
applications, says Gerhard
Lang. Integration with NVIDIA
GRID also enables up to eight
concurrent users to share the
same application with workstation

performance and Quadro
compatibility.
have a jarring effect on lip-sync with and more into live shows. GPUs are proving perfectly adept at production plenty of flexibility when it
viewers starting to notice problems at The iconic BBC sports show, Match rendering even the larger image files comes to movement.
the 15ms mark. A frame of video takes of the Day (which celebrated its 50th required and doing so in real time.
33ms to update. anniversary in 2014) became the first In fact, 4K has distinct advantages A VIRTUAL FUTURE?
UK show to embrace augmented reality when it comes to working with the One of the interesting stats from the
AUGMENTED REALITY to enhance its studio presence at the latest generation of trackless systems. 2014 World Cup that has been largely
Virtual studio technology has to cope new BBC studios in Salford. 24 infra-red In a trackless system, the objects are ignored is that three times as many 8K
with everything else that the broadcast cameras are used to track the traditional provided as video feeds from the camera matches were broadcast than 4K ones,
industry has over the years, with the studio cameras, giving precise X, Y and and brought into the 3D virtual set via Japans NHK beaming nine games
move from SD to HD and the subsequent Z coordinates for their location. The an internal or external chromakeyer. back to four cities in Japan in its epic
rise in resolutions proving a particular show uses an optical tracking system The camera is also fixed enabling the 76804320 format. But while virtual
problem when it came to real-time developed by erstwhile mocap specialists camera feed to become a 2D surface studio developers get on with the task
processing. But you get the feeling that of ramping up to cope with that in real
with the rise of Augmented Reality, the Elements of the virtual set can be made into templates, time, what does the future hold for
technology has really hit a sweet spot. giving the producers the ability to change set elements the technology?
AR roughly consists of virtual On the one hand, it gets more
elements, information graphics or easily as they would change a lower third graphic functional: Orad has developed the
images placed in the set along with the _ Gerhard Lang | Vizrt Virtual Studio in a Box, a turnkey multi-
real character or other objects. It can be camera virtual studio production system
achieved in a number of ways, although Motion Analysis to provide the tracking inside the 3D set and greatly simplifying which consolidates all the important
some techniques may require additional data which is then passed along to the task in the real-world studio. This 2D production elements, including virtual
tracking for moving objects in the Viz Virtual Studio. Final composited surface is then internally DVEd to follow studio, switcher, on air graphics,
scene that display additional graphics. graphics and video are rendered with the virtual camera when this moves, chromakey, video delay, video server
Given the importance of datasets and Viz Engine. with results that are similar enough control, and newsroom integration,
data analysis on screen real estate in More AR productions have followed, to a tracked camera, albeit with some into a single product. Indeed, the entire
sports productions in particular, its but just as everything is getting settled, restrictions on the vertical movement Virtual Studio in a Box production can
been a significant development and one however, the current stampede towards that are especially visible if the camera be controlled by a single operator from a
that looks set to break out into other Ultra HD Phase One and 4K as a spins or rotates on an axis. But despite single user interface.
programming genres as producers try to production format throws up a whole the restrictions, the ability to extract On the other, its enabling new
find ways to integrate social media more new range of issues. Happily, NVIDIA an HD image from a 4K one gives the uses of graphics within sets, virtual or

1. Match of The Day was the first UK show to embrace
Augmented Reality set design 2. 24 infrared cameras track
the main studio cameras, providing X,Y,Z coordinates for
their position 3. Graphics and video are rendered with Viz
Engine, allowing for impressive forms of visual narrative
The economics of virtual sets make them

an attractive alternative and with the latest
graphics cards and virtual set technologies,
they have become much more realistic
_ Gerhard Lang | Vizrt
otherwise. At the 2014 IBC, Orad and presented with a prestigious IBC
MoSys StarTracker MUV showcased a neat gadget worn on Innovation Award for its Ford Monday
system enables the a presenters finger, called Bird, which Night Football (MNF) Virtual Studio; a
creation of virtual turns any surface into an interactive photoreal, real-time virtual environment
sets in real-time screen, enabling them to stand anywhere in which presenters can stand and
and rotate, scale, drag, tap, hold, draw interact with the 3D graphical elements
and highlight graphics on any surface. around them which used Softimage,
Its also cresting the last remaining Vizrt, ChyronHego and Motion Analysis
hurdles to the technology, one of which technology to produce the final product.
was matching different perspectives And the broadcaster is perhaps
and subject movements in real time. flagging up a new direction for the
Inserting a live character into a technology to go in too, having invested
static environment or controlling the $750k in Jaunt, a Californian technology
movement of a background is one thing, firm which has made a name for itself
matching movement of that character in the field of cinematic VR. The
to that of a pre-recorded video feed is money invested so far might only be
another entirely. Brainstorm has cracked the equivalent of one top-range virtual
that this year with its trackless Infinity studio itself but it highlights the fact that
Set which incorporates external tracking the technology is attracting more and
data included as metadata in live feeds more attention from the mainstream.
or pre-recorded videos and are applied And with the technology now more than
to the virtual cameras parameters. capable of it, expect to see virtual studios
Effectively, the talent becomes a 3D break out from their news and sport
object positioned accurately within the core territory, mirror their cinematic
scene with a full perspective match, and counterparts, and become increasingly
can cast diffuse and contour shadows used in developing dramatic narratives.
over objects in the 3D scene and interact
with the rest of the objects automatically. Head over to www.vizrt.com
In short, virtual sets are truly FYI to find out more about its
coming into their own. BSkyB was full range of broadcast products.
BROADCAST
Delivering the Olympics
View Pictures/REX
C A S E S T U DY : D E L I V E R I N G T H E O LYM P I C S
THE GOLD STANDARD

OF LIVE BROADCASTING
Remember the heady days of the 2012 Olympics?
A big part of the success was down to the smooth
broadcasting of the games across the globe
W
PROFILE ith 34 Olympic smartphones and an array of Following extensive tests to
KEITH WYMBS venues and 26 different tablet devices. The find the best encoding platforms
Keith Wymbs is Chief sports many challenge was how to engineer for both live and on-demand video
Marketing Officer at
Elemental Technologies of which were it so that live content could be streaming, the BBC (as well as
where he leads the scheduled to run at the same time beamed around the globe, at a CTV, Terra, NHK and Eurosport)
development and
implementation of broadcasting the 2012 London consistently high quality, to this selected Elementals video
Elementals worldwide
marketing strategy Olympics was no easy feat. multitude of platforms. processing solutions to support
elementaltechnologies.com And the millions that would In the end it was a massive coverage of the 2012 Olympics.
view the event were no longer success. Of course though, the As a software solution running on
doing so solely through traditional enormously powerful technology powerful off-the-shelf hardware,
means: viewers were able to that was behind the feat wasnt Elemental held an advantage
follow the games on multiple the focus because it all flowed over hardware-based encoding
platforms including the internet, so smoothly. solutions. In the case of the BBC,
Streaming H D 2. ENCODE
content worldwide With complex content, typical

encoders have a hard time
delivering acceptable video
quality for live event streaming.
How exactly are large scale events such as Compressed video can exhibit
loss of detail, blurring and other artifacts. As
the Olympics broadcast across the globe? well as being able to adjust resolution, frame
rate and bitrate, controls for GOP adjustment
and insertion of an IDR frame for a scene
change are essential. Deinterlacing,
1. CAPTURE
anti-alias scaling and noise
The feeds from multiple cameras at venues are reduction are also key to the
directed into a video switcher. The producer highest quality video for
chooses which camera angles provide the adaptive bitrate streaming.
best view using a switcher, which outputs a Each part of the algorithm
master HD-SDI feed to the Elemental Live adds complexity,
encoder. This is the easy part! and consumes
processing
resource.

Change is the norm in this industry... Flexibility is key
and having software-defined video infrastructure is
the only way to keep up with the pace of change
_ Keith Wymbs
The BBC revealed that on

Elemental rolled out several implementation for video its busiest day, it delivered streams were created and ported
major software releases between processing encoding and 2.8PB (petabytes) of for the BBCs iPlayer to the cloud
the time of its selection and the decoding on the Tesla line of content, featuring a peak using Elemental Cloud. This was
start of the Olympics. Being able NVIDIA products, explains Chief rate of 700Gbps when done once again for the Winter
make updates and work through Marketing Officer at Elemental Bradley Wiggins took home Olympics in Sochi in 2014.
issues with customers in real time Technologies, Keith Wymbs. the gold in mens cycling. Weve learnt over the last four
showed broadcasters the strength Wymbs describes the margin 34 per cent of daily viewers years or so that every customer
of Elementals technology. for error as very small when it used mobile devices, situation is unique at launch
comes to live processing, and resulting in over 12 million and will evolve very quickly in
PARALLEL PROCESSES that in other solutions, corners mobile requests for video the quarters that follow, says
Elemental makes use of can be cut on live encoding Wymbs. Change is the norm in
NVIDIAs GPUs to optimise video because the algorithmic needs this industry as media companies
streaming over IP networks, of the encoding goes beyond seek to keep pace with the fast
taking advantage of NVIDIAs system capability. Not the case evolution of consumer viewing
parallel processing architectures with Elemental, which, together habits. Flexibility is key, and
to process multiple bitrates at with NVIDIA and its Tesla line, having software-defined video
the same time. This means that enabled the streaming of 2,500 infrastructure is the only way to
content can be streamed based hours of Olympic content without keep up with the pace of change.
on the users connection speed so a degrading of quality.
that its always ready to go. Using Elemental Live, Find out more
Elemental standardised Elementals video-processing FYI about Elemental at:
our graphics processor platform, 24 alternate live HD www.elementaltechnologies.com.
4. DELIVER
Adaptive bitrate content is delivered over

the web, generally by a dedicated content
delivery network (CDN). A CDN is a system of
software, hardware and network components
that acts as one large distributed computer.
Services performed by a CDN may include
digital media delivery, network transit, website
acceleration, file storage, server co-location
and cloud processing. In addition to these
services, most CDNs provide both analytic
and provisioning control panels. CDNs provide
critical infrastructure and play a crucial
role in the global distribution of video
3. PACKAGE
content from encoding sources such
Adaptive bitrate streaming is seamless in as those supplied by Elemental.
that the consumer need not adjust settings With an ever widening number of
to cope with variability in network conditions. playback devices, video suppliers
Adaptive bitrate streaming requires conversion of increasingly rely on CDN
existing content to a variety of display resolutions and technologies and/or services
bitrates optimised for the device, and a mix of files to be to effectively deliver video
available for real-time stream switching. Content providers must content to end users.
convert video assets to new file formats rather than relying on a
single encoded file to be delivered to a content delivery network (CDN).
BROADCAST
The future of 4K
INSIGHT: THE FUTURE OF 4K
TACKLING THE
4K CHALLENGE
The 4K workflow has arrived. For broadcasters
striving to make the transition worthwhile, is
2014 really the year of Ultra-HD?
PROFILE
ANDREW PAGE
Andrew Page is a senior
T
product manager in the
Quadro Professional he hottest phrase in Public broadcasters such as UHD inevitably brings. Editing and
Graphics Solution Group for content creation at the the BBC are also keen. It ran live colour grading apps like Adobe
NVIDIA, working across its
scalable display solutions moment may very well be 4K trials from the FIFA World Premiere Pro or Blackmagic Design
and advanced technologies.
nvidia.co.uk 4K UHD, but decisions Cup Finals and has commissioned Davinci Resolve are enabling real
by broadcasters and pay TV 4K natural history shows in time 4K work but these tools
operators to greenlight a channel readiness for the day UHD goes cannot perform without the power
carrying it are far from cut and mainstream. While programming afforded by GPU processing.
dried. They hinge on a resolution builds, UHD TVs contain upscaling This is where solutions such as
to the increasingly vexed debate engines to convert HD inputs into NVIDIAs Quadro K6000 come into
about the most appropriate approximate 4K pictures on the fly. their own.
implementation of the UHD format, But pixel count is only part of From camera processing
a debate which impacts directly on the UHD story since the format and colour grading to editing,
consumer value perception of UHD specifies three levels, not just compositing, finishing, final frame
TV sets and services. one: the simple, or Phase 1 rendering, or encoding you
For anyone in any doubt, the
basic fact is that Ultra HD delivers As frame sizes grow the processing requirements go up
four times as much detail as 1080p exponentially. GPUs are up to the task
HD, technically 3840x2160 pixels.
The large screen real-estate of _ Andrew Page | NVIDIA
displays 55 inches and above are
deemed the perfect place to 2160p (aka 4K); the Phase 2 name the step there are GPU
enjoy the greater immersion of 2160p with added features; and accelerated tools changing how
UHD entertainment. the Phase 3 4320p (aka 8K). The people work, says NVIDIAs
notable additional features as you Andrew Page. To the customer
Ultra-HD adoption move beyond Phase 1 include theres no difference. Install the
We can expect 10 per cent of High Dynamic Range (HDR) for app on an HP Z workstation with
European households to own a greater contrast and High Frame a Quadro GPU and they can start
2
50-inch plus UHD TV set by Rate (HFR), deemed essential for working straight away.
the end of 2014, and nearer 16 reducing motion blur in live sports. Since some producers are
per cent in 2018 (according to The issue is whether all (or any) already regularly shooting at
Futuresource Consulting). There of these levels will offer the right 5K, 6K and higher, the need for
are smaller sizes at retail too, combination of quality increase, high performance processing
helping global sales of 4K panels cost and content to be successful. engines has never been greater.
reach 43.5 million (or 38 per cent of With more and more devices Tools like Quantels Pablo already
all sales) by the end of 2016. capable of capturing 4K being support 8K finishing. They got
Main image courtesy of Sony.
YouTube and Netflix are already introduced to market, there are there by harnessing the power
streaming 4K while operators no shortage of affordable options of multiple GPUs using NVIDIA
1. Broadcasters are currently conducting like BSkyB are conducting 4K for producers looking to sate the Maximus technology.
4K production tests and trials production tests and putting a anticipated high demand for UHD As frame sizes grow the
2. Solutions such as NVIDIAS Quadro next-generation 4K-ready set top content. That includes being able processing requirements go up
K6000 enable creative professionals to box into development, primed for to process, manipulate and store exponentially, says Page. GPUs
work at 4K in real time launch as early as 2015. the higher volumes of data that 4K are up to the task.

BBC 2014
FE AT U R E : T EL E V I S I O N V FX
DELIVERING THE FANTASTIC TO

THE SMALL SCREEN
We speak to independent boutique studio Milk about an astonishing
first year and its work on the BBC hit show Doctor Who
BROADCAST
Television VFX
F
ew, if any, visual effects studios have hit
PROFILE the ground running like Milk. One year on,
WILL COHEN the studio already has several Hollywood
Milk's CEO and executive blockbusters under its belt (Hercules,
producer was MD of Mill
Film and TV for five years. 47 Ronin), credits on some of the UKs best-loved
Under his guidance the shows (Doctor Who and Sherlock), plus acclaim for
team won two BAFTAs and
a VES award for its work on its contribution to Fox TVs 24: Live Another Day.
Doctor Who and Merlin. His
feature film work includes But then Milk is no Johnny-come-lately to the
47 Ronin, Les Misrables post-production game.
and 28 Weeks Later.
milk-vfx.com In fact its six founding members are fully paid-up
1
veterans of the Soho effects scene, having previously
PROFILE all worked together at The Mill. When, after 20 years
MURRAY BARBER in the business, the CG industry mainstay decided to
Prior to becoming one of withdraw from film and television work, division MD
the founders and owners
of Milk, Barber was a lead Will Cohen and his colleagues opted to stick together,
2D compositor and visual move on and start again. It was a sad time
effects supervisor with
credits that include three to be a part of closure of Mill TV, but it also
of the Harry Potter films,
Black Hawk Down, Troy presented a big opportunity for us to bring
and Kingdom of Heaven. 2
a new company into the world in spite of
He is Milk's VFX supervisor.
milk-vfx.com the fact that its a very difficult time for this industry,
says Cohen, now CEO at Milk.
PROFILE While he acknowledges that many beloved larger
DAVE GOODBOURN and smaller visual effects studios have disappeared over
Goodbourn started out in the last couple of years, Cohen says they sensed that
1999 in the videogames
industry, before moving there was room for their new venture: We would have
into online editing in 2001. sorely regretted not taking the risk. Talk to anybody
In 2010 he moved into VFX 3
facility infrastructure design in this industry and they all dream about having their
and implementation, before
taking on the role of Head own studio. Usually there are so many barriers to entry,
of pipeline/systems at Milk not least being locked into existing contracts, but when
in June 2013.
milk-vfx.com The Mill decided they didnt want to be in the film and
TV business any more, that gave us the chance to get off
to a flying start, continuing what wed built on with a
ready-made team.
4
Large-scale TV shows arent the norm in the UK, but
wed like to see more of that work coming in. This is one of
the few places in the world with such a strong talent pool
_ Will Cohen | Milk
As to why Milk is succeeding where The Mill

couldnt, Cohen says that the fact the latter is a private
5
equity venture makes the two quite distinct. When
youre the owner of a small-to-medium size business,
you have a very different raison dtre . Were able
to play the long game, and dont have to try to grow
exponentially in hard times. While we need to make
payroll we dont have to deliver to shareholders. Dont
get me wrong though, The Mill is a very lean, well-run
company, and we had a brilliant time working there.
6
In a way I think theyre quite happy that were carrying
Milks work on Doctor Who includes scene-setting matte on the business.
paintings such as this aerial view of Victorian London Milk launched amidst much industry fanfare about
improved tax breaks for film, TV and effects work,
but while Cohen says those changes were part of their
original business plan, he admits its had less impact
than expected. It has led to an enormous amount of
shooting in this country, but made less difference for
VFX work. Weve been privileged to work on 24: Live
Another Day, the first show to take advantage of the
new tax breaks, but in the main its something thats
only just beginning to filter through.
Nonetheless, he sees the UK as ideally placed to take
on more international work. Large-scale TV shows
arent the norm here, but wed like to see more of that
work coming in. This is one of the few places in the
world with such a strong talent pool, and government

H alf- Face fact s
Milk co-founder and VFX supervisor Murray Barber peels back the layers
of Deep Breaths sublime Doctor Who villain, Half-Face Man
Doctor Whos season eight opener Deep

