In the second season of the One Piece live-action, the Refuge VFX studio completed 240 visual effects shots. Their work focused on weapons and action sequences. One goal was to address the use of rubber or shortened props during filming, which did not convey the danger of the fights. The task involved digitally recreating swords to make them appear rigid and sharp.
Digital reconstruction of weapons and transformations 🗡️
The team rebuilt the weapons from scratch to achieve the necessary metallic and sharp look. One case was Zoro's sword, which they extended and refined after a complex scene. They also improved Vivi's blades and the rotating saw from the final episode. Another development was the sequence of a cannon-arm that transforms into a human hand, requiring detailed modeling and smooth animation for the transition.
When a rubber sword must save the day 😅
It's amusing to think that the fearsome warriors of the Grand Line wielded objects on set that looked like they came from a children's party. While the actors sweated profusely in intense choreographies, their greatest threat was a poorly painted piece of rubber. Thank goodness the VFX artists were there to, literally, put an edge on the situation. Without them, the Straw Hat crew would have looked like a group in a very organized pillow fight.