Wylie Co.'s Travel with Mocha Pro in The Last of Us: A Tale of Motion Tracking
Wylie Co. Leverages Mocha Pro for Visual Effects in 'The Last of Us' HBO Series
Wylie Co., a visual effects (VFX) company based in Los Angeles, contributed to the intricate digital effects of the critically acclaimed HBO series, The Last of Us. The company joined the production early on, at the request of VFX supervisor Alex Wang, and worked alongside other renowned VFX studios such as Weta FX, DNEG, Distillery VFX, Important Looking Pirates, RISE, and Storm Studios.
In the production of The Last of Us, Wylie Co. utilized Mocha Pro's PowerMesh tracking for shots involving moving people, extensive parallax, and occlusions. The artists at Wylie Co. found the tracks made with Mocha Pro to be of exceptional quality, requiring minimal adjustments. This feature was considered an immense timesaver by the company's artists.
Jacob Maymudes, the CEO and chief creative officer of Wylie Co., advises artists seeking to get their start in VFX to begin with the basics and seek instruction. He suggests learning software such as Photoshop, After Effects, or Blender to discover what one enjoys doing in VFX. Maymudes also encourages artists not to shy away from learning complicated software and to experiment with their own footage.
One of the last shots handled by Wylie Co. involved adding a digital matte painting of a mountain range behind Ellie, who was sitting in the back of a pickup truck. The company's team members found Mocha Pro to be more reliable for tracking compared to the planar tracker in Nuke. In fact, Mocha Pro was used to handle a complex handheld camera move in one of the last shots of the series, ultimately saving the day.
Wylie Co. team members also QC-checked each shot from every vendor, totaling 2600 shots over nine episodes. Artists at Wylie Co. used Mocha Pro and Foundry Nuke for tracking and visual effects. The company's work was overseen by VFX supervisor Joel Silva, who managed over 300 final effect shots created by the internal artists and tech supervisors James Jouyoung Lee and Ben Smith.
Despite limited information about the precise role or type of visual effects executed by Wylie Co., their inclusion in the credited VFX vendors indicates that they played a significant part in creating the series' complex digital effects. Wylie Co. worked closely with Alex Wang, the editors, and showrunner/creator Craig Maizin in the production office.
Wylie Co., while working on the complex digital effects of The Last of Us, incorporated technology like Mocha Pro for tasks such as tracking moving people and handling intricate handheld camera moves, finding its features more dependable compared to alternative software.
Jacob Maymudes, CEO of Wylie Co., recommends aspiring VFX artists to start with fundamental software like Photoshop, After Effects, or Blender, and also encourages exploration of advanced technology in their creations.
