Based on the Riverside Plaza in Chicago, the imposing Wayne Tower is a full CG model. Double Negative extensively photographed Riverside in HDR panoramas in May 2004, and acquired high-detail Lidar scans of the building. Using the data, Double Negative began to model the tower “in the same way that a model maker might build a spaceship from existing plastic kit parts,” says Paul Franklin, VFX supervisor at Double Negative.

“The Wayne Tower complex was our most detailed piece of digital architecture, and was designed to play for both day and night,” says Franklin. All of the windows in the building feature detailed, illuminated interiors. Each window is also individually dressed with drapes or blinds.

To supplement the huge amount of detail in the surface textures gathered from Riverside Plaza, Double Negative added procedural brick and stone block textures and displacements and added extra weathering for the late-stage version of the building.