VFX Britain’s Vine FX shares breakdown of Prime Video’s ‘The Rig’ S2

Britain’s Vine FX shares breakdown of Prime Video’s ‘The Rig’ S2

UK-based Vine FX released a VFX breakdown of their work on the second season of Prime Video original The Rig.

A group of workers on a remote Scottish oil rig are due to return to the mainland when they get trapped in a mysterious fog that cuts them off from the outside world. The crew must discover what’s causing the fog and the supernatural forces that take hold. The first season ends with a tsunami destroying the oil rig Kinloch Bravo and an evacuation helicopter carrying the surviving crew to a mystery location.

The second season of The Rig begins with the surviving crew of the Kinloch Bravo moving to a new rig, The Stac, after a devastating tsunami. The season explores the crew’s continued struggle against the Ancestor, a mysterious microorganism that was awakened by Pictor Energy’s resource exploitation.

The studio has crafted VFX for the first season of the series as well. Vine FX VFX producer Kaitlyn Beattie said, “The Rig has been one of the most rewarding projects for us to work on. Season one was an instant hit, and season two has pushed the boundaries for the show, which gave us ample opportunity to create something incredible.”

Growing a mycelium forest

Among the stand out shots from the S2 finale is a sprawling, living mycelium forest, its canopy looming 400 metres above the seabed. These parasitic trees weren’t merely decorative as they needed to glow, evoke an emotional response from the characters, and add layers of depth to the underwater ecosystem.

Vine FX began with concept art created by Scott McInnes, capturing the forest’s vibrant and organic forms. The scale and density of these mycelium structures pushed the team to use simulation techniques to grow the structures in an organic way, all while establishing a new USD (universal scene description) pipeline to handle the volume and complexity of the assets.

Vine FX head of 3D Pedrom Dadgostar said, “This was a long process. We created several tree designs which we could then instance and propagate the scene with. The great thing about procedural growth simulations like these is that they look different from any angle, so by carefully rotating and placing assets we were able to build a dense forest with no repetitions. We recruited the largest CG team we’ve ever had just to work on this project.”

The team’s approach to procedural textures and lighting provided the trees with an ethereal,

bioluminescent quality that further enhanced the underwater environment. Using Houdini’s Solaris, the trunks were equipped with internal illumination through mesh lights, which added a ghostly, otherworldly presence.

An underwater world

On top of generating an entire forest of alien, parasitic trees, the studio needed to build an entire underwater world, augmenting live action shots with CG and 2D assets to create a sense of being beneath the waves. That meant slow movements, particulates, and depth. Bringing together environment extensions and mycelium trees was important, but those smaller and at times hidden details are just as important.

Dadgostar explained, “Light plays a critical role in defining space and scale. We carefully placed floating particulates that helped establish that sense, leading into darkness throughout the environment and around the trees. The idea was to envelop the characters in an expansive, claustrophobic world.”

Vine FX compositing supervisor Ole Aleksander Norby commented, “When the characters interact with the parasite, we had to make sure the light from it reflected off the suits and any other elements. The visual representation of being underwater and interacting with a decaying organism was shown by the floating particulates seen throughout the episode.”

Compositing artists ensured that the trees and their bioluminescent glow meshed seamlessly with their live-action footage. While the studio was tasked with creating a mostly CG environment, the comp team worked closely with the client to establish a look that met evolving creative preferences, from light intensities to colour grading.

Turning to USD

Work on The Rig was completed in USD, which brought flexibility to delivering the shots. The studio built an entirely new USD pipeline as work progressed on the show, refining to suit not only the project but the entire studio.

Dadgostar mentioned, “The new USD pipeline streamlined the process. It allowed us to manage the integration of assets across shots and maintain consistency throughout the sequence as a whole.”

With USD’s efficient handling of multi-shot workflows, the new pipeline enabled a unified environment that could be rendered across shots without extensive re-rendering, ultimately saving time while delivering high-quality visuals.

Vine FX has worked on projects like Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Beecham House, Soulmates, The Amateur.

VFX