With the release of Iron Man 3, audiences witnessed the amazing visual effects and designs that helped the movie’s narrative move forward and become more exciting and engaging. Behind the camera, it was 3D solutions company Autodesk Inc that provided the tools to showcase the spectacular work of art with the latest technology, combined with special effects and live-action recording.
Iron Man 3 had extensive pre-visualization created with Autodesk Maya and Autodesk MotionBuilder by US-based studio – The Third Floor. Aside from that, Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital in New Zealand (best known for the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings series) was the lead visual effects house on Iron Man 3. Australian-based Fuel FX; on the other hand, also contributed to the phenomenal effects in the movie.
Autodesk’s solutions were indeed perfect in bringing Tony Stark’s story to life. Autodesk® Maya® 3D animation software offers a comprehensive creative feature set for 3D computer animation, modeling, simulation, rendering, and compositing on a highly extensible production platform. Maya now has next-generation display technology, accelerated modeling workflows, and new tools for handling complex data. Autodesk® MotionBuilder® is a 3D character animation software for virtual production enabling artists to more efficiently manipulate and refine data with greater reliability. Capture, edit, and play back complex character animation in a highly responsive, interactive environment, and work with a display optimized for both animators and directors.
Furthermore, this is not the first time Autodesk had a hand in the Iron Man movie franchise. For Iron Man 1, Industrial Light & Magic brought brought the superhero character and his nemesis to life using Maya for animating and modeling the CG suits, as well as Inferno visual effects software as part of its SABRE system for compositing over 400 shots. Pixel Liberation Front worked on the film for 19 months, relying on Maya to create reference models for extensive previsualization. The Orphanage developed the thruster look and an exploding mountainside using 3ds Max and used Maya for the Gulmira, Missile Test and Stark Jet sequences. In 2011, ILM created “Iron Man 2” which had 527 visual effects shots. ILM created the film’s remarkable Iron Man suits and spectacular action sequences with the help of Maya and Flame. Commenting on the success of Iron Man 2, Marc Chu, ILM animation director said, “Maya played an invaluable role in providing our artists the tool to create the animation for ‘Iron Man 2’. Animators that were new to ILM were able to jump straight into shot production with very little training time and thanks to Maya’s opened ended platform we were able to customize and create new tools that were vital in bringing both Iron Man and War Machine to life.”
Of course, both movies went on to becoming Academy Award nominees for Best Visual Effects.
In fact, for the 18th consecutive year, every film nominated for the Best Visual Effects Academy Award was shaped with Autodesk digital filmmaking tools. This year’s Academy Award nominees continued to push digital imagery to new heights—from intricate and complex computer-generated characters to pyrotechnical marvels to invisible effects so realistic they deceive the eye.
This year, a record-setting 21 animated films were eligible for nomination in the Best Animated Feature category. The five nominees all used Autodesk Maya 3D animation and visual effects software. The nominees include two 3D animated features “Brave” and “Wreck-It Ralph” and three stop-motion movies: “Frankenweenie,” “ParaNorman,” and “The Pirates! Band of Misfits.” Autodesk is honored that these filmmakers utilized Autodesk digital technology from planning and pre-visualization right down to final grade. Autodesk software also played a role in the creation of a number of other movies nominated this year including “Amour,” “Argo,” “Buzkashi Boys,” “Flight,” “Les Misérables,” “Lincoln,” “Paperman,” “Silver Linings Playbook,” “Skyfall,” “Ted” and “Zero Dark Thirty.”
In the end, the Iron Man movies never disappointed. Thanks to the great story, acting, direction and the visual effects that all helped to bring the iron-clad hero to life.