Invisible effects.(from ComputerCafe)

Visual effects facilities often are given the task of making CG imagery look so realistic that the intended effects are invisible to the audience. Recently, ComputerCafe (Santa Maria, CA) pushed the unseen to new limits while crafting digital shots of the Invisible Man in 20th Century Fox's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (LXG).

Based on the comic-book series, the film features a band of legendary literary misfits and heroes, including the Invisible Man, who are assembled to foil a madman's maniacal plot. When actor Claude Rains portrayed the Invisible Man in the 1933 version of the movie, he wore bandages, gloves, an overcoat, and dark glasses in order to be "seen." He simply became invisible by shedding his garb. Seventy years later, ComputerCafe created an Invisible Man for the 21st century--a character who renders himself viewable by smearing white greasepaint on his face and donning a black leather jacket. When he's undetectable, his shape is defined by the surrounding environment, such as by snowflakes that fall around an empty space of his form.

According to Scott Gordon, visual effects supervisor at ComputerCafe, the director wanted to use practical effects whenever possible. "Early one we knew that wouldn't be possible in the shots where the Invisible Man applies greasepaint, because his hands cross over his face, and we need to see the back of his fingertips," he explains. "So we re-created those elements digitally."

During the filming of these scenes, Tony Curran, the actor who plays the current role, wore blue clothing and blue makeup on the exposed areas of his skin, including his face. He was then removed from the scenes during postproduction, and re-created in CG, as was any object he occluded by walking in front of it, for instance.

A digital version of the actor was then ...