Realistic Animal VFX in Music Video

We brought high-end animal VFX into two major Punjabi music videos— “Kaim” by Nijjar (Dir. Teji Sandhu) and “Kaathi” by Himmat Sandhu (Dir. Nav Dhiman).

Each project posed unique challenges: one required seamlessly inserting a CGI animal into a video that had already been shot, while the other was a pre-planned, high-production CGI integration involving both an animal and a vintage car.

In Kaim, we introduced a young cheetah as a strong character element that elevated the video’s storytelling and branding. Despite having no pre-shoot planning for VFX, we successfully added 40–45 seconds of realistic cheetah shots—closeups, walking sequences, and wide shots—carefully tracked, masked, and blended into the environment.

In Kaathi, the challenge scaled up: we worked with a CGI tiger inside a vintage car, blending multiple layers of realism. The tiger was placed inside a fully CGI version of the vintage car (with actors reacting on set), which was seamlessly integrated with actual location shots. This created a cinematic moment where the tiger felt truly present, reinforcing its role as a symbol of power in the video.

Kaim:
Selected a cheetah as the animal, designed its role as a branding element for the song, and decided key shots to maximize impact.

Kaathi:
Collaborated with the director to scout vintage cars, selected a close match with available 3D assets, and planned shots so that actors could react realistically to the tiger.

Accurately tracked the live-action footage for realistic placement of animals.
Animated the cheetah (Kaim) and tiger (Kaathi) with walking, sitting, closeup, and wide-angle movements for natural presence.
Ensured interaction with the environment (behind actors, within cars) to skip the "doubt factor" for viewers.

Matched lighting to on-set conditions without HDRI/colormatte data, relying on multiple test renders to achieve natural realism.
Used Blender Cycles for final rendering.

Masked characters and objects for layering animals correctly in depth.
Integrated VFX elements using DaVinci Resolve, ensuring consistent look with raw camera footage.
Final touch with compositing and color grading to unify the CGI and live action.