Lead VFX house MPC returns to the Marvel Universe for ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past.’
With the first box office returns for X-Men: Days of Future Past just starting to roll in, The Hollywood Reporter gives readers a sneak peek into visual effects company MPC’s work on the 20th Century Fox film.
“When lead VFX house MPC returned to the Marvel Universe for X-Men: Days of Future Past, one of the biggest challenges was creating the Sentinels -- robots designed to kill the mutant superheroes.
“MPC VFX supervisor Richard Stammers related that the Sentinels actually required two designs, as there was a ‘1973 version,’ which was brought to the screen by Digital Domain; and a future version, created by MPC.
“To create the sleek future robots, Stammers worked with production designer John Myhre and MPC's art department to create the look. The idea was that the Sentinels were engineered from the DNA of the shape-shifter Mystique, giving them transforming and adapting abilities.
These Sentinels -- which MPC saw through to final composite -- were ‘keyframe’ animated, meaning they were animated by hand by the digital artists, and no motion capture was used. Most challenging was that they were covered with approximately 100,000 independent ‘blades,’ the movement of which had to be ‘directed’ rather than driven by simulation.”
Check out the progression images below, and head over to THR to read the full story:
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
