ADOBE SOFTWARE USED IN ‘GLADIATOR’ EFFECTS

ADOBE Systems have announced that Adobe After Effects and Adobe Photoshop software were used to create several of the visual effects shots for DreamWorks Pictures and Universal Studios’ ‘Gladiator’, winner of the 2001 Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Visual Effects.
Bruce Chizen, President and CEO of Adobe Systems, said: “Creating Academy Award-winning visual effects on the desktop is proof positive that creative tools like Adobe After Effects and Photoshop have come of age. Top visual effects houses like DreamWorks are realising that they don't need to use expensive, high-end editing hardware and software to create award-winning special effects.”
One of director Ridley Scott’s primary goals with 'Gladiator' was to bring the glory and colossal scale of ancient Rome back to the big screen, as films such as ‘Ben Hur’ and ‘Spartacus’ had done in the past. To achieve this in grand style, Scott relied on visual effects created by DreamWorks.
When production on the film was nearing completion, artists had to create several visual effects shots quickly, on a relatively tight budget. Wes Sewell, visual effects editor for DreamWorks, oversaw completion of the final effects shots for Gladiator using Adobe software, which took only a few days.
“Several people were amazed that we could create such high-end visual effects on the desktop," said Sewell. "We're heading into our next project-another Ridley Scott film-with plans to do more visual effects shots using Adobe software.”
In addition to creating several final shots for the film, DreamWorks did all of the pre-visualisation and pre-production work for the establishing shot of ancient Rome using Photoshop and After Effects. Artists began with a poster of a model of ancient Rome, scanning it into Photoshop to paint out artefacts and text. Within After Effects, artists added digital clouds and movement to make it look as if viewers are flying in toward the city. This presentation was so successful that the DreamWorks team subsequently flew back to Rome to photograph the model to create the final piece. (AMcE)