"Avatar" Facial Mo-Cap Team T-Shirt! And Who Exactly is Doing the "Avatar" Facial Capture Work?

Michael here.  I recently got a hold of another Avatar t-shirt (see three more Avatar shirts--exclusively shown to MarketSaw--here, here, and here!), this one with the words "Avatar facial capture team" on the front in green, and green dots forming a face on the back.

Seeing this shirt brings up a question - how is facial capture being handled on Avatar? As we reported back in August, Image Metrics has some kind of working relationship with the Avatar team, as demonstrated by the following quote from Jon Landau, which, up until recently, was featured under "What Our Clients Say" on the Image Metrics website:

"Image Metrics’ revolutionary technologies for performance-driven character animation require neither complex motion-capture hardware, nor specialist technical knowledge. Their animation solutions put the performer at the heart of the process, dramatically enhancing the creativity and reducing post-production time. It is this type of innovation that will again allow us to present to the consumer, stories that could not otherwise be told." 

What, then, to make of all the dots on this t-shirt, when Image Metrics' claim to fame is their system's ability to capture facial movements without the use of dots and markers?  

Is another company doing Avatar facial capture work, in addition to Image Metrics?

Hopefully, no matter how the facial capture is being done, Cameron and his team will be able to successfully cross the Uncanny Valley.

If anyone out there would like to shed some light on this, please chime in below or send us an email!  Also, if you worked on Avatar and have any cool crew gear that you'd like to show off, we'd love to see it!

Very Big Pics Of A Very Big Woman: Ginorimica

Jim here. Thanks to Colin over at Get The Big Picture for giving me a heads up on these (I think he has a thing for tall women anyway). You can see the ultra high res shots on his site.

So Dreamworks Animation is getting more serious about showing off their MONSTERS VS. ALIENS handiwork - If you look at the high res shot of Ginormica (Reese Witherspoon) and The Missing Link (Will Arnett) you will see just how detailed their interpretation of human skin is - and I must say it is very detailed.

After watching the video on my post about photo realism, it is kinda different to see this level of detail in what is clearly a stylized attempt at representing the human body. It looks GOOD mind you, clearly they haven't crossed over into something weird or anything - to the contrary. But it does seem to be getting close to the maximum amount of realism within a stylized frame - if that makes any sense.

DWA has clearly spent a lot of time on this movie. It shows. Can't wait to see the final result!

"Taken"

What a difference an actor makes. As it turns out, dropping Liam Neeson into a role and a film that both play out like ready-made slots for Steven Seagal can turn said film from a routine one-man-army rescue-actioner into something pretty interesting.

If you've got a guy friend (or maybe it's you, who knows) who got the short end of the stick in a divorce/custody situation - like, say, wifey and The Kid are off with a new, richer, "cooler" guy - THIS is their new favorite movie, period. "Taken" is for 'first-dad's' every bit the wish-fulfillment fantasy that "Gran Torino" was for angry old men. Neeson is a retired CIA hardass who's fed-up wife took their daughter and got hitched to an ultra-wealthy tycoon years ago. Dad 1.0 is too square for their world, and too "uptight" about things like her traveling abroad... until, that is, she's kidnapped by a sex-slave ring in Paris. THEN suddenly daddy's obsessiveness and still-working spymaster skills are the only thing that can save her. They can do other things, too: Earlier in the film, his quick-thinking takedown of a stalker while freelance-guarding a pop singer nets daughter-dearest the music-industry invite she's been wishing for since girlhood. Just like that. Oh, and it goes without saying he was right to be concerned about traveling abroad. They should've just listened to him all along. Doesn't that beat all?

So, it's not a subtle movie... but it's a smart one that plays by smart rules and delivers the action goods without becoming a cartoon-in-a-bad-way. It also holds truer to the concept of a vigilante hero than almost any film I've seen on the subject. There's no sudden-layer of moral righteousness - this guy is a CIA "prevention" expert for whom lying, spying and torture are the tools of the trade, and he has the grim, nigh-amoral determination that would come with such in REALITY. Not to give away what will surely be the film's most talked-about moment, but suffice it to say THIS guy crosses a line that Dirty Harry, "Death Wish's" Paul Kersey and even The Punisher wouldn't cross - and he does it just to PROVE he's willing to.

It's also worth mentioning (though you're gonna get REALLY sick of it's mention from certain corners of the web and political sphere in the coming weeks) that this has to be without a doubt the most politically-incorrect "serious" film to play in theaters in a long time. Not only is the hero an avenging patriarch who also happens to be an (unapologetic) CIA torturer, the baddies are Albian immigrant (to Paris) criminals - who sport matching tattoos of a variation on the Islamic holy insignia, no less! - and, later, the henchman of a virgin-enslaving wealthy Arab figure known only as "The Sheik." YIKES! It's played sans-hyperbole and seems less "mean-spirited" than it does "unconcerned with collateral offense," but there's a tangible current of frustration and vengeance-by-proxy on certain elements of the French criminal world by the French filmmakers. Either way, you don't see it very often.

Bottom line: Well above-average, worth your time.

