原文節(jié)選自《馴龍高手設(shè)定集》，由龍崖社·龍之書翻譯組漢化整理，本合集僅供Bilibili，愛發(fā)電（最先更新），Lofter平臺龍崖社社團(tuán)官方賬號發(fā)布，未經(jīng)授權(quán)禁止轉(zhuǎn)載！? ? ?

特效團(tuán)隊(duì)負(fù)責(zé)創(chuàng)造CG電影中角色動畫之外的所有與運(yùn)動相關(guān)的元素?？紤]到《馴龍高手》中描繪的動作規(guī)模，這一職責(zé)需要耗時(shí)耗力的、專注的努力。除了明顯的噴火龍的特效，該團(tuán)隊(duì)還負(fù)責(zé)制作復(fù)雜的火焰破壞，大規(guī)模的巖石碎裂，和可交互的云彩效果。

噴火龍對他們的目標(biāo)造成巨大的火焰破壞，所以特效團(tuán)隊(duì)必須想出有效的方法點(diǎn)燃道具和布景。該團(tuán)隊(duì)基本上建造了火焰基元方塊，就像按扣式玩具建筑裝置一樣，可以根據(jù)需要固定在屋頂、船上或樹上。這些方塊的放置經(jīng)過深思熟慮，以展示火焰包裹了它的主道具?！翱吹交鹪谶@些環(huán)境中相互作用和卷裹是非常重要的?！拔覀兊幕鹩杏袡C(jī)形狀的發(fā)射圖案，因此它可以包裹物體，創(chuàng)造出更真實(shí)的外觀，我們在電影中的所有火盆上也使用了這種圖案?！碧匦е笇?dǎo)馬特·貝爾解釋道。

龍引起的巖是破碎另一個(gè)關(guān)鍵特效。為了刻畫紅死神破巖而出、山體崩裂的場面，團(tuán)隊(duì)在巖壁里面建造“餅干切割機(jī)”把它裂成碎片。拜耳說：“首先，我們在巖石模型表面覆蓋滿種子粒子，然后將這數(shù)千個(gè)可覆蓋的對象輸入剛體模擬器里。之后我們分配各種選項(xiàng)，比如大小不一的頁巖碎屑、沙子或火山巖碎片，當(dāng)兩個(gè)拼合在一起的碎片斷裂的時(shí)候，我們就讓它爆發(fā)出大量的這種元素?！盀榱伺浜线@一特效，特效團(tuán)隊(duì)開創(chuàng)了一種立體渲染的新技術(shù)，堪稱本片的開創(chuàng)性成就。

雖然云一般是由天空中的水蒸氣形成，但在電影里，它們是由特效、燈光、和數(shù)字繪景團(tuán)隊(duì)制作的。在小嗝嗝和無牙在云層中飛翔的部分鏡頭里，一簇簇球體的云就像一串串葡萄，首先它們被放到適當(dāng)?shù)奈恢?，然后是?shù)字繪景師門“設(shè)計(jì)精美、細(xì)致的繪畫作品讓它們看起來像

云。因?yàn)閳D像存在于3D空間中，隨著攝影機(jī)的移動，那些圖像也會相應(yīng)移動，形成視差，就像真正的云一樣，”視覺效果主管克雷格.琳說。特效和燈光團(tuán)隊(duì)也用發(fā)光的半透明物填充這些云，給大氣層一種夢幻的感覺。

人物和云彩發(fā)生實(shí)際接觸的時(shí)候，特效團(tuán)隊(duì)制作了，可以跟人互動的積雨云。這些元素管理起來更具挑戰(zhàn)性，因?yàn)樗鼈冇胁煌募?xì)節(jié)變化：在單個(gè)云中，它們可以從纖細(xì)到更具結(jié)構(gòu)性，就像我們看到的小嗝嗝、無牙、亞斯翠一起飛翔的鏡頭里的拱形云彩，云層透出來的光必須根據(jù)需要調(diào)整強(qiáng)弱和大小。特效指導(dǎo)馬特.拜耳說：“我們使用自定義著色器結(jié)合立體渲染技術(shù)，從而達(dá)到云層密度和光亮的平衡，調(diào)和不同細(xì)節(jié)處的光源。”

