A launch trailer for Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment’s Tom Clancy’s The Division was shown at E3, and popular fxphd prof Tim Clapham, who teachers our Cinema4D courses, contributed 3D modeling and animation to the promo via Sydney studio Antibody. We talk to Tim and also Antibody creative director Patrick Clair about the work.

fxg: What was the brief for the launch trailer?

Patrick Clair: Ubisoft asked Antibody to create a trailer that could demonstrate to their audience some key facts about the risk of social breakdown, and scare them in the process. Antibody worked with creatives from Ubisoft and their studio Massive Entertainment to create a script that blended fact with fiction. Real world elements, such as the 2001 Dark Winter simulation and the 2007 Directive 51 laws implemented by President Bush, were combined with a hypothetical scenario encompassing bioterror strikes, a flu pandemic and subsequent economic collapse.

This terrifying vision of the future set the scene for Ubisoft to unveil the brand new story world featured in the upcoming game Tom Clancy’s The Division. Antibody drew on art direction cues within the game to inspire an aesthetic of dirt, grime, chaos, viral infection and collapse.

These visual elements became a world of typography built from virus cells, torn American dollars and fragile transportation infrastructure. Voiceover guided the pacing and direction of the visuals, while 3D elements were blended with 2D designs to create a unified and intense visualization of the story.

fxg: How was the idea conceptualized and boarded out?

Clair: The team created multiple rounds of extensive storyboards, exploring the best ways to communicate the script and create a visual world that could capture the themes of the game.

I kept a focus on making sure the story beats had impact and clarity, while the design team – lead by Phil Robson – tweaked the aesthetic to deliver the information in a striking visual fashion. At every stage, 3D guru Tim Clapham, was consulted on the technical limitations and possibilities of each concept – which would then influence creative choices about how best to execute each idea. By working this way, the design and logistics and storytelling evolved together to keep the process responsive and efficient.

As the approach for each sequence became clear, individual motion designs and compositors within the team would execute various sequences in parallel. As each sequence was finished, it was handed on to designer MARX who added a grading and dirt passes of glitches and stitches that brought the shots together into a unified world of breakdown and chaos.

At every point, the cliche but important principle “Story is King” guided the approach – with each decision about layout, typography, animation and camera movement was rigorously challenged to make sure that it delivered the story beats in the most effective way possible.

fxg: Can you talk about some of the specific 3D elements that were required and the tools and techniques you used to create them?

Tim Clapham: The letters for COMPLEX were designed and then built as 3D elements. These became key focus points in several sections throughout the piece. We used Cinema4D for the majority of the 3D requirements with some extra parts created in After Effects using Video Copilot’s Element3D. The MoGraph module in Cinema4D facilitated much of the building of the letters, we used it to create many repetitive elements such as the road barriers, streetlights and even used it to animate the vehicles around the motorway. Some elements were hand animated, while others were rigged using constraints and expressions. We also used dynamic simulations throughout, including the tower breaking apart and the containers toppling from the ship. Other elements made use of cloth and hair simulations to enhance the organic nature of the piece.

The letters themselves were polygon heavy even as individual scenes and to facilitate a smooth workflow, we made extensive use of external references (XRefs) and used layers to manage visibility to keep editor redraw speeds usable. The advantage of using Xrefs was that we could use the same object in several scenes and if we needed to update the master object, any changes would update in all the references. The use of XRefs also allowed us to disable complex objects in many scenes when they were not being used in a specific shot, thus aiding a smooth workflow.

fxg: How were the atmosphere and extra lighting effects created?

Clapham: Much of the volumetric lighting effects were created in 3D, the addition of particles and geometry added to the complexity and depth of these shots. Atmospheric effects were also created in After Effects. We were able to export the Camera information along with several locator Nulls from Cinema4D and import this into our After Effects comps. This ensured we had matching cameras between 3D and comp, therefore many elements could be added in 3D space within the After Effects project. The project also featured heavy use of 3D particle systems throughout the piece to add depth and space to the environments through the use of Trapcode plugins, Particular and Form.

fxg: How did you accomplish the molecular level effects with particles and typography?

Clapham: The molecular effects were created using particles generated with Cinema4D MoGraph. We built shaders using several layers of animated noise rendered with sub-polygon displacement which helped enhance the detail in the surface and provide the microscopic feeling when combined with a Fresnel shader.

To create the typography we used a similar technique. We cloned objects onto the surface of polygons built from typography and the particles were meshed using metaballs which had another layer of displacement added via deformers, this helped to bind the particles together and provide the elastic stretch as they pulled apart. The addition of particle forces and effectors combined with falloff allowed us to control the position and scale of localised areas of particles. By animating the effectors we could disintegrate specific parts of individual letters or create sections that grew into place.

