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Recommended Reading: 'Wonder Woman' is a timely superhero movie
Wonder Woman, Heroine of the Post-Truth Age Megan Garber, The Atlantic Wonder Woman may be set in the time of World War I, but the movie's themes are particularly relevant right now. The Atlantic analyzes how a female superhero rescues a solider on the run before taking on a much bigger foe -- and what all of that means for in the present day. That Lasso of Truth sure would come in handy for us in 2017.
How 'Rogue One' used CG to complete its cast
Spoilers ahead for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Two weeks ago, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story debuted, a side tale devoted to bridging the gap between the prequels and original trilogy. But it also spent time with numerous nods to the latter, including digitally resurrecting a character portrayed by an actor who passed away in 1994. While the CG necromancy earned mixed reactions, the resulting animation is an incredible achievement requiring the Rogue One filmmakers to walk a tightrope of technical and ethical concerns.
Disney makes facial capture tech more practical for movies
If you don't see facial motion capture everywhere in movies and video games, there's probably a good reason for it. In order to train a capture system to match expressions, you frequently have to record the actor making all kinds of faces in different conditions... that's a lot of effort, especially for studios that don't have much time or money. Disney Research has a better way. It recently developed a face capture system that uses only a tiny number of recordings and synthetically generates the data you need to train the system. The solution is a uniformly-lit multi-camera rig (only one camera is active, the rest are for lighting) that creates an adjustable 3D model of the actor's face that you can use to create the info you need.
