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Academy Award®-winning* visual effects house Industrial, Light & Magic (ILM) used Autodesk digital entertainment software to create thousands of visual effects shots for the hottest movies of summer 2009, including Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Terminator Salvation, and Star Trek. ILM created stunning visual effects using Autodesk visual effects software, including Autodesk® Maya® and the Autodesk® Inferno® software that is part of ILM's proprietary SABRE high-speed compositing system.

Image Description: Image courtesy of Industrial Light & Magic. Copyright © 2009 Paramount Pictures. Star Trek and Related Marks and Logos are Trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Star Trek

The summer movie season began in early May with the global release of Star Trek for which ILM created 797 shots on some of the largest CG models it has ever built using a combination of tools, including Autodesk Maya and Inferno. "Star Trek was one of the most creative, fun, and artistic projects I've ever worked on," remarked Eddie Pasquarello, ILM's associate visual effects and compositing supervisor on the film. "We specifically positioned this project in the Inferno/SABRE system because we knew we could make something really special. The reliability of the system combined with the outstanding talent we have here virtually guarantees spectacular results. Star Trek was a magical combination of super powerful software and amazing talent."

Image Description: Image courtesy of Industrial Light & Magic. Copyright © 2009 Paramount Pictures. Star Trek and Related Marks and Logos are Trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

"This film represented a new beginning for Star Trek. Working closely with J.J. Abrams, we wanted to bring a fresh look to everything," said ILM Animation Director Paul Kavanagh. "Using the hardware rendering tools of Maya, we were literally able to animate 70 shots in 5 days, a process that normally requires months for production. The speed of Maya, its ability to iterate so easily, and its seamless tie into our proprietary Zeno software platform make for a toolset that doesn't inhibit creativity and was, in fact, a key to the success of the project."

Terminator Salvation

Terminator SalvationAn ILM team of 150-plus created 366 effects shots for Terminator Salvation using Maya and Inferno. "Autodesk software was integral to achieving the ambitious visual effects of Terminator Salvation within the short production schedule," explained Ben Snow, ILM visual effects supervisor on the film. "Maya was the backbone for ILM's animation for all the Terminator robots and its flexibility has made it easy for us to integrate it with our proprietary software. Inferno was instrumental in the success of creating the digital Arnold Schwarzenegger T-800 by allowing us to seamlessly blend the CG actor with the real body double," added Snow. "Inferno also provided the firepower, speed and flexibility we needed to create the challenging shots of the digital human T-800 being blasted with grenades and the resulting damage."

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

With more than 555 shots and 46 hero robots—some with more than 50,000 individually animatable parts—as well as the need to create an IMAX version, the sequel to Transformers posed many challenges for the ILM crew of 250-plus artists who worked on the project. The crew calculated that it would take a typical home computer 16,000 years to render this movie. Associate Animation Supervisor Jeff White said, "With different artists of different disciplines and skill sets collaborating on the movie, the ever-increasing interoperability of Autodesk tools is a big advantage."