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The first time I saw a teaser trailer for the first Avatar film I was immediately and completely Blown Away by the amazing visuals being displayed before my eyes!

Immediately the Daz 3D store had risen to the occasion with similarly looking flying contraptions, cool blue characters, indigenous tribal costumes and props, along with breathtaking landscapes and imaginative Sci-Fi environments. So Cool!

Of course, I love the film when it came out - all of that waiting has paid itself off with a heart-pounding, breathtakingly beautiful, dramatic epic that paints a fantastic picture of real-world problems - something that James Cameron is Genius at being able to do - and he doesn't do so on his own, which is a big part of what I just said: "Genius"!

As most of you (especially if you find yourself in my Inspiration section) know about me: I really get into the special features of these films - The Behind the Scenes looks at what went into creating the masterpiece in question.

It feeds my creative enthusiasm and fills my imagination with all new "Hey... I could figure out how to do that" thoughts for whatever software I'm working with at the time - then Carrara, currently Daz Studio.

But Wait! There's More!!!

I'll resume the Avatar Trailer and Making Of goodness below. But first I'd like to address a current issue that plague the whole industry of art and those who make a living creating it - AI (Artifical Intelligence).

If you know me well enough to have spoken with me about AI, you already know that I have a somewhat specific, yet foggy view of the topic. First of all, I am in no way against AI and I do admit that it can turn out some pretty fine looking images. It's been around long enough, however, that I tire of seeing videos made using it. That's not to say that there aren't good ones being made - heavens no. But YouTube has been flooded with So Many AI-created animated videos that I can pretty much notice them at a glance - which is nice, because I've learned to avoid them. I just think that they're missing... hmmm....

Who am I to say anyways, right? I mean... I'm still just me creating my own CG movie stuff, and I'm not that great at it yet. I'm sure that there are many folks out there who see that I've uploaded a new video and quickly dismiss it. That's just how 'Taste of Interest' works.

Knowing many artists-by-trade, I truly feel for those who have lost long running contracts to someone willing to prompt their AI to generate similar images at a fraction of the cost. To me, that is a huge bummer for everyone! I mean... what if that happens so much over such a long period of time that there are no more professional artists left to hire? What happens then? That's the time when these folks who need art are no longer happy with what AI is giving them and, with all of the artists gone, the cost is higher than it was back when they could make a phone call to their contracted artist. Okay... maybe I'm just over exaggerating. But I still feel bad that this is the current scope of what's going on these days.

Here are a couple of interviews of James Cameron where he puts forward an interesting take on how he might use AI in the future, but never for certain things - which truly reminds me of what I've been telling my friends:

Very cool interview - both of them. In this one it eventually becomes apparent that Graham (journalist) assumes that AI was used in making at least some of the three Avatar movies, when Mr. Cameron corrects him. Machine Learning, sure. We've been using that in the industry long before this new Generative AI craze.

Interestingly, if we play this one from 19:00 (link will launch YouTube) and let him continue through until he mentions his ideas about Generative AI, I find his thoughts and mine are quite the same. I was very relieved to hear that because I was starting to feel a little alone in that philosophy.

I never want to start a war of any kind - and that includes the debates on using Generative AI to make art. But just as that incredible artist/world-builder/engineer/(and many more kinds of cool people) stated, I don't want to use it to do "My" job.

I enjoy what I'm doing, which is why I'm doing it. I enjoy the notion of incorporating Generative AI into my work - but the industry models being made for it in out present day (as of this writing) do not align with being part of that for me just yet - at least as far as the nudges towards it by friend commenters have provided me. There's a time and place for everything. Right now I'm having too much fun working with my CG within the realms of my Daz Studio to consider giving up any of those aspects to... well... really... anyone - AI or someone else.

Avatar - The Way of Water

Another extraordinary film - another (much larger) wonderful collection of wonderful behind-the-scenes moments to enjoy!

In the Blu-ray or Digital Deluxe versions of this epic we get Hours of highly entertaining Special Feature Goodness!!!

Enjoy this little taste:

Awesome, Right?

Now imagine having hours of that to enjoy - going Much deeper into everything seen above and much, much more - like casting these extraordinary actors from returning roles to new tribes to the next generation of Avatar heroes - the new Child Cast, who are all absolutely breathtaking to watch and learn from, to hear their stories of making the film, etc.,

And then there's the whole sections watching the design and art teams creating the new parts of Pandora and the amazing creatures, costumes, and flora/fauna, etc.,

And then there's the whole sections on the human invasion, their weapons, vehicles, stronghold, new characters, etc.,

And then there's... well, by now I hope you get the idea.

I Feed off of this behind-the-scenes sharing and, like Star Wars and Alita Battle Angel movies, these are amongst those amazing collections that, if you're into creating CG animated works, are absolutely Priceless!!!

Now, this next clip is some kind of news footage interview or something, where one of my filmmaker Heroes shows us how they actually film in this way, which is Incredibly Cool!!!

So, before you watch this, I'd like to give you the preface that I never had going in:

You've seen that the actors are dressed in special suits and helmet which makes up the "Performance Capture Suit", right? In the more lengthy behind-the-scenes features, we also learn that while the system is capturing the performances of all of the actors, there is abslutely No Camera Framing going on - None! The director is just directing the action from anywhere in the space that he or she needs to be to "Direct" the performances.

That's a funky thing to wrap our heads around because it's a completely different approach. We also see a nice view of this sort of approach being used in the Inspiration: Blade Runner : Black Lotus section.

Armed with that knowledge, know this next:

As the performance is being captured, Pre-Viz Quality (lower resolution for immediate study) are made ready on monitors that are available within the "Space" in case a preview is desired or required.

After the performances are all captured and the actors have left the space, the director can enter the space using the funky looking iPad-like thing that you'll see Richie demonstrate - the pad with the little spheres held to it with little lengths of rod.

So that's what's going on when he's using that thing in the space - he's "Filming" the performances from any angle and at any distance he or she needs to get the proper shot - as if the real actors are still there - looking like Pre-Viz characters instead of people dressed in funny looking suits! Now when you watch what he's explaining you'll have a better understanding of what some of the questions might have been before the video starts :)

Avatar - Fire and Ash

As of this writing I have not yet seen this one - but I already know that it is going to Blow Me Away!!!

Oh Yeah!!!

Now, if you're on Disney + make sure to check out this wonderful documentary about the creation of the Avatar series. It truly a wonderful work of art in a documentary exploring the genius and unwavering determination of an incredible filmmaker - who is So Much More!

And, of course... this looks AMAZING!!!

To Be Continued

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