Avatar: New era of virtual movie making

‘Avatar’….yes a movie which is creating history right now. After ‘Lord of the Rings triology’ this is another movie which is responsible for changing the film and entertainment industries perspective, I also want to add game industry into it because game industry will get a huge benefit from technologies which ‘Avatar’ develops.
I watched this movie on first day first show and that too was morning 7.30 AM show. I want to tell that not only technology wise but philosophically also this movie is great. It shows the bonding between nature and its creatures in an emotional way, we don’t skip this aspect of the movie.

My friends were asking me to write something on ‘Avatar’ and its technology, but I need time to search and read articles before writing something. I find out some nice information, so let’s share.

James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ is continuing its domination on box office worldwide in its fourth week, film domestic total till now is $429 million. And overseas, ‘Avatar’ grossing are $902 million (Reference: http://www.animationmagazine.net/article/11030).  WOW !!! don’t you want to say. It will soon toppling down Cameron’s last box office hit ‘Titanic’, which has done business of $ 1.8 billion.

Before starting to talk on technologies I just want to describe some definitions:
CG = Computer Graphics
CGI = Computer Generated Imagery

CGI is a specific application of CG in that it refers to the use of computer graphics to create synthetic imagery. However, the two terms are sometimes used inter-changeably in the visual effects industry.
In a broad sense, computer-generated is an adjective that describes any element created by a computer– as opposed to shot live on a set or location.

Stereoscopic 3D (S3D): Stereoscopy, or stereoscopic imagery, uses the characteristics of human binocular vision to create the illusion of

depth, making objects appear to be in front of or behind the cinema screen. The technique relies on presenting the right and left eyes with two slightly different images which the brain automatically blends into a single view. Subtle right-left dissimilarities in the images create the perception of depth and can be manipulated to creative advantage. Therein lies the art of stereoscopic filmmaking. (Reference: www.autodesk.com)

Now comes to technologies used in ‘Avatar’. Lightstorm Entertainment, production company of James Cameron’s, developed a new motion picture production process to create the groundbreaking sci-fi epic ‘Avatar’. They combine live action 3D and computer generated, photo-real visual effects to develop a great sci-fi story.

Ubisoft, a game company, also launch ‘Avatar’ in a third-person adventure game form. It can be played with stereoscopic 3D (S3D) display.
Lightstorm Entertainment, pioneered a new method for making visual effects movie with advanced virtual cinematography techniques. They use ‘Autodesk®MotionBuilder®’ and ‘Autodesk®Maya®’ software for this film. Production team captures actor’s performances and apply them directly to computer graphics (CG) characters, while viewing the results in real-time. This movie sets a new standards in stereoscopic 3D(S3D) productions. Lightstorm refined the performance capture techniques and apply them to high resolution Maya character models to create realistic, believable, animation.

This movie starts new era of virtual moviemaking, which gives full freedom to director’s creativity. Hoping that in near future Directors try to replace actors with this CG characters….which doesn’t have any date problem and exorbitant fees….:)

 
References: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?id=14270942&siteID=123112; http://www.animationmagazine.net/article/11030; google search