How Avatar’s VFX Became So Realistic | Movies Insider | Insider

It took James Cameron 13 years to make the follow-up to “Avatar” (2009). That time was spent making the sequel, “Avatar: The Way of Water” (2022), even more technologically groundbreaking than its predecessor. While the first movie’s water-based scenes were actually shot on a dry set, the director and his crew built a performance-capture stage that actually worked both underwater and above the surface.
But to get the clearest reference footage possible, the cast had to learn to hold their breath for extended time periods. That way, Sigourney Weaver and Kate Winslet could act out scenes underwater without worrying about breath bubbles obscuring their faces. The crew could also translate Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldana, and Stephen Lang’s performances to their Na’vi counterparts with even more accuracy thanks to a helmet with two cameras attached to it that was first developed for “Alita: Battle Angel” (2019).
Tools created specifically for “The Way of Water” allowed the crew to see rough CG renderings of a given scene while they were filming it and helped Wētā FX more convincingly place CG and live-action elements in a scene than ever before. The VFX artists could also create even more nuanced emotions in CG with a brand-new system that allowed them to animate deep below the surface of a character’s face.
These new systems would not have existed without developments between the new “Avatar” films on Gollum in the “Hobbit” movies (2012 to 2014), Caesar in the “Planet of the Apes” trilogy (2011 to 2017), and Thanos in “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018) and “Avengers: Endgame” (2019). It’s no wonder that on “The Way of Water,” Wētā was able to create 2,225 water shots while tracking 3,198 facial performances.
Check out more of Wētā FX’s work:
www.wetafx.co.nz/
/ @wetadigitalvfx
/ wetafxofficial
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How Avatar’s VFX Became So Realistic | Movies Insider | Insider

[@brandonwei2430]

Having Spider in the movie was genius, because not only was the audience reminded that what we were seeing on screen was animated but very real, he almost became a proof of concept for how good the visual effects were.

[@abirmakesdumbvideos]

soooo trueeeeeee

[@Rck-vert]

Spider was literally only a plot device

[@strikerbowls791]

​@@Rck-vert ok?

[@work90]

​@@Rck-vert fun fact: spider isn't actually a spider in the movie

[@Kokorocodon]

@@Rck-vert ok?

[@suvirshetty]

Credit the the amazing vfx workers

[@chasehedges6775]

We just need better writing cause man, it was bad

[@hairyrichard2609]

@@EUCvibes please tell me you’re joking

[@Ineddiblehulk]

@HairyRichard They’re either a moron or just bad at trolling

[@Robloxiokoj]

@@EUCvibes ur joking right

[@glowtail3744]

​@@EUCvibes pls say sike

[@jokester117]

Way of Water is the best number 1 water VFX. It made Little Mermaid and Aquaman looking like straight to dvds.

[@JeskidoYT]

funny enough Little Mermaid was meant to go straight to Disney+, but since it's 100 years anniversary, all movies go to theaters

[@vecna5753]

I just wish they let weta work on The little marmaid, ba you know they're busy making avatar and it can be hard for the actors to sing without getting drowned lol

[@work90]

​@@JeskidoYT Disney knew little mermaid gonna flop😂

[@work90]

​@@vecna5753 doesn't matter. Due to it being Disney, it won't be spectacular if weta worked on

[@MrMiyagi005]

@@vecna5753 little mermaid never gonna make that much money to justify all the R&D and countless hours in vfx production and the cost all that fancy stuff brings with it.

[@sancheezzzy2712]

Even them saying the water is better than the first, the first avatar water sequences are still great today. They’ve aged like fine wine.

[@DeletedDevilDeletedAngel]

yeah even though it doesnt look real at least its better than most water cgi 🍷🗿

[@migalorsdarwin1930]

At least based on the under water scnes shown in this video, i like the once from Avatar 1 look more realistic. Avatar 2 looks to clean.

[@DeletedDevilDeletedAngel]

@@migalorsdarwin1930 wdym clean? They did underwater mocap how are you describing our swimming as clean?

[@migalorsdarwin1930]

@@DeletedDevilDeletedAngel it looks to clean, there is no dirt. This makes it feel to CGI/unreal to me. Also unrelated to the underwater scene, there is something very wooden about Sigourney Weaver character in A2

[@DeletedDevilDeletedAngel]

@@migalorsdarwin1930 its the ocean... And theres no trash on pandora

[@ethanholgate2512]

When I'm an old man I can say I witnessed history with The way of water and got to see all 5 avatar movies when Jim completes his saga It's been awhile since I've been truly blown away by cgi but my god my jaw was on the floor from beginning to end of the way of water especially pyikain

[@fynkozari9271]

When are they gonna use the real thing? Instead of fake intangible cgi.

