Join the “Ray Tracing FTW” Easter egg hunt

Our pioneering virtual production short is packed to the brim with cameos, references, and in-jokes. Check out our complete guide to find out more.

“Ray Tracing FTW” isn’t just a convincing demonstration of cutting-edge virtual production technology — it’s a love letter to the history of cinema and the VFX wunderkinder who have helped evolve the medium.

As a result, we packed the film with gags about movie-making, and its on-screen talent includes some of the cleverest folk in the VFX industry. We’ve put together this guide as a checklist to all the tiny little details you may have missed, as well as some tidbits about how we made the film.

Going FTW

Wondering about the title? The film is a sequel to “V-Ray IRL,” (in real life) the 2012 short film that showed how Chaos’ rendering tech related to the real world. Because the new short uses Chaos Vantage and Chaos Arena, as well as V-Ray, the “Ray Tracing FTW” (for the win) title reflects the company’s use of ray tracing technology in real-time scenarios.

Out of the blue

Wondering why Chris makes so many jokes about “blue,” “Pandora,” and “I see you?” That’s because the man he’s talking to is played by Ben Procter, the incredible production designer behind Avatar: The Way of Water and its upcoming sequels.

Ben even had to take a meeting with the well-known Avatar director during the production of “Ray Tracing FTW,” so Dave Bryant had to stand in for the close-up of Chris grabbing Ben’s shirt.

Filming at Phil’s

Some of the shoot took place at Phil’s Animal Rental Ranch in Piru, California — home of the Chik-fil-A Cows. Phil himself has assembled a collection of Western-style props, costumes, vehicles, and Erick also made use of various odds and ends for insert shots: the bell was hastily hung up with some nuts and bolts, while an old bicycle bell served as the alarm the bank teller hits.

Setting the scene

Elements of the set were assembled by construction coordinator Tom Early and carpenter Brett Early, expressly to be used in front of the LED wall at Orbital Studios in LA. Erick designed the bank counter to sit in front of the LED wall, giving director Dan and director of photography Richard Crudo the ability to perfectly light the shots. Meanwhile, the train carriage was designed to be modular, so it could be pulled apart for certain shots and repurposed as the luggage car.

Sounds good

Sound arguably was as important to spaghetti westerns as anything else, from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly’s iconic theme to Once Upon a Time in the West’s muted opening scene. Super producer Nick Launey (Nick Cave, INXS) was brought on board to compose the theme music, while Alex Smith created the score and Margarita Mix handled the sound design.

FTW BTS

Want to know more about how we made this groundbreaking short film? Check out the complete behind-the-scenes video.

Extras! Extras!

Martini Giant contributor Dave “3D Guy” Bryant, plus fan Sean Hyde-Moyer (known as Cesar Salatas on the group’s Discord server) make appearances as background artists. Chaos’ events manager Kristin Guinn plays two different extras, and producers Morgan Lester and Ron Eli Cohen were roped in to fill out scenes.

The green guy does not make sense

… and that’s the point. VFX artists are sometimes given footage featuring green characters, and it’s assumed they can be replaced with anything at all — but it doesn’t work like that. To up the hilarity, costume designer Yuan Yuan Liang added useless motion tracking balls (including one dangling from a thread), plus a green scarf and holster.

Played by John Wick 3 VFX supervisor Rob Nederhorst, this character is dramatically dispatched, only to return later with a bullet hole in his head plus grass stuck to his face. And, if you look extra closely, his wish to become a robot comes true in the finale.

Don’t stop Blevins

The Boss Hogg-inspired bag guy is played by James Blevins — who also handled the virtual production via his company, Mesh. Literally the only person in front of the screen with any acting talent, James went full method. “He was so excited to play this role,” says Dan. “It was almost like a weird Daniel Lewis experience; he was in this mode all day on set.”

James’ ludicrous sideburns were the idea of Meredith, the short’s makeup artist. They were so big they ended up with their own line on the call sheet.

