3D World

FEATURE

Into Battle

FEATURE

Into Battle

Based on

nanotechnology

the Black Panther

suit creates itself

from the necklace

that T’Challa wears

around his neck

The suits of Black Panther and
Killmonger were built by Method
Studios and shared with the key
vendors. “They did shoot the Black
Panther suit with the new design
on set but it had to be replaced
because of wear and tear,” remarks
Brown. “Some design components
changed as well.”
The nanotechnology
transformation effect was created
within Houdini with the primary
directive being to follow the design
patterns in the suit. “The suit
creates itself from the necklace
that T’Challa wears around his
neck,” states Brown. “Every time
Black Panther gets hit energy is
absorbed into the suit. You see all
of this purple energy from every
impact of a spear, bullet or sword;
he can then release that energy
as a big spherical pulse.” A silver
suit was also worn underneath the
costume which shows through,
allowing for muscle definition.
For the third-act battle an
effort was made to correct one
master rather than art direct per
shot. “We had different levels
of detail because we had high,
wide aerial shots and also had
super close-ups with plate in the
foreground and rhinos running
toward us,” remarks Brown. “We
got down to the grass and shrub-
level detail in some shots which

required tweaks.” The big rethink

came later on when the decision

was made to amplify the fighting.

“We had to triple the amount of

characters on the battlefield and

introduce another two rhinos.”

The background confrontations

consisted of crowd simulations

while fight vignettes were put

together by the animators for the

midground. “We asked for a bunch

of b-roll footage and animators

used it as a guideline, because

each tribe had a different style of

fighting that was all worked out by

the stunt team,” states Perry. “It

was generally broken up between

what was happening before Black

Panther tackles Killmonger and

what happens afterwards.”

Taking part in the battle are

the protectors of Wakanda known

as the Border Tribe, which uses

super-strong blankets made

out of vibranium threads that

can generate holograms. Every

Border Tribesman is given a baby

rhino and grows up with them.

“W’Kabi’s rhino is a big one,” notes

Perry. “Then there’s a couple of