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'Chappie': What It Takes To Render a Robot
Nerval's Lobster writes: The visual-effects supervisor on the new film Chappie, Image Engine's Chris Harvey, talked with Dice about what it took to render the titular robot. Director Neil Blomkamp thought Chappie needed to look realistic, like something you might honestly expect to see patrolling the streets a decade or two from now. Image Engine took the concept artwork created by Blomkamp and WETA and rendered it in three dimensions, refining the mechanics so the animated Chappie would move realistically for a six-foot-tall, gun-toting robot. As the movie progresses, Chappie begins to take damage from bullets, flames, and thrown debris; if that wasn't enough, he also ends up covered in graffiti. That sort of wear-and-tear complicated things for the effects team; WETA had to produce three physical Chappie "skeletons" and a multitude of body panels representing the increasing levels of damage, and Image Engine needed to make sure every inch of the digital Chappie was rendered accurately to match. The movie itself might be scoring mediocre reviews, but at least the robot looks good.
This article feels pretty light on the details. I'd find more details in my "making of Jurassic Park" book I got as a child. All it says is different people work on different stuff and they used physical models to figure out how to model some physics in the digitally version.
I mean using a stand-in, instead of a tennis ball for actors to interact with? Did Lord of The Rings never happen?
i just went to see it at the cinema, i'm a big fan of sci-fi films, and this one i really liked. if you're an afficionado of sci-fi books and films, there will be nothing new, you should be able to predict everything that happens but i was still absorbed by the novel way the story unfolded. yes it was violent - if you're going to tell a story about out-of-control criminal activity then that's hardly not going to happen - but it was also poignant as well.
i think the best part about the film was that the robots, because they've been seen before in other stories by the same director (Elysium for example), are not "glorified", they're just "part of the story". the problem with novice sci-fi writers (book or film, especially film because it's a less mature medium for telling sci-fi stories) is that they tend to not really actually have a good background or story (which is why the marvel comics films are so damn good), so as a substitute the director "glorifies" the technology in a wealth of special effects. by complete contrast, the introduction of an entirely new type of consciousness - and its rapid development from child-like behaviour to above-average human intelligence through incredibly painful learning experiences and its desire to remain alive against a ticking clock - that's what really really makes this story so interesting.
but the best bit i think is how this new being changes the lives of those who initially sought to profit from it (admittedly out of desperation), surprising even themselves by finding that despite their desperation and ganster background they begin to see this robot as a valuable conscious being in its own right.
so although this film has aspects which have been covered before, i don't know of many films that have done proper justice to the emergence of machine consciousness and the respectf it engenders in those who come into contact with computer-based beings, in the way that this film has managed. it's just a pity that i feel that that message is completely over the heads of the average reviewer.
No disassemble Number Five!
Is it just me, or does this movie sound EXACTLY like Short Circuit, but with the "grittified, modernized" feel to it?
Sam
Chappie looks a lot like a Warhammer 40K Tau jump suit - mostly the head, but still the overall resemblance is there.
like here: http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs23/f/2007/321/8/f/El__Jor_by_squirrel_san.jpg
Combine Chappie's head and the suit form District 9, and voila you have a Tau jump suit, albeit a more rounded and less armored version.
Chappie, a Ghetto version of Short Circuit.
robot built by arms corp for army/police duties - check
robot undergoes transformation in programming to become "alive" - check
robot befriends people to understanding that it's "alive" - check
robot wants to ignore it's programming and "live" - check
arms corp want it back or destroyed - check
robot and friends fight big bad arms corp - check
end story - check
want to puke! It's rated R and doesn't need to be so cutesy. All the wonderment, all the "oh, I've got feelings!" Data pulled it off much better in TNG. Even the name Chappie is a too sickly syrupy. I'm sure he turns into an amazing warrior for justice and the downtrodden and my heart would swell with his humanity, but I don't want to see this. Give me Data with his emotion chip and the his crazy laughter/break down when he and Geordi were scouting that ship...that was hard enough to watch. Give me Short Circuit. Heck even Earth to Echo was consumable. Maybe I'm just too American and can't quite stomach this Australian aesthetic. Just one guy's opinion...I'm sure you've got one too.
Did you know that Chappies is a brand of bubblegum well known in South Africa for having "did you know" trivia printed on the inside of each wrapper?
Can fix a story we can't care about.
Sorry, South African aesthetic...
The linked article give it a C. That's quite a bit higher than Kenneth Turan implies in his review: http://www.npr.org/2015/03/06/...
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Perhaps this is fixable...
Could you maybe write:
"'Articles': What It Takes To Write an Article Not Light On Details"
?
Chappies is a brand of bubble-gum here.
One thing you must remember, is there is a lot of social injustice in South Africa. It will no doubt haunt the country for a long time to come. I am looking forward to seeing the movie, actually.
I have determined that my sig is indeterminate.
Image Engine took the concept artwork created by Blomkamp and WETA and rendered it in three dimensions
You don't say. These pioneers sure are blazing a trail.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
I recently watched "Automata" and "the Machine" and they were both pretty good robot movies.
Carry on.
want to puke! It's rated R and doesn't need to be so cutesy. All the wonderment, all the "oh, I've got feelings!" Data pulled it off much better in TNG. Even the name Chappie is a too sickly syrupy. I'm sure he turns into an amazing warrior for justice and the downtrodden and my heart would swell with his humanity, but I don't want to see this. Give me Data with his emotion chip and the his crazy laughter/break down when he and Geordi were scouting that ship...that was hard enough to watch. Give me Short Circuit. Heck even Earth to Echo was consumable. Maybe I'm just too American and can't quite stomach this Australian aesthetic. Just one guy's opinion...I'm sure you've got one too.
So, you haven't watched the movie at all, but you already have an opinion.
Says a lot more about you than a movie.
So, you haven't watched the movie at all, but you already have an opinion.
The trailer doesn't exactly leave much out.
I'm pretty sure the purpose of trailers is to help you form an opinion, so the only thing it says about me is that I am susceptible to advertising. Thanks for the vote of confidence :-)
Not sure how this is modded as offtopic. Seems well on topic to me. Maybe -1 flamebait might have been better.