Taming the swarm

Abstract

When constructing shots of non-human crowds that exhibit complex behaviors, the standard approach based on the well-established rules of boid simulation is likely to fall short when used for a group of characters with "intent". In Pacific Rim Uprising, Double Negative VFX tackled the challenge of producing a large crowd of highly articulated robotic creatures performing the complex and coordinated task of "assembling" a mega-Kaiju. This task required a number of innovative approaches to both crowd authoring and rendering, and close collaboration between the RnD and artists.