3D WorlD June 2018 30 http://www.youtube.com/3dworldFeature
Star Trek: Discovery
Top: Michael
Burnham examines
a Tardigrade, which
was the result of
scientific research
combined with a
cool lookPixomondo handled 1,700 VFX
shots, with the Toronto facility
responsible for 90 per cent of the
work while Los Angeles produced
the previs, Frankfurt assisted with
creatures, and additional support
was provided by Stuttgart; the
main vendor collaborated alongside
Crafty Apes, Ghost VFX and Spin
VFX. “We had to share our Nuke
scripts with other companies so
had to be careful not to use a lot of
our in-house proprietary tools,”
states Pixomondo VFX supervisor
Mahmoud Rahnama. “Our main
3D package is Maya but for heavy
effects stuff we used Houdini, for
compositing Nuke and rendering
V-Ray.” Shotgun projects were
directly linked between Pixomondo
and the client. “Jason could see
the status of the shots as we were
working on them and give notes
right away.”
Previs was essential in planning
shots. “When we have full CG shots
there is no other way to articulate,”
notes Zimmerman. “You need to
give the editors, producers and
directors something to look at and
say, ‘That doesn’t work.’ Even in
cases where there are practical
elements previs is done in advance,
so on the day you know what will
be shot and how it’s going to be
accomplished.” Optimising the
workflow was critical in being
able to accommodate last-minute
episode script rewrites or client
notes. “We would quickly model
something in low resolution and
push it through the pipeline, so
at least the director could see the
whole space battle with proxy low-
resolution geometry and the editors
could work with what we had,”
states Rahnama. “It was constantly
updated by each department so
every week you would see the shot
in a better state.”
“With the Discovery being the
namesake of the show, you know
that needs to be a hero model,”
observes Zimmerman. “With the
entire fleet you look at it with an
eye to what is this asset going to
do, how long is it going to be on
camera, and how close are we going
to be to it? You have to take into
consideration what the story points
are and then build to that. That
being said, you have to be proactive
and make sure that the model is
ready in case somebody says, ‘Let’s
get closer.’ If something is going
to break apart or articulate then
you have to do that in advance in
order to properly rig the asset to do
what it is supposed to do.” Interior
sets were built of the signature
Federation starship. “The bridge
of the Discovery is what you see,”
marvels Rahnama. “Even the
Sarcophagus set is massive and
beautifully done. Like with any
other set we had to extend hallways
and ceilings. We did have a digital
version of the bridge in case of
needing to fly in and out. The
Discovery model took a few months
to build because we had to make
sure every door and hatch worked.”
“As for the world building it
goes back to the legacy of Star
Trek, doing a lot of research,
working with the art department,
and integrating things based on
the lighting in the footage,” notes
Zimmerman. “You always start
from, ‘What is the story? How long
are we going to be there? What are
we going to see? What is the scope
of the shots?’ A lot of that involves
working with the executive
producers, the director, and every
department to understand what
the requirements are. You want to
start building worlds and assets
concurrently so when you’re
putting it into shots you’re not
finding what the look is still.”
Conceptualising and executing
the various alien species was
Alchemy Studios, with CEO Glenn
Hetrick overseeing the prosthetic
and special effects make-up
department, and his business
partner Neville Page serving as thelead creature designer. “There’s a
fine line with freshening something
up and not being offensive,” states
Page. “My attempt is to always push
things further because it’s easier
to rein stuff back afterwards.” Star
Trek: Discovery was not the first
time encountering Klingons for the
conceptual artist who previously
worked on Star Trek, Star Trek Into
Darkness and Star Trek Beyond.
“It gave me the opportunity to
be ready in terms of research.” A
new workflow was born from Page
being transformed into a horned
demon as part of a research and
development project with Hetrick,
to figure out how to take ZBrush
into 3D printing into make-up and
the steps required.“The Discovery moDel Took a few
monThs To builD because we haD To
make sure every Door anD haTch workeD”
Mahmoud Rahnama, VFX supervisor, Pixomondo
3D WorlD June 2018 30 http://www.youtube.com/3dworldFeature
star Trek: Discovery