Luma Pictures helped create the movement and mannerisms for Über Lycan in Underworld: Awakening

Visual effects facility Luma Pictures is joining the movement that is taking the GoPro cam from consumer usage into the realm of professional filmmaking. For Underworld: Awakening, the 4th installment in the popular Underworld franchise, Luma wanted to give directors Björn Stein and Måns Mårlind early input into the movement and mannerism of the “Über Lycan,” the main creature in the film. Utilizing the motion capture stage at its new facility in Santa Monica, CA, Luma combined mocap cameras with a customized solution that took advantage of the GoPro cam’s stabilizing capability.

Rather than fabricate a traditional snorri-cam (with a camera mounted around an actor’s chest), Luma devised a helmet to capture every movement of lead actor Kris Holden-Reid’s face, independent of his body movements, as he thrashed around in pain acting out the transformation from man to werewolf. The helmet couldn’t be cumbersome, but needed to be stable enough to ensure accuracy when translating the motion to animation. A custom framework was fabricated from lightweight piping and fitted with a wide-angle GoPro camera. This was then secured to the helmet with the lens facing the actor’s face to capture his expressions.

“When working in a digital world, directors don’t often get to provide detailed input into character design,” says Luma Pictures’ Senior VFX Producer Steven Swanson. Their realm is with the actors, on set, and while they have input into what is happening with the visual effects, many times that input can come late and sporadically due to on set demands.”

The motion capture stage at Luma Pictures, equipped with GoPro cameras

“By leveraging our motion capture stage and taking advantage of the GoPro’s capabilities early on, we were able to let Björn and Måns actually ‘direct’ a digital creature and influence its creation,” adds Raphael A. Pimentel, Animation Supervisor. This resulted in a far more realistic and dynamic end character.”

Additionally, the motion capture and GoPro helped speed Luma’s Maya-based workflow process up. For various shots, Luma was able to use the mocap data itself as a starting point, outputting skeletons from its Motionbuilder software into Maya rig controllers, which led to a better product at a faster pace. Luma’s artists also benefited from the GoPro’s footage, as they were better able to sync up actor Holden-Reid’s expressions with their CG when transforming him into the Über Lycan, as they had real footage as the base.

“Any consumer technology that can give us a bit of an advantage in our workflow or creates a better end result is going to quickly find a home with professionals,” says Vincent Cirelli, Luma’s VFX Supervisor. The GoPro is the latest example and it will be interesting to see if they expand their product line to cater specifically to the entertainment industry.”

Luma artists benefited from the GoPro's footage, especially with the actor's expressions

Underworld: Awakening opened in theaters nationwide today, January 20th. http://www.entertheunderworld.com/

More information on Luma Pictures can be found at www.lumapictures.com.