How New York Was Entirely Computer Generated For The Avengers

There’s no doubt computer generated graphics in movies have become much more realistic. Today it’s hard, sometimes even impossible, to tell what is real, and what is not. When we see new blockbusters in the theater, we always focus on the characters themselves, and we forget about their surroundings. Many times we believe those are real, but some of them are not. The computer generated elements in some of the most recent movies are seamlessly incorporated and most likely unnoticed by us.

The enormous computer processing power at our disposal today has made computer generated graphics a task sometimes more important than the story itself. Whether that is good or bad is of course up to anyone’s opinion. But when it comes to impressing movie goers, it certainly sucks you into the movie like never before. That was certainly the case with the recent Avengers movie which became the world’s third most successful movie with its 1.5 billion worldwide gross amount.

So how is it all done, and how complicated is it really to create seamless and ultra realistic computer generated graphics in movies? We get a glimpse of that in some rather impressive behind the scenes footage from the “filming” of the Avengers movie. When you see how it is done, you will be amazed at how realistic it looks, yet it is based on nothing less than boxes with procedural textures on them. Well, that is an over-simplified way to explain it.

The hard work and perfection was created by the world renowned special effects studio Industrial Light & Magic founded by none other than George Lucas himself back in May 1975. Since then, ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) was included in the deal when George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney. The impressive and unprecedented special effects this studio have brought to the silver screen has made it the most hired and successful special effects studio in Hollywood. Have a look at their impressive explanation of how the entire New York City was recreated using computer generated imagery. Once again, our minds are blown as we realize that none of it was real except the characters. The movie was actually shot in New Mexico, Ohio, and a list of other places. The world of movie magic certainly is impressive.