The volume of sci-fi programming shot in Vancouver has been keeping local post-production and F/X shops such as Rainmaker Digital Pictures buzzing. Sometimes rival shops even end up sharing the load.

‘Different visual effects supervisors work different ways,’ explains Brian Moylan, director of digital imaging at Rainmaker. ‘Some divide [the work] among several shops, and others are adamant that an entire episode gets done at one shop. It’s [dependent on] the amount of effects work you have to get done.’

For example, he says, MGM’s F/X-heavy Stargate SG-1 tends to split a show between two or three facilities, whereas the producers of the syndicated Tribune Entertainment/Fireworks Entertainment series Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda try to keep each episode with one supplier. Rainmaker, whose F/X team accounts for 45 of its 150 staff members, estimates that 75% to 80% of its business is generated by U.S. productions. Its fellow contributors in the local sci-fi F/X market include Lost Boys Studios, GVFX and Northwest Imaging & FX.

Paul Quinn, Rainmaker’s executive producer, VFX, says the shop performed F/X work on half a dozen Andromeda episodes last season and is gearing up for an episode in the newest round of adventures starring Kevin Sorbo as captain of a peacemaking starship. Jim Finn, the show’s F/X supervisor, uses his in-house art department to program recurring key F/X and simple burn-ins on his own.

‘But when he needs the big shots done, such as rendering and high resolution models, [he seeks outside help],’ says Moylan. ‘There are a lot of fight scenes, and they are constantly creating new types of spacecraft. I think they’ve redesigned the Andromeda [ship] this year, too.’

It is an F/X supervisor’s responsibility to maintain a consistent style despite the participation of various shops throughout the season, or even on one particular episode. In this case, each shop is entrusted with specific elements, such as all the ships or laser blasts.

‘One of the [problems] when you’re dealing with a variety of shops is that they use different software for their modeling and animation,’ Quinn says. ‘We have to take models created in another software and adapt them or translate them into our form of working. A lot of the times we even recreate models from scratch, because it’s easier to deal with our own software and models.’

Rainmaker primarily uses the NewTek LightWave 3D animation system, in addition to Alias|Wavefront’s Maya and Softimage|XSI.

‘The render quality of LightWave is really good,’ Quinn says. ‘I would put it on a par with [Pixar’s] RenderMan, which is probably tops in the industry right now. Personally, I find the [other] renderers somewhat lacking. As a large facility, you pick a package and make sure all your artists are specialists in it.’

Leo nominations

Rainmaker was nominated for 2001 Leo Awards for best visual effects for an episode of Stargate SG-1 as well as for the pilot of Dark Angel, the Fox sci-fi drama co-created and exec produced by James Cameron. It also recently provided 33 character animation shots of a dinosaur-like alien for an installment of MGM’s The Outer Limits. Rainmaker artists used LightWave for modeling and texturing the creature, with the majority of the choreography achieved with the Messiah character animator. Compositing was done in Rainmaker’s Discreet Inferno and Jaleo suites.

The studio also wrapped the Vancouver-shot Warner Bros. pilot of Smallville, which traces the adolescence of Clark Kent before he donned his patented blue tights and red cape. The pilot will air in September, and the show has been picked up for 13 episodes.

‘We did a lot of effects in a short period of time for Smallville,’ Quinn elaborates. ‘One of the unique things about it is that Warner Bros. will have a lot of shows shooting all over North America, but they’ll ship all the stuff back to L.A. for post. But the supervisor on the show, Elan Soltes, and the director, David Nutter, showed [the Warner execs] a way to post in other cities, and they gave us all the effects and were quite happy with it.’

The Smallville pilot opens with a meteor shower that wreaks havoc on the title town and brings young Kal-El/Clark’s spaceship to earth from exploding planet Krypton. The show then jumps ahead 15 years, tracing the ongoing side effects of the meteors on Smallville residents. Quinn anticipates Rainmaker will continue to provide F/X for the series.

Moylan reports that the series business is changing, with many programs embracing the high definition format for production and/or post. Rainmaker has already seen some HD work come through its doors, but is anticipating real growth in the next 12 to 18 months. For example, the Lions Gate Television production Mysterious Ways, which is shot in Vancouver and posted at the shop, has this season switched from 35mm to HD origination.

Moylan says Rainmaker is prepared for the HD onslaught, with all its major compositing suites set up for real-time HD ‘in and out.’ Rainmaker used a recent European 35mm theatrical commercial as a warm-up for HD-resolution F/X work. The shop produced a CG fighter pilot and exploding jet canopy for the spot, which it transferred to HD and worked on at its LightWave CG stations and composited in its HD-enabled Inferno. Using its film recorder, Rainmaker then output the finished product back to film. *

-www.rainmaker.com