In 2012, Vincent Poitras detailed Rodeo FX’s contributions to Immortals. He later moved to Weta FX before joining Raynault VFX in 2015. Over the years, his credits have included Rogue One, Lost in Space, Dune: Prophecy, and Invasion.
How did you and Raynault VFX get involved on this season?
Collaborating with Jay Worth had been on our radar for quite some time. With season two of Fallout, the schedules finally aligned and it became the right project to move forward together.
What was your feeling to be enter into the Wastelands?
We were genuinely excited to step into the world of Fallout. It has such a distinct visual identity and a long history. The fan base cares deeply about every detail. After the success of season 1, we knew expectations would be high. That made it even more compelling for us.
When we watched the first season, what stood out immediately was the cinematography and the strength of the practical sets and props. There was a real sense of craft on screen. Having that kind of foundation is incredibly motivating. It gave our team something tangible to build from and helps ensure that the visual effects feel like a natural extension of what’s already there.
Can you elaborates about the work made by Raynault VFX on this season?
Our work focused mainly on the large-scale establishing and wide shots of New Vegas, shaping its skyline and atmosphere at scale. The goal was to capture the weight and character of the city in a way that felt consistent with the world fans already know.
We also handled extensive set extensions in Freeside, building out from the practical sets to expand the environment while staying true to what was physically on stage.
In addition, we developed the environment for Site-X and contributed to a handful of standalone moments that required their own distinct approach.
After working on nearly 250 shots for Season Two, how would you describe Raynault VFX’s overall creative mandate on Fallout, and what were the key objectives you set at the beginning of the project?
One of our objectives was to respect the Fallout universe and its established visual language. Many of our set extensions were directly inspired by locations from the game. At the same time, Fallout: New Vegas isn’t the most recent installment in the franchise, which gave us some room to thoughtfully expand or reinterpret areas where the source material left things open or less defined.
From the beginning, our mandate was to push the level of photorealism and bring more life and scale into the various environments. The goal was to enhance it in a way that feels tangible and cinematic within the context of the series.
How closely did you collaborate with the production design team and the overall VFX supervision to align architectural choices, signage, and skyline compositions for Las Vegas and its surrounding areas?
Production shared early concepts for key buildings and signage, giving us a clear creative foundation. The detail in the practical sets became a strong reference as we expanded the world digitally.
Within the established Fallout framework, we were given meaningful creative latitude. Not every element was predefined, which allowed us to explore and help shape parts of the skyline and surrounding environments.
We started with concepts and rough layouts to align on direction. Once approved, we refined the architectural details and compositions through to final delivery.
Freeside has a very specific atmosphere in the games, both chaotic and layered with socio-political subtext, how did you reflect that identity visually through CG assets, matte paintings, and set extensions?
Freeside is dense, improvised and uneven by design. We leaned into that. We avoided polish and symmetry. Buildings feel patched together, materials clash, signage overlaps, and the space feels compressed.
Site X introduces a different tone and architectural language, what were the main design challenges in building this environment, and how did you ensure visual continuity within the broader world of the series?
Site X was anchored in a real-world building, which grounded the design from the start. The main challenge was conveying massive scale inside an enclosed bunker. We had to balance depth with darkness, ensuring the audience could still read the space clearly. Through lighting, layering, atmospheric perspective and architectural repetition, we suggested vastness while preserving the contained, moody tone.
Can you break down your workflow when combining full CG environments, digital matte paintings, and practical set extensions? At what stage do you decide which technique serves the shot best?
We define the approach early, based on what the shot truly requires. Full CG, digital matte painting and set extensions each serve different purposes, so the choice depends on factors like shot count, camera movement, lighting variation and how often the asset reappears.
If an environment needs to hold up across multiple angles and lighting setups, full CG usually offers the necessary flexibility. For more controlled or single-angle shots, a matte painting can be more efficient. Set extensions often sit somewhere in between, grounding the work in what was captured on stage.
That said, we avoid locking the methodology too early. As sequences evolve, so can the technical approach. Concept and layout are key. We push them far enough to validate scale, composition and mood before committing, ensuring the chosen technique supports both quality and adaptability through final delivery.
When building large-scale environments like New Vegas, how did you balance hero asset creation with modular or procedural approaches to efficiently deliver such a high shot count?
For New Vegas, the strategy was clear early on. Iconic landmarks such as the Fallout: New Vegas Strip locations needed to function as hero assets. Buildings like the Lucky 38, Gomorrah and The Tops had to anchor the geography clearly, so audiences could orient themselves instantly while longtime fans recognized the world.
