Recently I've started watching the new series of Westworld starring Anthony Hopkins and Ed Harris (which can I say I think is FANTASTIC! ), and the reason why I'm mentioning this is because of one single scene.

The story goes that the park was created 30 years ago by a man named Ford (played by Anthony Hopkins), and has he was explaining the origins we see a flashback to '30 years ago' with a young Anthony Hopkins in it.

Looking at it, I was wondering did they use the exact same technology that they used in Legacy, to make Jeff Bridges look younger and turn him into Clu?
Giving how they did that part (scanned Jeff's face into a computer, then used a motion-sensing helmit to record his facial movements) it certainly looked like the same procedure.

I've got a screenshot here showing a before-and-after comparison:

http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/20/590x/Anthony-Hopkins-in-Westworld-722290.jpg
I've seen it used also in the film Ant-man, this time using Micheal Douglas. At the start of the film there's a short back-story that takes place in 1989, and again we see a young looking Micheal Douglas.

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaz6nxyQA28
If both cases used the same facial-technology they used on Jeff Bridges on Legacy, then does that mean that this could be the start of this technology being incorporated into Special Effects in general.

If that's the case then it's great that this technology pioneered by Legacy's effects department might actually start to become more main stream in the industry.                                                                                                        It'll be interesting to see what else it could be used for in years to come.

EXODUS Wrote:Looking at it, I was wondering did they use the exact same technology that they used in Legacy, to make Jeff Bridges look younger and turn him into Clu? Giving how they did that part (scanned Jeff's face into a computer, then used a motion-sensing helmit to record his facial movements) it certainly looked like the same procedure. I've seen it used also in the film Ant-man, this time using Micheal Douglas. At the start of the film there's a short back-story that takes place in 1989, and again we see a young looking Micheal Douglas. If both cases used the same facial-technology they used on Jeff Bridges on Legacy, then does that mean that this could be the start of this technology being incorporated into Special Effects in general. If that's the case then it's great that this technology pioneered by Legacy's effects department might actually start to become more main stream in the industry.                                                                                                        It'll be interesting to see what else it could be used for in years to come.

I haven't seen how they did Ant-Man's de-aging to know if it's the same process. For instance, did they do a complete CG replacement of his head like Tron Legacy, or did they just camera track his face and then use rotopainting techniques to remove wrinkles from his face and adjust facial features here and there?

I don't think the technology got pioneered by/for Legacy. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button came out in 2008 (a couple years before Tron Legacy), and it looks like Digital Domain used similar de-aging techniques for that which were later used in Tron Legacy. Digital Domain did Tron:Legacy's visual effects, too. For example, here's a 'making of' video for Benjamin Button (SPOILERS! So don't watch if you haven't seen the movie) - https://youtu.be/eYSXaU6eKm4

Lola VFX did Ant-Man de-aging... and I'm unclear if they used the same technique as DD. I wonder if they instead did some nice camera tracking and rotopainting techniques to smooth the skin and adjust certain facial features/countours. Here's some info regarding Ant-Man de-aging: http://nerdist.com/learn-the-secrets-behind-michael-douglas-de-aging-in-ant-man/

In that article, it states, "According to Trent Claus of Lola VFX, the de-aging technology 'really hasn’t changed… The basic tools have been the same for decades. It’s more the experience of the artists that are actually doing the work.'"


This leads me to believe Ant-Man probably didn't use the same advanced technique that DD used for Tron Legacy and Benjamin Button. So, perhaps they did rotopainting de-aging, as seen here in this other behind-the-scenes of Benjamin Button (SPOILER again) - https://youtu.be/HRGn0KXROow

Here's another write-up on Benjamin Button's VFX. I haven't had a chance to fully read yet, but figured I'd post, in case it helps - https://www.fxguide.com/featured/the_curious_case_of_aging_visual_effects/

I haven't seen WestWorld yet, so don't want to do much research on the VFX for it quite yet. But I see on artofvfx.com they say its effects were made by Double Negative, Shade VFX, and CoSA VFX. Since none of those are Digital Domain, I wonder what de-aging technique they used for Anthony Hopkins.

As to what it means for the future...? Good question. Seriously, it's crazy that this stuff is possible.

I remember around the time that Legacy came out, there was a lot of talk about how the visual effects company working on the film had also worked on Benjamin Button. Apparently, Legacy's CGI face replacement tech was an extension of that.

The same company used the same technique for this Orville Redenbacher commercial from 2007. It's a prime example of what uncanny valley means:

Last night I remembered another film that used this technique-Terminator Genisys.

To be honest I've not actually seen it, but from the clips I've seen there's a part of the story where older 'present day' Terminator travels back to 1984 and actually fights the younger version of himself.

I looked this up on Youtube, and from what I can tell they used an exact body double of Arnold (same height, same build, everything) to get the movements/reactions right, and then they used the same 'dots-on-the-face' motion capture technique to digitally copy Arnold's face and superimpose it on the body double body.

Then there's that last scene in Rogue One...

Kat Wrote:Then there's that last scene in Rogue One...

I saw that too.
There's actually two scenes in that film featuring two of the original characters from Episode IV, one of which occurs right at the very end of the film which I didn't see coming.