The video above showcases all the shots I worked on while at Powerhouse VFX on the Orville New Horizons team. The company was excellent sharing not only shot files but amazing breakdown videos for some of our key shots.

I joined the Powerhouse VFX team in March of 2022 as a remote lighting artist. The studio utilizes Houdini as their main 3D software, including rendering in Houdini’s native renderer Mantra. Throughout my time at Powerhouse VFX I focused mainly on lighting for the season finale wedding sequence. The main goal for the shots was to match the CG Kaylons with the in shot counterparts. The team had a really strong look development setup for the CG Kaylons so there was only a small bit of tweaking for the needs of the shot. Besides lighting to get an integrated match I also added in mask and other additional render passes for the composite team. I am not completely new to Houdini but the team was instrumental in helping me learn the essentials very quickly to turn around quality work.

One of the best moments on the project was when the wedding team got a special thank you from creator Seth McFarland who said he didn’t think it was possible to get such a close match for the CG Kaylons in the close up shots. He was incredibly happy with our work and said if there was a new season for The Orville he would be reaching out to Powerhouse VFX as a primary studio. I really loved working on this project. Everyone on the team was incredibly helpful and excited to make cool space explosions!