Rotoscoping and painting of images on Avatar: The Last Airbender carried out by image design experts.
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Image Engine, a Vancouver-based studio, has been recognised for its outstanding visual effects work on Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender. The studio contributed to 309 shots over the 8-episode season, with the BG Prep team playing a significant role in almost every episode.
The diversity of cameras and shutter angles used on set, combined with creative retimes in editorial, required the team to match a variety of motion blurs on a per-shot basis. To tackle this challenge, Boris FX Silhouette was employed, primarily for rotoscoping, paint tasks, camera matching, and retime shots.
Silhouette’s powerful rotoscope features allowed Image Engine artists to accurately isolate characters or effects elements from the live-action background, crucial for compositing and visual effects layering. The software’s paint engine helped in removing unwanted objects or imperfections on a frame-by-frame basis, such as rig removal or cleanup of live-action footage.
For scenes requiring timing adjustments, Silhouette’s retiming tools enabled precise frame interpolation or manipulation without disturbing the visual continuity or quality. The studio's case study for Avatar: The Last Airbender is available for reading, detailing the comprehensive suite of rotoscoping, paint, tracking, and retiming capabilities employed by Image Engine.
One of the most challenging sequences worked on by the BG Prep team was the Katara/Pakku fight sequence in episode 7. This sequence was shot extensively over volume stages, requiring detailed rotoscoping of actors, items, props, and costumes. Silhouette provided efficiency and real-time playback for raster painting complex tasks, making it an invaluable tool for the team.
The studio's VFX Supervisor, Thomas Schelesny, expressed his thrill over the Emmy nomination for Avatar: The Last Airbender. The nomination is a recognition of the team's exceptional talent, dedication, creativity, and precision. The new Retime ML node, released in June 2024, could have saved the team tremendous effort.
The BG Prep team at Image Engine consisted of 14 members who contributed to Avatar: The Last Airbender, led by Carlos Conceição, Jared Hasslebach, and Jerrod Tan. The team spent approximately 10 months working on the visual effects for the series. They relied heavily on Silhouette for rotoscoping and frame-by-frame paint skills, leveraging its ability to reference other frames and plates, and cache changes quickly, which was crucial in fixing distortion while maintaining the original footage’s look and feel.
Image Engine completed over 700 paint and roto tasks with the help of Silhouette, demonstrating the tool's indispensable role in the studio's VFX pipeline. The studio's work on Avatar: The Last Airbender showcases the power of Silhouette in handling complex visual effects tasks, ensuring seamless integration of digital elements with the original footage.
Technology played a crucial role in Image Engine's visual effects work on Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender, as the studio employed Silhouette, a powerful software solution, for rotoscoping, paint tasks, camera matching, and retime shots.
The new Retime ML node, released in June 2024, could have potentially streamlined the team's efforts in the future, highlighting the ongoing impact of technology advancements on the VFX industry.
