Effects Lead, Animal Logic
Our major sequence in Avengers: Age of Ultron was the birth of Ultron, a pivotal piece of exposition early in the film that shows the transition of the Ultron character from his beginnings as an intelligent program visualised in hologram form, to his self-discovery in an infinite cyberspace environment.
My main focus was the design, look development, generative animation and render setup of the holograms, mainly concentrating on the representation of Ultron. Ultron's brief was to look like a highly sophisticated, ‘unfathomably complex’ cyber-intelligence that seemed alive, constantly evolving and organic, in contrast to J.A.R.V.I.S - a more modernist, man-made construction.
My main focus was the design, look development, generative animation and render setup of the holograms, mainly concentrating on the representation of Ultron. Ultron's brief was to look like a highly sophisticated, ‘unfathomably complex’ cyber-intelligence that seemed alive, constantly evolving and organic, in contrast to J.A.R.V.I.S - a more modernist, man-made construction.
Ultron made heavy use of generative and procedural design techniques, creating constant motion and re-assembly, and a visual 'cause and effect' transfer of information throughout its form. Some of my work on the J.A.R.V.I.S hologram included the audio-reactive exterior rings of data that circumscribed the hologram, evoking spinning hard drive platters and reel-to-reel data tape.
The companion to this work was a visual representation of a vast cyberspace landscape, shot from Ultron's point of view as he retrieves data and gains self-awareness. The structure was designed using fractal formulas to generate a complex cavern of millions of 'blocks of data'. I was involved in the setup, shot design and set dressing of the chunks of data structure, along with procedural animation visualising information being copied and re-arranged in the background.
