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January 2010

Pixomondo Public Art

Pixomondo, a global visual effects company, has launched Public Art.  Public Art is a digital production studio focusing on commercial production for clients around the world.  Public Art will be headed in the US by industry creative veteran Jonathan Keeton, working with his partners in the worldwide studios. The US studio will be based in a new 9500 square foot office complex in Santa Monica, California.

Keeton and Pixomondo founder Thilo Kuther, developed Public Art to create a complete a one stop commercial production entity with extraordinary digital knowledge and history of performance within the worldwide Pixomondo network.

“The goal of Public Art”, states Keeton, “is to offer our clients in the US every service including concept, design, live action shooting, direction, pre-vis, visual effects supervision, CGI and other digital visual effects tools, through editorial.  Basically, we can do the spot from start to finish controlling the creative pipeline and the technology to support it.  In today′s digital world this saves time and money while enhancing the process”.

In the short time that they have been in existence, Public Art in the US has already completed three commercials, including one for BBDO Moscow and client Megafon directed by Steve Beck for which Public Art brought in Academy Award ® winning visual effects supervisor Mark Stetson, and a spot produced for Plum New York for the US Census Bureau directed by Miles Goodall.

Simultaneous to the launch of Public Art in the US, specialized teams have been set up in the existing European and Chinese Pixomondo offices to address the needs of commercial clients at the highest level.  Pixomondo Europe and China have a long history of successful work with clients such as Porsche, Volkswagen, Chevrolet, Danone, Dr. Oetker and many more.

Public Art has great flexibility in that it carries in house several teams of artists who can be mixed and matched to best suit the client′s creative needs while also permitting a tight group of freelance artists to participate subject to the projects at hand.

“The emphasis of Public Art is on concept and pitch exploration supported by a collaboration of filmmakers, designers and visual effects artists who can develop a creative and coherent vision every time we step in a client′s office.  We want to be smart about every step of the process through Public Art′s multidiscipline staff around the world.  The sun truly never sets for our clients and our ability to get the job done,” says Kuther.

Public Art has full access to Pixomondo′s feature effects teams in Berlin, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Munich, London, Shanghai, Beijing, and Santa Monica with further expansion on the horizon. The two studios exist together and share expertise and resources, which maximizes the power of the studio while keeping overhead low. 

Production for commercials is becoming more global just like the film business.  Public Art will rely on Pixomondo′s global footprint and its feature film visual effects experience with 2012, The Red Baron, Hindenburg, Ninja Assassin, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Suckerpunch and other feature work to enhance its creative and production capabilities.

“If you want to provide commercial clients with the best work in a cost conscious global marketplace, this is the way it must be done”, states Kuther.  “Pixomondo is thrilled to add a creative visionary with his track record from Radium like Jonathan Keeton to Public Art.  We are already ahead of our projected growth plan thanks the efforts of Jonathan and the deep talent pool at the studios around the world.”


Digital Media World:

VFX Previsualization for 2012

By Adriene Hurst | February 2010 Issue 

The realism of the destruction of the world in ‘2012′ may largely be due to the detailed previsualization Pixomondo completed for director Roland Emmerich and the visual effects team, headed by Volker Engel and Marc Weigert.

Pixomondo′s work on the film started with the previsualization of the destruction of St Peters Square. The first passes of their previs of the scene were shown to VFX Supervisors and co-producers, Volker and Marc. After their initial comments had been addressed, the passes were shown to Roland. 

“Our first priority in the previsualization was to lock down the staging of the storytelling elements, the timing, the framing, and anything relevant for the edit of the sequence,” said Rainer Gombos, VFX Supervisor at Pixomondo. “It was our goal to deliver working sequences to the filmmakers rather than individual shots. 

“The St Peters Square sequence had been storyboarded for us, and most of the more extensive sequences that we later worked on either had storyboards prepared or were already partially pre-visualised by other vendors. We were asked to address outstanding comments on these and to enhance the animation and look of the shots. But on some sequences we were free to suggest completely new shots.”