Breath features the formidable Half-Face Man.
Were friends with Framestore down the road,
and so obviously had seen their exquisite face
replacement work on Harvey Dent in The Dark
Knight and Red Skull in Captain America,
says Will Cohen. But of course those were for
movies, not TV. The difficulty is that people
judge everything in the same way
BBC 2014
1. The clean-up involved

not only removing
tracking markers and the
2. We took lots of
photo scans of the
sets for lighting reference,
3. Along with the
tracking markers on
actor Peter Ferdinando,
4. We had to be
careful with the
jawline. If it was a movie
5. The animators really
had to work hard
on the CG eye, particularly
6. We created an
automated cycle for
the clockwork interior of
actors make-up, but also along with steel HDRI and we put additional tracking youd have visible working in terms of matching its the head, though at certain
hollowing out his head and grey ball data, and also markers onto the hat. muscle and sinew, but as this movements and reactions times when he gets angry
adding in the back of the hat shot reference using a fully That really helped us out, was for TV we raised it to to the actors real one. the parts speed up a little, so
and collar. It took an awful working mannequin. We had providing us with all the create something impressive theres also some bespoke
lot of prep work to make originally intended blending rotational movement while efficient and animation in there.
sure wed be able to crack the mannequin into some information we needed. economical. Its all about
through the 87 shots and shots, but didnt have time making informed decisions
get everything spot on. to line it up on set, so went at the design stage to make
for a full 3D solution. the shots doable.
BROADCAST
Television VFX
1
BBC 2014
support is very good. I think we have Presented with a blank canvas, Milk On the hardware side, Goodbourn remote desktops. Thats something I can
something like a dozen people here on worked with Escape Technology to says that choosing HP Z workstations definitely see us using.
the Creative Skillset scheme, which is design and build an efficient, hopefully for artists was a no-brainer. There Cohen agrees: An approach that
doing a great job at plugging the skills future-proof pipeline, one that reflects simply isnt another workstation of enables you to make one phone call
shortage in the industry, and which is the many changes that have transformed choice, for a whole multitude of reasons. so that resources are switched from a
especially helpful for young businesses both graphics technology and the For one thing the chassis is virtually bunch of compositors who have just
like ours. Its a very exciting time and we industry itself over the last decade. On indestructible you could throw one at finished a job to a team of effects artists
feel very good to have taken the risk. the software side, the key tools are Maya, a colleague and it would still work! and coming is a very desirable one, he
Mari, Mudbox, Arnold for rendering, theyre just incredibly well designed. says. It totally transforms the nature
PREPARING FOR HIGH-RES Nuke for compositing, and then Cinema Theres plenty of room to upgrade things of a studio.
One consequence of getting off to a flying 4D for occasional tasks. like RAM and no annoying loose wiring. Similarly, while Goodbourn says
start was the need to quickly build the Goodbourn says the decision to go The other vital component on theyll always rely on their own on-site
studios infrastructure. Head of systems with Arnold stems from being early the artist side is NVIDIAs graphics render farm, he acknowledges that
Dave Goodbourn says Milk had just adopters of the physically based path technology, with every workstation physical limitations mean they are also
three months to put a working system tracing renderer while at The Mill. The kitted out with Quadro GPUs. Weve looking at the possibility of augmenting
together. We knew one of lighting and rendering team found that spent the last few months working it with off-site cloud rendering: Its not
our first jobs was going to Arnold immediately enabled them to with them to test the latest boards, cheap, so we wouldnt want to rely on it
be stereoscopic and at 4K get incredibly fast, good-quality results, and theyve been really supportive 24 hours a day, but we have done tests
resolution, he recalls. and the scale of scenes you can render and helpful, says Goodbourn. At the with Google and it is an attractive option.
We figured if it could handle that then is amazing, he says. Weve been able moment were not looking at using GPU When you need to get the shot through
wed be okay. to put 20,000 Daleks into a shot, with processors for final rendering, since then it could be a real help.
He explains how the opportunity no duplication in compositing. And the our renderer of choice Arnold is not
to build a new facility from scratch other great thing with Arnold is that the GPU-based, but who knows what will WHOS BACK
was a particularly luxurious one. We amount of internal R&D support you happen in the future. We are, however, While Milk has built up a good portfolio
didnt have to build upon any legacy need to get strong results is minimal. looking at other things NVIDIAs of both film and broadcast projects, its
systems, says Goodbourn. Thats not It helps keep things lean when youre technology is making possible, such already best known for its association
an opportunity you get very often. setting up a new company. as the use of virtual workstations and with Doctor Who. While luck was on

2
3
1. When the TARDIS gets caught in a
T-rexs throat, the creature is inadvertently
transported to Victorian London
2. Milks brief was for the creation of a CG
dinosaur the same height as the Elizabeth
Tower, home to Big Ben, even though real
T-rexes were one fifth of the size!
3. Scenes such as this Dalek spaceship are a
long way away from the plywood sets and
model props of the 1970s and 1980s
exactly kind of show you join for in the Deep Breath proved especially eight of Doctor Who still to complete (as
first place. challenging, not least due to an extended we write this in 2014), post-production
Nonetheless, Cohen admits that running time of 76 minutes, a highly duties for the Christmas special looming
during post-production the team do publicised cinema release, and the and work for another high-profile
tend to forget just how commercially small matter of the need for 117 VFX Hollywood blockbuster (Dracula Untold)
successful (and subject to close scrutiny) shots that encompass views of Victorian hitting cinemas, Cohen reflects on Milk
the show actually is. You dont really London, a gigantic Tyrannosaurus rex VFXs position in the industry and
consider Doctor Whos global reach, and a clockwork man with half of his longer-term aims: When we set up the
with 77 million people watching it, until face missing. Then theres the additional company the aim was always to be very
you watch tweets coming through from pressure of it being the first adventure manageable and controllable, and to
the teams side in terms of timing with Russell Crowe watching it in a cinema for Peter Capaldis new incarnation foster the sense of being part of team.
The Mill shutting down its movie and somewhere, he marvels. of the Doctor. New season episodes There are some very large companies out
TV division just two weeks before the With effects-heavy episodic TV still a are always tricky, as you have to start there, and the industry does need them,
50th anniversary episode The Day of rarity in the UK, Cohen notes that there big, but with a new Doctor theres also but we want Milk to be more boutique,
the Doctor was due to begin shooting arent many studios in London with the challenge to capture and win over more personable.
Will Cohen points out that there was no That said, with its Soho offices
guarantee the BBC would give the job to The BBC really wanted to push the boundaries of what already hitting capacity, Cohen says
this familiar and safe pair of hands. was possible with [Doctor] Who, and to do it in stereo for a theyll start strategising in 2015 about
The BBC is very careful about due some kind of expansion. A second office
diligence, he explains. If youre going cinema broadcast. The pressure was huge is possible, though not, he says, in a
to spend public money they want to be _ Will Cohen | Milk location that people might expect.
sure youll do the right thing, so nothing We like to be able to work
is a given. Hopefully now, so long as we experience of its unique demands: Its the audiences so the pressure really collaboratively with people on great
dont screw it up, well make it difficult like making a feature film every month, doubles, says Cohen. projects, so wouldnt want to be in a
for anybody else to take it from us. but you also have the challenge Doctor Who is also a show where position where we needed to hoover
Despite having worked on previous of chasing transmission. the level of ambition always exceeds the up everything going, he stresses.
episodes of Who, Cohen says The Day While season eight opener Deep available budget, says Cohen. And its Ultimately nobody creates visual
of the Doctor presented an enormous Breath was shot in January 2014, not like other shows where you have one effects just to make money. You also do
challenge: The BBC really wanted delivered end of June and broadcast in established set. The TARDIS is the only it because you love it. Its still early days
to push the boundaries of what was August, the lead times on subsequent constant, with the rest constantly built for us, so right now we want to focus on
possible with Who, and to do it in stereo episodes have gotten shorter and shorter. and then torn back down again. We build establishing ourselves, to keep going and
for a cinema broadcast. The pressure was By the time three episodes have been stuff, blow it up, and then start again for to create great work.
huge. But to get the pitch for Day of The shown on TV we still have three more the next episode.
Doctor, then another for the Christmas to complete, he says. Thankfully our Milk has spoken at many HP
special, and then again for series eight ... pipeline is well-oiled now, and were LOOKING TO THE FUTURE FYI ZED events. Find out more about
its not something we take for granted. used to managing it all and getting As the studio sails into its second year, its stunning VFX work for Doctor Who
If youre in the VFX business then this is complex work through quite quickly. with the last batch of shots for season at www.milk-vfx.com.
BROADCAST
Rendering solutions
C A S E S T U DY: R EN D ERI N G S O LU T I O N S
RENDERING: THE FARM

VERSUS THE CLOUD
Cloud services offer a scalable alternative to in-house
render farms, but bring their own issues. So how do
broadcast effects houses choose between the two?
R
PROFILE endering has long been a and on less specialist render farms, VFX facility Milk considered
BENOIT LEVEAU thorn in the side of visual support for plug-ins or proprietary alternative solutions, but ultimately
Leveau is head of effects studios. As the tools can be a problem. So how do opted to build its own in-house
pipeline at Milk, where
he is responsible for the number and complexity studios make the choice? 3,000-core render farm.
design, implementation of VFX shots in episodic TV series The farm complements Milks
and maintenance of all
aspects of the Milks increases, so does the processing A QUESTION OF SCALE artists workstations all HP
technical pipeline.
milk-vfx.com power required to render them. For Brian Jouan, creative director machines, ranging from Z400s to
Previously, studios had little choice of small commercials and broadcast the top-of-the-range Z820s, and
but to add extra nodes to their house StaticJoe Studio, it all running NVIDIA Quadro FX 3800,
in-house render farms, incurring depends on the size of the job. 4000 and K4000 GPUs. Its pipeline
power, cooling and maintenance If the scope is large enough, is based around Maya, Arnold and
costs on top of the price of the the convenience of sending the Nuke, with compositing work also
PROFILE hardware itself. But now theres project to a cloud-based render being run through the farm.
DAVE GOODBOURN another option: the cloud. farm is wonderful, he says. But However, the studio is keeping
Goodbourn is head if time allows, I try and render its options open. [When we
of systems at Milk. On
its launch in 2013, he RENDERING ON DEMAND internally. When uploading launched], cloud rendering
readied the facility Cloud solutions remove the projects to cloud render farms, still wasnt really an option,
to accommodate up
to 100 artists' seats need for a studio to buy its own theres a risk of not getting what says Dave Goodbourn, Milks
and provide ongoing
technical support. hardware, or for that hardware youre expecting. head of systems. Weve since
milk-vfx.com to be physically present in the However, Jouan notes that the performed extensive tests with
building. Instead, it can access availability of cloud solutions is one of the larger companies, and
render nodes located in a remote reducing the need to add to his wed consider using it at burst
data centre via the internet, paying existing mini render farm: I think time when we need another few
by the processor and by the hour. expanding the farm internally thousand cores for a short period:
For smaller facilities, cloud doesnt make business sense. A a few days, or a couple of weeks.
PROFILE services have the benefit of being beefy internal render farm requires Ultimately, Milk believes that
BRIAN JOUAN there may be a third way, with
With over 15 years
experience in various
I think collaborative render farms are the studios in a defined local area, like
London's Soho, pooling resources
roles in post-production,
Jouan is the principal
creative director at
way to go. Space in Soho is at a premium. to set up shared off-site farms,
StaticJoe Studio in San
Diego, California. Putting a render farm outside of the M25 gaining the benefit of scalability
and lower operating costs without
staticjoe.com
is probably the economic option a full cloud infrastructure.
I think collaborative render
_ Benoit Leveau | Milk farms are the way to go, says
Benoit Leveau, Milks head of
almost infinitely scalable, enabling more overheads and forces me to pipeline. Space in Soho is at a
a studio to rent the processors it commit to hardware that will soon premium, with power and cooling
needs for a big job without the be dated. a problem. Putting a render farm
risk of having them sit idle when it outside of the M25 is probably the
crews down afterwards. THE THIRD WAY economic option.
But cloud solutions have their For studios generating higher
downsides, too. The need to send revenues, overheads become less Read more about Milks visual
data off-site can create a new set of an issue. When it launched in FYI effects work on its website at:
of networking and security issues, 2013, BAFTA Craft Award-winning www.milk-vfx.com.

A selection of shots illustrating
the range and complexity of
Milk's broadcast VFX work
1. The Gigantopithecus from
Skys David Attenboroughs
Natural History Museum Alive
3D 23. Dalek saucers for the
Doctor Who 50th Anniversary
episode 4. The Gallifreyan
citadel, also from Doctor
Who 5. An explosion in a tube
carriage for the BBC's Sherlock
Clouds of
all sizes
A brief overview of the range
of cloud services available
for solo artists and studios
A range of services exist for artists looking to
explore cloud rendering. At one end of the
1 spectrum, developers are working to build
cloud options directly into their technology. At
last years NVIDIA GPU Technology Conference
(above), Otoy announced OctaneRender Cloud
Edition: a new service that will enable users of
the GPU-based renderer to process render jobs
in the cloud. Autodesk has also posted a guide to
rendering in the cloud from within applications
like 3ds Max and Maya (bit.ly/autodeskcloud)
via Otoys existing Octane Cloud Workstation
running on Amazons EC2 cloud using the G2

2 3
instance type. Prices start from around $0.75 per
instance hour. For general CG work, there are
also a wide range of online render farms, which
offer online on-demand rendering for scenes
created in most common 3D applications.
Chaos Groups official list of approved V-Ray
render farms (bit.ly/vrayfarms) covers most of
the main providers. Both CPU and GPU-based
options are available, and there are a wide range
of pricing schemes, including per processor

4 5
hour, per core hour, and monthly or annual
subscriptions. For more specialist work, there
are a number of dedicated visual effects cloud
services providers. Perhaps the best known is
ZYNC (www.zyncrender.com), used on movies
like Star Trek: Into Darkness, and due to re-open
later this year, having recently been acquired
by Google; while new service Seekscale (home.
seekscale.com) is in use at European VFX houses.
Seekscale enables studios to use their own
proprietary software in the cloud, with pricing
StaticJoe Studios Smileys Idea starting at $0.27 per CPU core hour, and further
spot to promote the SimpleDeal options based on NVIDIA Tesla and GRID GPUs.
restaurant information app
BROADCAST
GPU processing

FE AT U R E : G P U PRO C ES S I N G
UNLEASH THE POWER

OF THE GRAPHICS CARD
From your workstation to your local network and the cloud,
discover how GPUs can speed up your digital content creation
F
or most of the relatively short lifespan PROFILE
of computer graphics, the underlying ANDREW PAGE
technology has depended on the CPU Page is a senior product
manager in the Quadro
processor to deliver the power required Professional Graphics
for the majority of tasks. However, this meant that Solutions Group for NVIDIA,
working across its scalable
a powerful piece of the computer was being under- display solutions and
advanced technologies.
utilised: the graphics card. In the past few years, nvidia.co.uk
however, the power of the GPU has started to be
unleashed across nearly the entire spectrum of digital
content creation. PROFILE
NIELS STEVENS
THE MORE THE BETTER? Stevens is business
development manager
It used to be common wisdom that the more CPU for video at Adobe, where
cores your workstation had, the faster it would be. If he has worked for the last
Image: Delta Tracing (www.deltatracing.com)
four years. He previously

you needed more cores you would either build or rent spent four years working
at Avid Technology.
a render farm. All of a sudden, you were a graphics adobe.com
powerhouse but you were probably also broke!
CPUs are good at sequential serial processing:
Introduced into 3ds Max performing a continuous series of calculations in which
in 2010, iray spearheaded each one is dependent on the one before. Some tasks in
a new wave of GPU-based computer graphics lend themselves to this one-at-a-
renderers, harnessing the time approach, but it can lead to hardware bottlenecks.
power of NVIDIA's CUDA- Increasingly, however, certain tasks can be performed
based graphics cards to simultaneously on many cores. This parallel processing
accelerate image creation is what GPUs are designed to do.
BROADCAST
GPU processing
O penSubdiv
How GPUs are shaking up the display of organic forms
Until recently, organic forms like characters were difficult to display accurately in real time in the
viewports of 3D software, meaning animators had to depend on low-poly proxy versions of the
actual model. This left a lot to the imagination until render time. OpenSubdiv, a set of graphics
libraries developed by Pixar and now released as open source, is starting to change all that.
Designed to run on massively parallel CPU and GPU architectures, and implemented in tools like
3ds Max and Maya, it displays curved surfaces accurately in real time, improving visual feedback.
While it's desirable to have as way, as Stevens outlines. Another big GPU computing has been around
many processing units as possible at limitation of GPU today is lack of virtual in graphics software for longer than
your disposal, you'll be lucky if your memory. When were running low on you might expect Adobe added GPU
workstation has 24 CPU cores. GPUs, on memory on the CPU, the system memory acceleration for HD video into the Flash
the other hand, have many cores running is swapped out to disk, but on the GPU player back in 2009, for example and
in one card. For example, NVIDIA's no such system exists to support the on- the list of tasks that can be accelerated
Quadro K6000 professional workstation board graphics memory, which puts caps is growing all the time, as is the list of
card has 2,880 parallel processing cores, on the frame size we can handle. applications that support them.
while even a gaming card costing less This can be an important limitation Key examples include Adobe's After
than 200 may have over a thousand. for GPU computing. While most Effects, Photoshop and Premiere Pro,
Another key advantage of using workstations come with a lot of system which contain systems designed to
the GPU for computing tasks is that memory HP's Z820 workstation can take advantage of all available CPU and
because tasks are performed in parallel, have up to 512GB modern mid-range GPU cores when performing processor-
performance scales almost linearly. If professional graphics cards seldom offer intensive tasks like applying effects: the
your image renders in two minutes on more than 4GB of on-board memory. Mercury Playback Engine in the case of
a GPU with 2,500 cores and you add And unlike processor cores, graphics After Effects and Premiere Pro, and the
another 2,500-core card to the same memory isn't additive: even if you have Mercury Graphics Engine in the case
of Photoshop.
We have optimised most of Premiere Pro's video effects Autodesk's 3D animation packages
processes so that they can be pushed to a compatible 3ds Max and Maya are also partially
GPU-accelerated, with 3ds Max's
GPU, achieving real-time performance in many cases Quicksilver and iray renderers both
_ Niels Stevens | Adobe making use of available GPU cores.
Many third-party renderers are
machine, render time should drop to a two 4GB cards, you still only have 4GB also GPU-accelerated: NVIDIA's iray
minute assuming that your software is of GPU memory available. Worse, if you and Otoy's OctaneRender are fully
programmed to use multiple GPUs. have a 4GB and a 2GB card working GPU-based, while Chaos Group's
Images rendered with This offers huge advantages in together, graphics processes will often V-Ray includes V-Ray RT GPU, a GPU-
software that uses the GPU workflow for both freelancers and default to the lower 2GB memory limit. accelerated interactive render preview.
to speed up the rendering agencies, as it is much easier to add extra Similarly, 3ds Max's Nitrous viewport
process. NVIDIA's iray (top) GPUs to a single workstation than it is to CUDA FOR ALL and Maya's Viewport 2.0 are both GPU-
and Otoy's OctaneRender network machines together. Of course, graphics processors aren't accelerated, enabling the user to see a
(middle) are both fully much use without the processes to access reasonable approximation of the final
GPU-based; Chaos Group's THE LIMITS OF THE GPU them. NVIDIA has been at the forefront render while still being able to interact
V-Ray uses the GPU for its However, transferring graphics of integrating the GPU into graphic with a scene in real time.
interactive render preview processing tasks to the GPU isn't workflows through its CUDA parallel Then theres OpenSubdiv, originally
a magic solution, as Niels Stevens, computing architecture, which enables developed at Pixar (see boxout above),
business development manager at application developers to get the most which accelerates viewport display of
Adobe, explains. Often the out of the numerous cores on the GPU. subdivision surfaces. This can have
limitations in a system are These benefits extend throughout a transformative effect on artists'
created by other hardware NVIDIA's range of graphics cards: while workflows, especially for tasks like
components. If the source everybody would love to have a Quadro character animation.
data is large, then the CPU, RAM and K6000 GPU with its 12GB of RAM in
disk storage need to be able keep up their workstation, the cost places it HYBRID ENGINES
the supply to the GPU. In other words: beyond the reach of many artists. To One task on which many software
sticking an NVIDIA Kepler card in a this end, CUDA can be leveraged on developers are now focusing is dividing
five-year-old PC isnt necessarily going lower-priced Quadros and even tasks between GPU and CPU so that each
to be a wise investment, especially if the GeForce gaming cards, although these type of processor concentrates on the
system memory hasn't been upgraded. don't offer the same driver certification type of operations that it is good at.
Memory is also an issue for software or hardware component screening as Applications like Adobe Premiere are
that supports GPU computing in another their professional counterparts. already hybridised between GPU and

