fxguidetv #190: Flame VFX for Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey

In this episode, we chat with Flame artist/owner Sam Edwards, who spent eight months working in the production offices on vfx for the new TV series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. Edwards composited almost 250 shots, which was approximately 1/6th of the show. We cover a bit of background on the job and then Edwards provides an overview of several shots he work on for the series.

Edwards has owned his own Flame system for years — and been on the box for even longer. At IBC 2013, he was honored with “Recognition for versatility using Flame” as part of the Flame Award event. He recently made the move to the Anniversary edition of the software, and the new features and capabilities were a critical part of the project.

His web site can be found at http://popopfx.com/

5 thoughts on “fxguidetv #190: Flame VFX for Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey”

  1. Pingback: fxguidetv #190: Flame VFX for Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey | Occupy VFX!

  2. Great piece. I love seeing how other people work. I am curious about his set up. How mobile is his flame? Does he park it at the facility long term? Obviously on this show he did, but what about shorter gigs? I finish TVCs with my mobile smac, but not having to move around a z820 and a fibre array makes that possible for me. I don’t trust the direction of smoke, and I am just wondering how mobile a flame set up could be.
    Nice work FXG.

    1. Sorry for the late reply. My setup for something like this is pretty big. I have an Xsan array that’s 32TB. There’d be no other way to get it done. I have a smaller flare rig that I use when I don’t have access to a machine room.

  3. Trevor Herrmann

    A solution from Benson Box http://www.bensonbox.com/ may be best to keep the weight down, particularly if you want to put it in special baggage on flights. Separate boxes for the z820 and array with a collapsible trolley to wheel it around. A “U” shaped foam lined base held together with velcro straps at the top that wraps around the z820 leaving front and rear open for ventilation. The cover has foam inside so that when it is slid down over the base it protects front and rear panels. Same design for the array. More Benson boxes for the monitors and other peripherals. Connecting it all together is not difficult once shown how.
    Hope this helps….
    Trevor

Leave a Reply