3ds max chosen for ‘The Last Samurai’

Visual effects studio Digital Dimension created complex realistic 3D effects for ‘The Last Samurai’ with 3ds max, Discreet's award-winning 3D modelling, animation, and rendering solution.
Premiered this week in London, The Last Samurai is an epic story of how a Civil War veteran (played by Tom Cruise) visits Japan to train their military in the way of the gun as they prepare to defeat the country's last samurais. Because of the time period, the main challenge faced by Digital Dimension was creating photo-realistic CG weapons that left no trace of artificiality.
"The filmmakers didn't want any of the work we did to be noticeable," said Ben Girard, founder and president of the California-based visual effects studio. "This is not an effects film, so everything we did had to blend perfectly with the live-action footage. 3ds max met those objectives perfectly."
Some of the key sequences for which Digital Dimension relied on 3ds max included multiple shots involving the integration of a photorealistic 3D sword and lance into live-action footage. 3ds max was used to design and texture the weapons, and then blend the CG weapons with the user's hands while matching the CG lighting with the live-action lighting.
(GB)