B eating the G PU memor y limit
NVIDIA's powerful new Quadro workstation graphics cards come with
enough on-board memory to tackle even the most demanding jobs
In the past, one of the main limits NVIDIA's new Quadro K5200 more intelligently, cards like the
on GPU computing was memory: if workstation graphics card has 8GB K6000 add many more possibilities
your scene didn't fit in the graphics of on-board memory, while the to what an artist can achieve. And
memory, data had to be shuttled top-of-the-range Quadro K6000 with an increasing focus on power
between GPU and CPU, creating has 12GB: more than enough for consumption, that extra processing
a performance bottleneck. But most jobs. As applications start capacity shouldn't come at the
technology is constantly improving. to use both CPU and GPU power expense of a massive electricity bill!
You can view the full family of NVIDIA Quadro cards at www.nvidia.co.uk/object/quadro-desktop-gpus-uk.html
BROADCAST
GPU processing
Remote working ser vices

Amazon and Adobe both offer services that provide artists with
access to high-end computing power from anywhere in the world
AMAZON EC2 ADOBE ANYWHERE
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) lets you The Adobe Anywhere platform enables multiple
access hardware in its data centres as if you were users to collaborate on video content from
logging into a computer on your local network. anywhere in the world. Assets sit on a central
There is a range of 'instance types' with different server, with the Mercury Streaming Engine
configurations of CPU, memory and GPU: the G2 providing 'viewing streams' to editors using
instance, designed for graphics work, features a Premiere Pro, After Effects or Prelude, complete
1,536-core NVIDIA GPU with 4GB of video RAM. with GPU-accelerated effects.
Find out more about Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud at Find out more about Adobe Anywhere at
http://aws.amazon.com/ec2 www.adobe.com/uk/products/adobeanywhere.html

CPU, as Niels Stevens explains: We do
this all the time in our video content
creation tools. In Premiere Pro, codec
decompression services are provided
by the CPU, and [since] the Mercury
Playback Engine is multithreaded,
very complex footage that requires
debayering will benefit from additional
processor cores. We have optimised most
of our video effects processes so that
they can be pushed to a compatible GPU
for parallel processing, achieving live
real-time performance in many cases.
We also recently previewed GPU-based
debayering of some footage types and we
support the concurrent use of multiple
GPU cards in tandem during the final
export of video sequences.
And it isn't only video applications
that benefit from hybridisation. Otoy has
stated that it will implement 'out-of-core'
rendering later in its 2.x release series for
OctaneRender, which will intelligently
swap data between the GPU and system
memory as required.
NETWORK PROCESSING
The simplest way to increase your GPU Many of Adobe's tools make
processing power is to upgrade your Such providers include Amazon with use of the GPU to speed previously have been suitable for
graphics card or to add another one to its EC2 service. Otoy's new Octane Cloud up demanding tasks. The graphically demanding tasks, like
your system. But there are other ways to Workstation AMI (Amazon Machine Mercury Playback Engine in laptops with integrated graphics.
enhance your arsenal. Image) provides access to the Cloud Premiere Pro (above) takes As Andrew Page, senior product
One is to use external GPUs housed Edition of OctaneRender running on advantage of available GPU manager in NVIDIA's Quadro
within their own breakout box directly EC2, enabling users to render on up to and CPU cores to accelerate Professional Graphics
connected to your workstations. Systems 128 GPUs simultaneously, providing image scaling, deinterlacing Solutions group, points
from Cubix and Netstor provide a incredibly fast rendering at high and many video effects out, you can even run
dedicated enclosure into which you can resolutions and real-time feedback on Maya on a Windows 8 RT
slot a number of GPUs. This enables ray traced scenes. tablet, despite the fact that it uses the
software applications to access the Admittedly, such services still require RT operating system rather than the
GPUs as if they were plugged into the quite a bit of technical know-how in standard desktop version of Windows
computers motherboard. order to get up and running, but can be 8: Even though the number of apps
available on Windows RT is small,
You can even run Maya on a Windows RT tablet. The one of ones that is there is the Remote
Remote Desktop client gets you back to big GPUs [Desktop] client, to get back to big GPUs
back in the data centre.
in the data centre
_ Andrew Page | NVIDIA BENEFITS FOR EVERY ARTIST
For digital content creators, the advent
Alternatively, if a lot of users need to leveraged for almost any digital content of GPU computing means that it is
access the GPUs simultaneously, servers creation task. possible to perform demanding tasks
certified for NVIDIAs GRID processors, faster than ever. New hardware like
such as HP's ProLiant WS460c Gen8, NEXT-GENERATION WORKFLOWS NVIDIA's GRID boards and VCAs mean
can be installed into existing IT So what does the future hold for the that artists are no longer restricted to the
infrastructures with ease. creative pro, with the ability to use GPU GPUs installed in their local workstation
acceleration everywhere? One of the while cloud computing lets users tap
WORKING IN THE CLOUD first real visions of how acceleration into a virtually unlimited amount of
However, there is another way to get can enrich an artists life is the processing power.
this kind of acceleration without having Adobe Anywhere platform. This is a Thanks to such fast, on-demand
to buy any hardware at all while collaborative working platform for video solutions, creatives no longer have to
increasing the number of available professionals based around a centralised worry whether they have the processing
GPU and CPU cores from tens to data centre which houses assets such as power to complete a job, freeing them
thousands. The answer is provided by video files. Using the platform's Mercury up to devote their full artistic energies
cloud computing. Streaming Engine, team members to the work. In conjunction with cloud
Cloud solutions can provide the user around the world can edit content stored computing, GPU processing makes the
with access to any number of CPUs and on the hub non-destructively, without process of generating digital content
GPUs, and can be scaled up or down to the need to transfer files or create faster, smoother and above all, more
suit to the task in hand. The user logs proxies. All of the processing is done on creative than ever before.
into the system via a standard internet the server only the on-screen display is
connection; the actual hardware resides streamed to the local machine. Discover more about HP's
in an off-site data centre managed by the Such solutions mean that artists FYI GRID-certified servers by
cloud computing provider. can work on devices that wouldn't going to: bit.ly/gridservers.
BROADCAST
Switching from Apple to HP
C A S E S T U DY: SW I TC H I N G FRO M A PPL E TO H P
WHY CREATIVE PROS

ARE SWITCHING TO HP
Apple is losing its grip as the go-to option for movie,
TV and web pros. We chat to some of those whove
made the switch and the reasons behind the change
I
f there was ever a sign that the Hugo, Legato used an HP Z800
love affair between creatives workstation and a HP DreamColor
and Apple was on the wane, display. Every frame of footage
it came in the form of remarks for the entire film was captured
PROFILE made by Apple co-founder Steve on the Z800 and distributed to
ROB LEGATO Wozniak last year in an interview [finishing and grading system]
Legato is one of with SlashGear (bit.ly/wozniakhp). Baselight, he says. The sheer
the movie worlds 1
leading visual effects The interview veered off the speed and flexibility of the design
supervisors. He has topic of the new Mac Pro with of the machine became the new
worked with Martin
Scorsese, James Woz seeming more interested in benchmark it is state of the art.
Cameron and Ron
Howard, and has been HP workstations. Other workstations simply
nominated for three Apple used to own that dont favourably compare,
Academy Awards for his
work, winning twice. market, for things like Final Cut continues Legato. The speed
imdb.com/name/
nm0499215 Pro, he said. But now Hewlett- of the machine and its ability
Packard own the market. They to network easily to the other
have the highest level of the Xeon machines made it central and the 2
processors, the highest level of anchor of the show.
NAND flash memory cards for YouTube star Devin Graham uses an HP
them, and... the highest-level ADVANCED MODEL ZBook and Z820 workstation to deliver
PROFILE graphics processors. So in that VFX supervisor Mark Russell, his videos to over 2.4 million subscribers
MARK RUSSELL market, I was trying to decide: is who has worked on everything
Russell is a director this machine going to be as good, from Minority Report to The with Canons prototype software
and visual effects
supervisor with an and as capable as, say, at least a Adjustment Bureau, tells a similar that didnt run on a Mac. I did it on
extensive resume in low-level [HP workstation]? story. He switched from Apple to an HP EliteBook.
movie, broadcast and
commercials work. His When the man who invented the HP workstations while working on In another scene, the VFX team
recent projects include
The Wolf of Wall Street, first Apple computer expresses a The Wolf of Wall Street. Having had to capture HDR photography
Tower Heist and The preference for HP, its definitely a been an exclusively Mac guy, I of a 360-degree environment in
Adjustment Bureau.
russelling.com clear sign that things are changing. now use HP nearly all the time, he order to light CG assets to add to
And it isnt surprising that creative says. HP platforms are definitely a greenscreen shot. With an HP
pros everywhere are coming to built by people who understand DreamColor monitor, we could see
similar conclusions. what were doing. And when the real colours and know wed got
youre constantly adding new [the result we needed]. That was
HOLLYWOOD CALLING peripherals, HP has advanced the extremely important, so we knew
PROFILE Take VFX supervisor Rob Legato, model of being able to open up the we wouldnt have to come back
DEVIN GRAHAM a double Oscar-winner for his work computer and add them yourself. and shoot.
Graham is a on Titanic and Hugo. Working in Russell gives two examples of
videographer producing
adventure and extreme a field where processing power is how HP systems offered him new BROADCAST
sport videos on
YouTube under the
vital, switching from Macs to HP creative possibilities on The Wolf REVOLUTION
name devinsupertramp. has made a huge difference to his of Wall Street. One was a scene Whats happening in movies is also
He has over 2.4 million
subscribers to his ability to create effects, he says. shot with a camera affixed to a happening in TV. Case in point:
channel, and his videos I started using HP workstations drone. We had to review footage Jonathan Waltons production
have been viewed over
400 million times. because anything that made the before we left the location, he company, My Little Eye, which has
devinsupertramp.com
work faster gave me more chances explains. At the time, the Canon brought bands like The Killers,
to make it better, he explains. On 4K raw files could only be coded David Bowie and Paul Weller to

HPs Z workstations including the
Z820 pictured here give creative
professionals blistering speed
and the reliability they need
I started using HP workstations

because anything that made the work
faster gave me more chances to make
it better. Other workstations simply
dont favourably compare
_ Academy Award-winner Rob Legato
BROADCAST
Switching from Apple to HP
Jonathan Walton/My Little Eye.

1 -2. Jonathan Waltons production company, My Little Eye,
specialises in multi-cam music shows. It switched from a
Mac Pro/Final Cut Pro to a HP Z820/Premiere Pro setup
and has seen huge performance and productivity gains 1
Jonathan Walton/My Little Eye

2
our screens, on multi-cam music cinematographer and presenter rendering complex graphics in
shows for Channel 4, NBC and the of Jonathan Birds Blue World, an After Effects six times faster than
Sundance Channel. But his kit was Emmy Award-winning underwater our Mac.
starting to struggle. My Mac Pro documentary TV series. And Teamed with an HP DreamColor
was crashing up to ten times a day, like Walton, switching to HP LP2480zx professional LCD
and every time I needed to use workstations has been one of the monitor, the new kit has made all
an effect it was taking an age to best moves hes ever made. the difference to a small, efficient
render, he recalls. Footage is captured in the field broadcast operation.
He decided to switch from Final by Bird and his team in multiple We do everything in house
Cut Pro to Premiere Pro, and asked digital formats, then the crew here, Bird explains. And from
Adobe about the best hardware return to the editing suite, which the shooting and all the logging,
to run it on. Its advice was that
we could still run the software on
the Mac Pro, but performance The HP Z820 workstation was really the way we
would be compromised, he says.
After all, you cant put a Quadro wanted to go, because it was so much more powerful
card in a new Mac Pro, so you
cant harness the power of CUDA
than the existing Macs. It was a real no-brainer
acceleration in such applications _ Jonathan Bird | Blue World TV
as Premiere Pro and After Effects.
Walton switched to two HP was until recently kitted out with editing, colour correction and
Z820s as a primary editing suite, Mac Pros. But the editing process sound sweetening, its all done
plus an HP Z1 as a DIT workstation was taking too long, and Bird was on the HP workstation. You have
and assistant editing machine. desperate to speed things up. a whole post-production facility
Its made life a lot less stressful, We shopped around and made right in your own office. We can
he says. Well work until 4am if the decision that the HP Z820 take any footage, in any format
necessary, but we have to know workstation was really the way you can imagine GoPro files,
the kit can handle the workload. we wanted to go, because it was DSLR files, 4K files and drop
The HP machines can. so much more powerful than the them right into the edit and they
existing Macs that it was a real play back perfectly.
FASTER WORKING no-brainer, he says. When it
Working on an equally intensive TV first arrived, we ran some bench THINKING IT THROUGH
show is underwater photographer tests and couldnt believe how Its not all about speed and power,
Jonathan Bird. Hes the producer, fast it was. In initial testing, it was though. Some professionals

1 -4. Stills from Jonathan Birds Blue World. The HP Z820
workstation and DreamColor LP2480zx professional
LCD monitor has made a massive difference to the
creatives small, efficient broadcast operation
Thanks to the power and scalability of

HP Z workstations, you can realise
your ideas faster than ever
have other, specific reasons for YouTube, still wedded to Apple?

switching to HP workstations. For Dont you believe it.
Gary Adcock, a digital imaging Meet, for example, Devin
technician and data wrangler Graham, aka devinsupertramp.
working on movies, TV shows and He has over 2.4 million YouTube PROFILE
commercials, its their mobility. subscribers and hundreds of JONATHAN BIRD
I work on a cart with four millions of views for his show, Bird is an Emmy
Jonathan Bird.
Award-winning
wheels, he explains. Today, which is all about finding content cinematographer
for example, Im working in five that is viral or shareable. specialising in
underwater work.
different locations. My gear has The stuff were creating He directs and hosts
the family-oriented 4
to stay attached to the cart so takes place all around the world: underwater adventure
that we can go from location to New Zealand, Tahiti, Kenya, he series Jonathan Birds
Blue World, broadcast
location quickly. The Mac Pro is not explains. Were constantly on the via his website.
blueworldtv.com
designed to go on a cart. Its a little road. So for us creating videos process our footage. But now with
roly-poly. Without the ability to once a week, we have to have the ZBook we can do it right on
clamp it down, it becomes a point something that can work fast, the road.
of failure if something happens. something that can do instantly. Its nice coming home to the
Thankfully, HP workstations Graham was an Apple user for HP [Z820] workstation and having
more than measure up in both years, until he tried out an HP Z820 an even more powerful system that
power and portability. Adcock and found it performed faster PROFILE means we can make things happen
is currently using a 15-inch HP than his MacBook Pro. He was JONATHAN WALTON even faster, he adds. For us, both
ZBook mobile workstation with especially impressed by how it Walton is owner and tools are necessary for what were
broadcast video editor
16GB of RAM, two 500GB SSDs handled his 4K files without issue, at UK-based studio My trying to accomplish.
and 10Gbps Thunderbolt. I no enabling him to work with his files Little Eye, specialising It seems that whether working
in multi-camera music
longer have to carry a full-blown in real time. So he moved over performance work. on a small or large scale, creative
His clients include
workstation, he says. My 15-inch to HP and, as he says, its been a Channel 4, ITV, NBC, pros are looking beyond outdated
mobile workstation does as much huge game-changer. BBC and Sony. Apple loyalties and seeing what
mylittleeye.tv
in a portable environment as I can This is the first year weve had HP Z workstations have to offer.
do with a full-blown desktop. technology that could keep up And the evidence so far is that they
with the demands were trying very much like what they see.
ONLINE HERO to meet, he says. [On location]
But what about the new generation we use an HP ZBook. Before that Find out more about switching
of online video creators? Are we were using Macs and [they FYI to HP Z workstations at:
those indie producers, raised on werent] fast enough to actually www.hp.com/go/mac-to-z.
COMMERCIALS
VISUAL EFFECTS
FOR COMMERCIALS
Ads compound the problems of creating high-end effects with tight
production schedules. We explore the art of making magic on a deadline
V
1
isual effects for visual feedback on their work, the
commercials are faster they can iterate, the fewer
created using the same mistakes they will make, and the
SECTION CONTENTS workflows as those for less direction they will need.
feature films. The difference is In both cases, the GPU may hold
THE EVOLUTION OF ADVERTISING _____84
that they're created much faster. the key. GPU computing improves
EMBRACING THE NEED FOR SPEED ___ 90 The turnaround time on a the quality of the real-time
full-CG commercial can be weeks, viewport previews provided by 3D
HIGH DEFINITION, HIGH GRADE _______92
rather than the months or even software, while new GPU-based
AN APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION______93 2
years that a film schedule might workflows may enable final-
VISUAL EFFECTS: allow. Compound that with the frame renders to be generated
THE AD MANS VIEW _________________99 limited budget and you might think in minutes, not hours. The same
ZEN AND THE ART
that quality might suffer. In fact, holds true for other processor-
OF DATA WRANGLING ______________100 the reverse is often the case. intensive parts of the visual effects
From large international pipeline, like simulation.
A MIRROR TO LIFE: GLASSWORKS ____ 102
studios like MPC, Framestore
THE MULTI-LIMBED ART and The Mill to boutique A celebration of creativity
OF ADVERTISING VFX _______________106 facilities like Nexus Productions, Over the next 30 pages, we will
NEXUS PRODUCTIONS: commercials teams have been explore these technical advances
CREATIVE POWERHOUSE ___________108 responsible for some of the most in more detail, and look at the way
eye-catching CG created in recent that HP and NVIDIA hardware is
years. So how do they create already smoothing the production
Hollywood-quality effects to pipeline in commercials houses
Madison Avenue deadlines? throughout the world.
Along the way, we will examine 1. Commercials require
The rise of real-time rendering how some of the most striking VFX studios to deliver
One obvious bottleneck in the ads from the past year including Hollywood-quality effects
commercials production schedule Gramercy Park Studios This Is in a fraction of the time
is rendering. The need to ensure Play spot for Betfair, and The Mill's available to movie artists
that the final renders can be triple VES Award-winning PETA 2. New real-time workflows,
delivered within the schedule ad, 98% Human, were created. such as those pioneered by
constrains the effects that The result is a showcase for the Blur Studio's Kevin Margo
commercials houses can create. cutting-edge of computer graphics on Construct, his recent
Even earlier in production, and a celebration of how short film, may hold the key
render times can have a noticeable creativity can thrive even under the
effect. The faster artists can get most demanding of deadlines.