事實(shí)證明，綜合多種特效的鏡頭——比如電影結(jié)局中的紅死神之戰(zhàn)，當(dāng)紅色死神最后釋放了他的強(qiáng)大的火焰時(shí)，空中翻滾著像凝固汽油彈燃燒濃密的黑煙，整個(gè)畫面布滿了火焰——由于巨大的文件，給宣傳的工作帶來了極大的難度?！拔覀兊慕鉀Q辦法是通過兩位分別位于格倫戴爾工作室和一個(gè)北加州POI工作室的特效開發(fā)師共同編寫一個(gè)新的渲染。我們最終在超過1/3的鏡頭里使用了這個(gè)程序?！碧匦е笇?dǎo)馬特.貝爾回憶道。另外，以前的渲染工具需要把背景元素分層，但在立體動畫電影里，這種設(shè)置在銀幕上看起來就像一堆卡片，事實(shí)證明，這個(gè)程序在各個(gè)層面都發(fā)揮了重要的作用。

原文：

The?effects?team?is?charged?with?creating?all?elements?with?motion?outside?of?character?animation?in?a?CG?film.Considering?the?scale?of?action?portrayed?in?How?to?Train?Your?Dragon,?this?responsibility?required?ambitious,?focused?effort.?Beyond?the?obvious?fire breathing?dragon?complexities , the team?was?also?responsible?for?producing?complicated?fire?destruction,?extensive?rock?shattering,?and?interactive?cloud?effects.

Fire-breathing dragons inflict massive fiery destruction upon their targets, so the effects team had to come up with efficient ways to ignite props and sets. The team essentially built modular fire blocks that, like snap on toy building sets, can be stuck on a roof, boat, or tree as needed. These elements are placed thoughtfully to show fire that Envelopes its host prop." Seeing the fire interact and ?curl around these environments was really important. Our fire has organic shaped emmission patterns so it can wrap around objects to create a more authentic look, which we use on all the braziers in the film as well," explains Head of Effects Matt Baer.

Dragon-induced rock shattering was another key effect. To portray the damage incu rred by the Red Death smashing through a volcanic rock wall, the effects team built "cookie cutters" into the cliff wall to break it up into fragments. "First we paint seed particles all over rock models and feed thousands of them into rigid body simulators, which can be layered. We then assign options such as variably sized shale rock debris, sand, or pyroclastic dust, and where each of the cracks between the pieces propagate, we blast out huge emissions of these elements," explains Baer. This effect required the development of new technology for volumetric rendering- an appropriately "ground-breaking" accomplishment for this film.?

While?clouds?are?generally?made?by?water?vapor?in?the?sky, here?they?are?made?by?the?effects,?lighting,?and?matte?painting?teams.?In?several sequences?where?Hiccup?and?Toothless?fly?through?the?clouds,?simple?clusters?of?spheres-?almost?like?a?bunch?of?grapes-are?placed in?space and then?matte?painters?"project?beautiful,?detailed?paintings?onto?them?to?make?them?look?like?clouds.?Since?the?paintings?exst?in?3D space,?as the camera?moves around, they?move?and parallax?just like?real?clouds?do,"?explains Visual?Effects?Supervisor?Craig?Ring. The?effects and?lighting teams?also?fill?these?clouds with?a?glowing?translucency?to?give a?magical?look?to?the atmosphere.

For?sequences?in?which?characters?actually?come?in?contact?with?clouds,?the?effects?team?created?cumulonimbus?clouds?with?which?they?can?interact.?These?elements?are?more?challenging?to?manage?because?they?requ?ire?varying?detail:?Within?a?si?ngle?cloud,?they?can?range?from?wispy?to?more?structural,?like?the?archways?seen?in?the?·flight?that?Hiccup?and?Toothless?share?with?Astrid.?The?amount?of?Iight?that?scatters?with?in?them?must?also?be?dialed?up?or?down?as?needed,?and?"we?achieve?the?desired?balance?of?density?and?light?by?using?volume?rendering?with?custom?shaders?that?allow?us?to?blend?from?one?frequency?of?detai?I?to?another,"?says?Head?of?Effects?Matt?Baer.

Putting multiple effects together in shots- such as during the big battle at the end of the film, when the Red Death finally unleashes his powerful fire and the sky fills with big, napalmlike, churning smoke illuminated by fire and haze in full frame- proved to be an enormous challenge to render, based on huge file sizes. "We solved this by having two effects developers, one in the Glendale Studio and one in the Northern California POI facility, work together to write a new render program, which we ended up using in more than one-third of our effects shots," recalls Head of Effects Matt Baer. Also, previous rendering tools would call for the layering of atmospheric elements, but in a stereographic film, such a setup would look like cards on the screen, so this new system proved important on several levels.