How to Tear a Building in Half from the Inside Out | WeFX | Equinox 2025

"The Institute" Season 1 features a complex sequence that involved tearing a building half seen both from the outside, and the inside of the building. The team from WeFX will explore the challenging aspects of this sequence including staging of heavy sims, matching on-set destruction, handling a lot of cracks and dust emission and how we adopted Solaris to light and render this tough sequence in a short amount of time. Mykyta Berezin is an FX artist at WeFX Studio in Toronto. With expertise in FX, 3D modeling, texturing, and rendering and with a background in broadcast, and motion design, he demonstrates a strong commitment to artistic pursuits. Mykyta specializes in creating both realistic and abstract simulated and procedural visual effects. He is currently focused on exploring automation and optimization techniques to produce desired effects more efficiently while maintaining a high degree of artistic control and flexibility. Darren Lesmana is an FX Artist currently working at WeFX Studio, specializing in creating high-end visual effects for film and television. With expertise in procedural effects, particle simulations, fluid dynamics, and complex destruction work, he combines technical precision with artistic vision to bring cinematic worlds to life. Darren thrives in collaborative environments, working closely with other departments to craft seamless, story-driven effects that elevate the final image. Always exploring new techniques and pushing the boundaries of Houdini and industry tools, Darren is passionate about delivering work that inspires and captivates audiences. Viduttam Katkar is a Senior Lighting Technical Artist with over 9 years of production experience in the VFX industry and credited on numerous films and TV shows such as House of the Dragon, Vikings, The Boys and Halo. He is currently the Lighting Pipeline Supervisor at WeFX in Toronto, where he works on timely delivery of high quality renders and upholding the quality and consistency across the lighting department. He also works on building tools and workflows for the Lighting and Rendering aspects of the pipeline. He is a professor for the Visual Effects program at Seneca Polytechnic, mentoring and inspiring students to learn Lighting, Rendering and Look Development. Ryan Ng is an experienced Visual Effects Supervisor with expertise in Houdini, procedural workflow, team management, and artist-focused pipeline development, delivering high-end VFX for clients like Prime Video, Disney+, and Netflix. Recognized for creating collaborative, efficient environments that elevate quality across high-profile film and TV productions. 00:00 Intro 03:56 Telekinetic power sequence setup 10:53 Adapting Solaris USD in a boutique studio workflow 14:44 Developing custom control setups 20:31 Reflections and workflow insights 26:32 Sending the main building simulation to the render farm https://www.wefx.com #equinox2025 #Houdini #Solaris #USD #RenderFarm #Simulation #Pipeline #FX #Procedural #VFX #Deadline #3DRendering 30:24 Mid-session discussion 36:11 Curve-driven emission propagation 40:04 Publishing, importing, rendering, and Deadline submission 45:49 Closing segment with Mike