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Modus FX on Dinolab II

For Dinolab II, a Discovery Channel Canada production, Quebec-based Modus FX wrangled several digital dinosaurs to portray the creatures being put through their paces in a stadium-sized laboratory. Modus FX president Marc Bourbonnais talks about the visual effects for the show.

The Dinolab concept is a pretty interesting premise. What kind of brief did you have in terms of how you were to portray the dinosaurs?

Bourbonnais: The Dinolab series is a clever take on the presentation of scientific facts about dinosaurs; a number of stylistic aspects come into play on these shows to add production value, and it is important to respect each and every one of them. Of course, the physical presentation and behaviour of the beasts have to be in keeping with current scientific facts, and the production team was extremely meticulous on this point. Clever staging of situational re-enactments is used throughout the show to help the narration and present scientific facts while keeping the audience entertained.

Some fantasy and creative elements are thrown in to give it extra appeal. For example, bringing in a full-size holographic T-Rex to study the defence mechanism of the creatures; setting up a massive treadmill to measure walking speed or adding CG pens to contain the dinos, complete with laser barriers and polarized walls. All these extra set elements had to be digitally added. Even if they lean towards science-fiction styles, we had to make them as realistic as possible to blend them in the live environments.

For this show, 192 shots involved CG creatures and digital set extensions. The showcased dinosaurs were quite varied: an enormous Argentinosaurus filling up the whole arena; a group of Stegosauruses used for behavioural experiments; a family of Hypacrosaurus, complete with the birth of an infant; a small, nimble and feathered Micro-raptor showing off its flight capabilities; and of course, a dreaded T-rex, by far the crowd favourite. Modus FX was the sole digital-effects vendor on Dinolab II. Twenty-five of our artists worked on the project over about 3 months to create, animate and render the CG creatures. The dinosaurs were composited on live backgrounds, with multiple shots involving rotoscopy and plate clean up. The interior and exterior footage was filmed at La Tohu, a large cylindrical building used for circus shows. It doubles (quite effectively) as a large, rather ominous science lab!

What sort of design or concept work did you undertake or look to for the dinosaurs?



Bourbonnais: The interesting thing about palaeontology is that it is a science that doesn’t stop developing. New discoveries happen every year, so facts and theories are in constant evolution. There is a large amount of accessible information on all types of dinosaurs. After preparing all the data found, we had to complement the existing material with the new-found discoveries. A group of paleontologists were in constant consultation with us to help recreate the prehistoric beasts – right down to the most intricate details.



Concepts, designs and models of the CG creatures started with defining general size, shape and form. Color schemes and skin shading followed, basing ourselves on real animal references for look, texture and color. Movement, attitude and animation were also important factors, since the show is based on wrangling creatures and behavioural experiments.

What kind of things were done on set to accommodate the later addition of dinosaurs?



Bourbonnais: We were lucky to have minimal sets, with lots of room to have the animals wander about. Simple walls were set up for some shots, but we had to create multiple extensions and CG pens. Different takes were shot to accommodate the editing later on, with puppeteers walking around with poles and other visual references for the actors. The same shots were then filmed without the puppetries, but most of the time the eye-line of the actors was crucial to keep in sync, so we needed to use the complete plates and remove the puppeteers.



Can you take me through the tools you relied on for Dinolab II?



Bourbonnais: Concepts and tests were crucial for this project to work, as our group of palaeontologists had to approve all aspects of each and every concept, model, texture and animation to keep a high standard of scientific relevance. All the CG models were completed in Softimage XSI (now Autodesk Softimage) and Zbrush. Compositing was done in Nuke.

We used the show to test different data transfer schemes between the CG and comp departments, using distributed light rigs for quick set-ups of multiple scenes in record time. The light rigs generated dynamic and flexible light passes that were completely adjustable in comp, limiting the back-and-forth of data between departments. The show was rendered in different dynamic ranges for testing. Scripted EXR packaging coming from our CG renders were automatically linked to comp tree setups. Sequence setups included presets for automated pre-comps that were extremely handy during approvals and quality control.

What were some of the particular challenges you had in creating the dinosaurs?



Bourbonnais: CG creature work has its share of challenges, sometimes going beyond the digital effects work itself. On this particular project, working within the delicate balance of displaying a good entertaining show while keeping the material scientifically accurate was certainly one of the issues we had to deal with. Some of the more action-prone sequences of the show were quick to define good tempo. We then worked on the timing and animation styles of the whole project to sustain a good pace.



The layouts had to be well thought-out with meticulous previz. Trying to prepare for a shoot involving a CG dinosaur wandering about in an enclosed space is quite delicate; for example, setting up the shots and camera angles to make sure the massive Argentonosaurus could freely move around the live actors and props was tricky.



Credit List



Produced by QuietMotion, Inc.

Producers: Jacques Bilodeau and Véronique Légaré

Directed by: Bertrand Morin

Dinolab concept: Patrick Gray and Alexandre  Lambert

Dinolab II digital effects by Modus FX



Images courtesy of QuietMotion Inc.