“The Lord of the Rings:“The Return of the King”” by Jackson
Conference:
- SIGGRAPH 2004 More animation videos from SIGGRAPH 2004:
Title:
- The Lord of the Rings:“The Return of the King”
Length:
- 5:58
Director(s):
Company / Institution / Agency:
- Weta Digital Ltd.
Description:
For “The Return of the King,” the third film in New Line Cinema’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Weta Digital aimed to exceed expectations set by the previous two films. Returning favourites such as Gollum were taken to new heights of realism and digital performance while the battle of Pelennor Fields drew on every aspect of the VFX palette.
At Weta Digital, the work of the artist is paramount. While we have an impressive array of technology at our disposal, including world- leading and Academy Award-winning solutions for digital creature rendering and crowd animation, this technology exists only to serve as a tool set for our artists. It is the work of our artists in visualising a whole world such as Middle Earth, placing the audience in the middle of the battle of Pelennor Fields, and bringing a complex digital character like Gollum to life that we consider to be Weta Digital’s true strengths.
Hardware:
HARDWARE: Desktop: Dual 2.8 Ghz CPU, 4Gb RAM, NVIDIA FX1000 Graphics. Renderwall: 900 x 2.2 Ghz CPU 2Gb RAM, 2352 x 2.8 Ghz CPU 3Gb RAM.
Software:
SOFTWARE DEVELOPER: Modelling and Animation: Maya 4.5. Compositing: Shake 2.5/3.0. Rendering: RenderMan 11.5, Grunt (Guaranteed Renderer of Unlimited Things), in-house software for rendering massive dynamics: Realflow 2.0, Syflex 2.0. Additional software: Commotion 2.2 (2D rotoscoping), Inferno, Flame, Cineon, Zbrush, Furnace, Mayaman, boujou, Reflex, 3DE, Motionbuilder, Photoshop, Advantage, Houdini, Studio Paint. OS: Linux RH7.2, Irix 6.5, Windows 2000, Mac OS X.
Additional Contributors:
Digital Visual Effects designed and created by Weta Digital Ltd., Wellington, New Zealand
Visual Effects Supervisor: Joe Letteri
Visual Effects Producer: Eileen Moran
Animation Designed & Supervised by Randall William Cook
VFX Cinematographer: Brian Van’t Hul
Software Dev Supervisor: Richard Addison-Wood
Models Supervisor: Matt Aitken
Chief Technical Officer: Scott Houston
Creature Supervisor: Dana Peters
Digital Operations Manager: Milton Ngan
Animation Supervisor: Richard Baneham
Head of Facilities: Suzanne Labrie
3D Supervisor: Theresa Ellis Rygiel
Digital Image Supervisor: Pete Williams
2D Supervisor: Nelson Sepulveda
VFX Editor: Matt Holmes
Massive Supervisor: Jon Allitt
Digital Systems Architect: Jon Labrie
Production Manager: Annette Wullems
Production Manager: Robin Saxen
Paint & Roto Supervisor: Sandy Houston
Senior Animators: Elisabeth Arko, Stephen A. Buckley, Andrew Calder, Adam Dotson, Oliver Exmundo, Richard Frances-Moore, Joe Han, Christopher Hatala, Steven Hornby, Keith Huggins, Heather Knight, Matt Logue, Chad Moffitt, Mike Murphy, Atsushi Sato, Mike Stevens, Paul Story, Mary Victoria
Animators: Shane Acker, Jamie Beard, Cory Bedwell, Graham Binding, Samati Boonchitsitsak, Alexander Burt, Paul Charisse, David Clayton, Richard Dexter, Grace Blanco Dotson, Paul Griffin, Wayne Howe, Michael Kiely, Bert Klein, Sophie Lodge, Patrick Lowery, Robyn Luckham, Gianni Malpeli, Michelle Meeker, Gwilym Morris, Thai Nguyen, Tonya Noerr, Annabel Page, Matthew Riordan, Scott Smith, Jon Turburfield, Dennis Yoo
Animation Lead: Jason Schleifer
Animation Technical Directors: Shawn Dunn, Justin Miller, Casey Dame
3D Sequence Supervisors: Greg Butler, Dan Lemmon, Eric Saindon, Guy Williams
