The motion-capture gear allows the “CG characters” to interact with live-action actors on set, directors to direct them, the director of photography to light them, and camera operators to frame them. It has helped make the integration of CG characters into live-action films seamless, and it’s pushed forward the path toward creating believable digital humans. But it’s still awkward.
6 comments:
It’s amazing how fast technology is developing in the film industry. Every time a Marvel movie comes out, or any movie from a similar genre really, it somehow looks better and more realistic than the last one. The article answered the thought that I had when I saw Avengers Endgame in theaters back in April. The Hulk looks more realistic and more like Mark Ruffalo because of Anyma. I remember watching similar sci-fi / high fantasy movies when I was small, and CGI was still developing. It was obvious that non-human character were computer generated because of the graphics. But the new program is way beyond the past. I’m fascinated that it is able to collect data on bone structure and tissue on the face. It’s shockingly efficient too, needing only 20 scans of the face. It’s kind of crazy how well technology can replicate human features and transform them based on data now. I wonder how this piece of software can be applied to other industries, both in and outside the creative world.
It's so interesting to live in a time where we can really see the incredible progression of this technology right before us! I think that this all sort of started with Avatar back in the late 2000s, and I remember the insane hype around the movie, going to watch it in the theater with my dad, watching him and all the other adults geeking out over it, and all that jazz. If you go watch the trailer for Avatar now, it looks kind of, well... crummy. Not that it's any less impressive when you consider it came out in 2009, but a movie like that coming out now would definitely get raked through the mud for its "bad quality." What it really shows is... in 10 short years, the movie industry has gone from that to the absolute marvel (sorry) that is Avengers: Endgame. I mean, watching the Banner-Hulk hybrid was just so unreal. You could see every little detail of Mark Ruffalo's facial expressions, and it's honestly really exciting. I just can't wait for the next phase of Marvel movies, because with them, each new advancement in this technology is so discernible. With continued advancement, the future of the industry has so much potential for new waves of creativity and storytelling.
Technology is the means by which the world evolves in fascinating ways. I love technology and it is so intriguing what we are able to create or do with technology as we continue to advance it. Technology like the Anyma system wasn’t something many people would have thought just ten years ago but after Avatar in 2012 it became a goal, without realizing it. This is also something many people today think about every time they see a movie. CG is becoming part of our regular daily life in addition to our entertainment choices. In our daily lives it presents itself in the form of VR and AR technology whereas in entertainment it is simply finding ways to be more usable, useful, and practical. It makes me wonder what else will come from this type of technology and how much will it influence our daily lives. It appears that this system will become a true reality for us fairly shortly, so it probably won’t be long before something stems from it that also affects us greatly.
This is why I want to work for Disney. Their technology, resources, and money basically allow them to do anything and everything they set their minds to. CGI has always been impressive since its inception, even if it didn't look too realistic. The fact that a computer could generate a face and make it have emotions is amazing. The Smart Hulk with the new ILM tech takes CGI technology another step further, almost to a VR kind of reality. I remember watching Endgame and being amazed at SmartHulk's facial expressions. They were so close to Mark Ruffalo's it was amazing. Just thinking about the evolution of the Hulk, from the first movie in the early 2000's with cringy CGI and prosthetics to SmartHulk is amazing. I honestly cannot wait to see if ILM's new tech surpasses the mod-caps and weird pajamas that actors wear. Exciting times we live in.
This is a topic that I’ve found very interesting before this. I’ve known about the dots and cameras and sensors that could be found on the faces of famous Hollywood actors so that their movements could be tracked and interpreted by a computer, but this is different. The previous technology was something that was very similar to something that was incorporated into the iPhone, FaceID. This used dots projected onto the face of the person holding the phone and tracking the depth and position of the dots on their faces in order to create a face map. This technology forgoes the dots or trackers and uses facial elements already present on the actors. This allows an actor to breathe and gives them much more freedom when doing their work. Having a large face mask can impede an actor from engaging fully with what they might be doing in that moment.
Having not seen Endgame but being familiar with the Hulk in previous films, the difference in facial dimension with the new technology is actually quite staggering. The details of his face are so much crisper and truly look like Mark Ruffalo rather than just any Hulk. You are even able to see more of the skin texture with the 5 o'clock shadow and all. This new technology is truly revolutionary and it's interesting that the Marvel Universe is able to document the progression of the craft over the last almost 20 years. The idea that soon actors will not be at all constrained by the bulky gear and will be able to act to their true capacity is honestly crazy to think about. The times we live in and the creativity and ability of these designers is absolutely staggering. Just from reading this article and seeing the marked difference in quality of features makes me want to go and see Endgame as well as the previous films just to get a better grasp on the enormity of the technological breakthrough.
Post a Comment