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By the end of the production for Darksiders II, the Plastic Wax crew knew the Darksiders universe like the backs of their hand. The last piece for the title they did was the launch TV commercial, called The Darkside of Salvation, which is on worldwide airplay at the moment, took inside of four weeks to produce, from the brief. “We had the Darksiders ideas pretty well tamed, and we could swing the material out in a reasonably short amount of time,” says Dignam. These look like they took a few pointers from Danté’s Inferno. Not the game, the real story. But the reference actually came from the in-game level action of Darksiders II. “We dug down into the asset builds in the levels and gathered a deep understanding of the complete environment. We then took all that information and re-rendered that into the cinematic space. Going into hell where Death is fighting 300+ demons, all with unique animations, it was an enjoyable challenge for our crew,” adds Matt. “The game level designs were brilliant to work with. Vigil Games and THQ really knew their game.”

Pipeline

Plastic Wax worked very closely with Vigil Games on the cut scene in-game work they did. In fact, working with the developer and the publisher THQ helped maintain and balance the ideas for both sides while allowing Plastic Wax to really dig deep into the universe and deliver a cohesive and enthralling cinematic experience. They had to tie in flawlessly with the game play and this meant direct communications with the lead animators and production team at Vigil as the production rolled along. The core workflow for the kind of production like Darksiders II, Plastic Wax makes extensive use of their own in-house Motion Capture facility. “Once the shots are designed and we have the best people we can for the job, we collaborate with the game developer or the client directly,” explains Dignam. “Then we take the script, adding what we think it needs and go out to employ those people we know we need for that. That might be an actor with a particular performance, an acrobat, gymnast or stunt person.”

Once the MoCap data is caught, that is applied into the scenes that have already been blocked out with the initial camera pass. The modelers and the clients work very much together to make sure their body movement that brings the right proportions to the character. Lighting and rendering then comes onboard with the compositing team as well, to create the full 3D integration with NUKE. Other parts like set extensions and atmospheres are applied. These pipelines lend themselves to work within or alongside pipelines for other projects that enter the mix sometimes concurrently, as the Plastic Wax Animation crew have found just recently.

Disney EPIC Mickey 2 and Civilization V

Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two - Opening Cinematic


While the production of Darksiders II thunders along, the work wasn't all Death, Despair and Hell riding through battles, as mentioned before. Alongside the mayhem of nightmares, existed a fun filled musical game EPIC Mickey 2, where the history of Disney animations and Mickey Mouse adventures were being given a loving treatment for the younger audience. The Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two work done by Plastic Wax Animation concentrated on the ingame cinematics and some musical productions. Proving they can juggle, cuddle and kill demons all at the same time. Slated for release in November 18.Reviews of the game cinematics and musical numbers, animated and created at Plastic Wax, have been tremendously positive.


‘Civilisation V’ also recently won the AEAF Award for Best Game Cinematic for Plastic Wax Animation.


Plastic Wax Animation showreel.