Monday, February 3rd, 2025Posted by Jim ThackerSee five great VFX breakdowns from the 2025 V-Ray showreelhtml PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"Chaos has released its 2025 V-Ray VFX and Animation Showreel, its round-up of the best new work created with the production renderer for DCC apps including Maya, Houdini and 3ds Max.As weve occasionally done in the past, rather than just picking out personal highlights from the reel, we thought it would be fun to go a step further, and show how the projects were created.Below, weve compiled a run-down of five key projects from the new V-Ray showreel, complete with VFX breakdown videos from the studios that created them.The showreel also features great work from studios like BUCK, Realtime, Scanline VFX and Unit Image you can find a full list here but weve focused here on projects with making-ofs online.MovieTitle: ElevationStudio: Digital DomainPost-apocalyptic thriller Elevation sees survivors confined to isolated mountain enclaves after the terrifying insect-like Reapers emerge from underground and decimate humanity.For the creature design, Digital Domain referenced real-world predators like tigers and Komodo dragons, also creating detailed CG environments, and FX elements like dust and explosions.Read more about Digital Domains work on ElevationBroadcast SeriesTitle: Agatha All AlongStudio: Digital DomainDigital Domain worked on a number of sequences for Agatha All Along, Disney+ and Marvel Televisionss WandaVision spin-off, but one of the most challenging was Agathas death.As her body withers and decays, vegetation engulfs it, fungi gradually giving way to roses.Although the team considered tackling the sequence in 2D, most of the work was CG, giving precise control over every blade of grass, while FX artists added details like falling dirt. Read more about Digital Domains work on Agatha All AlongGame CinematicTitle: Helldivers 2 intro cinematicStudio: Goodbye Kansas StudiosFor the tongue-in cheek intro to third-person shooter Helldivers 2, Goodbye Kansas worked with developer Arrowhead Game Studios to design a cinematic that nodded to American military recruitment ads without tipping over into excessive exaggeration.Unreal Engine was used for pre-production, to establish layouts from storyboards and bring scenes to life during the mocap shoot, with V-Ray used for asset development and final output.Read more about Goodbye Kansas Studios work on the Helldivers 2 cinematicAnimationTitle: Les As de la Jungle (The Jungle Bunch)Studio: TAT productionsTAT productions flagship property, Les As de la Jungle (The Jungle Bunch) has been a hit since 2011, spawning an International Emmy Award-winning series and two full-length features.The video above is an overview of the studios pipeline, but you can find detailed breakdowns on TATs YouTube channel, including one on lighting and rendering in 3ds Max and V-Ray.Read more about TATs animated series and moviesShort FilmTitle: Void of SubstanceStudio: KorbFor in-house CG short Void of Substance, motion design studio Korb created an enigmatic and meticulously rendered meditation on the power of AI without using AI-generated imagery.To create the AI brain, Korb used 3ds Max add-on tyFlow for VDB simulation, and V-Ray for rendering. The video above shows the full short, but you can find a brief making-of here.Read more about Korbs work on Void of Substance on StashHave your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we dont post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.Latest NewsCheck out the new features in the ForestPack 9.1 updatesLatest updates to the 3ds Max scattering plugin add new options to control the form of plants generated by 3D ivy generator ForestIvy.Monday, February 3rd, 2025See five great VFX breakdowns from the 2025 V-Ray showreelSee breakdowns of five key movies, TV series, cinematics and animated shorts created in V-Ray from Chaos's latest showreel.Monday, February 3rd, 2025Tutorial: Creating a Character for Games - Vol. 1Master industry-standard workflows for sculpting AAA game characters with The Gnomon Workshop's detailed new tutorial series.Monday, February 3rd, 2025How Vine FX created a parasitic underwater forest for The RigDiscover how the VFX studio used procedural growth simulation to create the environment for Amazon Prime Video's supernatural thriller.Friday, January 31st, 2025Boris FX releases Optics 2025Photoshop plugin and standalone app for applying cinematic looks to still images gets AI mask generation, Looks and new Particle Brushes.Friday, January 31st, 2025Thinkinetic releases Pulldownit 6 for MayaDestruction plugin for games and VFX gets a new Edge Fracture Tool, and improvements to clustering and simulation performance.Thursday, January 30th, 2025More NewsAdobe launches unmetered access to Substance 3D AssetsAdobe releases Photoshop 26.3Check out free Android and iOS 3D scanning app RealityScan 1.6Free tool: Animation Render Time Estimator for BlenderChaos releases V-Ray 7 for HoudiniChaos releases V-Ray 7 for MayaAdobe releases Substance 3D Modeler 1.19Red9 ProPack gets new tools created for Sonic the Hedgehog 3JangaFX teases IlluGenCheck out the new features due in EmberGen 2.0Tutorial: Creating Runtime Cinematics in Unreal Engine 5PhotoLine 25 now reads Cryptomatte dataOlder Posts