By CHRIS McGOWANImages courtesy of DNEG and HBO.The greening of a city usually makes a town a nicer place to live in, but it isnt human-friendly when it happens to a post-apocalyptic Seattle overrun with voracious zombie-like creatures, as is the case in Season 2 of the hit HBO series The Last of Us. Much of that transformation was the task of DNEG, which had to reconstruct contemporary Seattle and then add 25 years of decay. Stephen James, VFX Supervisor at DNEG, comments, Building a city, weathering and destroying it, and adding 20 years of overgrowth, is already a very layered and complex challenge. But this season we had to add another layer of complexity water. We had to tell the story through the environment of how a coastal and very rainy city like Seattle may weather over time. Other VFX studios working on the show included Wt FX, Rise FX, Distillery VFX, Important Looking Pirates, Storm Studios and Clear Angle Studios. Alex Wang was the Production VFX Supervisor, and Fiona Campbell Westgate served as Production VFX Producer.A number of different techniques were utilized to build Seattle, from set extension and augmentation to digital matte painting and full CG environments.In order to get data of the waterside of the buildings where our team couldnt access, we had permission to fly a drone in the early morning before sunrise for both photogrammetry and photography. Our drone pilot had to dodge seagulls defending their nests while capturing each structure, which meant several trips to ensure the safety of the drone and the seagulls!Stephen James, VFX Supervisor, DNEGThe Last of Us is based on the Naughty Dog video game, created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, in which a global fungal infection turns its hosts into deadly mutants that transform or kill most of humanity. We had more than 20 unique locations and environments over the course of the season, from Ellie and Dinas initial approach to Seattle in Episode 3, to epic views of the city from the theater rooftop in Episode 4, and a number of wide city and waterfront shots in Episode 7, explains Melaina Mace, DFX Supervisor at DNEG. We utilized a number of different techniques to build Seattle, from set extension and augmentation to digital matte painting and full CG environments. Nearly all of these sequences required vegetation and overgrowth, weathering and destruction, and, because a lot of our work was set in a flooded Seattle, many sequences also required rain or FX water simulations.Building on the work done on Boston in Season 1, the filmmakers wanted the vegetation in Seattle to be more lush and green, reflecting the weather patterns and climate, telling the story about how a rainy, coastal city like Seattle might weather over time.Mace continues, For wider street and city views, we built a number of key Seattle buildings and built up a library of generic buildings to fill out our city in our wider rooftop and waterfront shots. Our Environment team worked in tandem with our FX team to build a massive, flooded section of the city along the waterfront for Episode 7, which needed to work from multiple different angles across multiple sequences. Nature reclaimed the city with CG moss, ivy and overgrowth. Building on the work done on Boston in Season 1, the filmmakers wanted the vegetation in Seattle to be a bit more lush and green and reflect the weather patterns and climate of the city. Mace explains, We had a library of Megascans ground plants and SpeedTree trees and plants from Season 1 that we were able to build upon as a starting point. We updated our library to include more ferns and coniferous trees to match the vegetation of the Pacific Northwest. Nearly every shot had some element of vegetation, from extending off ground plants in the set dressing and extending ivy up a full building facade, to building an entire ecosystem for a full CG environment. Mace notes, All vegetation scatters and ivy designs were created by our Environment team, led by Environment Supervisor Romain Simonnet. All ivy generation, ground plant and tree scattering was done in Houdini, where the team could also add wind simulations to match the movement of vegetation in the plate photography for seamless integration.To capture the scope of destruction, a partial set was constructed against bluescreen on a studio backlot, then digitally enhanced and completed in CG.To capture the iconic sites of Seattle, our team spent five days in Seattle, both scouting and reference-gathering across the city, James remarks. A big focus on getting as much photography and data as possible for the Aquarium and Great Wheel, given the level of detail and accuracy that would be required. We had multiple people capturing texture and reference photograph, LiDAR capture from Clear Angle, and a drone team for further coverage. Mace explains, We worked with a local production company, Motion State, to capture drone footage of the Aquarium, Great Wheel and a number of other Seattle buildings, which allowed us to create a full photogrammetry scan of each location. James notes, In order to get data of the waterside of the buildings where our team couldnt access, we had permission to fly a drone in the early morning before sunrise for both photogrammetry and photography. Our drone pilot had to dodge seagulls defending their nests while capturing each structure, which meant several trips to ensure the safety of the drone and the seagulls! We also ran video of the drone traveling along the water, beside the Great Wheel and various angles of the city, which were [an] excellent reference for shot composition for any of our full CG shots.The Pinnacle Theatre was based on the real Paramount Theatre in Seattle. DNEGs Environment team extended the city street in CG and dressed it with vegetation and ivy.Based on the real Paramount Theatre in Seattle, we had to extend the CG building [of the Pinnacle Theatre] off a two-story set built on a backlot in Surrey, B.C. The set was actually a mirror image of the real location, so it took a bit of work to line up but still retain the original building design. We were also fortunate