This was a job working as a CG supervisor across a number of dogfight shots where the hero character and his female wingman are having a dogfight against some computer guided drones.
Many of the exterior shots are full CG shots using retimed footage shot from a helicopter in the Mojave Desert in California amongst footage of the mid north of South Australia.
Challenges were: making a convincing model, texture and shading of the exterior of the F35 miliary aircraft. Keeping the pace and story telling of the chase on track. Visors were made as CGI elements over the actors cockpits as well as CGI elements for the glass of the cockpit.
The majority of the work was done with Maya and 3delight, with effects elements, clouds, contrails and after burners from Houdini/Mantra.
This sequence in the movie tells a complete story of the hero as a maverick defeating the drones using cavalier techniques including using his wingman as a decoy. Before freezing up with the memory of his father crashing as a test pilot.
The shots are heavily reliant on a strong compositing team getting the most out of a rich AOV set from lighting.
Overall this was a sucessful project.
