Heroic effects: Imageworks uses performance capture to power stylized CB humans for Beowulf, a next-gen 'live-action' animated film.(Motion Capture: GGI)(Cover story)

No one knows whether the legendary warrior Beowulf actually existed--the epic poem describing his heroic acts mixes myth with history--but scholars agree that the characters in "Beowulf" are based on real people. So, too, are the digital characters in director Robert Zemeckis's film of the same name.

The myth and the film follow the tragic hero through three acts: Beowulf defeats the monster Grendel and becomes the mightiest warrior of them all, Grendel's mother seduces him, and he fights a dragon and saves his people, but at a personal cost.

For the film, Sony Pictures Imageworks drew on its experience in creating animated films and visual effects for ...