In the video, Janet Jackson and a team of dancers perform in
a subway station setting. X1FX provided the character animations and 3D
clothing for several cloth simulation sequences. Due to a last minute set
location change, the studio had to generate CG ceilings for the station too.
CG supervisors John Mitchell and Don Libby created cloth
simulations for Jackson and her dancers, with clothing appearing and
re-appearing while they dance.
Mark Larranaga served as VFX supervisor and Edy Enriquez was
VFX executive producer. Antoinette Perez served as VFX producer.
The X1FX team used a combination of Autodesk Flame,
Combustion and Maya 7.0, along with After Effects, HDR Shop, Photoshop, Shake,
Syflex and SynthEyes on the project.
In related news, the studio has expanded into a new, 5,000
square- foot facility in Culver City. The new space features five HD-ready
suites with flat screens, outfitted with Discreet Flame systems running on SGI
Tezro workstations.