Gints Zilbalodis, the writer and director of Flow, has recently shared new behind-the-scenes materials that offer a glimpse into the award-winning animated film’s creation process. The video above showcases the development of the water effects, created in collaboration with Martins Upitis, from the initial blockout stage to the final scenes. Some of these effects were then included in Physical Open Waters, a one-click add-on for generating realistic seas and oceans, which you can purchase here.
Flow was entirely made using Blender by a small team with a tight budget, and much of the production was completed on Zilbalodis’ personal PC. The film is now receiving widespread admiration, with a Golden Globe win, two Oscar nominations, and the new Blender 4.4 splash screen featuring none other than the cat protagonist.
Gints Zilbalodis has previously discussed his approach to Flow’s storyboards and has shared some other making-of details:
If you’d like to learn more, he also sat down with Blender for an exclusive interview, talking about his experience mastering Blender, handling the lighting and rendering for Flow on his own, and sharing the tools used in the production, so check it out.
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