Bridge Destruction

Bridge Collapse

Client: Personal Project
Objective: Integrate live action footage and VFX
Software: 3ds Max, TyFlow, Phoenix, V-Ray, After Effects

Process: I filmed the backplate on an iPhone from the front passenger seat of a vehicle. The backplate was matchmoved to generate a 3d camera and position data which was then imported into 3ds Max. Next, a 3d environment was modeled to match the live action environment in the areas where the FX would be created. The bridge was fed into a TyFlow simulation for it's destruction.

The way the cut worked out meant that vehicles from the live action footage would either need to be painted out or replaced with dynamic vehicles since they would be in areas of the scene that would interact with the collapse of the bridge. I opted for dynamic replacement hoping for a more interesting end result. Three vehicles ended up being rigged in TyFlow and simulated using the bridge collapse and scene geometry as collision objects.

Chaos Phoenix was used to run multiple different dust simulations using tyCaches of the bridge collapse and vehicle simulations as emitters and colliders.

Lastly, the bridge from the backplate was painted out to complete the effect. Everything was rendered in 3ds Max and V-Ray and composited in After Effects.

Before & After

Breakdown

Playblasts