VFX studio Union has revealed significant investment in its CG department with a brand USD-based pipeline and key hires.
Over the last year, the Union team has been developing a brand new, bespoke USD-based, CG pipeline from scratch, creating something perfect for Union. USD (universal scene description) is a flexible, open-source file format developed by Pixar that provides robust interchange between tools allowing simultaneous collaboration without conflict. The CG team use a variety of software, so basing the pipeline on USD allows for efficient workflows while making the most of everyone’s expertise.
Marvel Studio’s Moon Knight was the first project to use the new pipeline in anger. Since then the team has created impressive CG on a wide variety of projects including The Wheel of Time (Disney), Pennyworth (Warner Bros.), The Banshees of Inisherin (Fox Searchlight) and The Sandman (Disney).
Union’s CG department is led by head of CG Rob Hopper. Hopper joined Union just before the pandemic from MPC where he was head of FX working on shows including The Jungle Book (Disney), The Lion King (Disney), Suicide Squad (Warner Bros.) and X-Men: The Apocalypse (Fox). Since joining Union he has grown a strong team of CG experts both internally and through appointments – most recently recruiting Sam Hiscock as FX supervisor and Jonas Vonk as lighting supervisor.
Hiscock joins Union from MPC where she managed a team across multiple sequences for TV series and feature films including House of the Dragon (HBO), Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (Disney), The Lion King (Disney), and Prehistoric Planet (Apple TV+).
Vonk has come to Union from the lighting team at DNEG where some of his notable credits include The Rings of Power (Amazon), The Matrix Resurrections (Warner Bros.), No Time to Die (MGM), and The Adam Project (Netflix).
This new way of working and the key talent hires signify the evolution and increased importance of CG within the facility. “The steady growth of the department over the past 18 months means we are able to take on bigger projects and more complex work than ever before,” said Hopper.  “Each project presents its own set of challenges allowing the CG pipeline to evolve each time making it the best it can be for us, [making it] future proofed and in a solid place to progress even further.
“Union isn’t stuck with a legacy pipeline format, ours is nimble, allowing artists to be seamlessly trained in the process so they can concentrate on the creative.”
Union is currently working on The Power (Amazon Studios), Poor Things (Searchlight) and Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn (Amazon Studios).
