The boys are back in town! After the viral success of 2012’s “V-Ray IRL,” Martini Giant podcasters Chris Nichols, Dan Thron, and Erick Schiele return to the big screen with “Ray Tracing FTW,” a playful Western-themed meta-commentary on how VFX has affected storytelling in modern movies, and a demonstration of Chaos’ game-changing Project Arena virtual production technology.
The film made use of a fusion of old-school and cutting-edge Hollywood technology. The virtual production elements of the shoot used Chaos’ innovative Project Arena virtual production technology to create a convincing vision of the Wild West. Thanks to these innovative techniques, the team was able to bring on legendary cinematographer and six-time ASC president Richard Crudo to lens in-camera VFX shots with none of the frustrations of a game engine-based pipeline.
“Richard had the chance to explore our virtual sets,” Chris said. “And with Project Arena’s real-time ray tracing, we didn’t need to bake lighting, and we could dynamically adjust anything, including the sun’s position, without sacrificing image quality. This gave Richard complete creative freedom so he could work in a CG environment with familiar tools and focus on lighting and composition, just like in the real world.”
Erick designed the set and then passed it over to The Scope for creation with its procedural generation expertise. Created virtually, this enormous asset consisted of an entire western town, miles of train tracks through a western prairie, a gorge, a bridge, and a tunnel.
“The set, made of trillions of polygons, ran for days on the Orbital Studios’ virtual production stage without crashing once,” says James Blevins, virtual production producer.
This single, high-quality asset gave the production unprecedented flexibility. The live-action crew could shoot real-time ray-traced visuals on the virtual stage with Project Arena, the Chaos team could quickly render shots with Vantage, and Bottleship VFX could create effects-heavy shots with V-Ray.
Producer Chris enlisted seasoned filmmaker Dan to direct and talented artist Erick to handle the production design. All three joined forces to write the project, and Chaos’ Co-Founder and Head of Innovation, Vladimir “Vlado” Koylazov, served as executive producer (and train conductor). A host of Hollywood talent helped out with production.
“The best thing about working with real high-end pros is that everyone just clicks together, like Legos,” says Dan. “We had a coherent voice and leadership from Chris and Vlado, to be able to know what we're trying to say. To get to these people and have it work is something that doesn't happen on regular film sets.”
The Hollywood talent wasn’t just behind the camera: “Ray Tracing FTW” features a who’s-who of VFX legends demonstrating their acting chops. Keep your eyes peeled to see:
- Digital Domain co-founder Scott Ross
- Avatar sequels production designer Ben Procter
- What Dreams May Come VFX supervisor Kevin Mack
- John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum VFX supervisor Robert Nederhorst
- Chair of the Academy’s Scientific and Technical Awards Committee Barbara Ford Grant
- Arnold creator Marcos Fajardo
- Scanline VFX & Eyeline Studios CTO Sebastian Sylwan
- Mesh co-founder James Blevins
- Lux Machina’s founder Philip Galler
- Chaos events manager Kristin Guinn
Want to know more? Check out our detailed guide on what to look out for in this Easter Egg-packed short.
Watch "FTW's" prequel: “V-Ray IRL”
“Ray Tracing FTW” isn’t the first time Chris and Dan have created a VFX-themed short. Back in 2012, they put together “V-Ray IRL,” an equally humorous look at how V-Ray’s features reflect the real world.