COMMERCIALS
Introduction
COMMERCIALS HIGHLIGHTS
The Mill discusses

how new real-
time rendering
workflows will
change VFX for
90
commercials, and
the difficulties
of implementing
them in practice.
Swiss post house

CC Media explains
how a combination
of DaVinci Resolve
and HP and NVIDIA
92
hardware helped it
build a 4K colour
grading system at
boutique prices.
We examine the
explosive growth
of destruction FX
for ads, and how
technologies like
93
GPU computing
are helping studios
create particle
simulations faster.
Nexus Productions
Betfairs This Is
has twice
Play spot won
features
the
a rather
Cannes
unusual
Grand
Prix and
table tennis
picked
player.
up
twoexplore
We D&AD Black
how
106
Pencils.
Gramercy We
Park
explore
the
Studios
pipeline
brought
that
the beast
powers
to its
life
award-winning
on HP hardware.
ads.
Nexus Productions
has twice won
the Cannes Grand
Prix and picked up
two D&AD Black
108 84
Pencils. We explore
the pipeline
that powers its
award-winning ads.
COMMERCIALS
CG in ads
Originally mocked up on a
tabletop with a Pritt Stick and
mug, ManvsMachines idents for
4seven won the agency a coveted
D&AD Yellow Pencil
FE AT U R E : CG I N A DS
THE EVOLUTION
OF ADVERTISING
Advancements in hardware and software technology have enabled production
houses to be more creative and bring their clients more options than ever

1
PROFILE
FABIAN FRANK
Frank is an accomplished 3D supervisor,
concepting and developing some of
MPCs most iconic and innovative work.
He has created work for brands including
Panasonic, Citroen, VW, Audi and Channel 4.
moving-picture.com
2
PROFILE
ADAM JENNS
Jenns is founder and director of Mainframe,
a creative production studio based in
London. Mainframes clients include Dyson,
MTV, Virgin and Harrods.
mainframe.co.uk
PROFILE
SIMON HOLMEDAL
Holmedal is a 3D artist/designer currently
working for ManvsMachine in London.
He specialises in VFX/simulation-based
animation and often takes on a technical
director role on various projects.
manvsmachine.co.uk
PROFILE
MARC BREWSTER
Brewster is head of technology
advertising at MPC. His previous positions
include chief engineer (MPC) and senior
engineer (The Mill).
moving-picture.com
4
Probably the biggest
challenge we face is battling
against schedules and budgets,
admits Adam Jenns. High quality
CG projects take big teams and a lot
of expensive hardware and software,
and some clients have become fairly
a window into the 30th demanding in their expectations as they
floor of an apartment. see CG projects everywhere and assume
There wasnt the time or money to the costs have greatly shrunk.
go and shoot in China, so we recreated In some areas, of course, costs have
A
1 - 4. More examples of the whole thing in CG and youd be hard shrunk. The cost of hardware, for
Shetland pony moonwalks backwards ManvsMachines stunning pressed to tell its not real. example the combination of processor,
across a dramatic coastal landscape, work for Channel 4 CG has never been more sophisticated memory and storage continues to
shaking his mane and sliding his hooves spin-off 4seven or in demand than it is at the moment. decrease annually. But as CG adverts
to the sunny pop vibes of Fleetwood Macs Fifteen years ago, it was the preserve become increasingly complex, a host
1980s single, Everywhere. Overnight, his slick moves of top-budget commercial jobs coming of factors, from higher-resolution
make him an internet sensation, stacking up millions out of a small handful of high-end post images and higher frame rates to the
of views in a matter of days and putting mobile internet houses. Now its rare not to see a press continued march of new technology
firm Three in the global spotlight. or TV ad that doesnt have some element like stereoscopic 3D and 4K, continues
For clients, CG is a powerful marketing tool that of CG, from shapeshifting vehicles to to drive demand for faster workstations
lives outside the laws of physics: if you think it and anthropomorphic Russian meerkats. and rendering hardware.
have the money it can be done. For creatives, it offers But while the creative opportunities
vastly increased flexibility. Equine animals can throw are seemingly limitless, project deadlines HARDWARE HEROES
shapes, expensive shoots are no longer restricted by the arent. Shorter production cycles and Keeping on top of technology is one
weather or availability of physical prototypes, and far- higher client expectations are two of the of the hardest and most expensive
flung locations can be recreated from the luxury of the biggest challenges facing studios today. elements for a production company to
studio. Were just finishing off a commercial for Dyson You might have a team of CG artists who get right. And its becoming harder:
at the moment, says Adam Jenns, founder are proficient in the latest software, but tapeless workflows, cloud-based services
of London-based creative production if you cant render your state-of-the-art and improved editing, grading, VFX
studio Mainframe. The first shot is of a imagery in the tight timescales allocated, and audio systems promise to vastly
smoggy Beijing skyline and tracks through youll lose the contract. boost efficiency through increased
COMMERCIALS
CG in ads
flexibility and improved workflows. power, Jenns continues. Constantly Mainframes CG spots for Russian Standard Vodka follow
To keep up, studios need to reinvest in improving processor power makes our US futurist and film maker Jason Silva as he explores the
new technology. And it isnt just about lives much easier, but the next big thing origins and science behind the drink
meeting deadlines or client expectations: in CG is GPU rendering: rendering
the fewer production line bottlenecks with your graphics card rather than
there are, the more time there is for [the CPU]. This is going to be a huge
creative innovation. step forward for us in terms of getting
At Mainframe we always have big renders out quickly. And anything that
ideas, says Jenns. His studio counts speeds up the time it takes to realise a
Virgin, Giorgio Armani, Stella Artois and project puts more time back into the
MTV amongst its clients, and refuses to hands of the artists.
compromise on creativity just because NVIDIA technology was critical
to Mainframes latest commercial
NVIDIA graphics cards have made a really big for luxury London department store
difference to the overall speed of our DaVinci Harrods: a striking spot featuring a
fleet of intricately crafted CG bees.
Resolve grading suite Following a run of successful projects
_ Adam Jenns | Mainframe for the upmarket establishment over to block out the action, he explains.
recent years, the client approached the Having been given the green light on
its computer technology isnt fast enough studio with a relatively open brief to action and timings, the team launched
to perform the level of design needed. write, direct and produce a commercial into modelling and rigging, and after a
The studio recently beefed up its grading for its fine watch and jewellery rooms. couple of weeks started the animation
suite with two NVIDIA graphics cards The scope of the project was fairly process, which took approximately a
in an external PCI expansion chassis, wide, encompassing a cinema ad, stills month to complete. After that came
enabling the team to drastically reduce for Harrods Magazine, and content lighting, rendering and compositing,
rendering time. For money versus for both its in-store screens and iPad followed by the final colour grade.
GPU power theyre unrivalled. Theyve app, Jenns says. We were given some The biggest challenge, creatively,
made a really big difference to the overall examples of bees, beautifully crafted was to create a beautiful and tactile
speed of our DaVinci Resolve suite, out of jewels and various watch parts. world out of a set of metal mechanical
he reflects. Our challenge was to create a simple parts, which are in their essence fairly
NVIDIA graphics cards are at the narrative and stunning CG world for the hard and cold, reveals Jenns, adding
heart of everything that requires GPU bee to inhabit. that every aspect of the project had to
With a concept decided, Mainframe match the extremely high standards
began by creating style boards to sell the that Harrods maintains. Mainframe
look and feel to Harrods. We then went used Maya for the 3D, rendering the
through the process of old-fashioned project with V-Ray and completing
storyboarding and, once this was signed the compositing in NukeX. The final
off, started working on an animatic colour grade was completed in DaVinci
Resolve using the new NVIDIA graphics
cards that we purchased to speed up
our grading suite, he says. Were all
1
extremely proud of the final result. The
quality of the renders and richness we
achieved in the final film was exactly
what we were aiming for. Its fair to say
that the client was extremely happy with
the end result and its going to be hitting
cinema screens in October 2014.
MPC has been a global leader in VFX
for over 25 years. With industry-leading
facilities around the world, its the
company behind Threes moonwalking
Shetland pony, as well as a host of
TECH FOCUS
3D sc anning
ManvsMachine used 3D scanning techniques to create a
2
dynamic and technically brilliant spot for Nike
To create the incredibly detailed captured 360-degree scans of five The images were then brought
3D footballers, ManvsMachine models in a number of poses in into Agisofts photogrammetry
turned to technical specialist 1/13,000th of a second with 16k software, PhotoScan, which
FBFX Digital. Using a 100-camera photorealistic textures at the matched similar pixels on different
high-resolution scanning rig, FBFX companys Shepperton base. images and created a point

1
TECH FOCUS
THE FINE ART

OF RIGGING
How London-based Mainframe created a timeless spot
2
for luxury department store Harrods
Mainframes biggest challenge in rigging With so much geometry in the wide
the models for its recent Harrods advert shots of the field of flowers, another big
involved achieving the levels of realism issue that the studio faced was keeping
required, with so many of the shots being the size of the scene workable. We
close-ups. The narrative required tiny used the VRayProxy system to bake in
cogs and joints on the legs and wings the animation of the flowers swaying,
of the bee to interact and maintain then scattered them throughout the
backgrounds, and dressed in foreground
We wanted to make sure that the design of the high-res flowers for the hero animations
mechanical parts actually worked and made and interaction with the bee, says Jenns
of the solution.
sense, and that they werent just there for show The hero flowers used a combination
_ Adam Jenns | Mainframe of spline IK for the stems and Set Driven
Keys on the petals, which drove all of the
1 -2. Making the mechanical parts actually work was one of credibility whilst under close scrutiny, tiny cog mechanisms. We implemented
the hardest parts of this incredible and intricate project for due to the macro nature of the camera a simple rotational setup for the tiny
luxury department store Harrods angles and framing, says Adam Jenns. stamens as they didnt need to deform,
We wanted to make sure that the design he adds, while the diamonds used
of the mechanical parts actually worked a parenting attribute to release
and made sense, and that they werent them from the settings and
just there for show, which made it harder allow them to stick to
to rig. But we think it paid off in the end. the bees leg.
1 -3. ManvsMachine brought in the services of 3D scanning

specialists FBFX Digital in order to create these stunningly
detailed models for its Nike Mercurial ad
3
cloud through triangulation, before the hair proved tricky. The whole thing is going, even five years ago it just
producing a detailed 3D mesh. You went very, very well, reflects head of wouldnt have been possible to have
get areas where its not completely 3D Rupert Burton. done this. But all of a sudden now
perfect. Thats where you clean it up We got these incredibly detailed these techniques and tools are readily
with a sculpting program like ZBrush, 3D models with beautiful folds in the available to us and affordable as well.
explains ManvsMachines Simon cloth and expressions on the face. Its definitely changing how we operate
Holmedal, adding that the intricacies of If you look at the way 3D scanning as a company.
COMMERCIALS
CG in ads
successful advertising campaigns for

brands including Samsung, Coca-Cola,
Sony and MoneySuperMarket for TECH FOCUS
whom the studio recently created a
S K I N S I M U L AT I O N
CG dancing elephant.
MAMMOTH JOB
Working closely with creative agency MPCs sublime muscle and skin simulation brought this
Mother London and Smuggler director
Guy Shelmerdine, MPC was tasked with CG elephant to life for MoneySuperMarket
concepting and developing the 15-foot
mammal. The brief was The biggest challenge for MPCs 3D
to create an epic elephant team was creating an elephant that
dancing in New York with could pull the moves, yet was also
[MSM mascot] Graeme on believable and true to life. The team
top, recalls MPC 3D supervisor Fabian spent a lot of time studying the
Frank. Theyre both having a great intricacies of elephant mobility and used
time: theyre a great team. human dancers as references, testing
To ensure the right amount of different moves before creating the final
attitude was injected into the elephants choreographed routine.
dance moves, Shelmerdine and Two weeks prior to the shoot the
Mother referenced a number of iconic studio began to concept the elephant.
characters: Samuel L Jackson in Pulp A pre-viz animation laying out his size
Fiction, John Travolta in Saturday and basic movement flow was then
Night Fever and Michael Jackson in the used as a guide for the rig on set. We
Billie Jean video, with a healthy dash created the muscle and skin simulations
of Beyonc thrown in. The biggest in Maya, says 3D supervisor Fabian
challenge for us was creating an elephant Frank. We started with a basic model
that could pull out the moves with the of the elephant and got approval on
best of them, yet was also believable and In MPCs hilarious ad for MoneySuperMarket a CG its overall proportions, then we
true to life, Frank explains. We looked elephant shakes its booty on the streets of New York created the muscle system,
at lots of references of elephants. African which was part of the
elephants dont usually make these kinds
of movements although they could so
we had to add this on top. We wanted
to keep the range of movements within
what an elephant could do. The bum
wiggle was the hardest part because
normally an elephant wouldnt do that.
The lighting also proved tricky,
he admits: In the city we have lots For both MPC and its client
of different light changes and very MoneySuperMarket, the pipeline was
localised light sources that we needed to perfect, giving the studio more freedom
recreate. Integrating the elephant into to push the creative boundaries of the
the shot footage provided an additional advert. The client loves the final result,
challenge: It was essential to match says Fabian Frank. The details are very
the interaction between Graeme and Mainframe has completed subtle in the animation of the elephant.
the elephant, says Frank, so Graeme we were able to use a Z420 workstation many ads for Dyson that You could never have shot that for real.
was tracked and rotoscoped back into and Quadro 4000 to work on a UHDTV- simply wouldnt have been Continuing to push new creative
the shots, using select takes to perfectly size project, with playback of UHDTV possible budget-wise boundaries is one of the biggest
match the elephants walk cycle. frames at full resolution, playing at without CG challenges facing production studios
A solid pipeline was crucial to 60fps with no frame dropping, whilst in an increasingly competitive field.
achieving the interactivity, speed and outputting three monitor feeds from the With technological advances and
quality the client expected. MPC uses graphics card and a video feed from an access to increasingly affordable kit and
powerful HP Z-Series workstations expansion PCIe card. sophisticated software continuing to
ranging from the Z420 to the Z820, knock down barriers for competition,
all exclusively fitted with NVIDIA Our HP Z-Series workstations are used as smaller studios are increasingly able to
graphics cards for its production Flame machines. Both HP and NVIDIA provide achieve the kinds of effects previously
pipeline systems. associated with high-end feature films.
The HP Z-Series solid, reliable and high-performing equipment Throw in global government tax breaks,
are used as our main that work excellently as a package and a trend for bigger production houses
workstations for our 2D and like The Mill opening smaller studios,
CG teams, explains Marc _ Marc Brewster | MPC and rivalry between facilities is healthier
Brewster, head of technology at MPC, than ever.
and they use Quadro 4000 series cards. He continues: Our Z-Series But competition breeds innovation,
We tend to keep them all to a relatively workstations are used as Flame Premium as London-based design and motion
high specification, but some are workstations for our 2D teams to use and studio ManvsMachine proves. The team
equipped with larger amounts of RAM are fitted with either Quadro FX 5800, has picked up a number of high-profile
to enable users to work on especially Quadro 6000 or Quadro K6000 cards. awards for its work in recent years
complex scenes or increasingly higher Both HP and NVIDIA provide solid, including two Cannes Gold Lions and a
frame sizes and frame rates UHDTV reliable and high-performing equipment D&AD Yellow Pencil for a series of
being one example. On a recent project that works excellently as a package. logic-defying idents for Channel 4s

1 2
3 4
general animation rig. The muscle

system drives the skin of the elephant,
which is then simulated with cloth in
Maya to give it extra detail and the sense
of skin sliding over muscle skeleton.
A stable pipeline was essential. We
are using proprietary tools to exchange
The muscle system drives the skin of the

