Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/639267
12 cgw j a n u a r y . f e b r u a r y 2 0 1 6 C G C H A R A C T E R S To better achieve the nostal- gic look they were aer, the filmmakers used puppets and prosthetics for most of the alien creatures, many of whom ap- pear in Maz's bar in her castle. Maz (Lupita Nyong'o), how- ever, is CG, as is Supreme Lead- er Snoke (Andy Serkis). The animators had motion-capture data for both. "The actors gave great performances," Kavanagh says. "They were so good, we wanted to make their performances come though the characters. We've done a lot of that at ILM; we have a system." The crew captured Serkis at his Imaginarium studio in Lon- don and on set. Facial capture was most important for this character, which rarely leaves his elevated chair. Maz, however, was a tiny, wizened character with facial features that differ greatly from Nyong'o. For her, the ILM crew relied more on the Medusa system from Disney Research to capture a library of expressions that modelers converted into shapes on the 3D model. Then, rather than apply motion capture directly onto the model, the animators matched high-resolution video of Nyong'o's performance, much as animators had done to create the character Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean. For the digital double of BB-8, animators matched that char- acter's performance as well – that is, the performance of the practical droid puppeteered on location. However, Kavanagh was instrumental in giving the lovable droid its first moves. He put a simple rig into the CAD model used to build the practical robot, and did quick animation tests for Abrams. "I had his head sort of lead the big ball," Kavanagh says. "His head would go down first, and then he'd rock back to stop himself. I showed that to JJ, and he liked it." The rest of BB-8's personality developed as the puppeteers had the droid inter- act with the actors, but in the film, he is sometimes digital. "There's a shot where he's spinning inside the 'Falcon' and falling around until he supports himself with grappling hooks," Kavanagh says. "We put him in the back of ships. Also, in some areas, it would have been harder to paint out low material on the ground than to use a CG ver- sion. The guys in modeling and look development did such an amazing job on BB-8; once he's rendered, you can't tell he's CG." Animators also performed the Rathtar, a vicious creature with eight arms, suckers, and a giant mouth filled with gnashing teeth. "We couldn't use too much simulation and still have it live in a world of foam latex creatures," Fogler says. "Animators provid- ed the balance." E N V I R O N M E N T S In addition to building and performing spaceships and a few CG characters, the artists (TOP TO BOTTOM) MODELERS REFERENCED "MILLENNIUM FALCON" MINIATURES FROM THE ORIGINAL STAR WARS TO CREATE THE CURRENT CG MODEL. TIE FIGHTERS CHASE THE "FALCON" OVER A DIGITALLY RECONSTRUCTED DESERT. THE CASTLE, X-WINGS, SPARKS, AND DESTRUCTION ARE ALL DIGITAL.