The award-winning particleIllusion software from developer wondertouch was employed by New York-based visual effects house Extreme Digital Prods. to illustrate the effects of global warming for the new HBO/Lovett Prods. documentary, Too Hot Not Too Handle: A Global Warming Primer. The software was used to create smog, water evaporation, air pollution and images of the Earth spinning with plumes of greenhouse gas rising from the surface.
Set to debut on HBO on April 22 (Earth Day), Too Hot Not to Handle is described as a cautionary guide to the effects of global warming in the United States. The doc features leading scientists from such esteemed educational institutions as Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Stanford discussing such subjects as the greenhouse effect, hurricanes, snowpack, hybrid vehicles and alternative power.
Extreme Digital used particleIllusion to create a majority of the visual effects on the documentary and noted its that workflow efficiencies were crucial to the studio being awarded the role of graphics and animation provider. ‘Because of the immediacy required to turn around the samples, using a 3D particle program was out of the question,’ says Extreme Digital founder Vincent MacTiernan. ‘Having used particleIllusion on a number of high-profile projects I was confident I could quickly generate a 3D image of Earth that included their request for photorealistic smoke and smog elements.’
Extreme Digital artists accessed particle Illusion’s preset effects to give the look of water evaporating into space. ‘These shots required us do many test runs,’ says MacTiernan. ‘Having access to the extensive particleIllusion library, we were able to speed up the overall workflow and quickly dial in the subtle, yet elegant, look the producers required.’
St. Louis, Mo.-based wondertouch has seen its particleIllusion used on such
feature films as North Country, Stealth, Wedding Crashers, Sin City, The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3D and Fantastic Four, as well as the television series Battlestar Galactica, JAG and Navy/NCIS. wondertouch software products are available directly from wondertouch. Additional information can be found at www.wondertouch.com.
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