[@ethanholgate2512]

@@fynkozari9271 you clearly don't want to believe

[@dv4975]

History? With avatar? Haha come on

[@chrisrowe2308]

​@@dv4975 #1 and #3 at the all time box office is pretty historic. Clearly some people care about Avatar much to the chagrin of clowns and trolls who've been telling everyone for 13 years that A2 would bomb because "Avatar has no cultural impact" lmao.

[@casedistorted]

Lol 13 years for number 3. By the time that one comes out I’ll be dead cuz I’m getting older

[@yenxion6516]

Yeah they totally deserve that Oscar.

[@hustle4902]

Oscar deserves them

[@RoTrainProductions]

They got one

[@pritammukjerjee4736]

Both movies got oscars

[@djnfbrhkelkondwvb6853]

I think the originals effects are some of the best VFX we’ve ever seen and that’s impressive for a movie that’s 13 years old in this new age of technology

[@DeletedDevilDeletedAngel]

so basically aged like fine wine 🍷🗿 but anyways the new movie looks better for 2023 since most movies havent come that close to good looking water

[@JoJo-ue9vg]

Autodesk Maya was used....it's just too powerful

[@Immortal_BP]

creating facial animations gets exponetially harder the closer that character is to a realistic human. i would say the Na'Vi are like 80-90% close to humans so the fact you dont get the uncanny feeling from this is amazing

[@rexthegamergembox]

exactly, a small flaw would be that their faces and their bodies looks a bit too smooth almost giving them a plastic type finish (for example: na'vi's underarms) wich i didn't quite like, but other than that not much of complains.

[@georgedeng8646]

You can say what you want about the movies, but you gotta respect the passion and dedication James Cameron has to his craft.

[@mandoole]

Well - yes - the boldness to create an EXACT COPY of the first movie(which was already very much a cliché'ish work) was quite astounding.

[@victorillo377]

​@@mandoole you have a Minions profile pic and you speak of " Exact copies " and " cliche " The amount of copium you must inhale on a daily basis could probably make mt.Everest float

[@user-su6wy3bj4v]

With Avatar he made a pretty good sci-fi interpretation of Pocahontas with stunning visuals (fot the time). When it comes to Way of Water though, he was maybe too dedicated to the visual aspects, because it seemed to me he sort of forgot to write a movie in his movie. It felt like watching a 3-hour long trailer

[@ricardoavacado3901]

@@victorillo377 fr

[@TheGoobler]

My bold prediction: I think the Avatar movies will hold up for the next 100 years. Over time, I think there will be noticeable flaws that our eyes don’t see at the present. But I think the movies will be respected and admired decades from now; purely based on visual effects.

[@DeletedDevilDeletedAngel]

kinda like Toy Story with its film being amazing compared to 1995

[@covidcarl7480]

Game of thrones is proof that the end will matter.

[@pramusetyakanca1552]

@@covidcarl7480, are we still roasting on GoT's ending?

[@andreirachko]

Already today, latest tech allows studios to easily remaster existing footage to make it look better and more immersive. In fact, Avatar was already upgraded to HDR and higher resolution for its 2022 cinema re-run which I’ve seen personally. In 100 years, barely anyone will see the very first original version of avatar - people will instead be watching the latest, 16k XDR 3D VR 300fps remaster of that film.

[@AndreiChifan]

@@andreirachko yes, but you can't remaster poor VFX into good VFX by interpolating frames or upscaling. You need to rework the movie. Jesse is saying that the VFX itself is actually photo-real, whereas Aquaman isn't. I didn't compare them side by side, but Weta's water simulation tech and motion capture is literally unheard of. They will release new papers about their solvers this year or soon enough.

