The technology of motion capture has a long history, almost 100 years. It has been used in all walks of life for half a century.

However, it's all relatively simple.

For example, robot remote control, interactive games, sports training, sports tracking and other fields.

Motion Capture Goes to Cinema...... Only 20 years old.

Of course, in the past, motion capture mainly referred to some animation production, mainly simulating some of the most basic and simple character activities.

For example, the image of "Gollum" in the "Lord of the Rings" series.

This is a character created entirely in computer CG.

Because of the breakthrough of this technology, Weta Digital, when watching the movie, the character image of "Gollum" does not have any sense of disobedience, as if he should belong to Middle-earth.

It's much more realistic than the "Master Yoda" in the "Star Wars Prequel" series, as well as many animated characters.

However, there is a catch!

"Grunt" in "The Lord of the Rings", when the characters are in motion...... The movements are relatively simple, simple, and look clumsy.

The image of the characters is not inconsistent, but the actions of the characters are very inconsistent.

That's the disadvantage of Weta Digital in terms of motion capture technology!

The motion capture of "Grunt", even if the motion capture master Andy Serkis was invited, failed to achieve the desired effect.

"ILM is a pioneer in motion capture technology, and last year, I even took two weeks out to work on The Polar Express," Cameron said. ”

"The Polar Express?" that cartoon by Robert Zemeckis?"

"That's right. Although this is just a cartoon, it is very different from previous cartoons. Traditional cartoons don't require actors to perform, either hand-drawn or computer-drawn, and the actors are dubbed in post-production. But "Polar Express" is different, the animated characters here, every smile and smile are all performed by actors. Revolutionary motion capture technology, as well as performance preservation technology, digitizes live images. It's going to be a technological revolution in cinema!"

It's not hard to hear that Cameron is very appreciative of the new technology used in "The Polar Express", and continued: "During the performance, Hanks does not wear a costume, but wears a black tights full of sensors, and at the same time glues 150 sensors to his face, and every expression and movement of his eyelids, lips, eyebrows and other parts can be accurately captured by the computer through the sensors." ”

"150 sensors ......"

Don could imagine Tom Hanks with sensors all over his face, 150 ...... Is that not satisfied that the face is all sensors?

Cameron became more and more excited the more he spoke, and said excitedly: "Don, I went to see the internal test screening of "The Polar Express", and it is really incomparable! Science and technology can really digitize the DNA of actors on the big screen! As long as this film is released, I dare to conclude that it will be epoch-making, and the holographic motion capture technology it uses will become a milestone equivalent to the first sound movie "The King of Jazz Singers"!"

In past movies, motion capture technology was also used, but it was only a very small part, and it was very simple to operate.

"Polar Express" is different, all the performances in the film are completed through motion capture.

This is a must-have element for filming Avatar.

Corresponding ...... It's a high price!

"Polar Express" cost $165 million, and all the performances and filming were completed in front of the green screen of the studio, and the actors' performance space was only 10 square feet in total.

If Robert Zemeckis also pursues "cinematic quality" like many old-school directors, well...... The production cost of the film can't be stopped by $300 million!

"I've heard that ...... 'Polar Express' uses the latest motion capture technology developed by Industrial Light & Magic?

Cameron said disdainfully, "Who says it's not?" George Lucas...... Hehe, he wants to use "The Polar Express" as a test field to verify the practicality of the new technology, anyway, it is Warner's money, and he doesn't feel distressed about spending it, which is different from filming "Star Wars Prequel 3". ”

"The new motion capture technology has proven to be very successful?"

"Perfect!"

"So...... Do you need me to help you get George?" Donn looked at him with a smirk.

Cameron looked slightly embarrassed, and said as a matter of course: "Aren't you the investor and producer of "Avatar"?

Don nodded, didn't say anything, and got George Lucas, there was no difficulty for him.

In fact, in the eighties, Cameron and Lucas had a good relationship.

In the nineties, the filming of "Terminator 2" was completed...... Cameron has received great demand and market recognition, and it seems that he has surpassed Lucas and become a science fiction giant.

The huge success of "Terminator 2" has given Cameron huge confidence and ambition, and he really wants to completely surpass George Lucas!

At first, he wanted to make "Spider-Man", but later felt that filming other people's stories was too cheap, so he gave up.

I wrote my own script - "Avatar" instead!

What is the logic behind Avatar?

