

Such tools were developed on the actual shots, and by the time they sent them out, they were complete pieces of software, fairly intuitive to use. They handed out plug-ins to do all flare work as well, because the film features a highly stylised flare with scan lines, controlled by angles of light.
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From there, they could work out from the plate how to correctly focus their work in stereo space, which helped give the CG an integrated, realistic look. To use the follow focus system, they would input their camera data, the CG from two different elements and, for example, information from the animation about where that camera should be. Because of the dark environments, Cinematographer Claudio Miranda and the director Joe Kosinski had shot the TRON footage wide open at about T1.3, so all footage had a very narrow depth of field that all teams had to match in their CG work. Consistency was crucial for this film and because about half the film’s shots had to be outsourced, maintaining control was a major task.ĭigital Domain’s compositing pipeline, and that of the other vendors working on TRON, was based on Nuke, which was used to develop several tools that helped the different teams keep the film’s look very consistent. They also set up the looks on all sequences outsourced to other vendors, where the teams would develop them further following the rules and guidelines for the show, which were specific and precise. The Digital Domain team completed 17 of the film’s sequences including major set pieces for the Disc Game, Light Bike Battle, Light Jet Battle and the portal sequence at the film’s climax. But on this project, our VFX supervisor Eric Barba took that role, giving us much more contact, and everyone found working this way very enjoyable.” “We have always worked as vendor under an on-set VFX Supervisor hired by the production. “Digital Domain has never had that level of access to a production before,” said Paul. This film was significant for Digital Domain because they were working with the production and director from the very outset, carrying out previsualistion and running the Art Department in-house.

We made tracking tests, tested the colour between plates and got used to looking at stereo footage.” “The cameras had to be prepped for stereo work. “Even the camera the production used, the Sony F-35, was still new when the shoot started and needed extensive testing,” Paul said. The stereo work felt new to everyone at Digital Domain, where they have worked on dimensionalised projects before TRON but not one that was shot in stereo.Īs work got underway, Paul and his colleagues were also aware of the lack of experience in working on stereo projects across the industry. ‘TRON: Legacy’ was Paul’s first stereo project, and one of the first movies made on the Pace rig after ‘Avatar’. The shoot took place from March to August 2009 in Vancouver, where VFX Supervisor Eric Barba from Digital Domain worked on-set with a small integration team. One vendor was Prime Focus, who sent the film’s heroes out across the digital grid landscape in the massive Solar Sailer. To achieve the director’s vision, Compositing Supervisor Paul Lambert at Digital Domain worked with a team at The Foundry and artists from numerous vendors. Pulling together the many layers of assets, lights, explosions and visual effects that make the fantastic universe of ‘TRON: Legacy’ was no small task.
