Abstract

Mermaids and pirates, the Hulk and Iron Man! This talk will describe the behind-the-scenes technology of ILM ’s match-moving and 3D capture system used in recent movies, including The Avengers, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Battleship, as well as new sub-pixel tracking of entire natural environments in Avatar, Star Trek, and The Lone Ranger to create the latest 3D visual effects. It will also show how similar technology has been used with New York Times infographics to demonstrate the body language of presidential debates, the motions of a New York Philharmonics conductor, New York Yankee Mariano Rivera’s pitch style, and Olympic swimmer Dana Vollmer’s famous butterfly stroke that won her four gold medals.

While Motion Capture is the predominant technology used for these domains, we have moved beyond such studio-based technology to do special effects without markers and without multiple high-speed IR cameras. Instead, many projects are shot on-site, outdoors, and in challenging environments with the benefit of new interactive computer vision techniques.