Conference The Art of Animation Feature Animation
ON SITE Raum Reutlingen Wednesday, May 06, 12:30

Trash Island: Building a CG Wonderland from Garbage - A Procedural Real-Time Pipeline for "The Last Whale Singer"

Video on demand

How do you build a labyrinth from a million pieces of floating garbage while keeping two studioson opposite ends of Europe in sync? Telescope Animation and PFX break down the proceduralpipeline behind Trash Island: Houdini-generated assets flowing via USD into both real-timeUnreal and traditional 3ds Max/V-Ray workflows, connected by custom tools that made dailycross-pipeline collaboration possible.

Amir Ashkezari

Amir Ashkezari, FX Supervisor / Technical Director, PFX

Amir Ashkezari is a self-taught artist, worked as generalist for the past 2 decades and have been specializing as a Technical Director since 2018, currently working as a FX Supervisor at PFX.

Jan Hofmann

Jan Hofmann, CG Supervisor | Unreal Engine Expert, Telescope Animation

Jan Hofmann is a senior real-time artist and 3D Unreal Engine Supervisor with over 23 years of experience in film, immersive, and game production. With a strong foundation in traditional DCC workflows, he successfully transitioned into real-time filmmaking, serving as 3D Supervisor on the Unreal Engine feature film The Last Whale Singer, where he helped architect linear production pipelines tailored for cinematic real-time workflows.

He specializes in bridging classical cinematography principles with cutting-edge real-time technology. Recent work includes Unreal Engine Supervision for Riot Games’ League of Legends World 2025 Final Opening Ceremony and Unreal-driven immersive content for Psyop’s Brawl Stars Comic Con Motion Ride in Los Angeles.