One of the key ‘looks’ of the documentary was to use Scanning Election Microscopy (SEM) images for any shots within the body. As SEM images are basically depth maps, I used them as displacement maps within ‘Fusion’ to create pseudo-3D scenes. Combined with extreme depth of field and false colour effects, the results were very effective.
Freelance contract for ‘Rushes Film and TV’.
Human Body: Pushing the Limits was nominated for an emmy for ‘Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series’ in 2008
Main marketing and publicity image. Needed to be 6K, so I up-resed the textures used for the bones and muscles on the hero human model, as well as scattering the smaller rocks. I then painted over the final renders, adding detail to the rock surfaces, as well as the background and dust.
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More shots using the SEM displacement technique I developed. Close-up of the fovea (the most sensitive part of the eye), and the spinal cord.
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‘Shake’ had just been discontinued, and Rushes decided on eyeon ‘Fusion’ as a replacement. I made heavy use of Fusion’s 3D compositing functions on this show, including particle systems (for the Tornado) and displacement (for the SEM effects).
Texturing for the ‘Spider Vision’ in the spider bite sequence.
Cave mouth DMP. Shot in Bourne Woods, near Farnham in the UK. It’s such a popular filming location that there were lots of set pieces from other shows handing around – the random junk in this plate was from ‘Band of Brothers’.
Second ‘Tornado aftermath’ matte painting. Classic (read: cheesy) backlit DMP sunset.
Tornado aftermath – corn field and sky extension.
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Cliff edge set extension for the ‘Rock Fall’ sequence
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VFX storyboards for the Tornado impact sequence in Episode 1
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‘Supercell’ matte painting for the ‘Tornado’ episode. Miniature trailer from ‘The Model Unit’. Source photo for the supercell from ‘Extreme Instability’