Digital Human Creation Advances
CG Actor Unveiled, Tech Refinements Touted
November 29, 2004
By Carolyn Giardina
Venice, Calif.-based Digital Domain recently revealed a clip of a shockingly realistic CG actor that the company developed over the past few months as part of an R&D effort for future commercial and feature work. The clip was screened earlier this month during a presentation at The Digital Studio Summit, co-located with the American Film Market in Santa Monica.
Digital Domain chairman/CEO Scott Ross presented the clip, which featured a fairly close-up shot of an elderly man -- who is expressive and lifelike -- sitting at a dinner table in a dimly lit room. Ross explained that the live-action environment was shot on stage at Digital Domain, and the CG character was added to the shot using the company's Nuke compositing software.
"It was lighting, it was definitely skin texture, it was muscle deformation, it was eye deformers that allowed eyes to move around and pull skin around -- all of that, I think, added to the effect," Ross said. "But it's [also] the artistry. There are some proprietary tools and technology that we've developed over a period of time, but it's really not necessarily about the tools."
During the presentation, Ross also showed a before-and-after of how Digital Domain smoothed the skin of an aging performer to give him youth -- which also has many applications in storytelling that involves, for instance, flashbacks.
Culver City, Calif.-based Sony Pictures Imageworks also announced refinements in its digital human R&D. During the same panel, Sony Pictures Imageworks president Tim Sarnoff reported that the company's work in this area is "so far advanced beyond "Spider-Man 2," which is now two-year-old technology." He said that moviegoers will see far more complex digital actors in future superhero movies, including a third "Spider-Man" film and "Superman."
"The creation of a computer-generated digital person has been the Holy Grail of the digital effects industry," Ross said. Digital Domain generated attention in this area as far back as 1997, when it populated the decks of the Titanic with digital passengers in its Academy Award-winning epic "Titanic." More recently, Digital Domain and other effects houses have increasingly used digital characters for certain applications, including stunts where having an actor perform would be dangerous or simply impossible.
In the advertising world, London's The Mill recently created more than 100,000 digital extras for "Mountain," the Sony PlayStation 2 spot directed by Frank Budgen of London's Gorgeous for Bartle Bogle Hegarty, London. (Budgen directs stateside via bicoastal Anonymous Content.) The commercial earned a collection of awards this year, including the Grand Prix at the Cannes Advertising Festival.
Today, visual effects artists continue to strive for more realism, and they also see a growing number of applications for these characters. "Particularly in the commercial marketplace, I think there are some really interesting applications," Ross noted. "For example, look at someone like Michael Jordan, who probably now makes ninety percent of his entire income by supporting products. He is limited by the things that he can do given where he can be at what place and at what time. Now we can give [him] the opportunity to do that [via CG]. The ability to be in Thailand, in China, in South America and in the U.S. all in the same day is now available to him."
CG Actor Unveiled, Tech Refinements Touted
November 29, 2004
By Carolyn Giardina
Venice, Calif.-based Digital Domain recently revealed a clip of a shockingly realistic CG actor that the company developed over the past few months as part of an R&D effort for future commercial and feature work. The clip was screened earlier this month during a presentation at The Digital Studio Summit, co-located with the American Film Market in Santa Monica.
Digital Domain chairman/CEO Scott Ross presented the clip, which featured a fairly close-up shot of an elderly man -- who is expressive and lifelike -- sitting at a dinner table in a dimly lit room. Ross explained that the live-action environment was shot on stage at Digital Domain, and the CG character was added to the shot using the company's Nuke compositing software.
"It was lighting, it was definitely skin texture, it was muscle deformation, it was eye deformers that allowed eyes to move around and pull skin around -- all of that, I think, added to the effect," Ross said. "But it's [also] the artistry. There are some proprietary tools and technology that we've developed over a period of time, but it's really not necessarily about the tools."
During the presentation, Ross also showed a before-and-after of how Digital Domain smoothed the skin of an aging performer to give him youth -- which also has many applications in storytelling that involves, for instance, flashbacks.
Culver City, Calif.-based Sony Pictures Imageworks also announced refinements in its digital human R&D. During the same panel, Sony Pictures Imageworks president Tim Sarnoff reported that the company's work in this area is "so far advanced beyond "Spider-Man 2," which is now two-year-old technology." He said that moviegoers will see far more complex digital actors in future superhero movies, including a third "Spider-Man" film and "Superman."
"The creation of a computer-generated digital person has been the Holy Grail of the digital effects industry," Ross said. Digital Domain generated attention in this area as far back as 1997, when it populated the decks of the Titanic with digital passengers in its Academy Award-winning epic "Titanic." More recently, Digital Domain and other effects houses have increasingly used digital characters for certain applications, including stunts where having an actor perform would be dangerous or simply impossible.
In the advertising world, London's The Mill recently created more than 100,000 digital extras for "Mountain," the Sony PlayStation 2 spot directed by Frank Budgen of London's Gorgeous for Bartle Bogle Hegarty, London. (Budgen directs stateside via bicoastal Anonymous Content.) The commercial earned a collection of awards this year, including the Grand Prix at the Cannes Advertising Festival.
Today, visual effects artists continue to strive for more realism, and they also see a growing number of applications for these characters. "Particularly in the commercial marketplace, I think there are some really interesting applications," Ross noted. "For example, look at someone like Michael Jordan, who probably now makes ninety percent of his entire income by supporting products. He is limited by the things that he can do given where he can be at what place and at what time. Now we can give [him] the opportunity to do that [via CG]. The ability to be in Thailand, in China, in South America and in the U.S. all in the same day is now available to him."
