Deep impact Gets a glowing response from VFX artists 26 years after its release. Directed by Mimi Leder, with a script co-written by Bruce Joel Rubin and Michael Tolkien, the 1998 disaster film follows mankind’s efforts to prepare and destroy a 7-mile (11 km) wide comet on a collision course with Earth that could Cause. A mass extinction. The movie stars Morgan Freeman, Robert Duvall, Téa Leoni, Elijah Wood, Vanessa Redgrave, James Cromwell, Jon Favreau, Mary McCormack, Richard Schiff, Kurtwood Smith, and many more.
During the last episode of Corridor crew‘s “VFX Artists React” series, Hosts Sam Gorski, Ron Weichman and Jordan Allen have a glowing response to the tsunami scene in Deep impact. Watch part of the video below:
Weichman was particularly impressed by the VFX in Deep impactNote that despite the fact that the film was made in the early days of water simulations, they achieved remarkable results using geometry animation and particle effects. He highlights the innovation in creating realistic water effects, simulating destruction, and how they used early voxel-like techniques to handle the water interacting with buildings, which was groundbreaking at the time. Read his full comments below:
For some reason this scene stuck with me as a child. I still remember that. Don’t forget that this appeared in the very earliest days of water simulations. This was mostly done by doing a lot of geometry animation for the main body of water and then a lot of particles for all the white water stuff. Even with all that, I’m still blown away that they were able to make the shadows for this, like the buildings actually collapse and move around. They didn’t even have the terminology for voxels back then, they just divided it into voxels to do all the water around all the buildings and it was like a real big deal. He discovered that Navier-Stokes water sim paper was coming out at the same time they were doing the effects on the movie.
Yeah, so like this shot, it was a real water steamy trying to use the math of you and then someone else has the sim for all the people on top. All the people on top of the building are single pixel particles. They are all just particles and apparently, the guy has stories for each of the little pieces.
What the VFX artists’ glowing response to deep impact means for the movie
His VFX still holds up 26 years later
The glowing response from the VFX artists Deep impact Means that The movie, especially its tsunami scene, still holds up remarkably well 26 years later. As Wren Weichman explains, the movie was made during the infancy of water simulation technology. It achieved a realistic image of massive waves using particle effects for white water and dividing the space into voxel-like sections before the terminology even originated. The collapsing buildings and interaction between water and structures still impress VFX artists today, demonstrating the ability of the filmmakers to push the boundaries of the available technology at the time.
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The realism of the tsunami scene was also improved by the Navier-Stokes equations, which were considered at the time in animation and assisted in accurately simulating the dynamics of fluids. This extreme attention to detail, including individual pixel particles for people on buildings, adds depth and complexity to the VFX. Considering that it holds captive audiences, Deep impact Can be considered an early mastery of water simulation technologyShowing that well-executed effects can withstand the test of time despite rapid advances in technology.
Our VFX from Deep Impact
They were undeniably impressive for their time
Although Deep impacts VFX is undeniably impressive for its time, The disaster film was mostly held back by its melodramatic elementsWhich caused it to be panned by both critics and audiences and prevented it from becoming the classic disaster film it could have been. Deep impact was also released the same summer as the similar theme ArmageddonAnd although it did not perform as well at the box office, astronomers consider Deep impact To be more scientifically accurate, thanks in part to its realistic depiction of a tidal wave.
Source: Corridor crew