AMA – "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within", milestone in CGI, is 25 years old
It might be fun to reflect on the creation of [0] 25 years ago. The project was the first attempt at producing and entire feature film with "photorealistic" human characters using CG. I was R&D lead on the project, and it has been fun to see how the technology has evolved over the years. Happy to do my best to answer any questions people may have. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy:_The_Spirits_Within
Discussion Highlights (4 comments)
pluc
What a gorgeous piece of art that movie was. Thanks for being a part of it! What does a R&D lead do on such a project, how does one get that job and what have you been up to since/now? Were you involved in Advent Children too? Are you excited or apprehensive about AI in your line of work?
bityard
I don't have any questions, but I just wanted to say thank you for your work on this. I was a huge Final Fantasy fan ever since FFIV came to the states (as FFII). In the US, console RPGs were a niche within a niche until the 2000's. So walking into the local theatre to watch The Sprits Within on a big screen just felt plain surreal.
embeng4096
I had no idea this was a movie, I had just read the book when younger and enjoyed it. Looking it up now, it seems the book was a novelization of the movie - I'll have to give it a watch. I wonder if your and your team's work also laid the path for Advent Children, which I enjoyed as a young FFVII fan.
IcePic
I liked the movie, and I haven't even played Final Fantasy. The quality was good enough for me to enjoy the story without getting stuck in the "graphics".