ADOBE CREATE EFFECTS ON ‘TOMB RAIDER’

ADOBE SYSTEMS have announced that Adobe After Effects their award-winning motion graphics and visual effects software, was used to create many of the key action animations and interactive sequences for Paramount Pictures' summer blockbuster, ‘Tomb Raider: The Movie’ starring Angelina Jolie.
British director, Simon West, had the responsibility of bringing one of the world's most popular computer game characters, Lara Croft, to life in his adventure movie. Working with London-based Useful Companies, West decided to root the overall experience of the ‘Tomb Raider’ technology in reality.
Visual effects shots created using Adobe software include: Lara Croft is in combat against a group of intruders at the Croft Manor Control Centre. Lara's technical guru, Bryce, is helping her to defeat her foes via a night-vision surveillance device and set of monitors. The surveillance shots were achieved by shooting footage and compositing it into a base screen, adding animating menus and control panels. The whole design was then given a treatment in After Effects to replicate a night-vision camera.
During Lara's training fight with a droid, Bryce is playing a computer game. To create a new game out of recognisable computer characters, After Effects was used to merge PacMan and Space Invaders into a single 3D game. The screen shows a sphere made up of shields with a ship at its centre; the Space Invaders are on the outside of the sphere shooting at the ship as the PacMen are eating the shields.
In total, the Useful Companies used Adobe software to produce 120 animations ranging from 10-second loops to sixty-second interactive sequences as well as over two minutes of vital visual effects shots to help Lara Croft and her world come to life on the big screen. (CD)