http://www.fxguide.com/article388.html
We asked Digital Pictures/ Iloura about the VES nomination:
"Charlotte's Web marks a milestone in animation and visual effects for Iloura, and with the recent nomination for a VES award in the 'Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture' category it has become even more special. Our role in the film was to create a believable full CG double for Wilbur the pig at his various stages of development, as well as Ike the horse. This enabled director Gary Winick to achieve shots beyond the realm of what the real animals were able, or willing to do. This included physical effects such as crashing through fences, fainting and splashing around in the mud as well as calmer moments where the shoot did not provide the performance desired.
The process involved much close observation, detailed sculpting, some very challenging animation as well as many technical challenges including generating skin, hair, water, mud and straw. As well as the Wilbur and Ike effects we also contributes several matte painting shots as well as general compositing effects, for example combining several takes of different animals shot separately into a single shot, making it appear as if they were all there at the same time.
We were lucky on this project to work with some of the most experienced people in the industry including Visual Effects supervisor John Berton Jr (I Robot, Men in Black, The Mummy). John was great to work with and brought a great deal of expertise and experience, as well as good humour, to the project which was fantastic. He went out of his way to make us feel at home amongst some of the biggest and best players in the industry.
We feel privileged to have worked on Charlotte's Web, and are humbled to be nominated alongside such outstanding work as Tippet Studio's Templeton (Charlotte's Web), and ILM's Davy Jones (Pirates of the
Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest)."
Now that the film is in release, we have managed to source examples of the many passes used by DP/Iloura to produce Wilbour.
backlight pass
dirt pass
grit pass
fall off pass
The hair passes combined
The light pass
The mask
Projected pass
Shaded pass
The first v pass
The first spec pass
The second spec pass
