An alien species visits Earth, endangering humanity’s existence in Invasion. Working closely with VFX Supervisor Erik Henry, The Third Floor visualized multiple scenes for Season 2 as characters deal with elements of the incursion in different locations.

“A large portion of the previs centered around sequences taking place in the Alien Enclosure,” said Visualization Supervisor Jason Wen. “For these sequences, there was a lot of development on the look and behavior of the Alien Entity.  We created a rig that we could iterate on and our artists were able to quickly implement new client ideas and requests as they came in.  This allowed for a wide range of creative exploration of the Entity within the previs shots.”

Scenes with the Alien Entity were extensively visualized to explore behaviours and looks.

Mitsuki Yamato interacts with the alien power source.

Other forms of aliens  – the Worker, Hunter Killers and the Alien Portal, appear in Season 2 in addition to the Alien Entity.

Wen comments: “The Hunter Killers are a new addition to the series and we visualized three sequences featuring them. Part of the challenge was working out their behavior and physical abilities. They are unique in that they are interconnected with one another through a hive mind so do not behave as individuals with independent motivations. A particularly challenging interaction happens between Luke and a Hunter Killer. Luke uses previously unknown powers to stop a Hunter Killer from attacking his mother, Aneesha. These shots were extensively visualized to explore how this interaction happens between Luke and the creature and present it in a way that makes sense.”

Hunter Killer character as visualized in previs.

Action scenes featuring a large mysterious portal were also visualized.

The portal causes chaos and destruction.