NEW YORK — Dive (www.divevisual.com), the visual effects division of ShootersInc, has staffed up its New York studio to take on multiple visual effects projects, including the new 13-part series Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey, which is being presented by Fox and National Geographic Channel. The series debuted on Sunday, March 9 and acts as a follow-up to the 1980s television series,
Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which was presented by Carl Sagan. The new series is hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Dive is one of 12 visual effects studios from around the globe that’s working on the new series. The project came to the studio via Cosmos CG supervisor Luke McDonald, and VFX producer Addie Manis, who had worked with the Dive team on the feature film, The Road.
The team is collaborating closely with show VFX supervisor Rainer Gombos. While the project began in at the company’s Philadelphia studio, they added staff in New York to accommodate the ongoing work on this series, as well as several other projects.
VFX supervisor Ed Mendez leads the Dive team, which is challenged with creating scientifically-accurate, cinematically-moving imagery. The studio’s biggest contribution can be seen in upcoming Episodes 5, 8, 9 and 10, where they were called on to provide dimensionalization of star clusters, galaxies and nebula. They also brought to life a rendering of a pre-historic animal. In addition, Dive created an animated rendering of Earth to illustrate geologic volatility.
According to Mendez, the studio’s work included creating 2.5D and 3D animation, providing some paintwork, and performing compositing.