Cover stars

Eagle-eyed viewers will spot that Erick referenced classic Hollywood blockbusters on the Midjourney-generated VFX Gazette magazine covers: that’s ET serving as cinematographer on Spielberg’s domestic sci-fi classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind, plus Avatar — if it was a musical directed by Julie Taymor. Plus, legendary filmmaker and pioneering 2001 VFX artist Doug Trumbull gets a shout-out, and Jurassic Park legend Denis Muren is mentioned later on.

Making tracks

As a VFX artist, Dan’s bread and butter has been adding CG bullet holes, wounds, and blood to characters in movies such as Zodiac and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. When he’s shot in the movie, he adds a tracking marker so the VFX team knows where to add a bullet hole later.

Shaken, not stirred

At the bar on the train, Chris asks for three giant martinis — a reference to the trio’s celluloid-obsessed podcast. But it’s also a reference to the original Westworld movie, in which a character is chastised for ordering a martini instead of a whisky, the cowboy go-to. Fun fact: Westworld was also the very first movie to use CGI.

Tickets, please

Recognize the train conductor? That’s none other than Vladimir “Vlado” Koylazov, Chaos’ co-founder, head of innovation, and the co-inventor of V-Ray. But he’s not the only ray tracing pioneer on board — Arnold creator Marcos Fajardo flew in from Spain to play one of the passengers.

Ghosts of the past

Regular CG Garage podcast listeners will know that Chris has a burning hatred of shadow maps from the many hours he spent manually rendering them for Ghost Rider’s flaming skull, alongside fellow artist Erick Schiele and VFX supervisor Kevin Mack. In fact, Chris’ PTSD from Ghost Rider drove him to push for V-Ray rendering in movies such as Tron: Legacy and Oblivion. Hence the rather pointed reference to Ghost Rider.

Scott Ross as Dakota Joe

The VFX industry wouldn’t be the same without Scott Ross, who brought digital technology to ILM before co-founding Digital Domain alongside James Cameron and Stan Winston. He was the perfect witness to the old ways of movie-making crashing and burning, with his “I told you so” serving as the perfect way to set up the final act.

Hacienda ending

VFX pros may recognize the final locale as the hacienda from Evermotion’s 3D asset store, a 10-year-old virtual building that’s been used in countless projects. Thanks to Chaos Vantage, Chris was able to just drop it into the scene and have it ready to go in less than 15 minutes. Look extra closely, and you’ll also notice that Dan’s martini glass is already broken — a hint at how the film’s about to break the fourth wall (again!).

Hopefully, “Ray Tracing FTW” will be another step in the right direction for cinema and a call to arms for a new generation of filmmaking talent who will use virtual production technology to bring their dreams to life. We hope you enjoyed watching it as much as we enjoyed making it.

The cast in full

"Ray Tracing FTW" has a star-studded cast of big players in the VFX industry. Here's each and every one of them.

Chris Nichols

VFX guru and CG Garage podcaster

Dan Thron

Director, writer, VFX artist — and the original Martini Giant

Erick Schiele

Concept and AI artist, Macgyver-esque prop master

Ben Procter

Avatar: The Way of Water production designer

Kristin Guinn

Chaos events manager

Morgan Lester

“Ray Tracing FTW” unit production manager

Ron Eli Cohen

“Ray Tracing FTW” line producer

James Blevins

Virtual production producer, MESH

James Blevins' Sideburns

They even had their own trailer

Rob Nederhorst

VFX supervisor, John Wick 3

Daniel Buck

CG artist, Tron: Legacy, Oblivion

Sean Hyde-Moyer

Game designer & VFX artist

Barbara Ford Grant

Chair of the Academy’s Sci-tech Awards Committee

Sebastian Sylwan

CTO of Scanline VFX and Eyeline

Marcos Fajardo

Creator, Arnold Renderer

Kevin Mack

What Dreams May Come VFX supervisor

Sally Slade

VFX artist and XR technical director

Phil Galler

Principal & Founder, Lux Machina Consulting

Vladimir "Vlado" Koylazov

Chaos co-founder and V-Ray creator

Scott Ross

Co-founder, Digital Domain

Russell

Scott Ross' dog — and the true star of the movie