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Weta Digital interview discusses the process of CGI acting and effects

Shacknews chats with Weta Digital about the future of CGI in movies, including the additional reliance on CGI to de-age actors, create characters from scratch, and even replace deceased actors.

Ozzie Mejia

November 12, 2018 1:35 PM

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Movie technology has progressed in countless ways over the past few decades. One of the more controversial steps forward has involved taking actors and actresses who have passed away and placing their likeness in modern movies through the use of CGI. Think something like the long-dead Peter Cushing "reprising" his role as Grand Moff Tarkin for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Weta Digital is one of the companies behind this technology. Shacknews recently had a chance to learn more about the process involved in replacing a dead actor with a realistic-looking CGI facsimile.

Among the topics discussed are the increased usage of video game technology for CGI action scenes and performance capture, the process behind making bombastic action scenes happen, making real-time changes in motion capture, and of course, dealing with the uncanny valley between what's real and what's computer-generated. In particular, the discussion turns towards a future where current actors step into a role and are computer-generated to either look younger or look like an entirely different person.

For more interviews like this, be sure to subscribe to Shacknews and GamerHub.TV on YouTube.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?