Wylie Co.'s Motion Tracking Journey Using Mocha Pro in The Last Of Us Production
In the post-apocalyptic world of HBO's The Last of Us, a blend of CGI and live-action footage was essential to create the show's photorealistic environment. Two key tools in this visual effects (VFX) pipeline were Mocha Pro and Foundry Nuke.
Foundry Nuke, a powerful compositing software, played a pivotal role in integrating rendered CGI elements and live-action footage seamlessly. This included lighting, texturing, and final image assembly. Mocha Pro, on the other hand, was employed by the VFX teams, particularly Wylie Co., for its advanced planar tracking and rotoscoping capabilities.
Wylie Co., serving as the in-house VFX team for The Last of Us, handled a total of 2600 shots across nine episodes. Mocha Pro was instrumental in these tasks, saving time during production and facilitating precise tracking and masking necessary for complex shots, especially those involving integration of CGI infected creatures and environmental effects.
One such example was the addition of a digital matte painting of a mountain range during a handheld camera move with a quick turnaround. Mocha Pro's PowerMesh tracking proved to be a valuable tool for shots involving moving people, parallax, and occlusions.
However, the use of Mocha Pro wasn't without its challenges. SmartVectors in Nuke, which can introduce unwanted artifacts due to the motion blur of foreground object occlusions, required artists to painstakingly paint out these artifacts, adding an extra step to the process.
Despite these challenges, Mocha Pro was preferred over the planar tracker in Nuke for visual effects work. This preference was shared among the artists at Wylie Co., who also used Foundry Nuke for their VFX work on the series.
In an interview, VFX supervisor Joel Silva, who managed over 300 final effect shots created by the internal artists at Wylie Co., highlighted the variation in visual effects disciplines. He encouraged artists to take classes, seek instruction, and experiment with footage after filming something with a camera.
For those starting out in VFX, Maymudes advises starting with basic software like Photoshop, After Effects, or Blender to discover their interests. As the VFX industry continues to evolve, these tools will undoubtedly continue to play a crucial role in bringing the most imaginative stories to life.
Gadgets like Mocha Pro and Foundry Nuke, essential tools in the visual effects (VFX) pipeline, contributed significantly to the creation of a photorealistic environment in the post-apocalyptic world of HBO's The Last of Us. In entertainment, especially movies and TV shows, data-and-cloud-computing and technology advancements have revolutionized the VFX industry, allowing artists to merge CGI and live-action footage seamlessly.
