Que: Can you give us an overview of RSP's work for the film?
----- RSP initially provided pre-visualisation services for the film, as well as some onset supervision at Fox Studios. For the visual effects sequences, RSP created:
* the juvenile CG 'Bone Claws' for young Logan as they first emerge from his hands
* the adamantium injection sequence involving the CG injection machine, gun and needles, CG bubbles and CG adamantium claws. As part of that sequence we also created a full CG door that is cut through with Wolverine's shiny new adamantium claws (the 'X' as seen in the trailer)
* additional photoreal matte paintings for the secret military base and the carnival.
Que: What was your brief for the look and feel of the effects?
----- Tom Proctor initially took a brief for the VFX in LA from the VFX Supervisor Pat McClung and Director Gavin Hood. It was great to be able to talk with them to get an idea of where they were heading. Whilst the previous X-Men films and the comics gave a good reference for the style, the sequences that Rising Sun worked on had to sit with the onset props.
For both the bone claws and the adamantium claws, we referenced footage with the claw prosthetics, to show how they would interact within the environment. This gave a good starting point. For some of the shots, we had to remove the practical claws before adding the redesigned CG claws. For the adamantium injection sequence, the machine was mostly complete onset, and the prop of the gun with needle was sent to us to use as a reference to build our CG version.
Que: What kind of reference or previz did you look to for your shots? Did you have to embark on any concept work or R&D?
-----In addition to reference that was shot with practical props with the live action plate, production also provided us with concepts, reference and previz. Renders from other vendors were provided for contextual accuracy. The bone claws went through many rounds of development before the final look was achieved, as did the adamantium claws and the injection machine. Most of these had to be approached on a case-by-case basis, to build on the RSP pipeline already in place from previous shows.
Que: How did you approach your shots technically? What techniques did you end up using? Can you talk about 1 or 2 of your main shots or sequences in particular and how they were accomplished?
-----For young James Logan's bone claws, the intention was originally to keep the practical prosthetic as seen in the original plates and reference. Unfortunately they didn't hold up in close ups. More specifically, the design of the bone claws was changed throughout, and there eventually became continuity issues that needed to be resolved through the use of CG.
On the back of James' hand, we applied a warping effect where the skin on the back of his hand is rising and moving. It was a prolonged creepy moment as the claws grew under the skin and eventually emerged out the knuckles. We rendered some 3d passes to apply the warp in 2d. That went through a few different iterations with different levels of detail - our brief was that it needed to be creepy, but not gruesome - the PG-13 rating drove that look, so there couldn't be anything overly-gory. We tried some extreme stretching of the skin in some early versions, but it was too much for the censors and had to be dialed back. Although the bone claw breaks through the skin between his knuckles, we never see any blood. They travel under the skin then slowly flay out.
For the design of the bone claws, we went through a few different styles before arriving at the final look. As far as modeling, we had a practical bone claw sent to us which we used as reference, in addition to reference shot on set of the child model. This was developed as the look and texture progressed. At first there was a smooth, waxy translucent look, then we progressed on to something which looked very much like bone. Some of the early developments involved looking at the way that bones calcify as they develop.
There was a gag we were trying to do with the translucency of the bone - to progress from a finger-nail type vein bone which transitioned to a mature calcified look as it emerged from his knuckle. The timing of the shots meant this gag could not be played out - so the bones ended up coming out with the 'mature' calcified look, and you can see some of the veins beneath the surface - we really tried to get some of the translucency of real bones in to the final design.
For the fully CG shot of him tearing his way out of a metal door with his new adamantium claws, we needed to create an entirely CG shot. We start by seeing the exterior of a rusty metal door, and the claws punch through the door then tear out an X in the door. It was originally intended to be shot practically but the design of the door was changed significantly. We went through revisions to get the look of the door just right for the fully CG shot, and that was transposed in to the subsequent live action plate where the practical door was fully replaced.
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