Two Spanish engineers have been responsible for the sea moving in the film “Gulliver’s Travels”, and for fire erupting from a dragon in ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’. Víctor González and Ignacio Vargas are the founders of the company Next Limit Technologies, which develops physical simulation tools for the film industry.
The jewel of this Spanish company is software that simulates the sound and appearance of fluids. It served to start the lava flowing from a volcano in the last installment of ‘The Lord of the Rings’, and to make chocolate flow in torrents in ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ by Tim Burton. It was also used in the production ‘The Chronicles of Narnia 3’, where the majority of the scenes at sea were made with this program. In the case of ‘Despicable Me’, an animated film, RealFlow was used to recreate the water in various scenes, such as the breaking of a cistern and a shark attack.
But RealFlow can also be used in other sectors such as advertising. Its effects can be seen in numerous ads for detergents and toothpastes, which use fluids in their presentation.
Further, Next Limit Technologies is working in physical simulation for the information graphics market, engineering and architecture. It has received various prizes, among which should be highlighted the technical Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, otherwise called the Technical Achievement Award