10/5/2008 - Meet "Emily" - Image Metrics Tech Demo

I still haven't seen a movie where a "digital" actor gives a performance where I could not tell that it was computer-generated. The first Final Fantasy movie was supposed to be a breakthrough in photo-realistic CGI human characters, and while it was impressive, I could always tell they weren't real. Interestingly enough, the most "real" looking character was the old guy. It's the imperfections they put into the character model that made it seem less artificial.

Digital stand-ins are used in movies all the time now, but they're only doing stunts, not giving performances with dialogue. The best example of this is probably the opening action sequence in Spider-Man 3 with Peter Parker web-swinging out of costume. Aside from close-ups, Peter Parker was played by a digital Tobey McGuire. It was pretty seamless, though, and one of the best action sequences I've ever seen.

Another very cool demonstration of what CGI can do is in the beginning of X-Men 3: The Last Stand where they show a younger Magneto and Professor X. Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart are still the actors, but they digitally airbrushed their faces to make them look years younger. It was so effective, that I can see them using it in the future to keep Tom Cruise looking like he's 35.

There is no doubt that the technology is improving, and this next video is an example of where we are headed. It is perhaps the first video where I was fooled into thinking that the actor is real:



Only after knowing that the face was computer generated that I could see some signs of artificiality, but they are only minute details. Watch the video in High Quality and you may see.