Lost Legion Studios is working on a fan-film based on Games Workshops’ Warhammer 40,000 called The Exodite. Despite Games Workshop joining the Traitors of America master list, their property is still beloved by true fans the world around, and Lost Legion wanted to show their support for one of the most popular grimdark franchises on the planet by producing a short film themed around a violent encounter on the battlefield.

The teaser trailer is just that; clocking in at under 40 seconds and featuring only snippets of the 3D animated fan-film, the trailer sets up what is bound to be an exciting project if it doesn’t get waylaid by the litigious and belligerent trademark warriors at Games Workshop.

You can check out the teaser below, which features some near photorealistic imagery in some segments, especially the human skull.

The emulation of natural lighting has really come a long way, and that’s one of the things that the trailer nails perfectly. The bokeh depth of field gives the look of an actual dolly shot as it zooms and pans to the twitching finger of a downed Marine.

But to circle back around to the skull again… the reason it looks so real is due to the subtleties of the lighting. For instance, there’s no obnoxious bloom, nor is the specular mapping to noticeable.

In fact, it’s all subdued. You’ll notice that the light arcs across the curvature of the frontal bone, with just a hint of the physically based rendered lighting of the fire in the background only barely showing just a glint of orange reflection at the corner of the parietal bone.

Again, it’s all in the subtleties with the lighting.

The hints shadows here and there, or the fact that only crushed blacks appear where there’s no place where the light is shining or directed into those crevices helps give the skull that realized and grounded look within the rendered frame.

It’s some top notch engineering when it comes to lighting and cinematography, which is what helps make the world feel realized, even though it’s only seconds worth of footage.

Nevertheless, the whole teaser is filled with awesome shots. The Warlord Class Titan getting aced by a direct hit that cuts right through leftmost part of the torso looks fantastic.

If you want to stay tuned in for any updates for The Exodite be sure to follow or subscribe to the Lost Legion Youtube channel, or you can follow them over on their Instagram page.