Leading production studio creates action-packed trailer for Creative Assembly’s upcoming release of their third ‘Total War: WARHAMMER’ game franchise title.
Award-winning creative studio Platige Image has just completed the action-packed, highly stylized trailer for Total War: WARHAMMER III, Creative Assembly’s upcoming third installment of their Total War game franchise. Heading the project was director and art director Jakub Jabłoński and CG producer Marina Borokhova.
“Our vision, from the start, was to create a series that felt like an incredible journey through this world we all loved,” explained game director, Ian Roxburgh. “The enormous support of our players in ensuring the success of the first two instalments has pushed our ambition to new heights, and we can’t wait for everyone to experience it.”
In Total War: WARHAMMER III each choice a player makes will shape the reality-shattering conflict to come; from the mysterious Lands of the East to the daemon-infested Realms of Chaos. Featuring iconic new races from the world of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, including the video-game debut of Kislev and Cathay alongside the factions of Chaos – Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh and Tzeentch - players will wage war with the most diverse array of legendary heroes, gargantuan monsters, flying creatures and magical powers that the series has ever seen.
Platige Image was tasked with creating 16-character models and their variants as well as 7 environments and over 30 props. Nearly the entire animation, apart from monster close-ups, was based on motion capture recordings. The creators spent two days on the mo-cap set working on the animations for Katarin, the Kislev soldiers, and the Chaos army. To make the director's work easier, they used real-time preview, which made it possible to see the 3D scene immediately at the set.
“We tried to use as many elements from the game's world as possible and to appropriately place them in the video,” noted Borokhova. “The events in the trailer fluently move from Katarin’s comfortable tent to the vast battlefield where two powerful armies are engaged in battle. The biggest challenge was the combination of various locations so that the seemingly different spaces and light situations created a unified image for the audience.”
“First, we always have to respect the legacy of the creators of Total War: WARHAMMER and the vision of the customer - Creative Assembly,” commented Jabłoński. “Millions of fans know every character of this universe and we must attempt to fulfill their expectations when bringing those heroes and monsters to life. The video is our tribute to the fans of WARHAMMER and the Total War series. It is also an attempt to present a strong female character from this universe. Katarin is not an ordinary warrior princess; she is the proud Tsarina and an adept of ice magic. We wanted this change and awakening to be tangible in the video. We aimed at showing the growing courage and might that will make her kick the butts of the entire enemy army.”
“The most difficult aspect of the project turned out to be the lighting for the army, arranged in such a way that it would show the fantastic atmosphere of Total War: WARHAMMER, a bit of realism, and light piercing the layer of falling snow,” Jabłoński added. “In the real world, we would probably be unable to see much during such weather and at this time of the day. Another challenge was the near-intimate introduction of Katarin to the internal world of the Dominion of Chaos, where we showed the four iconic deities of the Total War: WARHAMMER universe.”
This is the third trailer Platige Image has produced for Creative Assembly and the Total War: WARHAMMER series.
Source: Platige Image
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
