(chanting in foreign language) (clanking)

Hi, I'm Mike Seymour for fxguide.com for Wired.

Weta Digital was formed 20 years ago

and has worked on over 40 incredible films.

This week, one of those films received an Oscar nomination

and is in the running to win,

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

But a real surprise was the omission

of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,

which was also done by Weta.

This last of the Tolkien films was an omission

that was a real upset.

The film has vastly complicated simulations,

terrific character work, and some of the most

breath-taking environments.

Much of the earliest attention of The Lord of the Rings

films was actually gained from the use of the crowd

simulation software, Massive, and the vast battle sequences.

And it's only, therefore, fitting that in The Hobbit,

it should end with some remarkable battle

on a scale not even Weta had previously attempted.

In this film, Weta deployed their new Army Manager

production tool that allowed director, Peter Jackson,

to visualize the battles and decide how to film them.

The filmmaker still used the incredible Massive Software,

developed in New Zealand, for the final shots,

but Massive is more of an animation and post tool.

Army Manager, by comparison, is faster and was used

earlier in production, bridging the gap in real-time

between previews and the final Massive shots.

The Battle of the Five Armies also show the incredible

power of the new Manuka renderer, which was first seen,

actually, in a handful of shots in

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

The 350,000 lines of new code, delivered renders

of vastly complex fluid and destruction simulations,

and also very detailed character work,

and only way that Peter Jackson can put on the screen.

While the first Lord of the Rings film is remembered

for its battles, it's the digital character work

with creatures, such as Gollum, that has made Weta a regular

contender at almost every Oscars race since they started.

In this film, the Lake-town attacked by Smaug

is every bit as strong, and is built inside one of the most

elaborate computer simulations imaginable.

Smaug's wings actually drive air simulations in this closed

volume that's been built for the all-digital sequence.

The air flow fluid sims then feed fire simulations,

which in turn, drive the incredibly

detailed building destruction.

The buildings, of course, collapse and their rigid body

simulations then interact with

the fluid simulations of the lake.

This, in turn, triggers smoke and steam to rise up,

which can actually be seen vortexing

by the very wings of the dragon as it flies by.

All of this, of course, while Smaug is breathing fire.

It's volumetrics feeding rigid bodies feeding fluid sims.

While visually needing to stay very much in keeping

with the earlier films, it is remarkable how far

Weta has come with its pipeline, producing today's

some of the most complex imagery in terms of both

animation and rendering of Middle-earth.

Or perhaps it's just a testament to how competitive

the category is, that a film as good as

The Five Armies didn't even get a nomination.

Don't forget to subscribe for more behind the scenes action,

I'm Mike Seymour for Wired.

(dramatic orchestral music)