From arch-viz to visual effects, Mark Ramshaw meets the studios that made their mark on the CG industry in the last year. This week, Fido…
In an increasingly competitive industry, it’s not uncommon for small-to-midsize studios to opt for some degree of specialisation. Even so, Fido’s reputation for photoreal creature work is quite remarkable. So too is its commitment to internal R&D, developing the tools that enable such work to stand out from the crowd.
▲ The digital fur flies with this all-CG squirrel star of an advert for Saatchi & Saatchi, Stockholm
“We’ve focused heavily on creatures and simulations of real-world elements for the last six or so years now,” says Mattias Lindahl, senior VFX supervisor at Fido. “These areas are obviously technically very challenging, so we’ve had to rely on our R&D department to push beyond the limits of what’s possible with off-the-shelf software.”
Fido effectively came into being in 2000, with the merger of four separate entities: one focused on art direction, one on post work, another on motion graphics, and another on practical effects. “Our practical workshop is another thing that makes us different from most other visual effects houses, as it gives us the ability to create animatronics, prosthetics, and FX make-up for our clients, as well as digital solutions,” says Lindahl.
The studio has just completed 150 CGI creature shots (plus 240 animatronic shots) for Sony’s German-language movie Yoko, and is now working on a Scandinavian-British retelling of the Kon-Tiki voyage.
- Read an interview with VFX studio Important Looking Pirates about its shark shot in Kon-tiki.
Moving ahead, Lindahl says a recent buyout by Forestlight means that some aggressive expansion is now on the cards.
“Fusing with Forestlight means that we can plan for the long term and think bigger than before. We currently have around 40 people, including freelancers. We want that number closer to 100 in the near future.”
Visit www.fido.se to discover what the studio is working on right now.