Watch the jaw-dropping animation in the trailer for The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. Then catch Platige Image’s ‘making of’ video too…

In January, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and CD Projekt RED released the epic and impactful CG intro trailer for The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, produced by the award-winning animation studio, Platige Image.

We were simply blown away when we watched this four-minute cinematic online at the start of the year. Directed by Tomek Bagiński and produced by Platige Image, this trailer is packed with stunning animation and effects. Watch it below.

Now Platige Image has produced a behind-the-scenes look at the production of the trailer, from the early renders and mocap sessions to the final clip. You can also watch this three-minute video below.

Behind the scenes of Witcher 2

“The idea of the script came from CD Projekt couple years ago, right after the premiere of ‘The Witcher’. It was so called ‘soft’ version and we used it as basis for the work. In spite of vast changes we made, the project went on hold for almost two years until it was brought back to life in Xbox 360 version.”

“As it turned out these two years gave both parties necessary perspective. Once we started working on the script again we were able to create new, better and richer version very fast.”

“What was left from the original is the ship and main characters. All the rest has been changed. For example in the first version a hornet’s nest was used in the attack. The ship was turned into chaos – all crew started running around. They looked like a group of crazy or electrocuted people. Well… we got rid of this ‘dance’ but left the chaos and add a lot of steroids. It helped,” says director Tomek BagiÅ„ski.

“It was one of the most demanding projects in Platige Image history. The script set up very high standards. As for such a short movie there were a lot of main, detailed characters, difficult face close-ups, very dynamic action full of special effects: cloth and particles simulation and hard slowmotion shots.”

“The ship also became one of the main characters. First our graphic artists created a fantastic scenery and most of all great, very detailed sailing ship. Then the particles simulation team went rough with it. They created a vast interaction system covering the whole construction with milions of ice crystals and they smashed the whole thing,” adds CG Supervisor Maciek Jackiewicz.

The team of 40 graphic designers and animators was involved in the project for couple moths.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is due on on Xbox 360 on 17 April. The Windows version is shipping now.

Watch the Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings trailer:

Watch the making-of video for the cinematic:

Read a longer interview with CG supervisor Maciej Jackiewicz on CGSociety

If you liked this, look out for our ‘making of’ Mass Effect 3 cinematic, due in the next issue of 3D World