So, in the book there is some talk about how Robert Abel & Associates/ASTRA were overreaching and there's some suggestion that they were treating the film like a big R&D project to develop new techniques rather than paying attention to getting shots done to make the etched in stone release date. Well, for some time I've read and heard that one of the things they were trying to do was use a computer to plan, simulate and then run the motion control cameras, so instead of manually programming the rig the way it was typically done, the camera rig and model would be modeled in the computer, and you'd work out the shot there in wireframe and then let the computer run the camera with the actual models.
Well, here's an image of how the computer simulation would look.
Ultimately this whole idea was junked when Abel was released, not only because of the ticking clock, but there was concern that it wasn't practical because so much about photography is about looking through the viewfinder and seeing if it looks right not just in terms of camera angles and lenses but how the model is lit, etc. There was also a real and justifiable concern that if you were creating these camera moves in the computer, if you did not position the model exactly in the same place as the simulated one, or if there was a glitch or the software failed to take into account any aspect of the rig (such as the film magazine or whatnot), then the several hundred pound motorized camera might run into your precious models and crush them.
2020 EDIT: Richard Taylor much later told me the computer wireframes were for planning only and not intended to be used to program the camera in the way I had above related (as reported elsewhere). What strikes me about that wireframe image now is that it appears to have punch-holes like an animation cel.
Here are two storyboards for the Abel era depicting the asteroid explosion and debris being scattered off the deflectors.
These are from the following video of a Visual Effects Society Q&A with Robert Abel & Co, art director, Richard Winn Taylor II, Director's Edition VFX Supervisor, Darren Dochterman, and moderated by Gene Kozicki.
Well, here's an image of how the computer simulation would look.
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2020 EDIT: Richard Taylor much later told me the computer wireframes were for planning only and not intended to be used to program the camera in the way I had above related (as reported elsewhere). What strikes me about that wireframe image now is that it appears to have punch-holes like an animation cel.
Here are two storyboards for the Abel era depicting the asteroid explosion and debris being scattered off the deflectors.
These are from the following video of a Visual Effects Society Q&A with Robert Abel & Co, art director, Richard Winn Taylor II, Director's Edition VFX Supervisor, Darren Dochterman, and moderated by Gene Kozicki.
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