“Long Hair and Fur for “Van Helsing””
Conference:
Type:
Title:
- Long Hair and Fur for “Van Helsing”
Moderator(s):
Abstract:
A cast of digital monsters and doubles in the Universal live-action film “Van Helsing” presented Industrial Light & Magic with the challenge of creating a variety of believable digital hair, ranging from the very long hair on the Vampire Brides to the full body fur on the Werewolves. The look of the hair had to match stylized art work and often the real actors’ hair. The motion of the hair had to withstand the superhuman abilities of the characters. And the hair went along through many transformations of live actors into their digital alter egos and back to their human form.
We present techniques for placement, styling, simulation, and rendering of long hair and fur that were developed and used on “Van Helsing”.
Acknowledgements:
Thanks to Craig Hammack (R&D supervision), Tim McLaughlin (creature supervision), to Andrew Cawrse, Jung-Seung Hong, Omar Velasco, Mark Siegel, and Lenny Lee (modeling), to Andrew Anderson, Karin Derlich, Renita Taylor, Andrea Maiolo, Jason Smith, and Nigel Sumner (simulations), to Curt Miyashiro, John Walker, and Jeremy Goldman (look development), and to the ILM R&D software team, especially Marcus Nordenstam, Bob Powell, Tim Fortenberry, Ari Rapkin, Nicolas Popravka, and Alex Suter.
