Effect with sincerity.

"Well! The buzz from the bees is that the leopards are in a bit of a spot... And the baboons are going ape over this. Of course, the giraffes are acting like they're above it all..."

The Lion King is probably the most popular animated movies of all time. A movie that follows the life of a carefree cub who "can't just wait to be a king" and treads the path of "Hakuna Matata" that teaches him the "Circle of life". Animating quadrapeds was a challenge and Disney pulled it off so well!

More realistic animation techniques have replaced the traditional methods of hand-drawing animated figures. The physics of reality enslaves art and technology to simulate and visualize better, animate better. Computational methods and equations pull off a trade-off that makes a visual look as real to life as possible.

There are primarily three methods to animate a bundle of pixels. One- Breaking the image into discrete elements, Two- Use sample points selected from the sample picture and Three- Beget cells in the sample space. Motion capture is one of the coolest techniques widely used, in which markers are placed on an actor's face. For every expression, the positions of markers are noted and subsequently mapped onto the animated character.

I have been particularly impressed by VFX (Visual Effects- effects that are used to manipulate images to make them look realistic and integrate live-action footage) . I was mindblown by the VFX generated by the team that worked with visuals in X-MEN First Class. A great story line coupled with amazing effects that looked real but quite apparent.

Here's a youtube video of how they created the Beast transformation, the Magneto Yacht destruction scene, Riptide hurricanes and Cerebro destruction.




ICY system helped in rendering light and added a bit of composition. There is a lot more physics and equations involved than I thought there was. Properties of light play an important role. The right amount of illumination and spark can transform a dull scene and make it interesting and gripping.

Tapping reflection and refraction (properties of light) was a way to make Frost's diamond form much more appealing. Also the skin textures could change by changing the illumination and using animation softwares like Voodoo, to make skin look smooth or scaley, depending on the effect desired (in case of Mystique [the one who has shape shifting powers, turns blue on whim and claims she is 'Mutant and proud'] ).

They also used Zbrush for Angel's dragon wings and made the transition of her transformation look super-smooth. The final fight scenes that included a fire fight were rendered by PRman that rendered the fire in three heat ranges, namely blue, green and red. The particles had different shades of opacity and with this, the subsequent effects could be varied and applied.

Another mutant, Havok has special powers of throwing rings of fire. These discs were Computer generated and they appear to be forms of energy that contract and expand and vary in intensity as they are hurled towards the intended offender.

Magneto's attempts to destroy Sebastian Shaw's Yacht were created by using the visual destruction tool called Kali. Kali analyses and creates break points that follows the rules of geometry (particularly center of gravity) and gives a realistic view of how the ship will break and capsize , if it were to, in live footage.

Effects are undoubtedly different for solids and fluids. Much like dynamics for solids and fluids, each of these use different computational algorithms to add credible visual effects and incorporate it with live footage. Various fast fourier transforms can be used to create and obtain various effects on fluids.

Facial animation is a different aspect and quite complex; Usually rendered using motion graphics, innumerable computations and markers. Adding expressions to characters was an important task and a task beautifully done. I believe I enjoyed watching X-Men First Class not just for it being a beautiful prologue to the X-men series but for also having beautiful effects that makes the film viewing experience so much more interesting.

Watching action movies without visual effects is like connoisseuring a tasteless meal. Movies can  ofcourse, be beautifully made sans visual effects. However, visual effects and editing intrigue me and I pay attention to these aspects as well. I love movies and particularly love learning about various techniques that are incorporated while making films. I love the zest and dedication that is put in while making films and most importantly, I love how the effects make things look so illusional yet so real.