Faster than a speeding production schedule. More powerful than a shrinking budget. Able to leap technical obstacles in a single bound. These are the kinds of superpowers Boxel Studio has wielded while delivering the VFX and creature animations for Superman & Lois. For three seasons, the studio’s artists and animators proved they could rise to any challenge. Then came their toughest adversary yet: season four.
In 2023, Hollywood productions roared back to life after the strikes and Superman & Lois was back in action. But with the budget and timeline for VFX tighter than ever, traditional motion capture—with its specialized suits, sets, and weeks of prep and processing—just wasn’t going to cut it.
So Boxel’s artists and animators did what heroes do: they found a better way. Turning to Autodesk Flow Studio, they embraced markerless motion capture, a technology never before used in television production. Flow Studio’s machine learning transforms standard video into motion data—no suits required. Boxel’s artists went further, building custom tools to bring that data into Maya, giving animators complete creative control while cutting workflows down to just days.
Freddy Chávez Olmos, Creative Director of Artificial Intelligence and Innovation, Boxel Studio
The shift didn’t just save time, it unlocked new possibilities. Stunt performers could focus on their performances, no longer held back by tricky technical requirements. Animators could record their own movements anywhere and instantly transform them into animation—whether for quick daily visualizations or final shots.
The results were nothing short of heroic. For the season three finale, the Boxel Studio team had delivered 104 shots in eight weeks using traditional motion capture. For season four, the team delivered 134 shots in only six weeks—all without compromising the visual richness that fans had come to expect.
The team at Boxel Studio may not wear capes or soar through the sky, but its pioneering approach shows us that true heroism isn’t about superpowers—it’s about creativity, resilience, and the courage to say, “Let there be a better way.” With Autodesk Flow Studio and Maya as the tools of choice, Boxel Studio continues to prove that when artists and makers dare to push the boundaries of what’s possible, the results are nothing short of super.
Let there be imagination. Let there be innovation. Let there be anything.
