AVATAR 2 "Live Capture" Tests Shown At Siggraph

Lightstorm Entertainment's Producer Jon Landau (Here's part of why MarketSaw loves Jon!) was on hand at Siggraph last night to show off some early live capture, lighting and shadow tests they did for AVATAR 2. Apparently this work showed off some Na'vi and humans in a CG environment and was shot back in November. Obviously even the tech that James Cameron hopes to use is still very much a work in progress. It never stops in fact.

Still it's great to hear something new about AVATAR 2 from one of the guys deep in the know - Landau. He spent time with Autodesk's Motion Builder software showing off the newest advances in lighting and shadows.

The key to all this and the end benefit for Cameron and his team will be more meshing between more detailed imagery coming out of Motion Builder being sent directly to Weta (Peter Jackson's visual effects house) thereby improving productivity and approvals. Cameron wants to be able to light and shadow his virtual sets in real time and they are getting closer and closer to that eventuality.

Says Landau: "Ultimately our goal is to get to this on stage [for live capture]. This is going to allow Jim to light the scenes and make the process more efficient ... and focus on what is most important—the close up. Movies about storytelling."

AVATAR 2 is slated for a Christmas 2015 release and that could easily change.

Source: THR