‘Ray Tracing FTW’ has A LOT of fun VFX in-jokes, too.
Chaos has released Ray Tracing FTW, a short film that showcases their Project Arena virtual production toolset.
One of the driving forces behind the film was Christopher Nichols, director of special projects at the Chaos Innovation Lab and VFX supervisor/producer of Ray Tracing FTW. We previously spoke to Chris about Project Arena. Be sure to check out his acting chops, and several other special VFX guests, in the film below.
Here’s some brief notes about the film from a Chaos press release:
Watching Ray Tracing FTW, you’d be hard-pressed to pinpoint Project Arena’s role on the short. Instead, it worked as intended, bringing over 2 trillion polygons to the screen for three days straight, without any of the expensive crashes that people have come to expect when using game engines in virtual production. Having a consistent, always-on system helped the team forget the tech and even pull off 30 set-up shots during a standard 10-hour shoot day.
Feeding the screen was a massive V-Ray environment of an Old West town, designed by Erick Schiele and built by The Scope with the help of KitBash3D and TurboSquid assets. The production continued to use this environment on everything from all-CG establishing shots and tunnel sequences to the background for a physical train car set, which was able to portray nuanced details by using full ray tracing.
Having detailed CG models blend seamlessly with physical sets meant Director of Photography Richard Crudo (Justified, American Pie) could get nearly every shot in-camera, barring a Bottleship VFX-driven train crash or two. It also meant that when sudden needs came up — like finding a 3D Hacienda for the final shot — the crew could just buy one online and get it on-screen in under 15 minutes.
Watch the film below, and the making of video as well.
