CG Channel has recently gotten a chance to interview the Blizzard cinematic team. Though the interview mainly discusses the Wrath of the Lich King trailer, some insight into StarCraft II cinematics is given as well:
Quote:
How many artists work at Blizzard on in-game assets vs. cinematics? Do any artists get to work on both?
The numbers change depending on the team and project, so it hard to provide a specific comparative ratio. We do share artists between projects on occasion. For example, members of the cinematics team have contributed pretty heavily to the art for the StarCraft II single-player campaign.
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We have mentioned that Blizzard's cinematic work has achieved film quality results. When one watches the suit build of Iron Man vs. StarCraft II, it is difficult to distinguish one as being 'film' and one as being 'games'. Have you been hiring film industry veterans to achieve this convergence of visual quality between film and games, or has your team simply matured?
A bit of both. We've definitely hired a lot of individuals from the film industry and have welcomed the experience they bring. Our department has also matured quite a bit by just working at it over and over for the past 13 years.
Additionally, the quality that's achievable with out-of-the-package software has increased quite a bit recently. As a result, we're seeing Hollywood hiring smaller effects houses over the big houses, and smaller game companies achieving film quality with only a handful of very ambitious and extremely hardworking people.
Those interested in seeing how Blizzard develops their cinematics should definitely check the article out.
Discuss this article in the forum.Source:CG Channel - The Making of WoW: WoTLK Trailer