enough to have the original Pinnacle Theatre asset from the game, which Naughty Dog very kindly provided for reference.Melaina Mace, DFX Supervisor, DNEGMace notes, Given the scope of the work in Episode 7, we knew we would need to build hero, full-CG assets for a number of locations, including the Seattle Aquarium and Seattle Great Wheel. Each asset was primarily based on the real-world location, with slight design alterations to match the show concept art and set design.A partial set was built on a backlot for the backside of the Aquarium where Ellie climbs onto the pier in Episode 7. Mace adds, We then lined up the location LiDAR and photogrammetry scans with the set LiDAR and adjusted the design of the building to seamlessly line up with the set. Small design details were changed to tie into the design of the game, including the whale murals on the side of the Aquarium, which were a story point to guide Ellie on her quest to find Abby. Another hero asset build was the Pinnacle Theatre, Ellie and Dinas refuge in Seattle, seen in Episodes 4, 5, 6 and 7. Mace explains, Based on the real Paramount Theatre in Seattle, we had to extend the CG building off a two-story set built on a backlot in Surrey, B.C. The set was actually a mirror image of the real location, so it took a bit of work to line up but still retain the original building design. We were also fortunate enough to have the original Pinnacle Theatre asset from the game, which Naughty Dog very kindly provided for reference. Our Environment team then extended the full city street in CG and dressed it with vegetation and ivy.Nearly all sequences required vegetation and overgrowth, weathering and destruction.Drone photogrammetry, on-site location photography, LiDAR scans and custom FX simulations were used to craft expansive CG environments and dynamic weather systems. We spent a week on location in Seattle with our Shoot team, led by Chris Stern, capturing as much data as possible, Mace states. We captured Roundshot photography at varying times of day from multiple different rooftop locations in downtown Seattle, as well as various different angles on the Seattle skyline, which we used as both reference for our CG environments and as the base photography for digital matte painting.DNEGs asset team created nine unique WLF (Washington Liberation Front) soldier digi-doubles based on 3D scans of the actors, then blended them in seamlessly with the actors.Approximately 70 water shots with crashing waves, animated boats and complex FX simulations were crafted. Due to the complexity of the environments and digi-double work and then needing to run hero FX simulations against each of those, it was really vital that both the environment and animation work for these sequences were prioritized early, James notes. Environments focused on any coastal areas that would have FX interaction such as the collapsed city coast, docks and boats run aground. We were very fortunate to have FX Supervisor Roberto Rodricks, along with an FX team with a lot of water experience, James comments. That allowed us to hit the ground running with our water workflows. Each ocean shot started with a base FX ocean that gave us buy-off on speed, wave height and direction. That was then pushed into hero simulation for any foreground water. The animation team, led by Animation Supervisor Andrew Doucette, had boat rigs that would flow with the ocean surface, but then added further detail and secondary motions to the boats. The soldiers were both mocap and keyframe animations to have the soldiers reacting to the ongoing boat movements. Once animation was finalized, FX would then run additional post simulations for boat interaction, which allowed us to quickly adapt and update ocean simulations as animation changed without redoing the full simulation. However, in a few shots, there were so many boats with their wakes interacting with each other that it had to run as one master simulation.Full CG assets were built for a number of locations, including the Seattle Aquarium and Seattle Great Wheel, based on the real-world locations, with slight design alterations to match concept art and set design.Drone footage of the Aquarium, Great Wheel and a number of other Seattle buildings allowed DNEG to create a full photogrammetry scan of each location.To deliver a realistic storm and match plate photography, DNEG Environments added layers of depth to each shot, including secondary details such as wind gusts, rain curtains, ripples and splashes on the water surface.The introduction of water added another layer of complexity to Season 2. Approximately 70 water shots with crashing waves, animated boats and complex FX simulations were crafted.DNEGs Environment team worked in tandem with the FX team to build a massive, flooded section of the city along the waterfront for Episode 7.James continues, In order to sell a realistic storm and match plate photography, it was vital that we added layers and layers of complexity to each of these shots. FX added secondary details such as gusts, rain curtains, ripples and splashes on the water surface, and drips/water sheeting on any surfaces. Digi-doubles were involved in some water shots. The asset team created nine unique WLF (Washington Liberation Front) soldier digi-doubles based on 3D scans of the actors. Each digi had four unique costume sets: two variations on their tactical gear costume and a set of raincoat costume variants to match the plate photography in Episode 7. Mace remarks, Our Animation team, led by Andrew Doucette, brought the soldiers to life, filling out an armada of military boats with the WLF militia, which needed to blend seamlessly with the actors in the plate photography. For the water sequences, we were able to get layout started early and postvisd the entire sequence in late 2024. We were very thorough at that stage, as we wanted to make sure that we had a very solid foundation to build our complex environment, animation and FX work on. Layout had to consolidate a variety of set locations such as the water tank, dry boat rig and multiple set dock locations into one consistent scene.