The Visual Effects of 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' Part 2

We are proud to present this second video which breaks down a bit more of ILM's visual effects work for the third installment in the Transformers series, "Dark of the Moon."

[DanielGreen]

No doubt that this series was one of the most impressive as far as the visual effects, amazing work.

[ILMVFX]

Some we relatively quick ranging from 2 - five hours, others like the most complex building crushing shots took much longer ray tracing for upwards of 190-hours per frame.

[AlexMorellon]

My brain can't even fathom the amount of work that went into such an incredible movie ! As a kid who has always been passionate about visual effects, I'm almost moved to tears when I see how far we've come in such a short amount of time. And I'm also blown away by the fact that actual people from ILM are reading and actually responding to comments on youtube ! You are my heroes !

[Geokidpro]

Just please take a moment and appreciate this video

[gck]

the cg in all 3 transformers were lit and colored perfectly. everything looked seamless and photo-real. amazing job guys

[ILMVFX]

The Transformers themselves were predominantly done via Keyframe animation in Maya.

[ILMVFX]

It's fairly common to use a stand-in object to interact with other physical objects in a given shot. Obviously that object, in this case a semi-cab has to be painstakingly painted out of the plate to create a clean version of the background which we then use to composite our CG elements into.

Thanks!

[ILMVFX]

After Effects, Nuke, and Flame were among the compositing packages used and for 3D modeling and animation we primarily used ILM's Zeno and Autodesk Maya.

[b-fuzeg]

It would probably take a year for my computer to render one frame of that film. I'm including all render passes and post processing.

[ILMVFX]

It's all packaged up in our Zeno software, and yes, the sky dome is a massive seamless EXR.

[eclipsefx]

To be completely honest, I can't get enough of watching vfx breakdowns of TF3, given the insanely incredible work done on this film; & to all of you others out there watching, remember that it was done in STEREOSCOPIC 3D as well, just to appreciate it even more :)

[ILMVFX]

As you can imagine, each film we take on has it's own set of unique challenges. It would be very difficult to choose just one and say that it, above all others, was the most challenging.

[rymac]

This just amazes me so much. The painstaking detail and realistic-ness of the animations is absolutely incredible.

[ILMVFX]

It depends on how many films we are working on at a given time. Typically, it ranges from 5 on the low end to 8 to 10 on the higher end. The artists roll from one show to the next as their disciplines are needed.

[BlendEngine]

I watched the making of the audio portion on the movie and it was amazing to see how they made everything. Now that I have seen the visual parts of the development it blows my mind to see how everything fits together. Most of the effects I never would guessed were digitally added. Amazing job

[ILMVFX]

Primarily Renderman on this film with some Mental Ray.

[ILMVFX]

@SummitTraxxas We're pretty good about having the artists keep track of continuity, particularly the compositors. It's a massive amount of work but it really shows in the final product.

[EVAUnitA]

Can you please show us a lone Transformer, well, transforming in a non-combat situation from multiple angles in slow motion?  (For example, the first time we see Optimus Prime transform in movie 1 in the alleyway.)
One of the problems with Bayformers is their robot forms and transformations are soooo complex and time-consuming (and the cameras often have way too much shaking and foreground debris, such is Bay's style of shooting) that it's hard to appreciate the amazing artistry and engineering that goes into a single transformation!

[psychicpebbles]

words cannot describe how much i'm impressed with the guys who did such an amazing job..best visuals i've ever seen in a movie

[ILMVFX]

The building is CG, a ray trace rendered creation.

Thanks!