Eye candy: Kometh
Scientists tell us that the heart of a comet is made up of ice and dust. Not so, according to new CG short Kometh: The Secret Life Inside a Comet – it’s also a hotbed of extraterrestrial life.
Created by Erik Ferguson, head of post-production at Norwegian VFX studio BUG, Kometh provides glimpses of all manner of writhing, Lovecraftian monstrosities, set to an atmospheric electronic score.
Created in ZBrush and Houdini
Ferguson told CG Channel: “Kometh is 100% CG and was created over the course of two months.
“All the creatures were sculpted and textured in ZBrush and passed on to Houdini for simulation and rendering. Some of the environments were also sculpted in ZBrush, but most were created procedurally in Houdini.
“The simulation used the finite element solver, new in Houdini 13. This solver preserves the volume of the geometry and is perfect for organic objects and movement.
“The render was quite heavy as I wanted to use ‘in-render’ DoF and motion blur, but Mantra handles this really well, even when using physically based rendering.
“The music is by a track called Transparenza by Biosphere and Deathprod and really helped set the mood for the film. The visuals are very much based on this track.”