5 6
elephant, which is then simulated with cloth in
Maya to give it extra detail and the sense of skin
sliding over muscles
_ Fabian Frank | MPC
animation, shaders, submit renders to 1-2. The project began by

the farm, and transfer 3D renders to creating a basic model of
Nuke or Flame thats all part of MPCs an elephant 3-6. Concepts,
commercials and film pipeline, he says. including proportions, were
7 8
You could never have shot that for real. approved by the agency
and client 7-8. The muscle
and skin simulations were
created in Maya
catch-up service, 4seven. Set in a Just because you know how a hammer works, it doesnt mesh, Holmedal isolated a tiny section of
supermarket, allotment and swimming mean you can build a house. Its when you combine the the shoe and created a Python script to
pool, the idents utilise a split-screen simulate the knitting effect.
concept that wraps each scene around tools and knowledge you can create something great To generate realistic smoke effects,
a 90-degree corner, using a clever _ Simon Holmedal | ManvsMachine Holmedal created another Python script
custom camera technique developed that measured the velocity of the moving
by the studio. We did some tests on a further, employing advanced 3D pieces in the explosion, generating more
tabletop with a Pritt Stick and mug, scanning techniques to transform five smoke from the pieces that were moving
laughs studio co-founder Tim Swift. models in various footballing poses faster. When it came to rendering the
We realised it was essentially the same into marble. The camera rig is a small smoke simulation, an NVIDIA card was
large-arc move, but just a later section of room thats completely white, with 100 the only option: Those are the only ones
the same arc to create the two pieces, so cameras set up around you, explains supporting CUDA, Holmedal reasons.
we split the screen and offset it in time. head of 3D Rupert Burton. The actor This helps with simulating smoke
For us, the biggest thing jumps into position and every camera thats why I used it. Its about 10 times
is using the tools in ways shoots an image, capturing every angle faster than on the CPU.
that arent so obvious, says of them in motion. Its about using the tools in different
motion designer Simon ways. Often you have a function that
Holmedal. Its about understanding PUT THE BOOT IN does one thing and it looks decent but
what we can use them for. However, the 3D shoot was just one A production shot from one of if everyone uses it, it looks generic. Just
ManvsMachines recent launch part of a complicated project, which ManvsMachines award-winning because you know how a hammer works,
campaign for Nikes Mercurial Superfly required a lot of creative thinking from 4seven idents doesnt mean you can build a house. Its
boot is a cinematic motion masterpiece, ManvsMachine such as when the when you combine tools and knowledge
and a case in point. The latest in a client wanted to highlight the you can create something great.
collection of stunning spots for Nike, woven aspect of the boot by
the 55-second film shows the Superfly adding knitting effects Find out how HP Z-Series
boot exploding through a series of to the surface of the FYI workstations and NVIDIA
marble sculptures. The initial brief shoe. In the end, Quadro cards can benefit you at
was to smash porcelain figures, but rather than www.hp.com/eu/workstations and
ManvsMachine developed the concept rebuilding the www.nvidia.co.uk.
COMMERCIAL
GPU-based workflows A GPU-based rendering
workflow would have made it
quicker to finalise the motion
of 98% Humans photorealistic
chimp, believes Baertson
sampling values. Everything is

super-noisy, but you can render in
10 minutes, says Baertsoen. Its
effectively the same workflow as
Margo used on Construct, but run
on the CPU and not as fast.
I would have loved to have had
a GPU process, says Baertsoen.
We were reviewing roughly
three shots a day, and with [GPU
rendering], wed have been able to
review the entire spot.
TECHNICAL HURDLES
So whats stopping commercials
houses moving to GPU-based
rendering? Lack of software, says
Baertson. While movie facilities
can write in-house renderers,
The Mill relies on Mental Ray and
Arnold neither of which yet
offers GPU acceleration. Although
there are other alternatives, such
as Otoy's Brigade, few have been
proven in production.
C A S E S T U DY: G PU R EN D ERI N G This becomes more critical
because of the hardware required
for a GPU-based rendering
EMBRACING THE workflow. To spread the cost of

upgrading to top-of-the-range
GPUs like those used on Construct,
NEED FOR SPEED the studio would focus first on

the workstations of artists in key
roles like lighting and FX. Initially
the final images would still be
The Mill NYs head of CG, Vince Baertsoen, explains generated on a CPU-based farm.
We cant change our whole
why GPU-based workflows are going to be the future farm overnight, says Baertsoen.
So its very important for us to
of commercials production have a renderer that [gives the
same results] on CPU and GPU.
SPEED INTO CREATIVITY
F
PROFILE or Vince Baertsoen, Baertsoen believes that such a Baertsoen remains convinced that
VINCE BAERTSOEN GPU-based rendering workflow could have helped The GPU-based workflows are the
Vince Baertsoen is for commercials became Mill on ads such as the award- future for commercials. Since GTC
head of CG at The Mill
NY, where he develops practical at GTC 2014. winning 98% Human. Created everyone has been talking about
many of its in-house Although the conference featured for PETA, the spot called for the it, he says. They can see a direct
tools. He won a Visual
Effects Society Award sessions from movie VFX studios, studio to create a fully computer- impact on how we work.
for his work on the
PETA 98% Human ad. what caught his attention was the generated chimp. As well as speed Baertsoen
www.the-mill.com teaser for Kevin Margos Construct. A large number of test renders believes that with GPU rendering,
Created in Chaos Groups GPU- were required tests The Mill artists could go from working
accelerated V-Ray RT renderer, the couldnt simplify by omitting on one shot a day to five or 10
workflow enabled Margo to see computationally intensive parts CG becomes less of a technical
near-final-quality CG in real time, of the scene, like fur. If you [see] process than a creative one.
letting him direct both the action a chimp with no hair, its hard Thats huge, he says.
and the look of a shot. to read the animation, says Anything that lets the artists focus
Thats where things are going Baertsoen. We had to find a cheap on their craft is the way to go.
to go, says Baertsoen. You can render that was very close to the
see that rendering is going to final picture. You can read more about how
disappear at some point. It will To do this, The Mill generated FYI The Mill created 98% Human
become more transparent. low-res tests with very low at its blog bit.ly/1lhMX8f.

Learning
f rom
Construct
The teaser trailer for Kevin
Margos indie sci-fi short
certainly impresses...
Cited by Baertsoen as the best example of how
a real-time rendering pipeline could work, the
Construct teaser made waves at GTC in 2014.

Thats where things are going
to go. Rendering is going to
Directed by Blur Studio VFX supervisor Kevin
Margo, the photorealistic short shows a robotic
construction worker getting into trouble when disappear at some point. It will
he stumbles on colleagues disposing of a human become more transparent
body. The performances of the mocap actors
were visualised on set using the beta of Chaos

_ Vince Baertsoen
Groups V-Ray RT for MotionBuilder and the final
shots rendered in V-Ray RT for 3ds Max, running
on an NVIDIA Quadro K6000 and a pair of
NVIDIA Tesla K40 GPUs. The average render time
was just 510 minutes per frame.
You can view the astonishing teaser for Construct here
vimeo.com/90509568. We cant wait for the full short!
One of the amazingly lifelike

and graceful fully-CG worker
robots on display in Construct
2
1. Baertsoen cites Construct as a model for a real-

time GPU-based workflow 2. Constructs characters
were viewed at near-final-quality live on set inside
V-Ray RT for MotionBuilder
COMMERCIALS
Colour in advertising
I NSI G HT: CO LO U R G R A D I N G FO R CO M M ERCI A L S
HIGH DEFINITION
HIGH GRADE
CC Media explains how HP and NVIDIA hardware
helped it build a cutting edge colour-correction
system capable of real-time 4K work for commercials
PROFILE
NIKOLAS REIGEL
Reigel is editor and visual
A
effects artist at production
facility CC Media. The lthough 4K workflows In the past, to work on such Enter HPs Z820 workstation.
companys credits include have been making high-resolution footage would Equipped with two top-of-the-
commercials for brands
such as HEAD, Swisskalk headlines in the film have taken a turnkey grading and range NVIDIA Quadro K6000
and Elysator. See the
companys showreel on industry for some time, finishing system costing many tens graphics cards, the Z820 gave
YouTube at bit.ly/cc_media movie professionals arent the only of thousands of dollars. As a six- Resolve the power to play back 5K
and more of its work at
ccmedia.ch artists taking advantage of the man studio, CC Media had to find a footage directly. CC Media has also
potential of ultra-high-resolution more cost-effective solution. tested HPs Z Displays, praising
footage. Increasingly, commercials Its grading software of choice, their ability to show 24-bit footage
are being shot on 4K cameras like Blackmagic Designs DaVinci at full 4K resolution during editing
those in ARRIs ALEXA and REDs Resolve, provided a suite of in Adobe Creative Cloud.
EPIC product ranges, or Sonys cutting-edge tools for under
F55 and F65 a fact that a new $1,000, but CC Medias old Winning new clients
breed of agile, independent hardware lacked the firepower to As well as eliminating unnecessary
post-production facilities are back it up. To play back footage delays and fostering a more artist-
poised to take advantage of. in real time, CC Media had to friendly environment, the new
We shoot almost every job at transcode it to lower-resolution workflow has had unexpected
4K or 5K, says Nikolas Reigel, the formats like H.264 or ProRes commercial benefits for CC Media.
man responsible for the hardware before beginning work. Instead of having to render
at CC Media, a Zrich-based My old computer took about a footage offline and send it out for
production house whose clients minute to transcode a 30-second approval, the firm can now invite
include international sports brand 5K clip. Over the course of a whole clients to the studio to nail the
HEAD. It gives us a crisper image, project, that really adds up, says look they want in real time. Were
even if we later encode to 1080p; Reigel. Being forced to work in spending more time working face
and using RAW footage gives us a H.264 also made it difficult for me to face with clients, says Reigel.
high spectrum for colour grading. to assess the quality of my work. The close working relationships
we build in that time often
translate into repeat business.
Running on HPs Z820 workstation and Together, the combination of
two NVIDIA Quadro K6000 GPUs, DaVinci DaVinci Resolve, Creative Cloud
Resolve enables CC Media to grade and HP and NVIDIA hardware
commercials for clients like Elysator (right) has enabled CC Media to build an
and HEAD (above) in real time off-the-shelf grading and finishing
suite with the power to compete
with expensive turnkey systems.
We saw an opportunity to
differentiate ourselves from our
competitors, concludes Reigel.
Adopting this technology enables
us to capture new markets.
See CC Medias commercials

FYI work at: www.ccmedia.ch.

Bringing movie-scale
effects to small screens,
Sonys Perfect Day
ad treats well-known
PlayStation games as
real-life events, vividly
brought to life through
The Mills VFX work
F E AT U R E : PA R T I C L E E F F E C T S F O R C O M M E R C I A L S
AN APPETITE
FOR DESTRUCTION
Clients desire to see movie-quality smoke and fire in commercials places huge
demands on VFX artists. We talked to the teams behind five recent ads to find
out how to create realistic particle and volumetric effects on a TV schedule
COMMERCIALS
Particle effects
2 3 4
S
PROFILE PROFILE ince the dawn of visual effects, destruction
ALLAN MCKAY JOHN-PAUL HARNEY shots have been a staple of movie work.
McKay owns visual effects Harney is a freelance CG From Twister to Transformers, the digital
studio Catastrophic FX. generalist. He has worked
An award-winning VFX for The Mill, Rushes environment has been repeatedly torn apart:
supervisor, his clients and Smoke & Mirrors, by aliens, by natural disasters or simply by directors
include ILM, Blur Studio, where he was the
Pixomondo and Ubisoft. studios head of 3D. with a love of computer-generated smoke, fire and
allanmckay.com jpharney.co.uk
debris. Now, thanks to recent hits like The Avengers,
destruction is hotter than ever with unexpected
PROFILE PROFILE consequences for artists working in commercials.
STU SCHWARTZ NICOLAS COURET- Were often asked to do stuff thats
Schwartz is a systems CHAILLOUX been in films, explains Victoria Osborn,
developer at MPC, focusing
on Houdini and pipeline Couret-Chailloux works head of 3D at MPC NY. When crowds
development. He previously at The Mill as a 3D artist.
His recent ads include were in a lot of movies, we ended up doing
worked at SCAD and has
interned at The Mill. PlayStation Perfect Day crowds. When there were a lot of water movies, we did
moving-picture.com and Budweiser Collective
Energy Act 1. fluid simulation. Now there are a lot of battles [so we do]
themill.com
a lot of smoke and destruction and explosions.
But unlike movies, commercials dont have budgets
PROFILE of hundreds of millions of dollars. Where films have
VICTORIA OSBORN teams of dedicated FX artists and TDs, the destruction
Osborn began her career shots in an ad are often created by a single person. And
at MPC in 2002, quickly
rising to the role of VFX crucially, deadlines are tighter: while a movie VFX team
supervisor. She is currently typically gets eight to twelve months to work on a job, a
head of 3D at MPCs
New York studio. commercials team gets eight to twelve weeks.
moving-picture.com
So how do commercials houses create effects with
the same standards of realism as film but only a
fraction of the resources? To answer that question,
we turned to the teams behind five key recent ads.

1. MPC created the striking promo for PlayStation 4 video game inFAMOUS: Second Son
2. Particle simulations were used throughout the spot, often as showpiece effects 3. The
scale of the simulation work demanded an all-Houdini approach 4. Hero Delsin Rowe does
his signature orbital drop move an effect that approaches 80 million voxels
We will be looking at two types of For Shadow Fall, MPC used Maya
simulation here. In particle simulations, and RenderMan for the larger debris,
the properties of an explosion are driven leveraging custom tools developed for
by particles: tiny abstract pieces of its film pipeline, and Houdini and its
matter. In volumetric simulations, they Mantra renderer for smoke-like effects.
are the properties of space itself, which For Second Son, the scale of the sims
is divided into units known as voxels. forced an all-Houdini approach. Houdinis GPU-accelerated
While the same techniques are used to We realised there were Pyro FX toolset simulates
simulate liquids, we will only be looking places where Maya just realistic smoke and fire
at gaseous fluids in FX terms, smoke could not have handled that
and fire. Water simulations have their amount of data. It would
own unique challenges and tools. have crashed, says systems developer TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Stu Schwartz. [Even without custom
SIMULATE OR SHOOT?
For a small studio, the key question may
R&D work], Houdinis built-in tools
answered a lot of the things we needed. H oudini
not be how to make a simulation look For MPC, the challenge of this kind For: Standalone | Price: $4,495 (FX edition) | Developer: Side Effects Software
real: it may be whether to run it in the of work is twofold. First, it takes a long Used by The Mill and MPC in their commercials work, Houdini is a fully featured
first place. Fieldtrips recent Baby spot time to set up simulations, and second,
3D application. Its procedural workflow and diverse range of simulation tools
for Vision Express (bit.ly/particles-baby) it takes a long time to modify them once
takes viewers on a journey through you do. That means that the client cant make it capable of creating complex effects, and it scales easily to very large
the inside of a human eye. But while give meaningful feedback until the end simulations, although the price and relatively small pool of freelance artists
the waving field of rods and cones that of a project, by which point the time
mean it is less widely used by smaller studios. Its GPU-accelerated Pyro FX
make up its retina are CG, simulated taken to complete each iteration of a
in Softimage, the colourful plumes of shot at least a day on Second Son toolset, used to simulate smoke and fire, benefits from the compute power
smoke that rise in front of them are becomes even more limiting. of a workstation-class graphics card like those of NVIDIAs Quadro series.
practical effects, shot in a cloud tank. Visualising this sort of thing is
For more information about Houdini, visit www.sidefx.com
While it would have been nice difficult, and its hard to block out
to simulate the smoke, it would have simulations roughly, says Vicky
Projects where we are able to drop in a preset style are

almost non-existent. Even if youve done it a hundred
times before, its better to start an effect from scratch
_ Nicolas Couret-Chailloux | The Mill
been far too time-consuming, says Osborn. But the fact that you need
John-Paul Harney, senior VFX artist on to show [the client] something more
the commercial. Harney estimates that advanced means that everything loops thinkingParticles is a procedural dynamics system
to recreate the plumes in 3D would have back into the same problem. often used for destruction effects
taken an artist two weeks of full-time
work, whereas a live shoot took a single EVERY JOB IS UNIQUE
day. You have to temper The Mill faced similar problems on
your simulation times based its Perfect Day spot (bit.ly/particles-
on the length of a project, perfectday). Like the MPC commercials,
and how much other [CG it reimagines well-known PlayStation
work] you have to do, he observes. games as real-world events. Like MPC,
This wasnt a simulation-only project. the effects were created in Houdini.
And like MPC, time was a critical factor:
THE SCALE OF THE PROBLEM with simulations running up to 250
For a larger studio with a couple of million voxels, each individual explosion
months to work on a job, full-CG could take seven hours to simulate and
approaches become feasible, although 20 hours to render, with some shots TOOLS OF THE TRADE
even here, the scale of the work may requiring as many as 20 iterations.
vary dramatically. Two recent MPC
commercials illustrate this point.
Although the promos for Killzone:
So if ads often pose similar technical
challenges, and use similar tools, all a
studio has to do to save set-up time is
thinkingPar ticles
For: 3ds Max | Price: 1,495 | Developer: cebas Visual Technology
Shadow Fall (bit.ly/particles-killzone) to develop a single stock solution, and
Used by Catastrophic FX, thinkingParticles is a nonlinear dynamics system
and inFAMOUS: Second Son (bit.ly/ wheel it out on every job, right? Wrong,
particles-infamous) both recreate says 3D artist Nicolas Couret-Chailloux. based around procedural rules rather than keyframe-related events, making it
PlayStation 4 games as live action, in Even though they easier to retime simulations. Its commonly used to generate destruction and
Shadow Fall, the simulations are used might look like they have
impact FX, often in conjunction with other 3ds Max tools like Fume FX,
for ambient effects like smog and dust, the same kind of effects,
and run to a few hundred thousand [individual commercials] Stoke MX and Krakatoa, all discussed elsewhere in this article. Not to be
particles. In Second Son theyre have their own needs that make them confused with Thinking Particles, a similarly named Cinema 4D toolset.
showpiece effects, with counts running completely unique, he says. Projects
For more information about thinkingParticles, visit www.cebas.com
into the millions. The final shot, which where we are able to drop in a preset
shows protagonist Delsin Rowes orbital style are almost nonexistent now.
drop ability, approaches 80 million voxels. Even if youve done it a hundred times
COMMERCIALS
Particle effects
FumeFX provides a
scalable toolset for
creating voxel-based
gaseous fluid effects
3
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Fume F X
For: 3ds Max, Maya | Price: $845 | Developer: Sitni Sati
Used by Catastrophic FX, FumeFX is a voxel-based system
for gaseous fluids like smoke and fire. Toolsets designed to
tweak the laws of physics or deform volumes as if they were
standard geometry make simulations directable, and the option
to link several smaller sims into one large one make them easily
scalable. Its GPU-accelerated Preview Window benefits from a

1. Developed by Imaginary Forces, the God of War From Ashes spot
workstation graphics card like those in NVIDIAs Quadro series. makes heavy use of Catastrophic FXs destruction effects 2. Kratos
For more information about FumeFX, visit www.afterworks.com embraces his daughter, but witnesses her crumble to ash in his hands
3. Effects were created in 3ds Max using thinkingParticles and FumeFX
MPCs spot for PS4 title

Killzone: Shadow Fall
mainly uses simulations for
ambient effects like smoke
and dust. Particle counts for
each shot typically run into
the hundreds of thousands
before, its still better to start an effect including Industrial Light & Magic McKay describes the work which
from scratch. and Blur Studio. But he also runs his was done in 3ds Max, using the
own company, Catastrophic FX, which thinkingParticles and FumeFX plug-ins,
ART, NOT BUTTON PUSHING recently completed work on the From and rendered in Krakatoa and V-Ray as
Its a philosophy with which Allan Ashes spot for God of War: Ascension epic in every way.
McKay agrees. Often in commercials, (bit.ly/particles-gow). It was by far the most complicated
because of the schedules, Developed at creative studio thing Ive had to touch, he says.
you get more regulated Imaginary Forces, the ad shows Ive worked on movies like 2012 and
effects, he says. You see everything the games protagonist Transformers and typically they dont
people using the standard touches turning to ashes from the reach that amount of detail.
features of a product, but not really going landscape around him to his own
beyond that. Thats what separates the daughter. Although there are fewer STRATEGIES FOR SMOOTHER SIMS
button-pushers from the artists. than ten individual FX shots in the So what strategies can a studio use to
A simulation specialist, McKay commercial, each one required its own turn around complex simulation effects
works as a VFX supervisor for clients unique simulation set up. within the timescale of a commercial?

