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Summary

Make no mistake: Detective Max Payne is tough.

That’s especially true when he’s angry. And somebody

has made him very, very angry indeed. Such is

the cursory premise o director John Moore’s MaxPayne, a big screen, live action version o the popular

video game starring brawny actor Mark Wahlberg in

the title role. When you throw in a mercenary and

corrupt pharmaceutical company; a hallucinogenic,

hyperaddictive drug; and hordes o truly gnarly ying

demons; and…well, you know things are going to get

complicated.

Toronto-based Spin Productions knew rom the

outset that Max Payne would be a complex project,

and it went at the ilm with gusto. Harnessing its

design, animation, and modeling exper tise, not to

mention its prowess with several Autodesk Media

& Entertainment products, the Spin team helped

transorm the dark premise into a stylish, sleek, andbravely brooding piece o graphic novel-style art.

Spin Visual Eects Supervisor Je Campbell, Senior

Eects Artist Tim Sibley, Rigging Supervisor Glen

Chang, and Modeling Supervisor Erin Nickolson sat

down with Autodesk to talk about the challenges

and triumphs o the lm.

The Setup

Spin’s initial introduction to Max Payne came w

Everett Burrell, the ilm’s production supervi

approached the company – and ten others – w

series o HD plates:

“The plates were preliminary shots or a huge

terriying drug sequence,” says Campbell. “ Ev

basically gave them to eleven dierent compa

and let us go at it. I actually used Inerno as a

or design and experimentation or our pitch. I

the system’s interactivity, and it enabled us to bri

entire sequences, try eects, and nd out immed

what was working and what wasn’t. In the end, th

liked our look best, and we won the job.”

The pivotal scene in question here sees Detect

Payne emerging rom the icy waters o what lo

like New York’s Hudson River, where he has co

close to drowning ater eluding two men who whim dead. His body temperature plummeting, P

realizes he must ingest two vials o Valkyr, an il

drug that makes its users eel superhuman be

dropping them into hopeless addiction, i he i

wreak his vengeance on the men who murdered

wie and inant son.

Needless to say, he swallows the viscous blue l

As soon as he does so, all that was cold turns bl

hot, including the multitude o snowlakes ly

through the air.

SPIN (www.spinpro.com)

Toronto, Ontario

Vancouver, British Columbia

Los Angeles, California

Atlanta, Georgia

Autodesk® Maya® software

Autodesk® 3ds Max® software

Autodesk® Inferno® software

Autodesk® Mudbox™ software

 

I particularly like to useInerno as a tool or designand experimentation.I love the high speedinteractivity. It enablesus to try a multitudeo eects elementsand looks, and nd outquickly what works andwhat doesn’t. In the end,they liked our look thebest, and we won the job.

— Je Campbell

Visual Eects Supervisor

Spin

© 2008, 20th Century Fox, Image courtesy of Spin Productions.

Feel the Payne.

Spin Conjures Up the Devil (and HiMinions) or John Moore’s Max Payne

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© 2008, 20th Century Fox, Image courtesy of Spin Productions.

On the test we did or our pitch, we showed a

nowlake transorm into a glowing ember,” says

ampbell with a smile. “Our reerence came rom

ghting some cotton balls on ire and trying to

mulate the look. Thanks to our own Tim Sibley

nd the magic o Autodesk® Maya® sotware Particle

ects, it turned into a great eect.”

ut that wasn’t all. A ter seeing Spin’s creature work

n the upcoming lm Outlander, Moore and his team

ecided to entrust the lms multitude o demons

o the company’s capable hands. That decision

would result in some o the ilm’s most arrestingnd memorable scenes.

he Challenge: The Devils and Their Details

The Demons presented an enormous challenge or

s,” says Sibley. “But we kind o have ourselves to

lame or all the work. Initially, John was thinking

bout keeping the Demons in the shadows, or having

his super-quick, erratic motion. Working rom sketches

rawn by designer Rob McCallum, we built this weathered,

atty look or the immense wings, and John just loved it.

