Technicolor
Technicolor’s Owen Hurley discusses the exciting opportunities VR is creating for CG artists, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and more with Kulsoom Middleton
The company talks Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and working with VR
With a century of entertainment inventions under its belt, Technicolor is at the cutting edge of digital innovation. The company’s world-class research and innovation laboratories enable it to lead the market in delivering advanced video services to content creators and distributors worldwide.
“We work with many of the top game developers in the world, in engine, and with a broad suite of software tools, creating and animating characters, building the worlds they inhabit, creating cinematics, lighting, creating FX… we essentially operate as an
extension of the developers’ in-house teams,” explains owen hurley, VP of Technicolor’s animation and Games, the arm of the group that focuses on the creative needs for the DCC industry.
over the years, Technicolor has collaborated with many of the leading game developers and its work can be seen in many successful titles, including recent releases such as Fifa 17, Call of duty: infinite Warfare and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. (See boxout for more on the Resident Evil title.)
ADAPTIVE ARTISTS
as Technicolor partners with lots of different game developers at any given time, the teams run multiple pipelines in the studio and there is a constant growth in skills as the teams adapt to match the expectations of the developers they work with. it is an extremely challenging way to work, as owen explains: “Working with different developers, all with different and often proprietary pipelines, requires a lot of flexibility and technical know-how on our part. The ability to adapt pretty much overnight to a new pipeline, new tools and processes requires an enormous amount of effort.”
“We place artists on site with developers as much as possible so they can not only learn preferred methods, but also get to know the teams and understand what makes them tick,” he continues. developers are welcomed and encouraged to come to spend time with the creative teams wherever possible as well. it is this close collaboration that is the key to Technicolor’s success. “it’s the best way to build a sense of us all being one team with a common goal,” says owen.
Working at Technicolor requires a certain skillset and mindset; a new starter, such as a character modeller, for example, would need to be passionate and determined. “Even nascent art skills that we can help build on are enough to convince us that someone deserves a chance,” he says. “We work with artists, giving them the opportunity to train not only on the various software tools we use every day, but also in the fundamental skills that will serve them throughout their careers.” VR Adoption another exciting area has been the growth of VR, as it offers a big opportunity to CG artists, and the gaming and DCC industry. “To a certain extent VR is just another viewing method for players/viewers to consume what i create,” explains owen.
The latest Resident Evil title provided the artists with a great opportunity to work on innovative game art: “our artists are engaged players/viewers themselves and VR is creating a huge amount of excitement to work on cool projects,” says owen.
Technicolor has completed a series of VR projects at this point, working with its partner companies, MPC and MRX, to name a couple, and already has a pipeline in place between Bangalore and its Technicolor Experience Centre in Culver City, to assist them on building in-engine VR experiences.
FACING the Future
The biggest challenge for Technicolor is managing growth and maintaining quality. “Quality is what we are built on; growth is a necessity,” says owen. “how we challenge ourselves to balance these two fundamentals requires a talented and inspired team, innovation, strong leadership and vision. Those are nice words, but doing it on a daily basis is a continuous challenge.”
The games side is a huge area of growth and Technicolor is working in proprietary game engines, as well as Unreal and Unity. “Maintaining all those pipelines and processes, training and managing workflows is an exciting adventure,” says owen. Find out more about Technicolor via games.technicolor.com
The ability To adapt To a new pipeline, new Tools and processes requires an enormous amount of effort Owen Hurley, VP of Creative for Technicolor’s Animation and Games