Animation: Keeping Virtual Affordable

If you tuned into the Discovery Channel in December to see what looked an awful lot like Adolf Hitler plotting in the Wolf's Lair, you weren't hallucinating. No footage of the event exists and no witnesses survive, yet there it was. The film was Tiger Aspect's Virtual History: The Secret Plot to Kill Hitler, and it used cg tricks to replace an actor's face with that of the infamous dictator. This level of manufactured reality is just the beginning. As advanced as cg effects are, they're quickly becoming more sophisticated as technology gets faster and cheaper. Within the decade, any environment - or time - will be able to be built virtually, no matter the budget.

January 1, 2005

If you tuned into the Discovery Channel in December to see what looked an awful lot like Adolf Hitler plotting in the Wolf's Lair, you weren't hallucinating. No footage of the event exists and no witnesses survive, yet there it was. The film was Tiger Aspect's Virtual History: The Secret Plot to Kill Hitler, and it used cg tricks to replace an actor's face with that of the infamous dictator. This level of manufactured reality is just the beginning. As advanced as cg effects are, they're quickly becoming more sophisticated as technology gets faster and cheaper. Within the decade, any environment - or time - will be able to be built virtually, no matter the budget.