Krakatoa is a specialist renderer for particle and
voxel effects, designed to handle huge sims
God of War From Ashes trailer produced by Imaginary Forces for Sony Computer Entertainment America
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Krakatoa
For: See below | Price: Varies with platform | Developer: Thinkbox Software
Used by Catastrophic FX, Krakatoa is a specialised tool
for rendering particle and voxel-based effects. Specifically
designed to cope with very dense simulations, it can overcome
memory and system limitations of its host application and can
make use of a particle repopulation algorithm to generate
high-density simulations from low-resolution source sims.
Originally a 3ds Max plug-in, its also now available for Maya
and Cinema 4D, and as a standalone application.
For more information about Krakatoa, visit www.thinkboxsoftware.com
1
The crucial thing, McKay believes, is not or the number of particles when youre by modern tools is up-resing: semi-
to skimp on R&D. I always try to make it only working on the motion, he says. automatically increasing the resolution
so that 30 to 40 per cent of the [schedule] And make [the simulation] beautiful of a simulation. This has the advantage
is R&D, then play catch-up from there, rather than physically accurate: its of adding realistic-looking detail without
he says. Typically, Ill spend two or faster, easier and after all, [for] a significantly increasing calculation time,
three times as long on one hero shot, commercial, a cool look is essential. but Allan McKay cautions that it should
getting it right. Im doing R&D, but Another key strategy is to refine a be used judiciously. Up-resing is great
doing it in a way that means that Im still simulation sequentially, focusing on the to a degree, but what its really doing is
making headway on the project. overall motion before the internal detail. running noise or turbulence patterns
McKay also builds tools to automate A lot of junior artists want to do the through your lower-res simulation, he
2
repetitive tasks, like breaking up a fine details before theyve really figured says. For a cloud or billowing smoke,
scene to send it to the render farm, out the speed or size of simulation the you can typically work at a lower
saving out animation caches, and director wants, says Allan McKay. resolution for testing, then switch on the
reassembling the shot in a compositing So they build this complex, cool-looking detail when you need to. But if youre
package. It only saves five to 10 minutes [set-up] where its really hard to doing an explosion, you need to rely on
interaction with surrounding surfaces,
Cut whatever you dont see in camera, break apart so you need enough [initial] information
an effect to reduce simulation time and lower the number to give you a detailed result.
To generate that initial information,
of particles when you're only working on the motion simulation tools are increasingly
3
_ Nicolas Couret-Chailloux | The Mill making use of GPU computing, tapping
into the power of modern graphics
at a time, but cumulatively, those back-pedal. Being able to get out cards like NVIDIAs Quadro series to
minutes add up to days, he says. It also iterations faster is always going to be process larger simulations than would
safeguards me from making mistakes. the key thing. be possible using the CPU alone and
When youre working crazy hours, its And finally, always have a to generate the results more quickly.
amazing what can happen through contingency plan. With commercials, When Side Effects Software introduced
stress, or sleep deprivation. youre always at your computers mercy, its GPU-accelerated Pyro FX 2 toolset
Once R&D is complete and work says McKay. Ive been in situations in Houdini 12, some users reported
begins on the effects themselves, where right before deadline, the network that it increased the speed of smoke
Nicolas Couret-Chailloux notes that goes down and interrupts the sim, and 1. The Vision Express Baby spot takes the simulations by a full order of magnitude.
there are a number of classic tricks that you dont have time to start it over. viewer inside a human eye 2. With limited The GPU is also playing a key role
artists can use to simplify simulations. time and resources available, VFX house in increasing the realism of real-time
Cut whatever you dont see in ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY Fieldtrip chose to combine CG and practical previews of simulations: something
camera, break apart an effect to reduce New technologies also have a role to play effects 3. The plumes of smoke were shot that Stu Schwartz believes will become
simulation time [for each component] in smoothing simulation workflow. One in a cloud tank; the field of rods and cones increasingly important over the next
and lower the resolution of the volumes technique increasingly being supported below them were simulated in Softimage five years. Youll probably be able to see
COMMERCIALS
Particle effects
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Other key sof t ware

Five more powerful tools for creating
particle and volumetric effects
EFFEX
For: Cinema 4D | Price: 999 | Developer: Navi
A modular FX framework, used for both liquids and gaseous fluids
like smoke and fire. Includes particles and volumetrics.
For more details, visit www.dpit2.de/navie/index.php?content=effex
PHOENIX FD
For: 3ds Max, Maya | Price: $960 | Developer: Chaos Group
A simulation tool for both liquids and gaseous fluids. Uses a hybrid
particle/voxel-based approach. Includes a GPU-accelerated preview.
For more details, visit www.chaosgroup.com/en/2/phoenix.html
STOKE MX
For: 3ds Max | Price: $595 (Workstation licence) | Developer: Thinkbox Software
A versatile tool for generating high-density particle simulations,
including gaseous fluids. Supports a range of control inputs.
For more details, visit www.thinkboxsoftware.com/stoke-mx
TURBULENCEFD
For: Cinema 4D, LightWave | Price: 399 | Developer: Jawset Visual Computing
A voxel-based solver for gaseous fluids. Fully GPU-accelerated:
requires a NVIDIA card with Compute Capability 2.0 or higher.
For more details, visit www.jawset.com
X- PA RTI C L E S
For: Cinema 4D | Price: 289 (Pro edition) | Developer: Insydium
A powerful alternative to C4Ds native particles tools. Not specifically
designed for gaseous fluids, but can be used to create similar effects.
For more details, visit www.x-particles.com
Id like to see simulation become more creative. (bit.ly/DL380z) to accelerate complex technological developments that may
When you feel like a programmer rather than a simulations. Another interesting thing help them in future all relate to the need
thats been happening with Houdini is to see simulation results more quickly,
creative person, you stunt the end product ... splitting up a single simulation into in order to make better and more
_ John-Paul Harney | Fieldtrip individual partitions and distributing creative decisions.
them on a render farm, says Schwartz. Its just about making things faster,
[the simulation] in the viewport in a lot Its all coming down to parallelisation. concludes John-Paul Harney. Thats
higher quality, he says. A lot of things what everyone wants, isnt it? Not
like real-time ray tracing are finally SPEED EQUALS CREATIVITY having to wait around. [Simulation] is
happening. If we can visualise the final Or alternatively: its all coming down tedious work, and Id like it to become
image earlier on, our workflows will be to artistic control. Photorealistic more creative. When you feel like a
significantly sped up. destruction effects take a long time to programmer rather than a creative
Running simulations across multiple set up and a long time to iterate time person, you stunt the end product.
computers will become more common, that is at a premium in commercials
enabling studios to harness the power work. The challenges that the artists Find out more about NVIDIAs
of server technologies such as HPs face in production, the techniques FYI work on GPU computing:
DL380z virtual workstation they use to overcome them and the http://developer.nvidia.com.

INSIGHT: HOW AD AGENCIES VIEW CG
VISUAL EFFECTS:
THE AD MANS VIEW
In just 20 years, CG has gone from a costly novelty to
a staple of modern commercials work. Two veterans
of the UK ad market reflect on its rise to dominance
PROFILES
JOHN FOX
Fox is owner of Agent BOB,
B
an illustration studio and
CG artist agency based in ritish Airways classic A purist, Masterman is keen on software priced from 4,800, thats
London, specialising in CG Face ad shows a crowd using live action wherever possible. a saving of over 40K.
imaging, animation and VFX
for the global entertainment of people, seen from the Ive used CG in other ads, but CG can now save money and
and advertising industries.
agentbob.co.uk air, forming the shape of a generally where youre tracking time in most cases, says Fox.
human face. Back in 1989, it took a the movement of something, he For example, the CAD files used
DAVID MASTERMAN live shoot and hundreds of extras. continues. Id never seen any CG to manufacture a car can also
Masterman is creative But when Australias Carlton & animation that looked real. be used for production of ads.
director at advertising
agency JWT London. United Breweries parodied it 16 But by the time of the Mr Kipling Although the process of preparing
The winner of both D&AD years later for its Big Ad spot, spot, Masterman finally felt that the image can be slower than
Pencils and Cannes Lions,
he has worked at BMP, BBH, the process was rather simpler: it graphics technology in the hands photography, the advantage is
Fallon and CHI & Partners .
jwt.co.uk called in VFX house Animal Logic of visual effects facility The Mill that once this is done, the CG car
and recreated the crowds in CG. had finally caught up with reality. can be placed into any scene and
The ad was driven towards at any viewpoint. You can also
Real versus CG technology only because technology change the colour, wheels and trim
Today, many commercials use has recently become advanced quicker than with photography.
visual effects to avoid costly live enough, he said. We felt CG was
shoots. The latest TV spot for Mr right, but only if we could create a Universal appeal
Kipling shows a young boy playing relationship between the boy and In fact, CG is now so widely used
in a park with his imaginary friend: the CG elephant. in ads that it is becoming a victim
a huge pink elephant. of its own success, as Fox points
We wanted to use a real 40K in 20 years out: The process looks relatively
elephant, says David Masterman, Its a far cry from the early days of simple, which means that clients
creative director at ad agency JWT computer graphics in advertising, expectations have risen and their
London. But then you start to get as John Fox, founder of specialist timelines and budgets reduced.
into the logistics! agency Agent BOB and a 20-year For ad agencies, the appeal
veteran of 3D work recalls. is obvious: CG enables them to
In 1994, the software was realise even their most visually
unstable and the machines were ambitious ideas quicker and more
A still from the set of JWTs Mr Kipling spot. slow, he says. Because of the cheaply than ever before.
The Mills CG replaced the actor on the right hindrances, the finish was very As Fox points out, the only
with an only marginally less pink elephant basic and plastic-looking. Also, thing the computer cant recreate
the cost was painfully high a is human error. The unexpected
purpose-built machine and accidents that a photographer or
software cost around 50K. cameraman can capture might
But in the intervening decades, never be achievable with [digital
quality has risen and costs fallen. technology], he says. Its the one
Today, pricing for HPs Z840 reason I still feel that CG will never
workstation with mid-range completely replace photography.
Quadro card starts at $2,399: just
under 1,500 at current rates of Read more about The Mills
exchange. With Autodesks entire FYI work on the Pink Elephant spot
Entertainment Creation Suite of at bit.ly/millpinkelephant.
COMMERCIALS
Data wrangling
C A S E S T U DY: DATA W R A N G L I N G
ZEN AND THE ART

OF DATA WRANGLING
Shooting at high resolutions thrills audiences, but the amounts of data
it generates can bring networks crashing down. We explore the role of
the data wrangler to find out how the right kit keeps things on track
S
PROFILE cience fiction writer In short, any production lives (DIT) and a data wrangler, but I
GARY ADCOCK Arthur C. Clarke once under constant threat of that essentially perform both roles,
Adcock is CEO/CTO observed that any massive quantity of data crashing he explains. As a DIT, Im
at Chicagos Studio 37,
specialising in creating sufficiently advanced the network and bringing things controlling the image on the
and streamlining technology is indistinguishable to a shuddering halt. Which is cameras, discussing whats going
workflows for episodic
and feature production. from magic. Thats certainly the why you need someone like data on with the gaffer and the DP,
His clients include
media outlets like CNN, case with commercials production. wrangler Gary Adcock. to retrieve the best image that
MSNBC and Discovery The director points the camera, So what exactly does a data the camera can record. Its a
Networks and brands
like McDonalds, films the scene, shouts, Cut! and wrangler do? I handle data group effort.
Taco Bell and HBO.
garyadcock.com moves onto the next part of the and move multimedia content Then, once the action has been
script. And then as if by magic, all around for episodic television, for captured comes the task of dealing
those gigabytes of audio and video feature films and for commercial with all data the wrangling itself.
move miraculously around the productions, he explains. It And thats no mean feat.
network to where they need to be. sounds simple but as well Were talking about massive
But new developments such as discover, its anything but. amounts of data, Adcock stresses.
the rise of 4K and 8K resolution, On a recent project we worked on
high frame rates and the increasing TWOFOLD JOB for Intel, for instance, we moved
need for production crews to be To start with, data wrangler is 3.8 terabytes of data in a single
mobile, light and agile, means the actually only one half of Adcocks day for a single camera. And as
magic of data management can job. On many shoots, there will be we move to 4K, we need a serious
longer be taken for granted. both a digital imaging technician amount of power to allow for faster

made the biggest difference to
him in recent years has been the
miniaturisation of the tools he
carries. In other words: What used
to require 500 kilos of gear I can
now do with 10 kilos.
2 My 15-inch HP [ZBook] mobile
workstation does as much in a
portable environment as a full-
blown desktop, he explains. Im
not processing lots of video: were
just moving data back and forth
and handling files, and thats where
mobile workstations really excel.
Being able to use a single,
1 3 portable machine enables Adcock
to work even leaner on set. Now
Gary Adcock builds a custom hardware I dont need an extra person: I can
colour correction and quicker was having some issues with the set-up tailored to the needs of each of his do things myself, he explains.
transcodes, so that we can do proprietary RED Rocket card, commercials projects. The Next: Trio trailer Were seeing the miniaturisation
dailies in real time; so that other he recalls. advertises US superchef Grant Achatzs of the process.
people can see the content too. I found out that the HP Z820, Next restaurant in Chicago 1. Chefs at work
with an NVIDIA Quadro K5200 in Achatzs kitchen 2. Dishes are also shown KIT BREAKDOWN
TRADE SECRET card, actually gave me faster in a montage of stills 3. The spot mixes Adcock is currently working on
One of the secrets to Adcocks transcodes than the native footage in a range of different formats the second season of Sirens an
success his recent movie jobs hardware. It was a revelation to me. American reboot of the British
include Transformers: Dark Side of Thats the power that HP and Channel 4 comedy moving
the Moon and Just Like a Woman NVIDIA bring me, he continues. between 650GB and 1.5TB of data
is the fact that, tech-wise, he It enables me to do things, a day on set. In addition to his
doesnt stay still. Im constantly particularly with RED camera 15-inch ZBook mobile workstation
evolving. I build a new kit for material, that Ive never been able with 16GB RAM, two 500GB
every production I work on, based to do before. To be able to do real- SSDs and 10Gbps Thunderbolt
on the workflow for the project, time transcodes of 6K frames to connection, he is using two
he explains. dailies is pretty impressive, when 24-inch Sony OLED displays for
So if Im going out doing you consider the processing power monitoring, and G-Technologys
high-speed camera work with a that goes into that data. G-Dock ev dual-bay drive system
Phantom camera, I need different for storage. The G-Dock enables
tools than for a RED job. In an THE SPEED OF THUNDER me to take that solid state media
environment like film production, The thing that Adcock is most Supported across HPs mobile and from the card on location to my
where youre constantly trying to enthused about a subject he desktop workstations, Intels Thunderbolt office for archiving and transfer,
break down [workflow] to make it returns to in his webinars and technology enables Gary Adcock to move he explains.
faster and easier, being flexible in on his blog is HPs support for 4K and even 6K footage around on set But of course, on the next
this way enables me to be more Thunderbolt: Intels high-speed faster than the cameras can record it project, that may all change.
aggressive in how the technology data-transfer technology. For example, Adcock is excited by
is used. Thunderbolt means Im now HPs new Z workstations, due
Truly tech-agnostic he has moving data faster than Ive to ship later this year. The top-
worked cross-platform for 20 ever been able to do before, he of-the-range model, the Z840,
years, on both PCs and Macs says. A single connection over supports two next-generation Intel
Adcock simply hones in on the Thunderbolt enables me to move Xeon processors with up to 36
equipment that will get the job data in excess of a gigabyte per processor cores.
done as quickly and efficiently as second. On a mobile workstation,
possible. In recent years, its HP thats just unheard-of. READY FOR THE FUTURE
that has won him over. The one thing Adcock is sure of
HP mobile workstations One Thunderbolt connection enables me to is that, technologically speaking,
have enabled a guy like me to everything is going to change not
do so much, he says. With move data in excess of a gigabyte per second. just once, but again and again.
embedded NVIDIA cards and
Intels Thunderbolt technology,
On a mobile workstation, that's unheard-of The most dramatic changes
were going to see in the future
we now have an all-in-one system _ Gary Adcock | Studio 37 [are that hardware will become]
that gives you the highest data smaller, lighter, faster, he
throughput and the highest That power gives me the ability predicts. Particularly with the
quality. [It enables] you to do to not worry about 4K and 6K, he miniaturisation that Thunderbolt
dailies, to transcode files in real continues. It alleviates a lot of the brings. When we start talking
time, and to do on-set colouring bottlenecks people run into. Were about a gigabyte a second on a
in a way thats just not as easy on not waiting for the transfer of data single cable, it really does start
other platforms. any more. Were actually moving changing the way people think
Adcock, who also uses HPs data faster than the cameras can about handling data.
Z-Series desktop workstations record it. Or to put it another way: when it
in production, offers a specific comes to data wrangling, you aint
example to illustrate the point. SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL seen nothing yet.
On a recent TV commercial I Perhaps surprisingly, speed of On a recent project for Intel, Adcock moved
worked on, we were transcoding data transfer isnt even Adcocks Read more about Gary Adcocks
FYI work at: www.garyadcock.com.
3.8 terabytes of data in a single day for a
6K RED Dragon material and I main concern. The thing that has single camera. Impressive!

