Skip to main content
Its not all about Peter Cullen...
So we all know that summer blockbusters aren't cheap. What's more, it takes a lot to make the special effects of a movie blend seamlessly with the physical objects/settings in the movie. So when a movie like Transformers comes along, and showcases breathtakingly realistic robots transforming and fighting, you may want to know what went into all that work. Popular Mechanics did the dirty investigative work to bring you the facts. Basically, lots of cars and lots of time in the garage.
The $150 million dollar movie relied heavily on garage research. Traditionally the CGI process is to pre-build a creature, film it with a stand-in and then animate it to react to the actor in post-production. For Transformers, the idea was to move backwards, mainly to create a more organic feel to the robots in disguise. They used what was under the hood to get an idea of car components, and then designed a transformation process that would allow all the parts present to be able to shift around without bumping into each other.
"We start with the end result first, then work backwards from there," says animation supervisor Scott Benza. "We'll start Bumblebee standing up in his pose in the composition of the shot, then collapse him down into something of a car shape, where we fold his arms in and hover him down close to the street. And then we deal with what we have to fill in the in-between."
Its a really interesting article, if not just for the fact that you love Transformers. But if you're a gearhead, you'll probably like it that much more.
Popular Mechanics knows how to build a Transformer
So we all know that summer blockbusters aren't cheap. What's more, it takes a lot to make the special effects of a movie blend seamlessly with the physical objects/settings in the movie. So when a movie like Transformers comes along, and showcases breathtakingly realistic robots transforming and fighting, you may want to know what went into all that work. Popular Mechanics did the dirty investigative work to bring you the facts. Basically, lots of cars and lots of time in the garage.
The $150 million dollar movie relied heavily on garage research. Traditionally the CGI process is to pre-build a creature, film it with a stand-in and then animate it to react to the actor in post-production. For Transformers, the idea was to move backwards, mainly to create a more organic feel to the robots in disguise. They used what was under the hood to get an idea of car components, and then designed a transformation process that would allow all the parts present to be able to shift around without bumping into each other.
"We start with the end result first, then work backwards from there," says animation supervisor Scott Benza. "We'll start Bumblebee standing up in his pose in the composition of the shot, then collapse him down into something of a car shape, where we fold his arms in and hover him down close to the street. And then we deal with what we have to fill in the in-between."
Its a really interesting article, if not just for the fact that you love Transformers. But if you're a gearhead, you'll probably like it that much more.
Popular Mechanics knows how to build a Transformer
It rocked. Every bit of it rocked. Peter Cullen doing the voice work for Optimus was just a huge bonus. Cullen is to Optimus Prime what James Earl Jones is to battle armor/respirator Darth Vader.
ReplyDelete