Source image: http://youtu.be/HydiAICZq6I
Hercules – Creating the beasts for the Legend of Hercules
There is a good article on fxguide by Ian Failes (28 July 2014) about Brett Ratner’s Hercules, the Legend, for Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures. You can find the link at the end of this post.
For my part, I thought I would pull out the named software and the companies involved in the creation of VFX and CG Creation, sorry if I forgot someone or something because there was a lot of collaboration involved.
The task was to create the creatures depicted in the film for the Twelve Labors of Hercules. Among other creatures, the designers had to come up with a 16 foot (4.88 m) lion and a boar the size of a rhino, which was a completely CG creation and the Lernean Hydra.
Source image: http://www.fxguide.com/featured/legend-or-truth-the-vfx-of-hercules/
Source image: http://youtu.be/HydiAICZq6I
The companies
That worked on the VFX in the film Hercules, supervised by John Bruno (Titanic (1997), Avatar (2009) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) were:
Worldwide FX for the video breakdown here:
Double Negative Visual Effects (DNeg http://www.dneg.com/), which is Europe’s largest provider of visual effects for Film (operating from locations in both London and Singapore).
Centroid is at Pinewood Studios, which now offers a purpose built Full Performance Capture studio at Shepperton Studios, Centroid is one of the industry’s largest and most advanced facilities.
Prime Focus World for visual effects, stereo conversion and animation.
Method Studios is an award-winning international visual effects group with facilities in Los Angeles, Vancouver, New York, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, London, Sydney and Melbourne. The company worked on the climax of the film Hercules.
Third Floor (http://www.thethirdfloorinc.com/#home-7a225 ), which provided pre-visualization or Previs. On their website this is described as “visualizing and improving a project before the final endeavor is attempted,” or you could say the creation of speeded up digitalized storyboards; and Weta Workshop (http://wetaworkshop.com/) for design service that includes 2D and 3D.
Milk VFX is a boutique visual effects company that focuses on creating innovative and complex sequences for TV and feature film markets.
Cinesite is a world-class visual effects company that works from studios in London and Montréal.
The software
Used to create the people and the creatures mentioned in the article include:
ZBrush sculpt from Pixologic the digital sculpting and painting program.
GolaemCrowd makes it easy to populate worlds with directable digital characters, from a few to thousands.
Maya, for character and effects toolsets for modeling, texturing, and shader creation tasks. (http://www.autodesk.com/products/maya/overview).
Houdini, a 3D animation tool that has a lot to do with shattering algorithms.
SpeedTree (http://www.speedtree.com/), for the tools to create 3D animated plants and trees that are also used for games, animations, visual effects shots and architectural renderings.
Nuke … from their website, “award-winning node-based compositor, NUKE provides the powerful foundation for realizing even the most forward-thinking creative visions.”
Oh before I forget, for those who want to read the fxguide post go here : http://www.fxguide.com/featured/legend-or-truth-the-vfx-of-hercules/
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3776237312/tt1267297?ref_=tt_ov_i
And a link to the interview with Brett Ratner and the star Dwayne Johnson: http://youtu.be/r5s3Ep0XRJA
Words from Dwayne Johnson, “… there is no greatness that happens by yourself, on your own …” and, speaking about the film Hercules, “… around every corner you’re going to smile.”
Melanie Phillibert
Dreamlight Content Management and Support
PS: If you want to create fabulous Fantasy Art much quicker and easier than you ever thought possible, then Fantasy Art Master for DAZ Studio artists will do the magic. Go HERE
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