We had a great time doing it, but each eather’s geometry

nded up being very heavy and signicantly slowed down

ur renders. It was a bit o a concern, but we got it done.”

he rst and most compelling shot o one o the Demons

omes during what is, in this reporter’s opinion, the lm’s

gnature shot. Approaching a clearly troubled Valkyr

unkie or inormation, Payne tries to coax the man back

om a window ledge. Realizing that his inormant is about

o plunge backwards to his death, Payne makes a last,

esperate dash towards him. As he does, the scene turns

o hypnotically uid slow motion, and we see a hovering,

articularly earsome Demon grab the man’s shoulders

nd yank him backwards out the window.

The shot where the junkie is pulled out the window

was a big challenge, and a big milestone or us,” says

ampbell. “From that point on, the look o the Demons

hanged rom very erratic, blurry creatures into thesextremely precise, winged monsters moving in slow

motion. When John saw that shot, he wanted to do

very shot like that. We explained that the shot was

lmed at 150 rames per second, but he said that was

he look he wanted, and we got to work. That entire

cene was created using Autodesk Maya, including

ll the interiors and exterior shots. Only the window

rom which the character is pulled is practical.”

espite his enthusiasm, Moore remained skeptical

hat 3D was the way to go or many o the remaining

Maya, 3ds Max, and Mudbox were absolutely critical toachieving the distinctive, demonic look and eel o MaxPayne, and Inerno proved to be a antastic conceptualand creative tool or dening and realizing that vision.

Autodesk, Inerno, Maya, Mudbox, and ds Max are registered trademarks or trademarks o Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or afliates in the Uor other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. © 2008 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

Demon shots. To convince the director o its skills,

the Spin matched 3D moves with actor Mako Hindy,

who had been tapped to play the lead Demon, complete

with wings.

“I began modeling the creature based o o the physical

reerence o the actor and his prosthetics,” explains

Nickolson, Modeling Supervisor on the lm. “I took many

reerence photographs and modeled the animation mesh

in 3ds Max. The wings were modeled o o a concept o 

Bojan Zoric, Spin’s Lead Mattepainter and Texture Artist.

Placing the eathers was very tricky, as all o the larger

ones were created individually or with path constraints.

I used the Shave and a Haircut plug-in included with

Autodesk 3ds Max to brush in some o the random

eathers at the top edge o each wing. Overall, it

was a un and relaxed creative experience.”

Maybe so, but the resulting scene, though denitelycreative, is anything but un and relaxed.

“Just to prove that our CG Demon could keep up

with Mako, we did a side-by-side comparison,”

says Campbell. “We had ull-rame shots o Mako

doing some really cool movements, and we put

our CG Demon right beside him doing the exact

same movements. John was so blown away that

he gave us extra shots. We ended up being tight

on animators to get all the work done, but we’re

really happy the way things turned out.”

The Result

In all, the Spin team completed 107 complex shot

the lm, together with some 40 more or the eve

DVD release, and they did it all in just 12 weeks. S

o those shots included some particularly evoc

computer graphics (CG) breath and body heat emi

rom the characters, enhancing the sense o cold

heat within this city where it always snows an

sun never shines. While Campbell credits Autod

Maya® and Autodesk® 3ds Max®, along with Autod

Mudbox™ sotware, as critical to the look o the l

comes back to Autodesk® Inerno® sotware or

personal praise:

“I love the interactivity o Inerno, and it was partic

great or the pitch that won us the job,” he

says thoughtully. “I was able to assemble a

o critical elements, including iery skies an

visions o the Demons, and do it very quickly. I l

to shoot practical elements rom all kinds o diereperspectives, but Inerno allows us to track quickly, a

great or importing entire sequences. One death sce

or instance, involving the Natasha character, prove

amazing Inerno can be. I imported the entire seque

and was able to convince the director and the clients

it would all work out. Inerno was a antastic timesav

In the end, one thing is certain: creating so

spectacular shots in so little time, it’s clear

Max Payne has nothing on the team at Spin.

Spin is currently working on the upcoming

Twentieth Century Fox release o Dragonball.