One Piece | Case Study
CG
Set Extensions
Crowds
Environments
Water
The beloved manga 'One Piece' comes to Netflix in this live action series.
In a mythical world, Monkey D. Luffy and his crew set out on the high seas to hunt for the mysterious "one piece" treasure and become the King of the Pirates.
"One Piece" season 1 is available now on Netflix.
Scope
Ingenuity Studios delivered 313 shots across all 8 episodes for season one of this series.
The work included extensive full CG set builds with a massive crowd scene in episode one, island builds, and environmental effects such as smoke, fire, and mist, ocean and water simulations, and more.
Technology used:
Nuke, Houdini, RenderMan, Substance Painter, Maya, VAST Storage
Environment & Crowds
The design of Loguetown drew inspiration from the original "One Piece" manga as well as real world references from Florence, Italy for architectural details.
The plaza where the execution scene takes place was hand built by the modeling team with intricate geometric details such as the roof tiles, bricks, and paving stones. Due to the prominence and close proximity in so many shots, the cathedral required significant details to ensure the best possible clarity and precision.
CG digidoubles were created for the crowd, using an in-house procedural body generation system and clothing library, referencing the color and dress of real extras filmed on set.
The crowd had a collection of animations that allowed for quick details such as density, clothing, and general excitement/movement.
For later shots with more dynamic movement, an agent simulation created their actions and guided the crowd through the environment.
The Tower Build
The Marine Base tower featured in Shell's Town was another asset that relied heavily on procedural geometric details for higher fidelity. A model was created for the basic forms, while bricks, boards, and wood beams were instanced across it for a highly detailed result.
The flexibility of a procedural setup allowed adjustments to layout, size, and shape of the tower model in concert with the detail elements.
On-Set Supervision
We were on set in Cape Town, South Africa to collaborate with production, visual effects supervisors, and lighting teams during the shoot. Being present to advise blue screen set-ups and lighting for major sequences allowed us to maximize the use of visual effects in each scene.
"Our journey on ‘One Piece' embodies what I love about Ingenuity—crafting a broad range of work from full CG shots to subtle invisible fixes—both in quality and quantity. The powerful visuals and process of ‘One Piece’ set a reminder of how wonderful this industry is—impeccable expertise from pre-production, production, and to final stages with the exceptional leadership of industry best Victor Scalise and Scott Ramsey. Their enthusiasm for this series is contagious.
-Executive Producer, Hallana Paula Barbosa
Credits
Grant Miller, Executive VFX Supervisor
Hallana Paula Barbosa, VFX Executive Producer
Jack Wesson, VFX Supervisor
Tara Acquesta, Senior VFX Producer
Unggyu Choi, Comp Supervisor
Thierry Yves Leon Durieux, CG Lead
Carlos Sánchez, Comp Lead
Elizabeth Reyes, Comp Lead
Rebecca Kotzin, Majka Koszykowski, VFX Coordinators
Island & Water Simulations
The island sequence where Sanji and Zeff were shipwrecked was a massive undertaking. The island was designed around the practical set in CG and could be seen from all angles and lighting conditions, with individual details placed as needed for different shots.
Before
After
For the ocean that surrounded the island, unique liquid simulations were run for shots closer to the water's surface. The movement of the waves and splashes at the base of the island, and several shots featuring shipwreck debris, were simulated and then integrated with the larger ocean and island set-ups.
The waves in the background and midground had multiple levels of choppiness to account for different weather conditions during time skips.