Industrial Light & Magic: The Avengers

I have already looked at the showreel of a single VFX artist. Through my brief 'Hulk' study I found this stunning breakdown of some of the shots within 'The Avengers' movie. How this contrasts with Mark Fry's VFX reel, is that this was produced by an industry leading team of artists. What surprised me the most about the footage, was how little of the large environments was fully computer generated, and the scale of these virtual environments. Everything from the huge skyscrapers in the City sequence to the cars on the road. It is also mind blowing to see green screen footage dropped into to huge set extensions. Everything flows so seamlessly.

'ILM' have also been responding to quesions on the comments feed of the Youtube video. Oscar Rivers Pomas asked the question: 'how many hard drive space needed for these fx?' The answer was: 'About 202Tb at any given time.' Obviously these specs are way beyond anything us students have access to.

It is interesting to compare the work of a professional team to my own work. The scale of the project far exceeds anything I could hope to produce at any level alone. This is something I must keep in mind however when studying cinema quality VFX. There is a collaborative team of experienced artists working on a high budget, making for breathtaking results.

The Avengers: Hulk Special Effects

Link to video

I was really interested by the processes that went into producing the hulk. Firstly, we see placeholders, for example, when Thor resists behind crushed by one of Hulk's huge hands. This provides actors with something physical to interact with. We also see motion capture markers on the puppeteer of the Hulk props, which I imagine will allow animators to track the movements and accurately animate the CG Hulk. Again it's interesting to see this bridge between physical and CG elements.

I was also really interested by the render passes and simulation layers that were used to really make the Hulk feel real and organic. The VFX artists talks of a muscle and bone structure beneath the Hulk's skin that preserves volume, and dynamics that cause the muscles to jiggle and shake. I found the most surprising pass to be the cloth simulation, which is actually used for the Hulk's skin. This tool usually applied to shirts and other clothing, is said to create a nice wrinkling effect. I feel that this really demonstrates creative problem solving, something that I have had to consider on some level throughout my project. It is inspiring to see how a leading VFX company (Industrial Light & Magic) use simulation layers to create the illusion of realism.