COMMERCIALS
Photorealistic compositing
Directed by industry
legend Daniel Kleinman
of Rattling Stick, the
TalkTalk Model Britain
commercial depicts life
in a model village as its
TalkTalk/Glassworks.
residents make their way

home after a long days
work. Glassworks was
responsible for both 2D
and 3D on the spot
C A S E S T U DY: PH OTO R E A L I S T I C CO M P OS I T I N G
A MIRROR TO LIFE:
GLASSWORKS
When compositing photorealistic CG with live action,
ultra-reliable HP hardware and NVIDIA-powered
rendering keep the UK post house ahead of the curve
F
PROFILE
DUNCAN MALCOLM ounded back in 1996 Particularly notable is the we can gather all that information
Malcolm joined by current CEO Hector companys incredible talent for and use it later.
Glassworks as a
compositor in 2004. Macleod, Glassworks is blending photorealistic CG with Malcolm joined Glassworks as a
A year later, he joined a multi-award-winning live action, from the spookily compositor back in 2004, having
the board as head of 2D
and now manages the post-production house that accurate budgie and part-digital worked in the industry for 20 years
studios London offices.
glassworks.co.uk handles high-end digital animation cat in its recent spot for Freeview, at that point. A year later, he joined
and stunning visual effects across to the miniature 3D characters the board as head of 2D and now
commercials, film and digital travelling home through a manages workflow in the London
media, for big-hitting global clients model village in its TalkTalk studio, with a watching brief on the
such as Nike, Samsung, Coca-Cola Model Britain commercial. other offices.
and MTV. When it comes to truly seamless
PROFILE Although its primary base is in THE ART OF REALISM compositing, Malcolm notes that
WILL ISAAC Soho, London, Glassworks also Photorealism is a phenomenon one of the biggest challenges lies
Isaac is Glassworks runs sister offices in Amsterdam that head of 2D Duncan Malcolm in capturing as much real-time
head of engineering.
After starting 10 years and Barcelona. Together, the believes is very much here to stay. data as possible on site during the
ago as a runner, he is three studios cater to both local Industry expectations keep going shoot: particularly HD images to
now responsible for
the technical side of and international markets, and up, he observes. Often were record the source and direction of
the company.
glassworks.co.uk regularly join together both ahead of those expectations, being the light, and any other factors that
creatively and technically in pushed but also driving them up need to be taken into account. Its
order to manage large, complex ourselves. Its about attention to just about being clever about what
commercial projects. detail at the time of the shoot, so we reference, getting pictures of

Future -
proof ing the
net work
The advent of 4K workflows
brings two very different
technical challenges for
Glassworks to face
The need to deliver work at increasingly high
resolutions is one facing the entire CG industry.
For a studio like Glassworks, the problem is
compounded by the fact that its live-action source
footage needs to be shot at higher resolutions still.
Even back in the film days, we were still
trying to acquire footage in 2K resolution so we
had a bigger plate to track into and zoom in on,
recalls Duncan Malcolm, Glassworks head of 2D.
To acquire a plate for a moving camera, its
better to shoot wider so you can choose which
part to zoom in on, he explains. And if youre

1 shooting lens flares or other elements to be
composited in real elements then you dont
know exactly which bit [of the frame] you want

every bit of the shoot so we can
brief the CG guys on everything to use, so you have to cover your bases.
thats happening, he adds. Today, if the project needs to be delivered
Where possible, Malcolms team
in HD, Glassworks will insist on 2K, 3K or 4K
will attend the shoot to ensure
that all of this data is captured footage, depending on the cameras available. I
correctly. This depends on the have a problem with 4K, because then wed want
project, and the people involved
something bigger than 4K to work with, says
in the production, he says. If
its somebody weve worked Malcolm. People worry about delivery format:
with in the past and we know Im more worried about acquisition format.
they know what we need, they This need for ultra-high-resolution footage
might do it themselves, but if its
for spots like Samsungs Every Day is Day One
a complicated CG job then well
make a call on whether [we need] (below) has knock-on effects for staff charged
a 2D person who has more of a with future-proofing Glassworks infrastructure.
general eye on things, or a specific 2
The goalposts are constantly shifting,
3D person who will spend the time
measuring distances between moving cameras now, because we The making of the TalkTalk remarks head of engineering Will Isaac. Our
objects and mapping out the know tracking is easier and lighting Model Britain commercial biggest challenge is the sheer volume of data:
whole thing. Sometimes we have is easier. Moving cameras give us a 1. A final frame from the
were now dealing with much, much larger files,
the whole team there. whole lot more realism. spot 2. 3D elements from
While Malcolm tries to avoid the shot prior to rendering and because theres a lot of raw camera data,
THE ART OF REALISM cramping the style of the and compositing. All of the theres a lot of pre-processing before you can
Another key challenge is dealing production team by steering the characters are fully CG,
actually use that data, so we need to make sure
with complex or rapid camera shoot too much, he points out that not stop-motion figures
moves. A few years ago, visual advising against things that are weve got powerful machines with lots of CPUs.
effects professionals would steer prohibitively difficult to fix in post
the production teams away from is an important part of the role.
moving camera work for anything For instance, if there are a
that required complex CG lot of reflective windows we try
compositing resulting in an to avoid shooting through those
often stark contrast between if were adding CG, he says. If
different shots. [footage] absolutely has to be shot
Youd have a terrible situation through them, we insist on taking
where youd cut into this very static shots of a black card behind so
shot with a different aesthetic, we can capture the reflections, or
done to please the effects people, shoot separate plates to add the
he recalls. We almost encourage reflections back on top.

COMMERCIALS
Photorealistic compositing
Of course, the quest for

perfectly seamless photorealism
is as much driven by the high
standards of the creatives as the M astering
demands of the commissioners
themselves: The client wants feathers and f ur
[the commercial] to be charming,
but ultimately wants to sell
products, says Malcolm. CG Glassworks charming spot for Freeview
artists spend every minute of combines two classic CG challenges
their day working out how to
make CG look better. Its up to us
in a beautiful example of photorealism
to make it 100 per cent perfect.
Love, Leo Burnetts 2014 spot With the 3D work complete,
THE KIT FOR THE JOB for Freeview required Glassworks Glassworks faced the challenge of
Powering this drive for perfection to composite a rendered cat and integrating it with the live action.
is the studios hardware, as head budgie seamlessly into live footage, One of the main challenges with
of engineering Will Isaac explains. as the two characters perform a duet blending photorealistic CG with footage
Having started at Glassworks (Youre All I Need To Get By as sung is all the random things that happen
10 years ago as a runner, Isaac by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell). in real life, says Malcolm. Things that
became chief engineer after Maybe four years ago, people are broken, like aberrations in lenses
two and a half years, and is now would never have agreed to do that, and [shifts in] depth of field [that occur
responsible for the technical says head of 2D Duncan Malcolm, between] different lenses and lighting
side of the company including who was lead Flame artist on the situations. A lot of our directors also
building and running the network spot. Feathers and fur are the two use anamorphic lenses, and thats
between the three offices to things that are trickiest to do [in another challenge because the look
ensure that staff are as productive CG], and for one commercial to have of the lens comes from the fact that it
as possible. both in relatively close-up shots distorts the image, which then has to be
My job is about enabling is quite a testament to where the undistorted. There are often chromatic
people like Duncan to spend more technology has got to. aberrations in parts of the image as well.
time being creative, rather than Glassworks used Softimages ICE To make the computer-generated
waiting for something technical toolset to get the budgies feathers elements of a commercial match the
to happen, explains Isaac. The to look realistically random. The cats quirks of the footage is a skilled and
main thing we need to think about face is also digital, created using largely manual job, reveals Malcolm.
is robustness. [Our system] has to ZBrush and Softimage, with ICE Essentially, CG doesnt do broken,
work, and it has to work all of the strands for the fur. he points out. It does beautiful.
time. There are a lot of things that
can seem quite impressive on the
face of it the bells and whistles
but really, it comes down to being
on all the time.
CHOOSING HP
To guarantee this level of reliability,
for Isaac, HP workstations are the
only choice. Glassworks standard
model is a Z400 or Z420, with a
six-core CPU, 72GB of RAM, and
an NVIDIA Quadro 4000 GPU.
Having used other kit before,
[HPs] is much more reliable, he
reveals. The way the HP boxes
are put together, they work well
together and you know they
always will. And when HP releases
[its next series] of workstations,
you know theyll work just as well
as the last ones, only quicker.
Ultimately its about finding
the right balance between speed
and reliability: Usually the harder
you push something to make it Pond View, a largely CG
faster, the less stable it becomes, works well. The airflow through it Flare, a 130-node Arnold render spot for Freeview. Apart
observes Isaac. means they just dont get clagged farm, a 2K Spirit, two Baselight from the end shot, the
Our workstations sit in the up. It comes down to robustness. If TWO grading platforms, a entire thing was created
suites, and they get a bit messy you bought a consumer model off 12-licence Nuke Farm, and four from scratch in 3D. Creating
and dusty. Its not a sealed the shelf [and subjected it to the Avid edit suites. an underwater world meant
environment like a machine room. same conditions] it would probably The Flame and Smoke building and animating
They have to work in a warm fall over after six months. workstations are set up by everything from tadpoles to
environment, where there might Autodesk to work perfectly with weeds, trolleys and bottles
not be a clean atmosphere, RELIABLE FINISHING the software, and theyve gone
and not clag up with dust. Besides its 55 3D workstations, down the HP route too, with the
Again, he praises HPs Z-Series Glassworks also maintains 14 Z820, says Isaac. These machines
workstations. The chassis design Flame systems, two Smokes, one work brilliantly off-the-shelf.

Freeviews Love spot combines live-action
footage of a cat with CG facial expressions and a
photorealistic CG budgie. The biggest challenge
for Glassworks was the fine line between
believability and delivering the emotion
The chassis [of HP Z-Series workstations]

works really well. The airflow through it
means they just dont get clagged up.
It comes down to robustness
_ Will Isaac | Glassworks
One part of Glassworks As well as speed, Glassworks

hardware set-up where more believes that Redshifts GPU-
customisation is required is its led approach will help it get the
render farm. Traditionally, the maximum value from its hardware.
studio has relied on CPU-based Its render farm is built on NVIDIA
renderers such as Arnold. cards, and the studio is currently
[Production renderers] tend working to find the optimal
to be very CPU-based, so if you configuration for Redshift.
put a faster CPU in [a render Were still trying to build the To launch its Climachill technology, Adidas turned to Glassworks to create some ice-cool
node], itll render quicker: its very perfect machine with multiple macro CG. The spot is very intensive from a CG point of view, with a high level of detail in
linear, says Isaac. Weve been GPUs, finding the most efficient both fabric and ice
using Arnold for six years very pound-for-pound combination,
successfully, and just throwing reveals Isaac. Its whether you fill explore new technologies to stay to the next level by replicating the
more computers at it helped it one machine with as many GPUs as at the vanguard of the industry. entire scene around an animated
render faster. possible, or have more machines The studio is now delving into character in CG, to get lighting
In March, however, Glassworks with fewer GPUs. I think weve Nuke Studio, The Foundrys and reflections spot-on and then
began beta testing Redshift, a new concluded in the last few weeks new VFX, editorial and finishing dismiss all of it to combine the
GPU-accelerated biased renderer. that theres no right or wrong product. It wont necessarily do character with the live-action plate.
Its quite incredible, Malcolm answer to that, as it depends on things better, but it does do them We just dont have time to do
enthuses. Its 10 times faster to the scenes that youre rendering. differently, says Malcolm. that at the moment, he points out.
render something. I dont care And again, hardware processing Theres definitely an advantage in
about the technicalities its about FUTURE TRENDS power will play a crucial role. Given doing a lot of things much faster.
how quickly I can get [a shot] to As the standard of compositing the luxury of unlimited time and
the place that its the best it ever work in commercials continues to budget, Malcolm comments that See Glassworks portfolio at:
can be. increase, Glassworks continues to his team would take compositing FYI www.glassworks.co.uk.

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Betfair octopus
C A S E S T U DY : B E T FA I R O C TO P U S
THE MULTI-LIMBED ART

OF ADVERTISING VFX
To create Betfairs table tennis-playing octopus, Gramercy Park
Studios needed to embrace various facets of digital content
creation to bring the directors unique vision to life
B
PROFILE etfairs This Is Play they could begin the process of
MARK BEARDALL campaign pays homage modelling and rendering.
Previously a senior to the late, great Paul The asset management
Flame artist at
Framestore, Beardall the octopus famous for helped deliver such a complex
now works as a predicting the outcome of World project in a short timeframe,
VFX supervisor at
Gramercy Park Studios. Cup matches. The 30-second says VFX supervisor Mark
gramercyparkstudios.com
spot has four table tennis players Beardall, by letting the artists
taking on the creature in front of work simultaneously on the rig,
a packed stadium, and required a animation, layout, fluid FX, lighting
complex mixture of CG techniques and compositing. All of these
to realise. It also didnt help that it elements were updated many
was being worked on concurrently times throughout the project and 2
PROFILE in London and Latvia... the system helped guarantee that
FRANCISCO LIMA Fortunately, Gramercy Park everyone was working with the 1. A live-action shoot in Latvia is enhanced with a CG
As the studios VFX Studios has its own proprietary latest approved versions. octopus, built and animated in Maya 2. The live-action set
technology supervisor,
Lima is in charge of visual collaboration workflow The project was somewhat was recreated using panoramas and HDRs to generate
devising new pipelines pipeline, developed when the asymmetric in its production, with an accurate point cloud 3. The CG cephalopod required a
and workflows.
gramercyparkstudios.com studio began in 2013. This enabled the stadium designed and built complex rig so its animators could deliver the necessary
teams to share HD footage and using low-poly assets in Flame, range of movement
CG models so while shooting the even before the live-action shoot
table tennis players in Latvia, the in Latvia had begun. We had
pre-viz team was able to send clips a 3D artist modelling blocks of
to the London-based CG artists so geometry that we could import

3
Stadium of
into Flame and use to develop environment, put it in a stadium light
the stadium interactively with the playing racket sports with real
agency and director, explains people, and you have quite a
Beardall. It was during this stage, challenge on your hands. How GPS created a virtual
working alongside 3D, that we The team went through a range sports arena in Flame
were able to work out how we of looks, undertaking research on
would need to shoot the extras to luminescent and semi-translucent
populate the stadium. It revealed materials, but decided on one To create the packed stadium, the team turned to
that we would need to shoot front that looked more earth-like, Autodesks Flame, a VFX package that combines
and three-quarter angles, including using reflections and sub-surface
colour grading, 3D compositing and finishing.
rear views, in case we pulled out scattering. The reflection was
wide later on. a hard puzzle to solve, says To begin, the stadium was built as low-poly
Beardall, as octopuses out of geometry in Maya and then imported into Flame
CROWD SOURCING water look very different and are via FBX. Extras were shot in groups of four
As the spot involved a variety very slimy and slick. We ended
of effects, including extreme up having to build two parallel against a green screen, composited into grids of
slow-motion, the live-action team shading trees, which were called 12 x 12 and rendered out at 4K so theyd stand
decided to shoot each member as one single shader at render up to close scrutiny if necessary. Each seating
of the crowd at 100fps. They time, giving us control between
block had cards in front onto which the rendered
captured 80 people performing high frequency and low frequency
a range of movements from five displacement and making it look footage of the crowd was UV-mapped.
different angles, so the crowd more slimy or more bumpy. Tracking data from the 3D animation was
would feel alive and natural at all
times, says Beardall. We shot Take an octopus out of its usual imported into Flame so that all camera angles
them against greenscreen with a and moves matched perfectly. With the stadium
variety of props and lit them really environment, put it in a stadium built, lit, textured and populated inside Flame it
well so that we could pull keys
from the plates very quickly.
playing sports with people, and you could still be navigated interactively in 3D space
To recreate the live action set, have quite a challenge on your hands while keeping render times relatively low.
GPS used photogrammetry to Were running HP Z820 workstations
derive a 3D version of the location. _ Mark Beardall | Gramercy Park Studios configured by Autodesk specifically to run
Multiple photos were taken from
different viewpoints and stitched Rigging the octopus also proved Flame, says Francisco Lima. They have NVIDIA
together in ImageModeler to problematic, comments Beardall, Quadro K6000 GPUs that are extensively used
produce a 3D model of the requiring the development of a rig
by the Flame application and were fundamental
environment. This data was then that would provide the animators
brought into Maya, where our CG with a high level of flexibility. in being able to handle such a big scene inside
team was able to rebuild the set The rig continued to be refined Flames 3D environment. The system has 128GB
using basic geometry, including throughout the project based on of RAM and uses an NVIDIA SDI card to output
tables, nets and banners, with what the animators discovered
to a professional broadcast monitor.
the correct position of lights in along the way, he adds.
each shot. We then projected the The sequence was achieved
photos onto this geometry, which by mixing realistic octopus poses
was fundamental in achieving with specific motions used by
accurate reflections of the set on professional table tennis players.
the CG octopus. It was an amazing feat, claims
The hotshot cephalopod Beardall, but our animation team
was built and animated in Maya was able to bring the directors
and provided its own specific vision to life and create a unique
set of problems. This was set of moves that blended
probably one of the hardest tasks perfectly into the live action plates,
we had to do, says Beardall. giving the sense of reality required
Being such alien-like creatures, by the commercial.
everyone has their own idea of Crowd members were shot in HD, composited into
what an octopus looks and moves See a breakdown of This Is Play
FYI
groups and then mapped on to placards in Flame
like. Now take it out of its usual at vimeo.com/100983484.

COMMERCIALS
Animation in ads
This spot, called This Unpredictable

Life was created by Smith & Foulkes
for Wieden + Kennedy London in
2011 to advertise the Honda Jazz
FE AT U R E : A N I M AT I O N I N A D S
NEXUS PRODUCTIONS:
CREATIVE POWER HOUSE
Nexus Productions handles every style of animation you can imagine and relies
on HP Z-Series workstations to keep it all running like clockwork

The Honda Grrr ad by
Smith & Foulkes is an
infectious tale of bunnies,
birds and fish destroying
a procession of dirty,
fume-emitting machines
in an animated world. It
was named as the Ad of
the Decade by Adweek
(Wieden + Kennedy
London, 2004)
1 2
3 4
1-4. Depicting a pair of

hands assembling 22 of
Hondas all-time greatest
products, Smith & Foulkes
Hands spot for Channel
4 soon went viral, and has
clocked up over 13 million
YouTube views to date
B
oasting a diverse portfolio that spans PROFILE PROFILE
commercials, music videos, short films, JULIA PARFITT MARK DAVIES
movie trailers and more, Nexus Productions Parfitt is head of production Davies is CG supervisor
and one of the executive at Nexus. He moved from
has an overflowing awards cabinet that producers at Nexus, Toronto to London in 2003,
speaks volumes about the impeccably high standard of where she has contributed where he has also worked
to many high-profile at Realise Studio, Jim
its work across the board. campaigns and award- Hensons Creature Shop
winning projects. and Blue-Zoo.
Based in Shoreditch, London, the studio has scooped nexusproductions.com nexusproductions.com
multiple Grands Prix at Cannes; has won not one, but
two hugely coveted and rarely awarded D&AD Black
Pencils; and recently had one of the undisputed jewels
in its crown the delightfully infectious Honda Grrr
named as the Ad of the Decade by Adweek. PROFILE PROFILE
Heralding the release of the Japanese car firms ZION POOL DAVE WALKER
new, cleaner diesel engine back in 2004, Grrr was a Pool started his career as a A seasoned CG supervisor,
runner at Passion Pictures, Walker joined Nexus in
90-second visual treat in which bunnies, birds and fish before going freelance as 2012. He is tasked with
destroy a procession of dirty, fume-emitting machines an animator. After a stint at leading jobs from pitch
Sherbet, he joined Nexus as through to delivery and is
in an animated, rainbow-hued fantasy world to the development coordinator in involved in every aspect of
June 2013. pre- and post-production.
uplifting tune of Hate something, change something. nexusproductions.com nexusproductions.com
It was the work of Nexus dynamic directing duo
Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes, working with Hondas

