https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/gd0r3nv_7eK4FkbOnwthAg
By 超神经
场景描述：机器学习、VR、AR等技术助力电影特效镜头的制作，不仅大大改善科幻电影视觉效果，同时也节省大量人力与时间成本。
关键词：机器学习 计算机视觉 视觉特效 First of all, solemnly declare that this article will not involve any spoilers, please rest assured to enjoy.
The long-awaited "Avengers: Endgame" is finally released today! Nearly 3 million people stayed up late to watch at midnight in China today.
So far, it is Marvel that has such a big attraction in the film industry. Some people say: "Special effects started in movies and reached Marvel." Therefore, in addition to the wonderful plot, the visual impact brought by the "Reunion" series is also the reason for its strength.
According to statistics, "Reunion 3" contains 2,680 special effects shots, which won the 22nd Hollywood Film Best Visual Effects Award. Only one year after the premiere of 3, "Reunion 4" came with more than 3000 special effects shots. Behind this is the work of 12 special effects companies, thousands of people and computers.
Today we will not talk about the plot, but about special effects and its new weapon artificial intelligence.
If there is no special effect for reconnection
It is hard to imagine the effect of a reunion without special effects. And without strong technical force, "Avenger 4" may not meet us so soon. You know, "Avatar", which once amazed the audience with special effects, took an average of 40,000 man-hours per frame.
Special effects refer to the use of digital technology to "produce" images that are difficult to complete or dangerous in the shooting and production of film and television works.
The "big scene" we often call is excellent visual effects.
There are 2680 special effects shots in the whole film of "Reunion 3", only 4 shots do not use special effects. Refresh the special effects lens record of Marvel movies at that time, and the production cost of these special effects was as high as 250 million US dollars. So who can hold the visual feast created in this way.
If there is no special effect, the style of the reconnection you see is completely different
However, the production of special effects generally requires a lot of effort and financial resources, so if the special effects are not well done, they will be jokingly called "five cents special effects." With the development of machine learning and the maturity of VR and AR technologies, the work of visual effects has opened a new chapter with the help of artificial intelligence.
One of the special effects of AI nuclear weapons: Industrial Light and Magic
One of the 12 special effects companies involved in the production of "Avengers 4", Industrial Light and Magic (ILM, Industrial Light and Magic), created a new era of special effects with "Star Wars" and became the "leader" of movie special effects in one fell swoop.
So far, Industrial Light & Magic has produced special effects for as many as 300 films and won 15 Oscars for best visual effects. Special effects for movies such as "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Transformers" are all produced by Industrial Light & Magic.
In "Avengers 3", the battle of Wakanda was produced by Industrial Light and Magic, including Thanos spacecraft, all battles on Wakanda, and anti-Hulk armored battles. There are nearly 400 visual effects artists. Completed 600 special effects shots.
Special effects in the battle of Wakanda
Today, Industrial Light and Magic is committed to using artificial intelligence to denoise images produced by ray tracing. This will reduce the burden on the CPU and greatly save time.
The person in charge of the company also said, "We are still studying the technology to recognize and replace human faces in a semi-automatic way. This will be a huge leap." The face-changing technology he mentioned is similar to what was popular some time ago. Deepfake technology.
Hulk special effects made by Industrial Light & Magic
Using this technology, the Industrial Light and Magic team can map the appearance of an actor to the face of the performer, and the production efficiency is greatly improved.
Industrial Light and Magic CTO Rob Bredow said in a speech that if a deepfake algorithm is used in the movie, the quality of the effect achieved is not high enough. But they have determined what the limitations are. Soon, they will use deepfake-like but higher-quality technology in movies.
Special Effects AI Weapon II: Digital Kingdom
In "Avengers 3", Thanos, the "Big Purple Potato" that wiped out half of the universe, was created by the well-known special effects company Digital Domain using machine learning and other technologies.
There have been media reports that Thanos’ external image has injected soul into this character. Is there a feeling that when you see Thanos look like, you can feel that he is a ruthless person.
A staff member of Digital Realm said that if you don’t use machine learning in your special effects software, you will do it wrong.
Digital Kingdom captures the facial performance of actor Brolin through brand new technology, and uses machine learning technology to transform his performance into the protagonist with great presence, Thanos.
Digital Kingdom uses Masquerade's customized machine learning software to capture facial data through two high-definition cameras in vertical directions, and meticulously track 100 to 150 tracking points on the face.
After that, through computer vision technology, train and debug the machine learning model, automatically map the obtained face rendering to the character of Thanos, and finally get a natural facial visual effect.
Comparison of Thanos actor Brolin after being "special effects"
Through their efforts, we have seen this big villain who is paranoid, fierce, hard-spirited, and tender. Without these technologies, maybe Thanos’ image would not be so full, and it would not be the ruthless guy who implemented "population control" just to watch the sunset.
The third AI nuclear weapon with special effects: comprehensive dimensionality reduction strike
With the help of AI technology, visual effects will no longer require a lot of investment, and you can get a better visual experience.
At the same time, using cloud computing, high-performance GPU and other hardware, frames that used to take two hours to render may only take two seconds to complete.
Thanks to these technologies, designers and artists in the industry can save more time to create more interesting things.
In this way, as long as you have a smaller studio, or even an independent artist, you can use technology to get the effects seen in Spider-Man or X-Men movies.
Comparison of real shots and shots after production
Machine learning has now been used in physics-based animation and media art to create interesting effects, but as computing becomes more efficient and novel methods, such as deep reinforcement learning techniques, will create more scalable Sexual model.
If this technology becomes mainstream, the cost of visual effects for studio films and independent films will be greatly reduced, which is tantamount to another good news for those who love films.
Reunion 4: Surprises are far more than special effects
Compared with "Avengers 3" finally received multiple Oscar nominations for Best Visual, "Avengers 4" does not know what kind of visual feast it will bring.
According to the announced lineup of the 12 companies involved in the production of special effects, plus more than 3000 special effects shots in the entire movie. It is conceivable that "Reunion 4" is absolutely top production level.
And Marvel will not take it lightly for the final work of this series. After all, the excellent previous work 3 seems to be in storage, to pave the way for 4.
So will Thor use the sledgehammer that destroys the world to explode the power of Thunder, how the Rocket Raccoon inherits Groot to become a funny bearer, and how spectacular the war between Thanos and the Alliance can be, maybe only go to the theater in person, Recharge your faith to know the result.
I wish every cutie who was going to watch a movie was not forcibly spoiled before watching the movie, and then enjoyed watching in the theater!
HyperNeuropedia
CG (Computer Animation)
CG is the technique of making animation with the help of computers. Can be roughly divided into two-dimensional animation (2D) and three-dimensional animation (3D).
CG was originally the abbreviation of Computer Graphics. With the formation of a series of related industries that use computers as the main tool for visual design and production, the field of visual design and production using computer technology is commonly called CG in the world.
It includes both technology and art. It covers almost all the visual art creation activities in the computer age today, such as graphic print design, web design, three-dimensional animation, film and television special effects, multimedia technology, architectural design based on computer-aided design and Industrial modeling design, etc.