Blog3:DIGIC Pictures-Responsible for creation of
video game intro trailers
Detailed interview: http://www.artofvfx.com/?p=1378
Assassin's
Creed Revelations game trailer by DIGIC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMsbMK9Odoc
Digic Pictures is a Hungarian animation
company that started in 2001 that created special effects on the blockbuster
movie Terminator 3. They later decided to work on video game cinematic intros
to games such as Assassin's Creed Revelations, Mass Effect 3, and Halo 4 (all
of which I am obsessed with). They are now a growing team of 80 people who
share a passion of detailed work along with determination to create a beautiful
cinematic to entice its audience to play the game. I was very excited to come
across a detailed interview with the company because they were able to share
their thoughts and steps it took to create such a unbelievably realistic
atmosphere by merely computer generated art. I chose this company to research
rather than a specific person because the team of 80 work on different scenes
and develop them as a team. I myself watch these game trailers and dream that
one day I can also become somebody that is a part of something as spectacular
as this. To me these types of things seem like they are too good to be true and
out of reach to a newly graduated college student who desperately needs more
experience in working with computer generated art with all of the programs that
come along with it (but I do believe that it can be achieved through
determination and time). It was inspiring to read this interview because it
makes it easier to break down the steps and programs they used in order to
create it as well as to make it known that this type of creativity and
perfection can be created by humans. This interview also gave Digic a voice
that made them more human and at the same time explained how these types of cinematics
are created. Digic explained that to start off with a project they are given, they
have to consult with the client in order to see their vision of how the trailer
should be as well as obtain extended amounts of detailed information on the
game itself. In this particular interview Digic spoke with the company that
created Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft) and obtained their views on the game and how
it should look. Digic explained that the rest of the creativity and vision was
left up to them. They also explained that it took about 4 months to produce
this particular cinematic which is incredibly short. At the same time it can be
expected that it would take such a short amount of time because they have 80
talented people working on multiple movies throughout that allotted amount of
time. Towards the end of the interview I read "What are your softwares and
your pipeline at Digic Pictures?", and this is what really stuck out
because this is the part where they break the animation down into a humanistic
perspective. In order to create a work
of art on the computer one must extensively know the program they are using or
else it becomes a burden that will frustrate and cause stress to the
individual. In order to work for a well-known company one must not only have an
artistic background but they must also become familiar with these meticulous
programs in order to become successful in this particular art field. Digic Pictures explains "In asset creation we use Maya, 3DS Max, ZBrush, Bodypaint and Photoshop- the first two are supported by many in-house plugins. The scenes are assembled in Maya, the same software we use for animation. For rendering we use Arnold and the completed layers are "polished together" in Nuke. It is very useful that the features of Maya are adjustable, we can broaden the variety of functions by adding or replacing existing plug-ins with our own solutions, so we can say that Maya serves mainly to provide the technical framework in our pipeline. When we chose the software for rendering and compositing, the final decision was based upon the software's dependability and ability to perform robustly in a large-scale production environment". Basically, some of these programs are available to the household user which gives hope to aspiring graphic artists. This research gives me hope and inspiration as well.
