How our VFX team tamed a world gone wild in the full CG trailer for Wild Hearts

Working with EA and KOEI TECMO we were tasked with creating a world of epic proportions and the many epic beasts that inhabit it.

Our VFX team led by Mill+ director Morten Vinther crafted five environments, three hunter battles, five giant creatures that mix flora and fauna and also geology.

On the creation of the spot Creative Director Anthony Bloor states “We started off with the assets from the game, keeping a faithful representation of the characters and beasts but altering them to fit in with the cinematic style.

The hunters themselves were cast from actors that were also experts in martial arts and stunts, we scanned the actors faces and then recreated their faces and fitted them into the elaborate game costumes made of layers of armour and cloth each one simulated. It was essential to recreate the actors themselves rather than use the in-game characters so that we could get the best translation from the real expressions to the CGI characters. We used cameras mounted on the heads so  that we could capture their facial expression and reactions while being motion captured performing the stunts. Directly using this data to drive 3D scans of the actors faces to make sure they match faithfully to the performance.

Technical challenges included creating massive environments that were viewed from many different angles. We populated these environments with millions of trees, plants and rocks using powerful scattering and tools to efficiently render incredibly complex scenes.”

Get in touch with our VFX team to discuss your upcoming projects here.