Pendulum lands Dark Sector's Cut scenes

by: Dan - posted: 3/6/2008 8:58:00 AM

Pendulum, a digital animation and fx studio, has been chosen by Digital Extremes to handle seven in-game cut-scenes for the 3rd person shooter Dark Sector. The cut scenes will tell the background story of the game and are played back using Digital Extreme's Evolution Engine. Check out all the details in the release after the jump:

Pendulum Spins into Action with Digital Extremes for Dark Sector's Cinematic Cut Scenes

San Diego, Calif.- March 6, 2008 - Pendulum, a leading digital animation & fx studio for the advertising, video game and entertainment industries, announced today that some of its latest work will be seen in the highly anticipated game, Dark Sector™. D3Publisher and Digital Extremes'original 3rd-person action-shooter, designed exclusively for next-generation gaming, will feature over 13 minutes of original Pendulum-directed cinematic cut-scenes portraying critical story elements of the game.

Pendulum designed, story-boarded, directed and animated seven in-game cut scenes, using Softimage XSI, and worked closely with the Digital Extremes development team to facilitate those sequences being exported to the game developer's proprietary next-gen technology, the Evolution Engine™. Starting with the creation of original storyboards, based on the Dark Sector narrative script, Pendulum then scanned those boards and used Final Cut to edit them into 2D Animatics, so as to define story pacing and basic shot layouts. These were subsequently translated into 3D Animatics and relied upon by Pendulum's Michael McCormick and Robert Taylor for scene blocking and added efficiency during their direction of multiple days of motion capture. Facial animation was executed using a combination of Digital Extremes' in-game facial animation rigs and Pendulum's proprietary facial software. Working closely with the Digital Extremes team, Pendulum was able to conform to the developer's unique pipeline and help smooth the sequences' integration into the game.

"Pendulum got it. They understood from day one that creating amazing cinematics is about iteration and collaboration," said Sheldon Carter, Digital Extremes' Producer for Dark Sector. "And that's exactly what we were looking for in a creative partner. Someone who could see our creative vision and help us raise the quality bar of the cinematics to match the AAA quality game we were designing. The end result are incredible cinematics that we can all be proud of."

A dark gritty experience packed with fast action, incredible superpowers and an engaging story, Dark Sector represents the next evolution of interactive action. Dark Sector thrusts players into the role of Hayden Tenno, a covert operative sent on a dangerous mission into Lasria - an Eastern European city on the brink of ruin that hides a deadly Cold War secret. In the midst of this mission, Hayden is attacked by an unknown enemy and infected by the Technocyte Virus, a brutal bio-weapon that twists its victims into mindless killing machines. Surviving this attack, Hayden finds that the Technocyte virus has granted him powerful inhuman abilities, unlike anything he has ever seen. Now, he must evolve along with his powers, survive, and become a hero. The 7 cut scenes, all integrated into and played back from within Digital Extremes' powerful Evolution Engine, tell this story with stark clarity and high-octane action.

Pendulum owners, McCormick and Taylor, served as the project's Directors, with Colin Hodges as the project's 3D Technical Lead and Wade Ammon as the studio's cinematics Producer. Motion Capture was provided by Los Angeles-based Vicon House of Moves.

About Digital Extremes
Founded in 1993 by industry visionary, James Schmalz, Digital Extremes ranks as one of the world's top independent development studios in the interactive entertainment industry. The Canadian based developer is best known for its co-creation of Epic Games' Unreal®, the multi-million unit selling franchise which includes the award-winning PC series Unreal and Unreal Tournament as well as Xbox® hit Unreal Championship. Digital Extremes is currently finishing production on the next-generation 3rd person action title, Dark Sector™ using its proprietary next-gen technology, the Evolution Engine™. For more information visit the company website at www.digitalextremes.com.

About Pendulum
Pendulum Studios is a San Diego, CA based 3D animation and digital fx studio focused on expressing the ideal fusion of art, cinema and technology by specializing in dynamic character animation and compelling storytelling. Owned and operated by directors, Michael McCormick and Robert Taylor, the studio strives to produce the highest quality animation for commercials, game cinematics, film, and their own animated shorts.