Set your TiVo tonight to see how Zoic Studios brings cinematic effects to the small screen using a combination of live-action greenscreen and CG animation for the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica. The episode, “Resurrection Ship Part 2,” airs
tonight on the SCI FI Channel at 10 p.m. EST/PST.
"The shots we envisioned for the battle were epic," says Zoic CG
Supervisor Chris Zapara. "There are very large ships in a close-range
brawl, with the audience in the middle of the mayhem. We have mile-long
spacecraft sharing the screen with thousands of fighters, missiles and
salvos, all of which need to interact. As a counterpoint, we see the
same battle from far away through the eyes of a dying pilot. We have to
show the same events, but without the scale reference, and have it
evoke a very different emotion."
To resolve these challenges, Zapara said that everyone on the 12-person
team had to wear several hats. Some would switch back and forth between
animating and modeling while creating a shot, building only what was
needed at the moment. Other times, the 3D team would pre-composite
elements in what they called '2.5D' before handing them off to 2D.
Says Zapara, "Some of our shots had over 200 elements, so pre-comping
our effects became a major part of our pipeline. It also allowed the
animators to focus on timing and choreography so the compositors were
able to focus on the final image."
Zoic Studios aimed to reflect a more accurate cosmic chaos: one with
dust floating, chunks flying and light spilling every which way.
"Adding haze to the shots, especially in the larger shots, really sold
the scale and locked the bright explosions into the scene," he notes,
"Other users of our software commented that they'd never seen the
packages used in this fashion before."
Working in Newtek LightWave3D 8.5, Autodesk Combustion 4 and Adobe After Effects 6.5, Zoic delivered 32 finals in 21 days.
Credits
The visual effects for "Resurrection Ship Part 2" were produced by
Steve Kullback for Zoic Studios. Key Zoic Studios credits also include
Liz Alvarez (Coordinator) and Chris Zapara (CG Supervisor), Mark Shimer
(lead CG artist), Lane Jolly (lead compositor), Don Kim, George Loucas,
Matt Smith (compositors), Steve Graves, Kyle Toucher, Emile Edwin
Smith, Geoffrey Mark, Richard A. Payne and Adam "Mojo" Lebowitz (CG
artists).
www.zoicstudios.com