Eagle/Plane
Brief
Our friends over at Alice Blue asked us if we could help them on this project, they were tasked to make a eagle/plane flying over an ethereal landscape. Pixteur Studios and Alice Blue have tag teamed in the past on environment work, so it was only natural that they wanted us to do the environment previz and the final CGI environment work on this job.
Creative Solution
Alice Blue sent us a simplified model of the eagle/plane they were working on and a brief about what the landscapes was to look like as well as detailed pencils for composition. We worked hard getting the right camera angles as well as matching the layout designs precisely with our CGI hills and trees.
A lot of work went into designing the light and the fog as it was to be a major compositional and storytelling element. Doing the clouds in post was a no-go because we needed that ethereal feeling that only cast shadows and god rays can provide, so we opted for some custom made VDB clouds.
When the final environment and lighting ambience was locked down we rendered a few 360° HDR environment domes from various altitudes and places in the CGI landscape. These 360° renders were used by Alice Blue to light and render the hero eagle/plane. We also did the hi res background renders. Alice Blue did the post work on this job, guided by our LUT selections from the previz stage.
As always, this was a fun collaboration with our partner and friends at Alice Blue.
Credits
Pixteur Studios / Jesse Zamjahn
Partner Studio / Alice Blue
Client / Unlisted
Agency / CDM