When Rainer and his team started working on the approximately 200 shots of the third act, the sequence was not fully storyboarded yet and they had to rely on the script as a starting point. Roland was already shooting in Vancouver at the time. “I flew to Vancouver for a few meetings and we worked out the remaining shots. He is artistic and was able to sketch out many of the remaining shots for us. Nevertheless, we also hired a storyboard artist to support our pre-visualization team in LA.”

Pixomondo′s scope of work grew and developed a great deal as the project got underway. Originally, they worked on two previsualization sequences. “Then for one of the sequences, we were asked to produce finished VFX shots. We delivered around 100 final composites of full CG environments, with the Antonov cargo plane crash landing in the Himalayas and the full CG shots of helicopters transporting animals,” said Rainer.

Three VFX-heavy sequences were added to the original work assignment for pre-visualisation as well - the Los Angeles limousine sequence, the Los Angeles plane sequence, the destruction of the Washington Monument and most of the third act, including all the ark boarding scenes and the scenes with the arks in the tidal wave up to when the ark is passing Mount Everest.

For their shot production, they were working with a beta version of thinking particles. “For our CG FX department in Berlin, it was an enormously helpful tool when working on the complex CG destruction simulation. One of the most challenging shots was when the Antonov transport plane tips over at the edge of a glacier cliff. The camera is held close on the plane and the cliff, and the shot is 100% CG,” Rainer explained. 

“The technical challenge was the multi-level breaking of large ice chunks into smaller and smaller pieces. All this integrated with fluid systems for smoke and icy water spray, as well as an avalanche of ice with larger chunks sliding down and disintegrating in a flood of small pieces. But the shot production did not produce major surprises, as the pre-visualisation was solid. There are always changes in post production but they weren′t excessive in this case.”

Pixomondo′s regular previsualization pipeline is based on 3D Studio Max as their set-up and lighting tool, and V-Ray is used as their standard renderer. “On ‘2012′, the transition of focus from pre-visualization to post-visualization, to layout animation and then to final shot production was fluid, as we could stay with Max and V-Ray. After Effects was used for pre-visualization compositing, but for final shot production our compositing department used Nuke.

“Several Pixomondo Studios contributed to the work on ‘2012′. In our LA studio, around 40 artists worked on pre-visualization, animation, lighting and compositing. Artists working in our studio in Stuttgart contributed the Antonov textures. A team in our Frankfurt Office worked on the animals. And our CG FX team in the Berlin office, together with their compositing department, worked on the most challenging simulation shots,” Rainer said.

From May through October 2008, around 80 artists were involved overall in the production of the approximately 700 pre-visualization and 100 VFX shots. Rainer′s team included lead animator Paul Dennis Taylor, visual effects lead Mohsen Mousavi, visual effects producer Steve Kullback and visual effects executive producer Thilo Kuther.  They were working on previsualization for five months, and their final shot production assignment lasted another six months.

VFX previsualization is, in fact, one of Pixomondo's specialties, and they have established an effective approach to such projects. “In general, we want to deliver to the client advanced camera moves and animation. The sets might be scarcely decorated at times but the camera moves and the edit need to be working,” said Rainer. “The difference on ‘2012′ was that we went further in visualising CG FX elements - destruction, fire, smoke - and also delivered first lighting and matte painting passes. Many assets, models and simulations had to be produced. 

“To pre-visualise the destruction of LA by the massive earthquake, we created an ‘earthquake engine′ that would slice and deform the surface depending on the amount of destruction the director asked for. We also created sets of pre-simulated house destructions that could be placed and timed according to the needs of a particular shot.” All these tools had to allow for fast iterations so they could try out and suggest alternative camera angles within the tight previsualization schedule.

They aimed to design each shot to allow the viewer to understand it, and used whatever technique seemed the most appropriate. For example, if a car is sliding through a snow cloud at night, the headlights in the snow become an important storytelling element. Rainer said, “Every shot has a purpose and it needs to be clear, even in the pre-visualization, what the shot is about. One of the goals of the pre-visualization is to eliminate costly shots that are not needed to tell the story.”

To a large degree, Pixomondo′s previsualization designs were successfully translated into layouts and used in the finished film. The sequences of the limousine driving through Los Angeles, the one with the plane taking off, then dodging collapsing skyscrapers and their completed CG sequence showing the Antonov cargo plane attempting to crash land in the Himalayas, did not change significantly in final shot production. Rainer believes that the reason many shots followed the previsualization so closely was that the director and the editorial department worked extensively with the team during their design. 

