Grimm: creature case studies

"Deep into its second season, NBC’s Grimm series has showcased a wide variety of visual effects – from morphing mythological creatures called Wesen, to other beasts and magical elements. We take a look at the work of two of the studios involved with the show: Hive FX and Bent Image Lab.

Hive FX – Making morphs

Along with various other shots, Hive FX has worked on many of the key transitions seen in the show. They start with concept art of the particular creature, using ZBrush and Mudbox to sculpt models which are then rigged and animated in Maya, and then rendered through Cinema4D and the shots composited in After Effects.

“We take a lot of the reference images of the actor and of any prosthetics and in ZBrush we put those in and our modeler will be direct referencing those forms in all the different views,” explains Hive creative lead Guy Cappiccie. “We do a blending mode between the base of the character and the creature character – that keeps our poly flows the same and our UVs the same, so that then we can go between an actor and a creature pretty seamlessly.”

On occasions, tracking markers are placed on actors’ faces that are a guide for tracking via SynthEyes and for animation. On set, hrome ball and HDR references are also acquired. To realize morphs, Hive typically creates a base actor model as close to a representation of the actor in the scene. “We start with the human face and morph it to the creature,” says Hive lead 3D artist Karim Moussa. “We have a human base and a creature base which is being blended in 3D.”

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