“I Am Legend”: Making an Alternate Ending

c o n t a c t Carlye Archibeque Sony Pictures Imageworks USA

In this alternate ending of the motion picture “I Am Legend,” the full simulation and surface-based shader controls that were completely CG-infected characters interact with our hero, played by Will Smith. manipulatable by the artist.

Probably the most significant animation challenge was the creation Many of the infected human characters were hand-animated from of the infected human characters. The characters’ body were rigged the ground up. The goal was to produce performances that were for both animation and motion capture, and performances were a more extreme and violent than what could practically be captured on combination of both. In the shots where motion capture was used, set. They had to be stronger and faster than a human, yet completely supplemental animation was layered on top of the motion capture to believable and grounded in this physical world. It was up to the produce the effect of metabolism going through the roof. Their pulse animation team to merge these two worlds in a believable and rate is up, their breathing heavy (in a state of near-hyperventilation) convincing way. and muscles are tense and shaking. While muscles and tendons were rigged to replicate natural anatomical mechanics, animators also had The faces were animated completely by hand. This was due in part discreet control over these elements so that bulging, quivering muscles to the short production schedule that precluded integration of mo- and tendons in the neck (for example) could be articulated to show tion capture data, but also because the character designs were being vocalization. Muscle rebound and fat jiggle were also animated by manipulated and refined well into the animation process. As a result, hand, since these effects are typically driven by external forces (like special-purpose facial controls were developed for (and by) anima- gravity) and behave differently throughout the body (and face) in tors to address performance needs on a shot-by-shot basis. It would terms of their mass and their attachment to the bone. Procedural solu- have otherwise taken many months to develop an elegant rig versatile tions tend to produce an overall “rubbery” effect. Additional controls enough to handle the diverse range of expression required – especially were used to drive pulsing and bulging veins as well as temple and for the subtle nuances. artery pulsation. A sweat system was also developed that combined

Visual Effects and Animation Supervising Coordinators Ken King CG Lighting and Compositing Sony Pictures Imageworks Keith Luczywo Eric Lees Artists Evangeline Monroy Joe Mandia Laide Agunbiade Visual Effects Supervisor Robert Mcintosh Chad Belteau Jim Berney Visual Effects Coordinators Matthew J. Munn Christian Boudman Thomas Core Patrick Osborne Bonjin Byun Visual Effects Producer Jesus De Santiago Keith Paciello Grady Campbell Crys Forsyth-Smith Shari B. Ellis Clarence Robello Amy Christensen Jules Eschliman Atsushi Sato Robert W. Crain Animation Supervisor Keiko Koyama Brian Scott Lisa Deaner David Schaub Jarrod Nesbit Tony Diep Michael Hugh O’Donnell Motion Capture Supervisors Nika Dunne Production Supervisor Cynthia Richards John Meehan Fish Essenfeld Jenny Fulle Rebecca Rinn Sharon Maxwell Patrick Finley Megan Kristen Lane Doug Forrest Digital Effects Supervisor 3D Integration Artists Robb Gardner David A. Smith Animation Layout John Bunt Frederick Gaudreau Dani Morrow Rob MacKenzie Harry Gundersen Digital Effects Producer David Weizer Michael Mumbauer Steven Hansen Daniel Kuehn J.R. Salazar Todd T. Hara Lead Animators Walter F. Hyneman CG Supervisors Paul Davies Look Development Supervisor Joe Jackman JD Cowles Rick Glenn Alberto Noti Blaine Kennison Daniel Eaton Jordan Harris Piotrek Krawczyk Darren Lurie Michael Kimmel Look Development Artists Rita Kunzler John Monos Jeff Schu Jesse Andrewartha Joosten Kuypers Bob Peitzman Max Tyrie Ryan S. Heniser Dan Lavender Søren Ragsdale Christine J. Lo Animation Lead Character Animators Masuo Suzuki Todd B. Mesher Marco Marenghi Joshua Beveridge Enrique Munoz Stephen Buckley Lead CG Lighting and Serena Rainbow Naramore Digital Effects Production Benjamin Cinelli Compositing Artists Winston Quitasol Supervisor Kevin Freeman Angela M. Eliasz Matthew George Rampias John Kreidman Scott Fritts Jim McLean Donny Rausch Steven Pierre Gordon Ryan Rogers Visual Effects Editor Dave Hardin CG Sequence Supervisors John Sasaki Kevin J. Jolly Nicole Herr Jason Greenblum Rick Shick Tim Llewelyn Sharmishtha Sohoni Kevin Souls Jonathan S. Swartz Terrance Tornberg Marko Vukovic Craig Wentworth Nancey S. Wallis

26 Electronic Theatre | Computer Animation Festival DIGITAL EXPERIENCES Lead CG Effects Artist Digital Painters and Rotoscope Character Riggers Compositing David J. Stephens Artists James Bancroft T. Karthik Marcus Carter Brian H. Burks Pavan Kumar Potluri CG Effects Artists Kimberly Headstrom Keridan Elliott Jay Banks York Naylor Schueller Digital Painters and Rotoscope Steve Blakey Lead CG Cloth and Hair Artists Todd Boyce Rob House Lead Character Development M. Shanmugasundaram Matt Cordner Michael L. Stein Justin Miller P. Balaji John Michael Courte M. Jegan Andy Gauvreau CG Cloth and Hair Artists Character Development Artists S. Gopi Krishna John Hughes William Eckroat Spencer Alexander V.S.H. Ravi Ram Bhimaraju Michael LaFave Jeffrey Kember Jack Cheng Dhiraj Brahma John T. Lee Daniel Khin Lay John Hood Aaron James McComas Suzi Polk Little Dae-ho Han Digital Effects Producer Scott Palleiko Navin Martin Pinto Navin Venkatesh Joseph Pepper Sean White Lead Technical Support Eric Sanford Lauralee Wiseman Carolyn A. Uy CG Modeling Supervisor Miles Todorof Bjorn Zipprich Kevin Hudson Technical Support Lead CG Crowd Simulation CG Modelers Justin Israel Will Cunningham Luis Labrador Toby Rosen Marc Steinberg Kevin Anderson Siu CG Crowd Simulation Artists Xavier Angel Velazquez Lyle Cooley Lead Texture Artists Brian Everett Wells Justin R. Rotolo David Palmer Yukiko Yamanaka Elbert Yen Matte Painters Systems Engineers Ron Gress Texture Artists Suri Denduluri Ting Lo Ron Bushaw Stephen Kowalski Stéphanie Dubé Lead Matchmove Artist Jennifer McKnew Software Development Rachel T. Nicoll Hee-chel Nam Pablo Collins Peter Pace Sosh Mirsepassi Matchmove Artists Brian Ripley Ian Doss Nicole Cornute Sutton Imageworks India CG Eric Peterson Supervisors Character Rigging Supervisor Gomathi Ramalingam Joseph M. Harkins Shoban Babu

DIGITAL EXPERIENCES Computer Animation Festival | Electronic Theatre 27