The Rig: Season 2
In one of our most creative and technically ambitious collaboration with Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, the Vine FX team delivered 115 shots, pushing our creative and technical boundaries as we worked to seamlessly mesh live-action footage with the bioluminescent CG setting. From balancing scale and building the gigantic mycelium forest to the delicately lit particulates floating across the ocean floor, each beautifully crafted asset adds to the eerie underwater environment which was crucial to fulfilling the series' storyline, the project required unique R&D in Houdini as well as meticulous and thoughtful compositing to deliver the shows unique eco-vision. The second series of The Rig is out now on Amazon Prime.
A key challenge was the creation of a massive, bioluminescent mycelium forest, towering 400 meters above the seabed. This required developing a procedural growth system for the parasitic trees, ensuring organic distribution and avoiding repetition within the dense forest.
The 3D team, Vine FX's largest to date, designed multiple tree variations, instanced and propagated using simulation techniques. Procedural textures and Houdini's Solaris were employed to achieve the ethereal, bioluminescent quality, with internal illumination via mesh lights creating a ghostly effect. This intricate process leveraged a newly implemented USD pipeline.
Beyond the forest, Vine FX crafted the entire underwater environment, compositing live-action footage with CG and 2D elements. This involved creating a sense of depth, slow movements, and particulate matter. Careful attention was paid to lighting, with strategically placed particulates enhancing the underwater atmosphere and contributing to a sense of scale and claustrophobia. The interplay of light and shadow, particularly the bioluminescence reflecting off character suits and other elements, was meticulously crafted.
Compositing artists seamlessly integrated the CG forest with live-action footage, collaborating closely with the client on aspects like light intensity and color grading. The USD pipeline proved invaluable in managing the multi-shot workflows, enabling a unified environment and minimizing re-rendering, ultimately saving time and ensuring visual consistency across the sequence. The pipeline's flexibility was also instrumental in adapting to evolving creative preferences throughout the project.
