“Inspector Gadget” by Dream Quest Images
Conference:
- SIGGRAPH 1999 More animation videos from SIGGRAPH 1999:
Title:
- Inspector Gadget
Company / Institution / Agency:
- Dream Quest Images
Description:
Inspector Gadget, Walt Disney Pictures’ live-action version
of the Saturday morning cartoon, follows the escapades of the hapless Inspector Gadget (Matthew Broderick) and his nemesis, the villainous Claw (Rupert Everett).
Dream Quest Images produced the CG deployment of Gadget’s many physical extensions: the Gadgetcopter’s animated blades and rotors, the Gadgetmobile’s animated multi-stage jet engine, Gadget’s Swiss Army knife-like finger extensions and his hat-mounted 3D rocket launcher. RoboGadget, the inspector’s evil clone, is similarly outfitted with an arsenal of darkly comical chrome weaponry.
This episode focuses on a showdown with RoboGadget on a suspension bridge. Gadget inflates his airbag overcoat and, after bouncing crazily from the cables, shoots to the upper deck of the bridge. This CG character was modeled in Alias|Wavefront PowerAnimator, inverse kinematics were done in Maya, and the shot was rendered in Renderman. Matthew Broderick’s face was shot separately against greenscreen and composited onto the character.
Alias|Wavefront Maya Cloth was used to recreate and extend Gadget’s clothing as his 14-foot 3D leg extensions ratchet skyward. These shots were created by placing Matthew Broderick on 3-foot painter’s stilts and having him run on a treadmill against greenscreen. Digital legs were tracked and animated, and parts of Broderick’s body were manipulated on the live-action plate to exaggerate his body language.
Software:
Alias|Wavefront PowerAnimator, Maya, Renderman, Alias|Wavefront Maya Cloth
Additional Contributors:
Visual Effects Supervisor: Richard Hoover
Visual Effects Producer: Liz Ralston
Animation Supervisor: Chris Bailey
Digital Producer: Kristina Reed
Digital Effects Supervisor: Darin Hollings
Digital Compositing Supervisor: Marlo Pabon
3D Supervisor: John Murrah
Supervising Animator: Rob Dressel
Assistant Compositing Supervisor: Brian Leach
Lighting Supervisor: Mark Siegel
Lead Lighter: Colin Eckart
Lead Modeler: David Mooy