Once those anchors were in place, the focus shifted to scale and density. We relied on modular and procedural systems to layer variation and detail efficiently, making the city feel expansive and lived in.
The procedural workflows were kept flexible. Automation supported the process, but composition and framing always remained under artistic control. And we did include a few discreet Easter eggs for attentive viewers.
With nearly 250 shots delivered, how did you structure your internal pipeline and supervision model to maintain consistency in lighting, scale, and atmospheric perspective across multiple sequences?
To handle nearly 250 shots, we reinforced our internal pipeline with custom tools, particularly in Nuke, allowing multiple shots to be developed in parallel. CG could view environments in context earlier and compositors could roll out strong first passes efficiently across similar setups.
On Site X, the multishot tool let one compositor set the look for most of the sequence, while the rest of the team jumped in to polish individual shots in parallel, keeping everything consistent across the board.
We also built our own review system with a custom player and shot browser, which streamlined comparisons and version tracking across sequences.
That said, pipeline only carries you so far. The show was shot on film and lighting favored individual shots over strict continuity. We neutralized plates when needed, but flexibility was key. A solid system gets you most of the way; the rest requires experienced artists making informed, shot-specific decisions.
Many of your contributions involved digital matte paintings for various sequences throughout the season, how did you ensure these standalone moments still felt fully integrated into the show’s retro-futuristic aesthetic?
We started by aligning with the visual language already established for the series. That gave us a clear framework and avoided unnecessary drift.
Layout was where most of the heavy lifting happened. Once scale, lighting and mood were working at that stage, the matte paintings had a strong foundation. Sometimes strong photography or a compelling concept would drive the layout itself.
Even when replacing large portions of a frame, we used the original photography as a reference for color and atmosphere. And we always evaluated shots in sequence. A matte painting can look great on its own but still feel wrong in context, so continuity across the edit was the real benchmark.
Fallout’s visual language mixes post-apocalyptic decay with bold mid-century design, how did your team handle texture work, weathering, and world-building details to achieve that specific tonal balance?
We spent time studying real-world reference and, more importantly, the logic behind how things decay. Materials age differently, exposure creates consistent patterns, and wear shows up in predictable places. That underlying logic guided the work.
We typically started with a broad pass to establish overall weathering and material breakdown, then refined it per shot to suit the environment and camera distance.
The key was restraint. Fallout depends on strong mid-century forms and graphic clarity, so decay couldn’t overpower silhouettes or signage. And we always considered that these spaces are inhabited. Things get repaired, repurposed, rearranged. The world isn’t just falling apart, it’s being lived in.
From a compositing perspective, what were the biggest challenges in integrating your CG and matte work with the practical plates, especially in terms of depth, lens characteristics, and environmental interaction?
From a compositing standpoint, shooting on film was both an advantage and a challenge. Film has a natural richness. Pushing the image further than usual to help it sit naturally in the plate is a reflex that sometimes needs to be relearned in today’s cleaner, sharper digital world. Let highlights blow out. Let the shadows sit. Avoid over-correcting. Especially in New Vegas, which was often backlit and exposed for the darker values, perfection would have felt wrong.
Lens behavior was also critical. The glass used on the show had strong character, with noticeable falloff, distortion and focus rolloff. Matching that personality was essential. We relied on internal tools, including our proprietary defocus system, to replicate those characteristics accurately. Integration wasn’t just about depth and lighting. It was about embracing the imperfections that made the photography feel alive.
Looking back at Season Two, what are you most proud of in Raynault VFX’s contribution to Fallout, and how did this season push your studio creatively or technically compared to previous large-scale environment work?
What we’re most proud of is how controlled the execution was given the scale. We delivered a high volume of complex environment work with a relatively small team… and it remained fluid from start to finish.
Our artists quickly absorbed the tone and visual rules of the Fallout universe, which allowed decisions to happen at the right level without constant recalibration. That speed, without erosion of quality, is something we value.
This season also pushed us in terms of scale management and workflow efficiency. Balancing hero assets, procedural expansion and film-based integration across nearly 250 shots required discipline. The creative freedom we were given meant we could take ownership rather than simply execute. For us, that elevated both the technical ambition and the creative outcome.
A big thanks for your time.
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WANT TO KNOW MORE?
Raynault VFX: Dedicated page about Fallout Season 2 on Raynault VFX website.
© Vincent Frei – The Art of VFX – 2026
