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Flubber Never Existed

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

If you have watched Flubber, you would have been amused by the antics of Flubber, the wonderful new substance

discovered by Prof Philip Brainard. The interactions between Flubber and the professor appear so natural that it is difficult to

imagine that Flubber was never a physical entity, and is a  completely CG animation that was added during post-production

work, by Industrial Light  and Magic. 

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It is great to be able to add stuff to footage after the actors have finished doing their stuff. But how do actors do their stuff, if they do not know what the interactions are like? In such situations, the different units involved, the scriptwriter, the actors, the effects people and the director, all work together right from the beginning.

It also calls for a lot of imaginative acting form the actors, and they have to particularly ensure that they look to where the

‘face’ of the CG character would be. The CG team finally has to ensure that the CG character confirms to the real-life acting.

  Oscars for visual effects
2000 Gladiator. The story of General Maximus Decimus, who on being betrayed comes back as a gladiator to take revenge. Effects include animated people at the Colosseum and an animated CGI mask for a stand in for Oliver Reed who suffered a

fatal heart attack during shooting.
1999 The Matrix. A computer hacker learns that life is not what it seems, and helps fight the controllers. Fantastic effects, including time-freeze photography. About 20% of the film has some CGI.
1998 What Dreams May Come. Man who dies in car accident goes to heaven and searches for his wife who has committed suicide in grief. Tons of effects in this Robin Williams movie.
1997 Titanic. Tragic love story with the first and last voyage of the Titanic as a background. Effects are discussed in a separate story in this issue.

Virtual motion control is also used. That is, you use a motion-control camera in the live shooting. The camera position in the

animation software is made to follow the path of the original camera.

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