Much of the look and feel of the piece was facilitated through multipass rendering. We rendered to half-float EXR with multiple of passes from 3D and separate mattes for hundreds of objects. This combined with the camera export from C4D to AE helped to ensure the 3D elements and composite were in synergy.

Credits

Creative Director: Patrick Clair
Design Director: Phil Robson
3d Modeling & Animation: Tim Clapham Via Luxx
Motion Design & Art Direction: Eddy Herringson
Motion Design & Grading: Raoul Marks
Additional 3d Modeling: Matthew Grainger
Compositing: Daniel Symons

In this week’s Background Fundamentals class (week 6) we test the Magic Lantern RAW recording on green screen, along with the new Canon supplied clean HDMI output. Both the RAW and HDMI are compared to the standard H.264 results and the conclusions are startling.

Magic Lantern is not even a completed effort by the team of dedicated and talented programmers who have pushed hard to exploit the most from this amazing camera, and yet their 1920×1080 RAW recording is remarkable.

We owe this group serious thanks for their dedication in exploring the boundaries of this amazing landmark camera. This latest experiment is an insight into the possible future of DLSR video and post, and that future is remarkable.

Check it out as part of your standard fxphd membership. BKD is provided free in addition to any courses you take – just another reason fxphd is such a world leader in helping you take your career to the next level.

Jesse Dana has been shooting and producing a documentary about men living in, and then returning from, San Quinten Prison for the last 5 or 6 years. They have finally finished with filming and they are heading into post. To fund the post, and raise awareness for the film the filmmakers have turned to Kickstarter.

Kickstarter is an incredible development for film makers and in fxphd’s Background Fundamentals we explore this funding opportunity. Plus, in this week’s fxguide RC podcast we also talk with Jesse about the incredible journey over the last 5 years navigating an avalanche of changing camera tech and budget levels to maintain a consistent look and feel for the film.

Below is a short piece about the film Life After Life.

The Kickstarter campaign can be found here.

Download Video

To help you in your quest for learning, we’re offering a special limited time fxphd membership package that includes our two introductory courses in Cinema 4D for only $199USD. That’s $100 off the price of our normal two course membership. Taught by Tim Clapham, they are some of our most popular and highest rated courses at fxphd.

When you join at this special rate, you’ll be a full member of the April 13 term and automatically signed up for C4D103 and C4D104: Parts 1 & 2 of our Introduction to Cinema 4D R14 series. That’s over 15 hours of training material between the two courses.

Click through for more details about the course, as well as a free preview of the entire first two classes from C4D103….

But you get much more than training on Cinema 4D when you join. In addition you get the following bonus extras for being part of the April 13 term at fxphd:

• VPN Software. You have access to a full version of Cinema 4D Studio through our VPN, which may be used for non-commercial purposes to learn the software
• Background Fundamentals. Our weekly Background Fundamentals magazine style ‘course’ that covers a range of topics, from fun new looks to some serious episodes this term on the business of being in business. This is an exclusive free and weekly extra.
• Private Forums. Online discussion forums where you can ask Tim questions as well as talk about the course with other fxphd members

Plus, before the new software ships, you’ll get a special bonus class covering the new Cinema 4D Cineware plugin integration in the next version of After Effects.

Get the full course outlines here:

• C4D103: Introduction to Cinema 4D R14, Part 1
• C4D104: Introduction to Cinema 4D R14, Part 2 

So what’s next if you’re interested and want to join?

1. Find out how fxphd works by visiting our faq page and be sure to watch the tour video.
   
2. Sign up and join! 

C4D103: Introduction to Cinema 4D, Part 1 – Class #1

C4D103: Introduction to Cinema 4D, Part 1 – Class #2

We have a new new course added to the other stellar April term courses on offer: NUK222: Guerrilla Guide from the NUKE Trenches with Eric Deinzer.

We’d like to pretend that nothing ever went wrong in VFX or in fxphd’s schedules, but you know – being honest – we had a late course correction due to a feature film running over schedule and its knock on effect. While we nearly kill ourselves to get everything announced at the very start of term… this term the odds were not in our favor. But I am sure you’ll agree a week late is much better than not at all !

We are very proud to include this stand out Nuke course. While we generally hate ‘tips and tricks’ there is something very important to be said for professional production approaches that are used daily to deliver outstanding work. This is not an industry of theory we work in, – you need to deliver and show results on screen. For Nuke Compositors this is that course !

In this brand new 200 Nuke course, we’re going back to our roots with a course covering techniques that solve problems compositors run into every day on the job. This course is in that spirt of sharing production-proven tips from the trenches that can help make your life as an artist easier.

(This was not included in the Oweek video -we’ll fix that.. but that was only due to schedules – this new hard core Nuke course is very much at the centre of this April term’s courses!)