3D Sequence Lead TD’s: Eric Fernandes, Chris George, Geoff Harvey, Todd Alan Harvey, Samson Kao, Ken McGaugh, Nick McKenzie, Matthias Menz, Mike Perry, Jean-Colas Prunier, Brian Samuels, Sean Schur, Mark Tait, Craig Wentworth, R. Christopher White
3D Lighting Technical Directors: Kelly Bechtle-Woods, Jill Berger, Sam Bui, Kathleen Davidson, Dale Drummond, Frank Dürschinger, Mark Fattibene, Shine Fitzner, Mark Gee, David Gould, Michael Grobe, Mikael Hakansson, Sandip Kalsy, Miae Kang, Tom Kluyskens, Bomsok Ku, Joosten Kuypers, Jake Lee, Michael Manza, Jean Matthews, Jennifer Nona, Jane S. O’Callaghan, Roger Shortt, Rob Stauffer, Lee F. Sullivan, Blake Sweeney, Eric Tablada, Zachary Tucker, Wayne Stables
Barad Dur Destruction Lead: Gray Horsfield
Lead Environment Technical Directors: Hiroaki Muramoto, Imery Watson
Shader Writers: Paul McInnes, Steve Upstill, Mike Lemmon
2D Sequence Supervisors: G.G. Heitmann Demers, Alex Lemke, Mark Tait Lewis
2D Sequence Leads: Sonia Calvert, Paul Conway, Jason Greenblum, Ed Hawkins, Dave Houghton-Williams, Saki Mitchell, Alfred Murrle, Frank Rüter, Charles Tait, Matt Welford, Erik Winquist, Klaus Wuchta
Lead Compositors: Colin Alway, Lyse Beck, Jonathan Bowen, Katie Hecker: Pete Jopling, Laure Lacroix, Keith MacGowan, Ivan Moran, Lisa Moore Alway, Fred Place, Karim Sahai
Compositors: Johan Aberg, Holly Acton, David Brunette, Chris Burn, Catherine Burrow, Jodi Campanaro, Norman Cates, Simon Dye, Claire Inglis, Moritz Glaesle, Simon Jung, Rita Kunzler, David Man Yiu-Chung, Jolene McCaffrey, Michael F. Miller, Tor-Björn Olsson, Helen Paul, Hannah Peirce, Jason Porter, Donny Rausch, Tom Rolfe, Campbell Rose, Tomoko Shin, Christian Zeh, Lindsay Adams, Alex Fry, Kory Juul, Lance Anthony Mabin, Steve McGee, Mike Root, Christoph Salzmann, John Stillman, Tamara Stone, Guerdon Trueblood, Udo Smutney
Inferno Artists: Julian Bryant, Mark Hopkins
Colour Timer: Mel Kangleon
Head of Matte Painting: Max Dennison
Sky Photographer: Guy Robinson
Senior Matte Painters: Ronn Brown, Dylan Cole, Karen deJong, Roger Kupelian, Mathieu Raynault
Lead Digital Modellers: Kyla Bendall, Andrew Camenisch, Glen Christie, Dave Cardwell, Tibor Madjar, Marco Revelant
Digital Modellers: John Butiu, Florian Fernandez, Paul Jenness, Andrew Kunzel, James Ogle, David Ostler, Orash Rahnema, Ileana Stravoskiadi, Wade Acuff
Lead Creature Technical Directors: Andrea Merlo, Julian Butler, Steve Preeg
Creature Facial Lead: Bay Raitt
Creature FX Art Director: Gino Acevedo
Rotomation Technical Supervisor: Tim McCallum
Creature Technical Directors: Frederic Fortin, Briana Hamilton, Jeff Martin, Peter Megow, Noah Peterson, Navin Martin Pinto, Jakob Schmidt, Craig Lewis Stevenson, Eric Tang, Stephen Unterfranz, Marco Vidaurre
Lead Texture Painters: Paul Campion, Mel James, Sergei Nevshupov, Dmitri Krasnokoutski, Hillary Yeo, Tze Ann
Texture Painters: Ben Dishart, Simeon Duncombe, Nick Gabchenko, Glen Gustafson, John Huikku, George Edwin Oliver Jr., Robert O’Neill, Lance Powell, Jason Snyman, David Swift, Angela Ursillo
Lead Massive Technical Directors: John Haley, Geoff Tobin, Lisa Wild
Massive Technical Directors: Dave R. Howe, Linda Johnson, Dylan Neill, Terrance Tornberg, Malcolm Wright, Chris Young
MOCAP Supervisor: David Bawel
MOCAP Assistant Director: Lisa Wildermoth
MOCAP Combat Choreographers: Carrie Thiel, Michelle Ladd, Sharon James
MOCAP Technician: John Curtis
MOCAP Studio Technical Director: James Van Der Reyden
MOCAP Stage Manager: Frank Cowlrick
MOCAP Stage Hands: Jacob Botting, Emily Pearce
Motion Editor Lead TD: Patrick Runyon
Motion Editor Lead: Sandra Warren
Senior Motion Editor: Bassim Haddad