It's Cameron who wants to create a sci-fi world kingdom that goes beyond Star Wars!

It's a pity that the technical level of that year was far from meeting his requirements.

Cameron retreated and went to shoot "Titanic".

Because he had to create fluid effects for the shipwreck, Cameron approached ILM for help.

As a result, the world's No. 1 special effects company said it couldn't be done!

How ridiculous?

Cameron was directly furious, poached Kurt Ross, the special effects manager of Industrial Light & Magic, and brought in Stan Weston to set up the "digital realm" special effects studio.

Since then, Hollywood has begun the duality of "industrial light and magic" and "digital field" in the special effects market.

The competition between the industry leader and the industry leader is fierce.

For many reasons, the relationship between Cameron and Lucas is very cold.

Cameron wants to use ILM's latest research results to create "Avatar", which is impossible for him to do with his personal face.

Of course, Don has no reason to fail.

What the twentieth century Fox could do in the previous life, New Universal is even easier.

Cameron added: "In addition to Weta Digital and ILM, we also need to secure the Flower Crow 3D Motion Lab, which is developing a technology that captures virtual synthetic images and facilitates our real-time preview and motion capture. This is clearly stated in the report. ”

"No problem! You said that "Polar Express" is an epoch-making technological revolution, and now it seems that ...... "Avatar" is, and the master shows his true heroic nature!"

Don was amazed by feelings.

This great director has done such a full job of technical preparation in the early stage, and he deserves all the praise.

Cameron smiled and said, "Weta Digital, Industrial Light & Magic, Flower Crow, and the digital field are not enough, we also need the latest scientific results from MIT's optical laboratory." ”

"MIT?"

That's right, they modified the reflective optical motion capture system to develop a hooded expression capture system. This plays a crucial role in the actor's meticulous expression capture. ”

"You're trying to separate expression capture from motion capture and engage in two technical systems?"

"There's no way around it. The subtle changes in facial expressions are so complex compared to human movements that even the most advanced motion capture systems are difficult to do best. ”

Speaking of this, Cameron shook his head, "It's still "Polar Express", Robert glued 150 sensors to Hanks' face in order to pursue the ultimate performance capture, and he didn't even let go of his eyes. The final visual presentation can be ...... I'm not very satisfied. The variation of facial expressions is too complex, capturing only 150 detail variations...... Far from enough. ”

It's only 2004.

Most of the technologies that have been rotten in later generations are still in the process of research and development, trial, and improvement.

"Avatar" is the guinea pig that all kinds of high-tech are assembled and tried.

It's far more than a simple 3D direct shot can be summed up.

For fans, the 3D effect of "Avatar" is intuitive. For filmmakers, "Avatar" has more and more sophisticated high-end technology behind it than 3D direct shooting.

Of course, this is limited to Hollywood, which is looking for visual perfection.

For the film industry in other countries...... To put it mildly, even Hollywood's special effects craftsmanship 10 years ago can continue to lead the world for 20 years in a general sense.

This is the conclusion of the famous French "Cinémathèque", there is at least a 30-year generation gap between special effects technology in Hollywood and outside Hollywood.

Tang En is half technically illiterate, not too understanding, and asked, "The hood-type expression capture system you said can solve the problem?"

Cameron excitedly stretched out a palm.

"What do you mean?"

"At least five times as much!"

"Five-fold?"

Done's eyes widened.

Cameron said excitedly: "Robert Zemeckis gave Hanks a sensor all over his face in order to capture the rich changes in expression. However, if you rely on this hood-type expression capture system from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Optics Laboratory, you can use the reflected signals from different angles in the optical effect to capture subtle changes in the actor's face, at least ...... You can catch 800 of them!"

"Good!"

Don was also quite excited.

He was suddenly able to appreciate Cameron's thrill of pursuing the ultimate in technology.

It's a feeling of creating a new era!

"But......" Cameron paused, a little embarrassed and a little weak-hearted, "it's a university, it's a science lab. Although I know a little bit about it, there are still some problems in using their research results in filmmaking. That's not Hollywood after all, let's set it, there...... Work. ”

Tang En immediately understood what he meant, and was a little amused.

Isn't the technology developed in university laboratories designed to be applied in practice?

The problem Cameron said is nothing more than money!

Of course, it's certainly not a small amount of money.

If it was only a few hundred thousand dollars, Cameron would have paid for it out of his own pocket.

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