Archive notice: This article was originally published on August 4, 2017. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Blockbuster making-ofs, software tips and tricks and a lot of fun await you at this year’s animago CONFERENCE on September 7 and 8 at Munich’s Gasteig. Among other things, we have talks on “Wonder Woman”, “Guardians of the Galaxy 2”, “Power Rangers”, “Piper”, “Atomic Blonde” and “Pirates of the Caribbean 5”. There will also be numerous talks about creating VR content as well as software workshops on Cinema 4D, Media Composer, Maya and CityEngine, among others.
CONFERENCE Day 1
Making-of “Atomic Blonde”/Chimney Group
On the first day, before the lunch break, Chimney’s talk on “Atomic Blonde” will take place. In the film, which is currently in cinemas, Charlize Theron, as top agent Lorraine Broughton, must obtain information of the highest importance in divided 1980s Berlin. Extensive set extensions were needed to bring back the days of the Berlin Wall. Studio Chimney worked on a full-CG drone shot of Berlin’s Alexanderplatz at the time the Wall fell. The team used a CG crowd and transformed the original plate, which had been filmed in Budapest, into Berlin in 1989. Head of Arts & Entertainment Sebastian Leutner and Digital Effects Artist Radoslaw Jamrog will show how these effects were created using Maya, Modo, V-Ray, Nuke and the Golaem plug-in.
“Simon’s Cat” in 360°
The popular animated comedy series “Simon’s Cat” now has 891 million views and 4.4 million international subscribers. It was invented by award-winning illustrator Simon Tofield. At the CONFERENCE on Thursday morning, Assistant Art Director Liza Nechaeva will present how a 360° video for “Simon’s Cat” is made, going through the entire process from design to release on YouTube and presenting the technologies required. She also knows the reasons for the continuing success of “Simon’s Cat”, and will reveal these to animago visitors as well.
Epic Water Effects for “Pirates of the Caribbean 5”
Of course, “Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Men Tell No Tales” needed a great deal of CG sea. MPC created epic ship battles, Captain Salazar and his crew, ghost sharks and many different environments for the extremely VFX-heavy film project. In total, the team, spread across London, Montreal and Bangalore, worked on around 1,200 shots for the film. Due to the number and range of tasks involved, MPC’s RnD team had to develop new tools for water, clothing and hair simulation. In his talk on “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” on the first CONFERENCE day, Igor Jaovanovic will focus specifically on creating the water effects and provide many tips on simulating liquid CG masses.
Marvel Space Heroes, the Second
For “Guardians of the Galaxy 2”, Rocket Raccoon returned to the Framestore pipeline – naturally not without his adorable sidekick Baby Groot. Framestore delivered a total of 620 shots for the film, with creature work, spaceships, a wild space chase and the title sequence featuring Baby Groot’s opening dance among the team’s tasks. According to director James Gunn’s brief, this was to be the “best in the world”. He himself supplied the choreography and, via motion capture, the mini-tree’s dance movements.
CONFERENCE Day 2
VFX from “Wonder Woman”/Pixomondo
On the second day of the CONFERENCE, Senior Visual Effects Producer Jan Fiedler will show how the visual effects for the DC blockbuster were created. The Pixomondo team created huge set extensions as well as massive destruction scenes to take the audience back to the time of the First World War. Incidentally, Pixomondo is also nominated for an animago AWARD this year in the “Best Visual Effects” category (“Unleashing the Dragons”/Game of Thrones Season 6) and can hope to win a trophy at the awards ceremony on September 7.
Making-of “Shine”
animago nominee “Shine” (“Best Character” category) was created at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. The two creators, Alexander Dietrich and Johannes Flick, will explain on the second conference day how the charming glowing CG monkeys were brought to life with Maxon’s Cinema 4D.
“Piper” Making-of
On the final day, Pixar will also be our guest. DoP Erik Smitt has more than 17 years of experience at Pixar Animation Studios and will show in his talk how RenderMan’s new features took the team’s work to a completely new level in photorealism. RIS technology made it possible for the team to no longer have to work with one lighting rig per character in order to give the shot a consistent look. “Piper” received the Oscar in the “Best Short (animated)” category this year.
Speakers from Weta Digital, Rise | Visual Effects Studios, Trixter, Luxx Studios and Aixsponza are also expected. The CONFERENCE overview, which we are adding to successively, can be found here.
So: Will we see you in Munich on September 7 and 8? Early-bird tickets for the animago conference, which also include admission to the AWARD show and access to the exhibition, are available here.