MOCAP/Animation Assistant: Mike Wallis
Motion Editors: Hans Butler, Nick Carter, Kevin Cushing, Tom Holzinger, Brett Ineson, Jacob Luamanuvae-Su’a, Danie Lupovici, Sverker Nordqvist, Emi Tahira, Todd Widup
Senior Camera Technical Directors: Lee Bramwell, Nic Marrison, Matt Mueller, Stephan Remstedt
On-Set Technicians: Malcolm Angell, Erina Fon, Eric Gambini, Richard Hopkins, Alex Kramer, Brian McMillin, Sean Mathiesen
Camera Technical Directors: Michael Bain, Emily Cobb, Mark Evans, Allan Torp Jensen, Sergei Koudriavtsev, Lars Kramer, Vicky Kwan, James McCallum, Wolfgang Neidermeier, Alexander Nowotny, Rolfe Schneider, Albrecht Steinmetz
Senior Software Developer: Jeff Hameluck
Pipeline Engineer Supervisor: Bret Hughes
Software Developers: Philip Hunter, Martin Preston, Shane Cooper
Pipeline Engineers: Lance Lones, Joe Spampinato, Remy Torre
Senior Paint & Roto Artists: Paula Bell, Jim Croasdale, Brett Dix, Quentin Hema, Alex Mein Smith, Barry Metin, Emrys Plaisted, Kara Vandeleur, Phil Van Der Reyden, Christine Watkins
Paint & Roto Artists: Mia Askew, Ned Barraud, Suzanne Becker, Sandrine Bernet, John-Michael Bills, Alicia Bissinger, Jennifer Bloomfield, Barbara Bordo, Hyeseung Nam, Marcus Carter, Tim Cheng, Christine Cram, Doug Cram, Steven Cronin, Loring Doyle, Mia Jewett, Agnes Leroux, David Luke, Brenda Mah-Madjar, Siuan McGahan, Angela Menz, Lauren Morimoto, Troy Ramsey, Derek Rausch, Paul Redican, Sandra Reis, Anne Ritter, Jennifer Scheer, Hamish Schumacher, Brad Selkirk, Murray Smallwood, Cameron Smith, Justin Steel, Petra Stueben, Jensen Toms, Trish Whalan, Melissa Widup, Joyce Young
Sequence Managers: Cheryl Kerr, Cyndi Ochs, Sandy Coco Taylor, Marvyn Young, Clare Burgess
Animation Department Manager: Monica Singh Haley
MOCAP/Massive Coordinator: Mahria Sangster
3D Department Coordinator: Susie May Kleis
Matte Painting Coordinator: Annie Taunga
2D Department Coordinator: Steven McKendry
Digital Resource Manager: Adrian Samuels
Pre-Production Coordinator: Fiona Foster
Digital Resource Coordinator: Roland Watson
Code/Camera Coordinator: Kevin L. Sherwood
Publicity Coordinator: Hannah Clarke
Production Accountant: Steve Bayliss
Accounts Assistant: Heather Kinaston-Smith
VFX Producers’s Assistant: Kathryn Horton
Recruitment: Leslie Oliver
HR Manager: Susan Cuthbert
HR Assistant: Cathy Adams
Facility Manager: Donyale Hema
Facility Technician: Mike Gunn
Housing Coordinators: Jacqui Pryor, Georgina White
Production Runners: Luaan Ruaine, Paul Everitt, Dave Hampton, Erin Horton, Sarah Rausch, Janet Sharpe, Ross Collinge, Roxanne Sutherland-Valentine, Samantha-Kate Belcher, Dee Jamieson, Steven Shields
Associate VFX Editor: Lucas Putnam
Scanning Coordinator, Jade Lorier
Second Assistant Editor: Martin Simcock
Editorial Assistant: Jessica Cowley
Digital Imaging Engineer: Roman Gadner
Macintosh Programmer: Glenn Anderson
Scan/Record Supervisor: Nick Booth
Scan/Record Technician: Mohan Ramachandran
Systems Manager: Paul Gunn
Wrangling Manager: Betty Shaw
Systems Support: Shane McEwan
IT Coordinator: Ann Cloet
Technical Support Leads: Campbell Taylor Fairweather, Campbell March
System Administrators: Aaron Caskey, Evan John Fraser, Bill Ryder, Adam Shand, Glen Sharah
Tech Support: Malcolm Aitchison, Geoff Gordon, Geoff Hadfield, Ben Hall, Katherine Hurst, Damian Mackle, David Miles, Tim Nicholas, Siong Long Choong
System Coders: Svend Andersen, Loren Brookes, David Gilligan, John Clegg, Lulu Lianhlupuii Pachuau
Render/Data Wranglers: Graeme Demmocks, Tristan McMahon, Mike O’Neill, Giuseppe Poli, Nick Shore, Aaron Symes, Murray Nuttall, Edward Wilkie, Joseph Wilkie, Lucas Young