“Fortunately, Roland Emmerich understands previsualization,” explained Rainer, “and in most cases if he liked the previsualization shot, he would also approve a similar looking final composite.” There was, of course, one factor that Pixomondo couldn′t predict and control so well. “We also created many pre-visualization shots that featured actor stand-ins. In the previs, everyone accepted that they would stiffly slide over the floor. On the set, unfortunately, they would behave more like human beings and be terribly unpredictable, and therefore change the timing and framing of a shot. Often, the whole edit had to be changed.”

Overall, however, the previsualization allowed VFX production to be more predictable and there were many requests from the director or the editorial in the post-production to “make it look more like the previsualization”.


Animation World Network:

Structured Destruction The Previs for 2012

By Matt Kapko | Monday, December 14, 2009 at 8:43 am | AWN News

Posted In | News Categories: Business, CG, Films, Visual Effects | Geographic Region: All | Site Categories: Business, CG, Films, Visual Effects

Press Release from Pixomondo

The detail of the massive global destruction in 2012 is a reflection of the intense previs work done by Pixomondo for director Roland Emmerich and producers/visual effects supervisors Volker Engel and Marc Weigert.

The previs was not only a road map for the technology of the production and post production process in the execution of the huge number of visual effects shots, the previs was equally important as a storytelling tool for the film′s creators.  While the previs served and assisted the filmmakers with the lighting, camera, post pipeline and other technical issues, it gave Roland Emmerich the opportunity to create, revise and layout a detailed blueprint for the images he and his team wanted to see on screen.

2012 previs was almost a seamless process of visualizing the story and the roadmap of how to execute this process.

From May through October 2008, Pixomondo visual effects supervisor Rainer Gombos worked closely with Roland, Volker and Marc producing the previs shots.  Rainer′s team included lead animator Paul Dennis Taylor, visual effects lead Mohsen Mousavi, visual effects producer Steve Kullback, and visual effects executive producer Thilo Kuther.  Work was spread between the Los Angeles, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Berlin facilities of Pixomondo which has offices around the globe.

“In a sense, the sun never sets on Pixomondo”, states Thilo Kuther.  “We are by design operating 24/7 around the world.  In today′s complex global filmmaking community there is really no other way to work to satisfy the needs of our clients.”

Pixomondo had to provide previs that satisfied Sony′s desire to keep it simple while providing as many possible options to enhance the process for the filmmakers.  Almost everything had particles for water, ice, fire and snow, motion capture, modeling or other tools to help define the shots. As the previs developed and matured in its capabilities so did the confidence with it.  In some cases Pixomondo was creating shots when storyboards did not exist.

The communication and trust between Roland, Volker, Marc and Pixomondo permitted them to develop a pipeline of previs that often reflected final shots almost 1 to 1.  This is a huge benefit for an effects driven film like 2012 with over 1300 shots.

Pixomondo′s previs focused on the big action sequences which required the most complex work.  The ability to design and resolve these shots in detail in advance was a huge advantage to both the creativity and cost of producing global destruction on such a massive scale.  Pixomondo also contributed over 100 finished shots for the airplane and cars sequence.

“It was some of the most organized and creative destruction ever on film.  It was great fun”, said visual effects supervisor Rainer Gombos.

http://www.awn.com/news/business/structured-destruction-previs-2012



Animation World Network:

Ninja Assassin: There Will Be Blood

By Bill Desowitz | Monday, November 30, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Posted In | Site Categories: Films, Visual Effects

The Wachowskis are back doing what they do best with director James McTeigue (V for Vendetta). And Ninja Assassin is an anime-inspired martial arts film with plenty of CG: blood, weapons, dismemberment, embers and matte paintings. Nearly 800 vfx shots were done by Pixomondo, Trixter, Ghost FX, Rise FX, Evil Eye, Hirota Paint, Roto Factory and Prologue. In addition, in-house artist Ryan Urban provided postvis design, working initially in After Effects and later switching to Shake for many of the final composites, removals and fixes.
"It was a fun romp and obviously the complete opposite of Speed Racer," suggests Dan Glass, overall visual effects supervisor. "And obviously a lot of the same set up as V for Vendetta. The brothers were behind it but much more intentionally left it to James. Second time around, it's an easier job.

