How They Created the Massive War Scenes in The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies

Last week there was a surprising omission from the list of Oscar nominees in the visual effects category: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Weta Digital, the VFX team behind the movie’s special effects, did massive—and massively striking—battle sequences for the film and it was startling to not see the movie nominated, especially since the previous two Hobbit films had gotten nods in the same category. However, that doesn’t diminish the impressive, large-scale conflicts Weta designed for the film. Here’s how they used crowd-simulation and other software to make the powerful clashes in The Battle of the Five Armies.