Chapter 797： The technical difficulties of "Avatar" (Part 1)

Head to head Hollywood 797 author Qian Duxue Full text 3474 words

Cameron said: "Why don't directors like to shoot with green screen now? In addition to being unaccustomed to breaking the inherent film impression, shooting with green screen will affect the quality of the film..." "Texture?" Hear this words, Dunn shook his head in disapproval. The texture of the film... is a very mysterious topic. For example, in the movie "The Da Vinci Code", the Mona Lisa painting in the Louvre Museum is shot. Ron Howard strongly urged Dunn Films to contact the Louvre and go to the scene to shoot. That is a world-class treasure! Not even allowed to take pictures. Get a fake painting, just take a shot and you're done? It's simple, convenient and saves money. But Ron Howard insisted. Because the real product will have a "film quality", the fake is fake, and it will be fake when it is shot. This kind of theory... Dunn couldn't understand anyway. On the movie screen, even the most professional antique experts have difficulty distinguishing the authenticity of the paintings, and physical inspection is necessary. Even experts can't see it, how can movie audiences tell the difference between true and false? This kind of thing happens a lot in Hollywood. Bernardo Bertolucci filmed "The Last Emperor" and insisted on going to the Forbidden City to shoot. As a result, there was a scene that caught fire, and he almost ordered it for the Forbidden City... I will never be able to film in the Forbidden City again. Cameron smiled and didn't bother about this topic, and said: "Of course, these are factors outside the film. As far as the film itself is concerned, green screen shooting will create a lot of obstacles for the actors' performances." This time, when it came to the point, Dunn nodded in agreement. A green screen shot...a lack of background, lack of ambience, and even simple props. A shell can represent a car; a wooden stick can replace a sword; a mask can transform into an alien... How can an actor have a brilliant performance without really listening and seeing ? Because of the lack of background contrast and the creation of atmosphere, it is often difficult for the director to judge whether the actor's performance is good or bad. It is necessary to wait for the computer to synthesize in the later stage, and then it can be integrated to judge whether the performance of the actor in that section meets the requirements. George Lucas' "Star Wars Episode 3" was filmed last year, and as a result, there have been a large number of reshoots this year. Why? Because of green screen shooting! After a year of post-production, he found that many performances could not meet his expectations, and naturally he had to call the actors back for reshoots. "Could it be that your virtual camera can solve this problem?" "The root cause cannot be solved, but there is a benchmark for judgment." "What do you mean?" Tang En raised his eyebrows. Cameron said: "This virtual camera... is actually just a concept, not a real camera, but a monitor with an LCD screen. Behind it is a high-speed computer that can preview the actors' performances synchronously while filming. To the real-time CG screen generated by the computer, and you can view the screen effect at any angle and display ratio at any time." Tang En's face showed a touch of excitement that could not be concealed, and excitedly said: "Really?" "Of course, I Communicate with Stan Weston and Kurt Ross, this technology is already a breakthrough. Give them another year and more features will be developed, such as the monitor can be moved and rotated arbitrarily, to 360 Watch the final composite CG effect from a perspective of 100 degrees." Speaking of this, Cameron's face was a little weird. Stan Weston and Kurt Ross, both famous special effects masters, are the founders of the "digital realm". This is the second largest special effects studio in Hollywood after "Industrial Light and Magic". The shocking special effects of "Titanic" come from the "digital field". The realistic special effects of the upcoming disaster film "The Day After Tomorrow" are also completed by "Digital Domain". Two years ago, at the suggestion of Tosca Musk, Dunn bought "Digital Domain" from Cameron and became a subsidiary of Siliwood Animation, responsible for the production of animation special effects. At the beginning of this year... New Universal sold Slywood animation to Disney for a sky-high price of 2.2 billion US dollars. The "digital realm" naturally also belongs to Disney. Dunn twitched the corner of his mouth. No wonder he didn't know about such high-end virtual camera technology, that is, real-time preview technology. It turns out that the inventor has gone to Disney... Of course, this can't blame him. In recent years, special effects studios have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, and there are hundreds of them in the United States, not including the cheaper special effects technology in Britain, Germany, France, South Korea, New Zealand and other places. Although the technology in the "digital field" is good, it is a bit tasteless for New Universal. For high-end technology, you can find "Industrial Light & Magic" and "Weta Digital"; for low-end special effects, you can find special effects companies in Britain, Germany, France, South Korea and other countries for outsourcing. This is a more commercial, lower-cost mode of operation. All the packages are handed over to their own company to make special effects, and the cost performance is very low. But I didn't expect... After selling to Siliwood animation and the "digital field", they developed a black technology... "It doesn't matter, Disney is our partner. This technology is kept secret from others, but not for New Universal." Dunn is very confident about this, and he is also moved. This summer, "Iron Man", "Thor", "Ant-Man 2" and "Avengers", will be launched at the same time. In addition to "Iron Man" and "Ant-Man 2" that have already started filming, maybe... "Thor" and "Avengers" can also use this real-time preview technology of virtual photography. This is the artifact of green screen shooting! Cameron frowned, "I'm afraid it's difficult, the technology is not mature enough, the angle rotation is limited, and... the real-time preview picture is not clear enough, probably... It's like the game screen ten years ago, and the grid is very rough. ." Dunn smiled and said, "That's enough! It's better than nothing! Anyway, "Avatar" won't start shooting until next year, so let's use my "Avengers" first and be a test field. Practice will give you true knowledge." Mellon smiled wryly. He really didn't expect that he and his friends finally deconstructed and created the real-time preview technology prepared for "Avatar", and the first beneficiary was Dunn Walker! It's so dark! This is a protected black technology that has not yet applied for a patent. You can use it if you say it is. "Okay, don't look reluctant, I'll be a guinea pig for you, aren't you happy?" Tang En glared at him contentedly, and said happily, "Let's talk about it, the next technical problem-full cg The character model construction of ." Cameron said angrily: "Do you need me to introduce more? Don't you know?" "Full CG characters? Oh, this!" Dunn glanced at the document in his hand, and immediately Suddenly. The CG technology of computer special effects has been popular for more than 20 years. However, this CG technology usually produces the wreck of the "Titanic", the magic of "Harry Potter", the superhuman action stunts of "Spider-Man"... To put it bluntly, it is relatively simple and lacks sufficient Detailed cg effects. Character CG has always been a big problem. For example, in the "Star Wars Episode 1" filmed by Tang En, there is a famous character "Master Yoda" in it. This is a Jedi Knight with a cat-like face. From the body to the face, computer CG production is required. But after watching the movie, you will find that the effect of this "Master Yoda" is a bit fake. It's a bit like the character effects in the game, lacking nuanced consideration. It is because the CG technology of the year was not enough to make so many complex and subtle movements of the human body. In "Star Wars Episode 2" and "Star Wars Episode 3", the character image of "Master Yoda" is much fuller. This is the advancement of technology. In another ten years, Paul Walker, the star of "Fast and Furious 7", died unexpectedly. Many of his shots in the movie were post-processed by CG technology, and the effect was exactly the same as that of a real person! At this time, the character CG technology is already complete. "Learn from Industrial Light and Magic? No problem, I'll talk to George." Dunn said confidently. Technology is highly secret in the special effects industry, and with Cameron's face, it may be difficult to convince George Lucas. Cameron pouted and said disdainfully: "Industrial Light and Magic? They can't do it! The special effects of the "Star Wars" series are so ugly! The "Avatar" I look forward to must surpass "Star Wars" in an all-round way!" "Then Who are you looking for?" "You don't know?" Dunn thought slowly: "It's definitely not good in the digital field, they are good at fluid special effects of objects... Is it Weta Digital?" Cameron laughed: "That's right~ www.novelhall.com~ I really didn't expect that a New Zealand special effects company could develop such high-end technology! The 'Grumble' in the "Lord of the Rings" series is simply a miracle of computer CG! If it weren't for Peter Jackson , I'm afraid the "Avatar" series will be postponed for a few more years." Tang En said: "Yeah, the image of 'Gollum'... there is no sense of violation. Master Da', there is a world of difference. The full-character CG technology is still one step ahead of Weta Digital." To get Weta Digital, Xin Universal will definitely come forward. Dunn has already seen it clearly. Cameron ranked the six major technical difficulties of "Avatar", from high to low, they are the new digital photography system and digital technology, expression capture technology, motion capture technology, and full cgi character model construction technology , real-time preview technology of virtual cameras, and direct shooting technology of 3D cameras. The 3D direct shooting technology is considered the easiest by him because the technical realization has been completed; he and the team have also made breakthroughs in the real-time preview technology of virtual cameras, which is also very simple; the CG technology of all characters is not under his control , I need someone else's help, so it's a little more difficult. It is conceivable that Cameron and his team were unable to do anything about the next major technical problems. It's time for Tang Enliang to flex his muscles! Sure enough, Cameron said next: "Of course, Industrial Light & Magic's special effects strength, in general terms, is still the first in the world. Their principles of mechanical, acoustic, electromagnetic, active optics and passive optics are Mastering it is far beyond what other special effects companies can match." "So?" "So ILM's motion capture technology is an indispensable part of the "Avatar" project!" 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