To celebrate the release of Prometheus on Blu-ray, DVD and digital download, Moving Picture Company has released its visual effects technical breakdown.

The movie follows a team of explorers as they attempt to discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth. The quest leads them on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe where they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.

The technical breakdown shows how the CG artists at MPC created the alien planet LV-223, the space environments, the human crew and alien space-crafts and an explosive crash scene sequence. It also shows how the Hammerpede alien was brought to life.

Watch the technical breakdown

More on Prometheus

View the viral video that came out in the run-up to Prometheus’ release

Watch production designer Arthur Max and Ridley Scott discussing the design of Prometheus

In issue 158 3D World spoke to MPC, Fuel VFX and Weta Digital to find out how they were involved in Ridley Scott’s Prometheus. You can buy issue 158 of 3D World here

Buy the digital edition of issue 162 – on sale now!
On sale 09 October 2012 via the 3D World Magazine app (iOS)
On sale 09 October 2012 at Zinio (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android)

Check out this clever viral video for Ridley Scott’s blockbuster Prometheus and find out about the postproduction work as we talk to Hoxton Redsox’s Paul McGeoch…

Director Ridley Scott was convinced that Prometheus would benefit from a less conventional viral marketing campaign. Johnny Hardstaff, Damon Lindelof and Luke Scott all helped develop short films, intended to generate interest in the feature film without giving away plot.

The Happy Birthday David video is one of these gems. The creepy viral video, starring the steely-eyed Michael Fassbender, shows the unboxing of Weyland Industries latest robot ‘David’.

Hoxton Redsox completed postproduction on Happy Birthday David, which was designed and directed by Johnny Hardstaff. We caught up with Hoxton Redsox founder and VFX supervisor, Paul McGeoch, to find out more…

Watch Happy Birthday David then read about the postproduction work

Hoxton Redsox’s founder, Paul McGeoch says he draws his inspiration from original ideas and good design: how fortunate to be working on a project like this one!

In fact, the Happy Birthday David viral is the most rewarding project McGeoch has worked on so far in his career: “The brief was inspiring, the director’s treatment was very clever, we got to work with some amazing talent, the end result looked stunning, and everyone loved it. You can’t ask for more than that.”

Hoxton Redsox was responsible for all visual effects on Happy Birthday David and two other short films for the viral campaign. “A small but dedicated team created, in total, around 14 minutes of footage in six months,” says McGeoch.

“A wide range of looks were developed, which varied from photo-real landscapes, products and sets to abstract visualisations and animated screen graphics”.

The team used Maya 2012, After Effects, Nuke and PF Track.

• Read a review of Maya 2012

The viral video didn’t present any technical problems: “The greatest challenge was generating so many CG sets and graphical overlays in such a short period of time with limited resources,” McGeoch comments. “The director wisely based his treatment around locked off cameras, knowing that this would allow for a higher quality finish within the available time.

The pipeline was made as simple as possible and passes from Maya were kept to a minimum, while conforming, comping and finishing was done in After Effects.

After Effects proved vital to production

“After Effects was a star,” says McGeoch. “It handled the EDLs from final cut, worked natively with Red Cam R3D files (though we later converted to DPX sequences for faster processing), effortlessly imported and rebuilt the directors photoshop layouts, the keyer handled green screen with ease and the built in stabiliser worked perfectly. It even handled conforming, matching grades, finishing and versioning.”

Hoxton Redsox’s custom-built render farm also proved invaluable to manage the heavy render times for thousands of 4K frames.

“We use 10 x 6 core AMD machines specifically for rendering,” explains McGeoch. “These were safely overclocked from 2.9 to around 3.5GHz. In the evenings we also turn over more powerful artists machines to the farm which is managed by deadline software. Render times for shots varied hugely. Certain scenes that required very high sampling could take anything up to an hour a frame to render.”

A shot in focus

The VFX shots took in the region of 280 man days! The opening shot where David is delivered in a box was made up from five different takes and getting them to sit together in post posed quite a challenge for the team.

“A hero plate with Michael Fassbender’s action was selected and stabilised, McGeoch explains. “The other ‘takes’ containing doors opening, white liquid dripping, and cover removal then had to be stabilised, retimed and graded to match. The foreground and background CG elements were then animated, lit and comped to match the live action.”

Paul McGeoch shares some words of wisdom for aspiring 3D artists looking to break into the industry

“If you are new to the industry, try to gain work experience in a broad range of roles. Understanding the various skill sets required for each position will help you decide if this is for you and where to specialise.”

“If you have a basic training but no industry experience don’t fill your reel with minutes of mediocre. I’d rather see 30 seconds of something that inspires you and gives me a glimpse of what you’re capable of.”