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Animation in ads
1 2
3
Cheil Worldwide
1-3. Fx Goby worked with illustrator Malika Favre to create Samsung Free and Active, based on a brief from Cheil
Worldwide. It features 2D animation integrated into 3D environments
lead agency Wieden + Kennedy. Smith Smith & Foulkes inspiring showreel
& Foulkes describe the spot which would be enough to satisfy most
beyond being a centrepiece of Nexus agencies by itself, but the talented duo
portfolio, is widely considered to be are just one part of a stable of over
one of the greatest ads of all time as a 20 world-class directors on Nexus
mix between Chinese propaganda art, Productions books, all of whom with
Bollywood, golf courses and Liberace. their own distinctive style. It means the
In 2011 the duo joined forces with studio is capable of tackling almost any
Honda and W + K again for This conceivable animation challenge that
Unpredictable Life, which takes the its clients choose to throw at it. And its
viewer on a journey through a vibrant paid off, with a enviable client list that,
universe, brought to life with volumetric besides Honda and Coca-Cola, includes
lighting and magical particles. Samsung, the V&A museum, Bombay
And in summer 2013, yet another Sapphire, Vodafone and many more.
memorable Honda spot took an initial Our aim is to make
brief for a series of five-second stings work that hides the
to promote the brands sponsorship challenges behind the
of Channel 4s documentaries strand, beauty of the images, says
and expanded it into an engaging Nexus head of production Julia Parfitt.
two-minute promo depicting a pair of We try to work on projects that create a
hands assembling 22 of Hondas all-time buzz and are ultimately talked about.
Core skills overlap, but there is a breadth of

knowledge that enables the Nexus studio to
take on a wide variety of work
_ Zion Pool | Nexus Productions
greatest products. Hands soon went Equally as comfortable creating

viral, and has clocked up over 13 million polished 3D animation as it is with
YouTube views to date. blending live action with high-end
Also via W + K, Coca-Cola is another VFX, handling 2D, mixed-media or
regular Smith & Foulkes collaborator, a stop-motion projects, this in-demand
relationship that has spawned several of collective of animation directors is
its flagship Super Bowl spots. In 2007, held together by a central production
3D-animated spot Videogame turned team that provides all the artistic and
the familiar Grand Theft Auto concept technical support that each director
on its head as the criminal protagonist needs to execute their vision including
becomes the heart and soul of the a mixture of technical directors,
community after swigging a Coke; two animators, designers, coders and artists.
years later, Avatar composited various Our directors and leads
3D characters from other recognisable come from a variety of
games into live footage; and recently backgrounds, specialising
the 2014 spot Building populates a in different areas of 3D, 2D,
painstakingly constructed physical stop-frame and live action, explains
Nextdoors Imagination Distilled ad for Bombay Sapphire gin took over bus stops model of a building with CG characters, development coordinator Zion Pool.
and underground stations in London (Gravity Road, 2013) sharing meaningful personal moments. Core skills overlap, but there is a

breadth of knowledge that enables the
Nexus studio to take on a wide variety of
work. Its up to the supervisors to bring
together the right crew for the right job,
and manage them accordingly.
One of the directors towards the
high-end 3D end of the spectrum is Fx
Goby, who collaborated with Framestore
on sweepingly cinematic spot The Siege
for another of Coca-Colas Super Bowl
slots, this time in 2011, populating a
frosty Arctic tundra with a vast army of
fire creatures and a monstrous dragon
as they assault a stronghold defended by
peaceful ice creatures.
More recently, Fx Goby translated
illustrator Sanna Annukas distinctive
folklore-inspired characters into a 3D
animated world for Vodafone, entitled Stills from Smith & Foulkes 2014 spot for
Surprise which used an evocative TalkTalk entitled The Mission (CHI & Partners)
filmic treatment to give the impression
that the wooden Swedish Dala horses
were being shot in a studio rather than
being entirely CG rendered.
The brief for the E xpect the unexpecte d
characters was that they
should look like painted How planning ahead helps Nexus Productions keep things on track
porcelain Christmas
ornaments, explains CG supervisor
for even the most complex of projects
Mark Davies. The challenge here
was to keep this ornamental look, but One of Nexus biggest ongoing Creating hair and fur is about Unforeseen hitches can easily
have organic motion in the characters
technical hurdles will be familiar to understanding where the strengths derail a projects timescale and
bodies and faces. Our head of pipeline
and rigging, Pete Addington, set up a any CG pro: creating realistic hair and and limitations of the software lie, budget, and for Nexus its about
face rig where an artists painted facial fur for its animated creatures, such observes head of production Julia planning for any eventuality. We
expressions could be keyframed and
as those featured in TalkTalks 2014 Parfitt. We dont have limitless try our hardest to avoid unexpected
moved around the face, while staying
integrated into the body painting. spot The Mission. Directed by Smith hardware capacity, so its about technical hurdles, adds Parfitt.
& Foulkes, the ad sees a doll and a figuring out how far we can push Each and every job brings new
HUGE CHALLENGES pair of bunny slippers join a robot, settings and strand counts to achieve technical challenges, and as a studio
In the case of Fx Gobys Free And
Active spot for Samsung in which a ceramic dog and a gnome on a the results we want. Different types our job is to firstly identify these
he worked with another renowned journey through the neighbourhood, and lengths of fur, hair and feathers all challenges, and then plan workflows
illustrator, Malika Favre the challenge ending in front of the TV. need slightly different approaches. to overcome them.
was a little more unusual. In this
case, Nexus needed to make a 3D
environment feel two-dimensional:
These commercials were a combination
of flat 2D animation integrated into 3D up into two halves as all the various
environments that were rendered to look elements had moving parts, and it was
and feel flat as well, with a photoreal incredibly detailed.
element of the Galaxy Gear watch, At the other end of the scale,
continues Davies. Irish-born Johnny Kelly is a master of
The challenge on this project was stop-frame and 2D animation, scooping
that it was intended for five bespoke two Cannes Grand Prix awards for
outdoor screens around the world, each Back to the Start, his two-minute film
of which was a different aspect ratio. about the virtues of sustainable farming
Some were very tall, and others equally for Chipotle which also pulled in the
wide. We picked the most average of the talents of Willie Nelson and Coldplay.
ratios, which happened to be Londons Here, explains Mark Davies, the
Piccadilly Circus, and worked to that studio was tasked with applying its high-
master size, keeping all essential action end 3D expertise to a more low-fi stop-
within a tight, safe action area within In 2012, Fx Goby translated frame aesthetic. The biggest challenge
the centre of the composition. Nextdoors Bombay Sapphire project illustrator Sanna Annukas distinctive was creating a blueprint for a massive
Nexus also harbours larger directing began as a relatively straightforward folklore-inspired characters into a stop-frame shoot, he explains. In 3ds
teams, such as Nextdoor and Factory out-of-home brief for digital screens on 3D animated world for Vodafone, Max, the Nexus team built a virtual
Fifteen. The former works across both bus stops, but expanded into what CG entitled Surprise (Grey London) version of the entire set: the camera rig,
2D and 3D for clients such as Prudential supervisor Dave Walker the camera, and every character, prop
and Bombay Sapphire, while the latter calls a digital underground and environment element.
co-founded by Kibwe Tavares, Jonathan takeover of Oxford Street. This meticulously crafted 3D
Gales and Paul Nicholls combines We also needed to create environment was then sent to the model
skills in architecture, 3D, animation and a print campaign at 12K resolution, makers sometimes as design layout
photography for the likes of Samsung, Walker recalls. This was an enormous plans, sometimes as 3D geometry to be
Channel 4 and D&AD. task, and we had to break the illustration printed, says Davies as well as camera

COMMERCIALS
Animation in ads
1-3. Fx Goby collaborated

2 3
with Framestore on this
cinematic spot called
The Siege for one of
Coca-Colas Super Bowl
spots. A frosty Arctic tundra
features an army of fire
creatures and a monstrous
dragon as they assault a
stronghold defended by
peaceful ice creatures
(Wieden + Kennedy
Portland, 2011)
We obviously have to consider the specifications of as its stylistic repertoire, ranging from Support is another key
our hardware, ensuring that its of a standard capable of practical considerations such as building consideration: having the ability to
huge handcrafted model sets, to much quickly and efficiently replace failed
producing the work required more technical hurdles such as the hardware enables us to mitigate any
_ Zion Pool | Nexus Productions demands of high-end CG animation, 3D downtime we might experience. And
printing, interactive generative graphics cost is always a factor too, of course.
operators, riggers, gaffers, and stop- and complex VFX choreography. Getting the highest-quality product
frame animators. This became a very Clearly such a diverse, resource- for a reasonable cost is essential.
literal plan for the three-week shoot heavy production pipeline is guaranteed The final purchasing choice is only
which informed every frame, he adds. to ask questions of even the most made after extensive research and
Nexus is capable of handling the full advanced technical setup, and for Zion discussions with animators, vendors
package when producing a commercial, Pool it comes down to providing the ideal and other studios a process that helps
including script writing, concept art, infrastructure to enable the directors guarantee that the right boxes are
character design, pre-viz, 3D animation, to keep raising the very high bar that ticked at every stage. Various factors
stop frame, 2D animation, compositing, the studio has set for itself. In short, for will always be taken into consideration,
CG effects, motion graphics and Nexus to function effectively, the right but the decision is made by the VFX
more. It also has the capacity to hardware is absolutely crucial. supervisors and studio IT once a
develop interactive components for its Pool outlines the three key factors shortlist is determined, he says.
campaigns in-house, with filmmakers that informed the teams choices
sitting next to coders in a pioneering, in this respect: First and foremost HARDWARE TO THE LIMITS
fully integrated production approach. we obviously have to consider the To meet its considerable needs, Nexus
Over the years, the many challenges specifications of our hardware, ensuring has kitted out its 110-seat studio with
that the studio has had to face and that its of a standard capable of a suite of HP Z-Series workstations,
overcome have been every bit as varied producing the work required, he begins. including Z600s and 800s as well as

Seasoned Nexus Productions stop-motion animator Johnny Kelly scooped two
Cannes Grand Prix awards for Back to the Start, his two-minute film about the
virtues of sustainable farming for Chipotle (CAA, 2014)
1
620s and 420s equipped with powerful is compiled into a database so that all characters with live action, and working
GPUs to match, including the NVIDIA artists can search for tools based on in CG with complex dynamics.
Quadro K4000. Different workstations metadata rather than the name, he The demand for high-end, realistic
are optimised to cater to the technical reveals. This framework means that renders has meant that our average
demands of any given project, with we can easily adjust the pipeline to frame time has increased hugely in
different specifications suited to incorporate the extra toolsets necessary recent years, she says, so we have
handling different creative disciplines. for different types of jobs. invested in expanding our render
Our current standard machine As Pool explains, sharing this capacity. Our studio machines function
2
is an HP Z420 with a six-core Xeon database between all of Nexus various as render nodes giving us extra render
processor, 16GB of RAM and a Quadro production teams provides a central power, as well as other options like
K2000 GPU, reveals Pool. Adding more staging area in which core tools can off-site rendering. Consistently testing
RAM, higher-quality GPUs and SSDs be tested for their suitability across all the limits of its hardware setup, Nexus
for our high-end CG work really enables of the studios jobs. Although the main works to a three-year upgrade cycle on
artists to push the limits of what Nexus pipeline is locked down, we have the average to stay ahead of the curve.
Productions can produce. flexibility for individual users to build As a studio at the top of its game in
At the most extreme end of the their own script base, he says. the animation world, Nexus is often
3
spectrum, the studios dedicated grading We also track reliability and usage, approached by ad agencies to enhance
workstation runs DaVinci Resolve on so that we can work out if a project tool an idea and to bring its unique take to
a Z800 with triple SSDs in RAID 0 is flexible enough to be migrated into the project.
configuration, with two NVIDIA GPUs. the full production pipeline. One such So what does the future hold? Parfitt
Nexus also makes use of various example is V-Rays distributed rendering comments that the fast-developing
HP ProLiant servers as dedicated render functionality, which is now used to aesthetic of hyperrealism is of particular
nodes, including ProLiant DL360 G5s harness any idle workstations and interest to the studio at present, and that
and ProLiant DL380 G7s. Having a render node cores to speed up the as expectations grow and capabilities
single vendor for our workstations, 1-3. Factory Fifteens stunning work for studios overall workflow. increase, so too will the challenges that
servers and GPUs makes administration D&AD, entitled I Wish Id Done That According to head of production and its hardware will need to tackle.
and support much easier, as we can (Wieden + Kennedy, 2013) executive producer Julia Parfitt, three The team also plans to develop its
standardise many aspects of our recent campaigns in particular have 2D pipeline from a technical level, to
workflow, he adds. really put Nexus impressive technical help develop an even more integrated
According to Pool, keeping setup through its paces: The Mission for production system across various
everything running as efficiently as TalkTalk, directed by Smith & Foulkes; platforms. We are even developing an
possible for the studio is about finding Free and Active for Samsung, directed interactive storybook, says Parfitt.
the right sweet spot between the by Fx Goby; and finally BubbleWitch for We enjoy pushing the boundaries of
hardware setup and its integration games firm King, also by Fx Goby. what can be done.
with the all-important software that These three client briefs all
facilitates the creative process. threw up very different creative and See more of Nexus Productions
We have developed a multi-tiered technical challenges, including creating FYI stunning animated work at
production pipeline, where everything hyperrealistic animals, blending www.nexusproductions.com.

CLOSING CREDITS
Contributors
C L O S I N G C R E D I T S
HP and NVIDIA would like to thank the following industry luminaries for their time and
effort in helping us to create this publication
FI R S T A C T ( FI L M )
Whiskeytree Jonathan Harb, Votch Levi Double Negative Paul Franklin, Dave Freeman Pixar Dirk Van Gelder, Bill Watral Blizzard Entertainment David Luong
Framestore Damien Mace, Kyle McCulloch, Stuart Penn, Steve MacPherson, Martin Preston Technicolor Mike Sowa HP Josh Peterson The Mill Harry Skopas
Rhythm & Hues Jason Bayever NVIDIA Will Wade MPC Damien Fagnou Autodesk David Morin Crytek Cevat Yerli CNCPT John Griffith
Independent creatives Alp Altiner, David Cole, Dylan Cole, Charles Darby, Dave Early, Lubo Hristov, Robert Junggeburt
S E C O N D A C T (B R O A DC A S T )
BBC Ian Finch Vizrt Gerhard Lang, Petter Ole Jakobsen ENS Rebecca Hopkins NVIDIA Andrew Page Alston Elliot Oliver Pearson
Elemental Technologies Keith Wymbs Milk Murray Barber, Will Cohen, Dave Goodbourn, Benoit Leveau StaticJoe Studio Brian Jouan Adobe Niels Stevens
My Little Eye Jonathan Walton Jonathan Bird Productions Jonathan Bird Independent creatives Devin Graham, Rob Legato, Mark Russell
T H I R D A C T ( C O M M E R C I A L S)
MPC Marc Brewster, Fabian Frank, Victoria Osborn, Stu Schwartz Mainframe Adam Jenns ManvsMachine Simon Holmedal The Mill Vince Baertsoen, Nicolas Couret-Chailloux
CC Media Nikolas Reigel JWT London David Masterman Glassworks Will Isaac, Duncan Malcolm Gramercy Park Studios Mark Beardall, Francisco Lima Agent BOB John Fox
Studio 37 Gary Adcock Nexus Productions Mark Davies, Julia Parfitt, Zion Pool, Dave Walker Independent creatives John-Paul Harney, Allan McKay
B E HIN D THE S CE N E S (W I T H O UT W H O M T H I S PUB L I C AT I O N W O UL DN ' T B E P OSSI B L E )
HP Cesare Zavalloni, Delphine Simiand, Josh Peterson NVIDIA Eric Charriot, Alex Micallef, Jens Neuschaefer, Andrew Page Warner Bros Chris Sharp, Sophie Scott 3D World magazine Kulsoom Middleton
S UPPO RT I N G C A S T ( W R I T E R S )
Cover image 2014 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.
Nick Carson, Sophie Charara, Maya Emilie Enevoldsen, Mike Griggs, Kerrie Hughes, Rebecca-Louise Leybourne, Sammy Maine, Tom May,
Jamie Middleton, Adrian Pennington, Andy Price, Mark Ramshaw, Julia Sagar, Andy Stout
EDIT ORIAL S E NIO R C RE AT I V E S PR I N T & PR O DUC T I O N
EDITOR Rob Carney GROUP EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, CREATIVE & DESIGN Dan Oliver PRODUCTION AND PROCUREMENT MANAGER Matthew Eglinton
ASSOCIATE EDITORS Steve Jarratt, Jim Thacker GROUP ART DIRECTOR, CREATIVE & DESIGN Rodney Dive matthew.eglinton@futurenet.com
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Rob Redman
SUB-EDITORS William Salmon, Matthew Bolton, Tom May P RO J E C T M A N A G E M E N T FUT UR E PUB L I S H I N G L I MI T E D

ART DIRECTOR Paul Tysall
HEAD OF CONTENT DELIVERY Cassie Whittell HEAD OF CONTENT & MARKETING, PHOTOGRAPHY,
DESIGNER Sam Freeman
SENIOR ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER Steve Hulbert CREATIVE & DESIGN Matthew Pierce
PICTURE EDITORS Sarah Gerrard-Jones, Amy Hasley
CLIENT SERVICES DIRECTOR Fiona McDaniel CONTENT & MARKETING DIRECTOR Nial Ferguson
CHIEF EXECUTIVE Zillah Byng-Maddick
DESIGN AND ART DIRECTION BY
HP and NVIDIA present Computer Graphics Masters is an HP/NVIDIA/Future publication

and was printed in the UK by William Gibbons. email: tysall@sky.com
Future is an award-winning international media group and leading digital Future plc is a public Chief executive Zillah Byng-Maddick
business. We reach more than 49 million international consumers a month company quoted on the Non-executive chairman Peter Allen
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and create world-class content and advertising solutions for passionate (symbol: FUTR). Tel +44 (0) 207 042 4000 (London)
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MMXIV Future Publishing/HP/NVIDIA. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited [company number 2008885] is registered in England and Wales. The registered office of
Future Publishing Limited is at Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All information contained in this magazine is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies
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P R E S E N T
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technology enables creative
professionals to work faster,
meet deadlines and achieve
their ambitious visions.
In this limited edition book, HP

and NVIDIA present a showcase
of leading studios and how they
are pushing the boundaries in
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P R E S E N T

FILM BROADCAST COMMERCIALS

4 Computer Graphics Masters

6 Computer Graphics Masters

Gravity was the

How much does

VFX: THE BIGGEST

8 Computer Graphics Masters

2010 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

2013 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

10 Computer Graphics Masters

Powering the VF X industr y

12 Computer Graphics Masters

14 Computer Graphics Masters

Ukus mouth consists of many

If we didnt have fast

transparency, based on the

The Presto viewer can show how deep the

A key development of Presto was the baking of procedural

16 Computer Graphics Masters

infrastructure around imaging is a

Watch Dirk Van Geldars

PAINTING FILM WORLDS

18 Computer Graphics Masters

We talked to four leading digital In future, I think we will see 2D

20 Computer Graphics Masters

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Modern VFX often blends matte painting

22 Computer Graphics Masters

perspective. If youre unsure about

Dave Early www.davidearly.co.uk | Lubo Hristov www.christovfx.com | Damien Mace damienmace.blogspot.com

24 Computer Graphics Masters

Framestore built more than 2,200 models for

Gravity a number more like a CG animated film

than a visual effects-heavy title. From incredibly

detailed interiors for the International Space

Station to props for the space shuttles, most of

the models were later destroyed too. Far from

generic space design language, familiar and

iconic sets had to be made photo-real.

The biggest asset build, the ISS, was a

100-million-polygon model, made possible by

rendering in Arnold, which is fast at raytracing

polygons. Cuarn was involved in moving virtual

props like space station posters and changing

colours in individual modules. In collaboration

with Cuarn, Framestore built everything that

physical set builders would create and fine-tune.

Framestores Light Box

PROFILE PROFILE PROFILE

26 Computer Graphics Masters

COLOUR MATTERS: BEHIND

rest of the film which is extremely bright

The sk y s the limit with NVI DIA

28 Computer Graphics Masters

2013 Universal Pictures

APPROACH SKY SCRAPER

Working around Sony c ameras

There are a lot of saturated colours in some of the

workflows are essential and, as

ever, the technology isnt standing

still. NVIDIA is speeding up the

graphics, including 30-bit colour,