"The one thing for me was that it came so much on the tail of Speed Racer: they literally started shooting three or four weeks after we delivered. So, for the first time in my life, I just couldn't do it, so I brought in Chas Jarrett [Sherlock Holmes], who'd helped us on Speed Racer, and he supervised the shoot for me. I was there for breakdowns initially and kept in touch during the course of it and joined it in post."

As with Speed Racer, the production took advantage of Germany's Federal Film Fund. According to Variety, Ninja Assassin received 5.8 million Euros ($9 million). But in this case, more than three-quarters of the vfx took place in Germany. As a result, Chris Townsend (Journey to the Center of the Earth) was hired onsite during post.
"The majority of the vfx work was split between four different companies in Europe: Trixter in Munich, Pixomondo in Stuttgart, Ghost in Copenhagen and Rise FX in Berlin," Townsend relates. "As a vfx supervisor, I worked directly with them, to ease the flow of information between James and Dan and the artists and supervisors 5,000 miles away. For most of the artists, Ninja was the first time they had worked on a major Hollywood studio picture. With that, comes a steep learning curve about what the needs of the clients are, how high the quality has to be and how many iterations are deemed necessary to satisfy the director's vision. The nuances of client presentation techniques and when it's OK to charge for a requested change, were as important as checking black levels, matching grain and finessing matte edges.

"Daily, for about seven months, I found myself on a plane, train, taxi or driving myself between these four cities, often feeling like I was in a movie myself. With teething problems of small companies trying to grow, comes both frustration but also huge excitement, as artists realized that what they were doing was an important part of a much bigger picture. And, after about 800 shots, it's amazing how many in your face vfx shots there are, but equally incredible to see how many go unnoticed, the seamless invisible shots, which contribute greatly in making Ninja Assassin as visually slick as it is."

Blood simulation work was initially led by Pixomondo (done with RealFlow), and then also created at Trixter and Ghost FX using references from anime. The Pixomondo work was so good, in fact, that the simulations were used to generate libraries as the shot count grew higher.

"There's a lot of inspiration we took from anime and, particularly, Ninja Scroll, which we sent out as a reference to all of the vendors," Glass continues. "And it's got these super stylized battles in the forest, which is one of James' favorites. The clothes get torn to shreds and the blood travels in sheets that are very graphic and we designed it to have that feel but incorporating a physicality that you could almost believe except for the amount."
With about 7 liters of flying CG blood per ninja, Pixomondo definitely had its hands full.

"Our work started with a huge matte painting for the preparation of the shooting in Berlin," recalls Bjørn Mayer, vfx supervisor at Pixomondo. "The 125k translite matte painting was wrapped around the set for the rooftop sequence after Raizo's first kill. The cityscape painting was printed 90m x 10m and lit from behind to serve as the environment for the rooftop fighting sequence.

"Together with Chas Jarrett, I was set-supervising 1st unit for the whole shooting starting in June 2008 for seven weeks. Early after principal photography, we received first plates to start with R&D on the blood squirts. Pixomondo worked overall on 185 shots that included a lot of blood and flying limbs but also all set extensions and matte paintings as well as the animation of Raizo's favorite chain weapon for some sequences.

"Our most complex shots were the head slicing sequence in the tattoo parlor in the beginning of the movie and the slow death of Raizo's nemesis. Although a lot of blood reference and blood elements were shot in front of greenscreen, we used none of them in our shots due to interaction with blood and other elements like jaws, heads, necks, hands, arms and much more. I think we were most successful with our blood simulations at the point when Dan asked us to reduce realism again because the MPAA would rate the movie NC-17, which was not intended by the studio.

"James had very special expectations for blood flying in the air, which were sometimes hard to meet because we had to bend a few laws of physics to match the shapes he had in mind. With the very dedicated work of our fx team, we were able to get all the arcs, discs and spirals of blood out of every limb or head flying in any direction as desired."

Bill Desowitz is senior editor of AWN & VFXWorld.