Alita Battle Angel – Berserker Xformation FX

 

Role : Sr. FX-TD

Studio : Weta Digital

Task : Berserker Transformation FX R&D

This was surely a tricky one, but at the same time was probably my favorite FX work.
My task was to create an FX for the Alita’s Berserker armour transformation, from a neutral body shape, to a curvy , super strong and athletic female shape. Mr Rodriguez wanted this FX to give the idea that during the transformation something was happening at the chemical level, but at the same time wanted to add some nano-technology element.
During the developement of this FX I had the chance to develop an OpenCL , GPU-Based implementation of the Reaction Diffusion algorithm , modified to work on an arbitrary geometry (non-quad geometry, points and on volumes as well). The nano-tech side of the FX was driven by the underlying reaction-diffusion pattern.

The whole system was created in Houdini.

The effect I worked on is viewable in the small clip below. Enjoy !

Gatorade – Sports Fuel – A health oil helped me

Client : Gatorade
Studio : Framestore LA

My role: FX Lead
Setup for the generation of the “Gatorade Fuel” FX in Houdini and shot work.

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Gatorade! It was awesome working on this project. I learned a lot. Thankfully I did ok though, I know saying I learned a lot is code for I made plenty of mistakes. Not quite so in this case. I had a bit of a health issue that set me back though.

What was this health issue? Well I got hit with a bit of insomnia, and didn’t take long before it started affecting my creativity, my ability to concentrate, and my overall performance and output. Not a good situation to be in while on a deadline with a big company. A friend of mine turned me to this cbd oil from Switzerland.

I wasn’t really feeling ready to try anything, but my friend was speaking pretty highly of this oil. Apparently he had sought sleep help just like I was doing not too long ago, and he was recommended this oil.

So eventually I caved and decided to give the oil a try. I figured I would only try it for a couple of nights and move on to something else if it didn’t work or anything went wrong. Well, the oil worked perfectly and I was back in a good pace in no time.

I still owe my friend for that one.

Details of the Project