The guys at Cantina Creative have been busy! Here's a process montage of the HUDs from Iron Man 3, which gives you a closer look into the detail of the designs as well as an insider's look of how they were developed.

There were a lot of new things featured in this latest installment of the Iron Man series. For example, it was really interesting to see the scene featuring the external HUD as I had previously wondered how the Iron Man HUD would actually appear beneath the helmet so this was a unique glimpse of what's happening under the hood.

The introduction of the shelf device within the HUD design of the main suit was cool too, as it served like a stage for all the signals and information to play out on and created a sort of anchor or reference point for all the other graphics.

Of course I also love the customisation of the different HUDs for each of the different model suits. That would have been a hell of a lot of fun to design! The curved lines in the MK33 Silver Centurion suit was a stand out for me, it was very different to previous Iron Man HUDs that we've seen.

So are you sick of Robert Downey Jr's face yet?

Check out the Iron Man 3 HUD + GFX process reel

Here's a great article on the VFX of Iron Man 3 by fxguide

Insight from VFX artist John Likens

In late 2012 I joined forces with Cantina Creative to help deliver over 100 shots for IRON MAN 3.

Marvel tasked us with designing all the elaborate 3D head-up displays (HUDs) – a virtual graphical interface that Iron Man sees from within the helmet environment of his armored suits that communicate essential data and statistics ranging from his physical condition to weapon and navigational diagnostics – While putting strong emphasis on the new ultra-high-tech Mark 42 suit, we also delivered upgraded HUDs to match the new suits seen in the film. It was great fun.

All of the 3D elements, including a miniature version of the suit and the holographic helmet, were generated and rendered from CINEMA 4D. These graphics had true 3D depth, which heightened the stereo viewing experience as well as the interactive light qualities that are both photo-real and immersive.

Credits

Cantina Creative

VFX Supervisor: Venti Hristova

VFX Producer: Sean Cushing

Digital Producer: Lily Shapiro

VFX Artists: Aaron Eaton, Matt Eaton, Jonathan Ficcadenti, Jayse Hansen, Stephen Lawes, John Likens, Leon Nowlin Jr., Alan Torres, Lukas Weyandt