3D Spinoff "Puss In Boots" Gets Writer

Jim here. HR is reporting that Dreamworks Animation has signed on Tom Wheeler to pen the SHREK spinoff movie PUSS IN BOOTS which will be made in stereoscopic 3D.

The main character is voiced by Antonio Banderas and already has a massive following after the success of the original franchise SHREK - which also has a fourth installment coming out: SHREK GOES FOURTH, May 21, 2010.

There seems to be a very real chance that there will be some high-seas antics for the movie as Wheeler is currently working on CUTLASS ISLAND and just finished CAPTAIN COOK'S EXTRAORDINARY ATLAS. By the way, I am a direct descendant of Surveyor General, Captain Samual Holland who actually taught James Cook how to navigate and instilled the passion for the profession that lasted his lifetime. Just thought that is a cool thing to throw in there! :-)

Stay tuned for more on PUSS IN BOOTS when I get it... This movie has a shot at beating the originals at the box office if you ask me.

Quick Post: Aja's "Piranha 3D" Pushed To 2010

According to Bloody Disgusting, Dimension Films has confirmed my suspicion that Aja's PIRANHA 3D has to be moved due to it's late production start this year.

No surprise there right? WRONG. The date that Dimension has given for the release is March 19, 2010 - only 2 weeks after Tim Burton's ALICE IN WONDERLAND (March 5). Not only that, but Dreamworks Animation's HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON opens just a week later (March 26th)!

Obviously there are some serious scheduling conflicts present that will have to be worked out. Hopefully by 2010 there will be enough theaters to hold two 3D movies concurrently, but with HTTYD opening a week later? Impossible, even in the best case scenario.

Let's keep our eyes on who blinks first...

Want To Get Your Hands On 3D PC Gaming? Try It Before You Buy It...

Jim here. Wondering what all the 3D gaming fuss is about? After this years CES everyone is buzzing about 3D and all of its applications - 3D gaming is right at the top of the list!

Now comes the opportunity you are not going to want to miss: iZ3D is teaming up with Fry's Electronics and MicroCenter Stores this Saturday, January 31st to give everyone a hands-on demonstration of their 3D 22" widescreen LCD display. Fry’s Electronics stores are located in California, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana and Nevada. Micro Center stores are located in California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia. For more info on locations and what to expect - go to www.3Drulez.com. They list all the compatible games there too - and man, is there ever a lot of them!

More details on what you'll see:
The Plug n Play iZ3D 3D monitor package includes:
- 22-inch wide screen 3D/2D keyboard switchable LCD monitor
- 3 pairs of passive polarized 3D glasses (5 other models are available online)
- iZ3D Stereoscopic 3D and Anaglyph 3D software drivers (other drivers are available online)
- Power and video cables
- Quick-start guide
- Free membership into iZ3D’s upcoming 3D gaming network
- 1 year warranty
- Technical support and customer service

Monitor specifications are:
- 22-inch wide screen LCD
- 1680 x 1050 resolution
- Up to 170-degree 3D viewing angle
- 5ms response time
- 700:1 contrast ratio
- 16.7-million colors
- 300 nits

This is an excellent opportunity to try out the new 3D technology before you buy. Get out to Fry's or MicroCenter this Saturday! If you couldn't make it to this year's CES, the next best thing is bringing it to you - isn't it?

iZ3D is a sponsor of MarketSaw

CUTAWAYS: AWARDS – LET’S JUST CALL THE WHOLE THING OFF

99% of the time this is not a political commentary blog, it’s just not the focus of what I do here. But sometimes current events just get under my skin and I have to let the frustrations out, albeit in my own warped fashion. As human beings we have no authority to make judgments on another person’s soul, but as Christians we are absolutely required to address harmful actions and philosophies where we find them,whether other people like it or not. Carrying out this responsibility is, in fact, considered a work of charity, part of what has been traditionally called The Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy. As explained in the Catechism, “The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities. Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently.” So, when I saw Speaker Pelosi’s appearance on television over the weekend, I found the philosophy she was spewing forth so potentially harmful that I felt compelled to address it with a post I entitled The Vomiting Nun Award.

Now for those of you who read the comment threads, you are by now aware of the small controversy surrounding that particular post. Some saw nothing wrong with it, while others felt it could potentially be seen as demeaning to those who have chosen the consecrated life. I did my best to adequately address those concerns in an update to that post, but to avoid future misunderstandings, that’s probably the last we’ll see of the Vomiting Nun for the foreseeable future.

That being said, there will still be times I feel it necessary to remark on the politics of the day. And even though Catholicism is at odds with ALL of the political parties in this country over various policies, right now it’s the Democrats who seem especially heinous in their rapidly expanding anti-life agenda. What was that today, a $335,000,00 million payout to STD programs (which has to include contraception) under the guise of economic stimulus? So now, teaching kids to put condoms on bananas is going to cure our economic woes? Please, gentle readers, before I get back to movies and catechetics where I belong, bear with me just one more time as I offer up the following (slightly altered) movie clip which properly expresses my personal feelings over what’s going on in congress.