“Finally if you do get a break, don’t plug-in and zone out (I’m talking headphones and facebook). Get involved in the workings of the studio and listen to what’s being said.”

What’s next for Hoxton Redsox?

“We are officially launching Hoxton Redsox, proudly promoting our most recent work for Prometheus and Titanic Belfast, we’ll be approaching ad agencies and production companies that we are keen to work with and as ever pitching for work,” says McGeoch.

“R&D is underway for a independent feature film which we can’t talk about just yet. We’ll also be building a database of talented freelance artists so… if that’s you, please do get in touch.”

Thanks to Paul McGeoch for taking the time to talk to us.

Visit Hoxton Redsox website to see more work

The making of Prometheus

You can find out more about the VFX in Promethues in our ‘making of’ feature in the new issue of 3D World.

Contents for the latest issue of 3D World. Discover new sculpting techniques and tips for grooming hair with our in-depth tutorial. Plus training on modelling a steampunk character, creating realistic materials in LightWave, blending normals and more

Buy the magazine
On sale now at My Favourite Magazines
On sale in UK newsagents: 19 June 2012
On sale US newsstands: From 18 July 2012

Buy the digital edition
On sale 19 June via the 3D World Magazine app (iOS)
On sale 19 June at Zinio (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android)

In the magazine

Prometheus

Find out how The Moving Picture Company, Fuel VFX and Weta Digital helped director Ridley Scott follow a star map to a distant world for his long-awaited science-fiction film Prometheus

CG Awards 2012

Vote now and join us in celebrating the best of the CG industry

Graphics card guide

Everything you need to know about which 3D graphics card is best for your modelling and real-time work

TRAINING | PRACTICAL TUTORIALS TO BOOST YOUR 3D SKILLS

Groom fur in ZBrush

This issue’s cover artist, Daniel Bystedt, shows you how to use FiberMesh in ZBrush to groom a fabulous furry character

Model a steampunk bird

Patrick Finn explains how to use hard-surface modelling techniques to create a stylised mechanical bird

Create curved surfaces

Digital-Tutors looks at how to model hard curved surfaces in 3ds Max without any irregularities

Organic modelling tips

Improve your organic creature and character modelling with Glen Southern’s invaluable advice

Rigid body dynamics

Once the holy grail of CGI, physics-based dynamics solutions are now available to all. Mike Griggs explains

Build complex surfaces

Andrew Comb’s tips and tricks for creating paint chips and blended surfaces in LightWave 11

On test

After Effects CS6, Photoshop CS6 Extended, 123D Sculpt and Photoshop Touch

COMPETITION

MARI 1.4v4 | Win one of three copies of the digital paint software worth £1,200 each

Also in this issue

• The month’s best new commercial projects
• Questions & Answers: includes blending normal maps in Photoshop, metallic paint effects in 3ds Max and more
• We discuss how new pre-viz techniques mean we could soon be making FX movies in real time
• Iloura’s Glenn Melenhorst reveals the tricks the studio used to fan the flames for Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
• Inspirational artwork from readers

On the disc (print edition only)

On this issue’s disc you’ll find a full 72-minute 3ds Max training course from Digital-Tutors on modelling hard surface curvature, video for our fur grooming tutorial, plus Q&A videos on creating metallic paint and working with normal maps

Ridley Scott’s epic thriller Prometheus takes its name from the state-of-the-art spaceship that transports its crew to a distant, foreboding world. Check out a new video showing the spaceship now

Ridley Scott’s 1979 film Alien terrified the world using tension, shadows and props and now, 33 years later almost to the day, he’s back with Prometheus.

Prometheus lands in cinemas in the US and Canada on 8 June. That’s in just two days! In the UK, we’ve been treated to the film’s release already. If you’ve seen it let us know what you think.

Hopefully you’ve managed to stir clear of all the spoilers that can be found all over the internet. Don’t worry, we’re not about to ruin anything for you – here’s just a little something about the stupendous work on the awesome spaceship to get you in the mood.

Watch production designer Arthur Max and Ridley Scott discussing the design of Prometheus

As Scott says: “It’s opened up the door to get bolder, get better and get your attention…”

It’s certainly done that. We hope you enjoy the film! Don’t forget to let us know what you think of it.

Look out for a special making-of Prometheus article in the next issue of 3D World

Find out how leading effects houses The Moving Picture Company (MPC), Weta Digital and Fuel VFX, and several others helped to terrify the world again in our special making-of Prometheus article in next issue’s 3D World – on sale on 19th June.

For more info see the Prometheus site