[@Greg_Buckingham]

While I didn’t care a whole lot for the movie, this definitely makes me appreciate the film making process way more. Crazy to see how far technology has come

[@danico3070]

why does it matter if you cared or not for the movie lol you can just say what you liked

[@Greg_Buckingham]

@@danico3070 I don’t think it matters that I *did* mention that I didn’t care a whole lot for it. To me it feels like saying “I didn’t care for the NBA allstar game as a whole, but the dunks were cool”

[@danico3070]

@@Greg_Buckingham I understand 😌 you have the need to say something negative before saying something positive

[@Greg_Buckingham]

@@danico3070 I love my family

[@Matt.visualz]

@@Greg_Buckingham I laughed a lot on you guys discussion hahaha that was civilized and funny

[@hasinurrahman4952]

Avatar 2 is the most deserving winner of VFX oscar in the history since Avatar 1. I have seen it 7 times in the theater and every time I was blown away by the sheer genius of the VFX in the whole movie.

[@dv4975]

No LOTR still takes that title

[@hasinurrahman4952]

@@dv4975 say what ?! LOTR VFX is so laughable compared to Avatar or Avatar 2.

[@maulcs]

​@@hasinurrahman4952 Definite disagree there - LOTR shots required so many elements to be blended together and still looks amazing to this day. They pushed the entire industry forward with Gollum, which actually spurred James Cameron on to believe the time was ready to make Avatar. Avatar/Avatar 2 is incredible but there's absolutely no need to downplay LOTR with its legendary achievement in practical and visual effects.

[@dv4975]

@@hasinurrahman4952 without LOTR, Avatar wouldn’t even exist. Funny how lotr still looks amazing 20+ years later and the first Avatar already looks outdated. For you to even come for LOTR is laughable!

[@Ciffer-1998]

@@dv4975 sales say differently

[@graceross4888]

The animation of this movie was fantastic, a lot of nice details

[@sobczak0712]

Finally some good blockbuster with great CGi in cinemas . After years of Marvels making worse and worse cgi it was great to go to cinema to see something amazing again.

[@fireaza]

I mean... Avatar 2 took 13 years to make, they had all the time in the world to make it look amazing. Marvel movies on the other hand, need to get them out by next Tuesday, it's a small miracle that the VFX don't consist entirely of crayon drawings.

[@shlokdhara5798]

Avatar 2 actually began production in 2017, so that's around 6 whole years for a film. Meanwhile the scene from thor : love and thunder where we see the floating head, the artists were given like 3 weeks for the whole vfx sequence And surprise surprise weta fx were involved in both films, many freelance vfx studios/artists were involved in both movies so why the big differece? Almost like VFX takes time.

[@JudgeMENTALcat]

Worse and worse? They got better. Then bad. Then better. It's a pattern.

[@JudgeMENTALcat]

also I've seen better CGI than avatar 2

[@nkosanamakhubela2586]

​@@JudgeMENTALcat😂😂 where buddy

[@nazoproduction5239]

I saw Avatar: The Way Of Water.. I'm so proud of everyone who worked on this masterpiece and it's predecessor! I will ALWAYS continue to support Avatar! I am a diehard fan of Avatar! And I want to personally thank every human being that worked on this masterpiece, and it's predecessor, they are my favorite movies by far, and of all time, GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

[@pritammukjerjee4736]

I am also a diehard fan of avatar. And I will be with you against those betrayers who watched the movie, liked it, but still doesn't accept coz it's killing their favourite (so called) marvel studios.

[@amanofnoreputation2164]

It's kind of staggering how simple it was to give more depth to what they could capture with respect to facial expressions given that all it took was to apply parallax by adding a second camera.

[@kimihakim1213]

I can never imagined the level of the visual effect artists behind the scenes in making these movies.

[@Corzappy]

I find it interesting that there is a very distinct facial expression for holding your breath and I feel like the actors had to consciously avoid that while filming to get the right expressions.

[@Ak_-ch8cl]

I’ve watched it today in theatre, better than the first movie for sure in every thing I enjoyed it!

[@kdreamscosmos4279]

Story sucked

[@chrisrowe2308]

​@@kdreamscosmos4279 Another internet mouth breather who's never created anything of merit in their life with the most banal critique of a movie that clearly resonated with a vast majority of the public. Bigger than every Marvel movie sans Endgame. Maybe it just isn't for you.

[@fannypack7705]

@@chrisrowe2308 what do yo mean look i appreciate the whole process and the vfx looked better than any movie ever made probably like ever but the writing is so bad.

[@chrisrowe2308]

@@fannypack7705 It's written by multiple award winning writers who also wrote the new planet of the apes trilogy. The writing may deal with simple themes and motifs, but that in no way makes it poorly written. Perhaps the themes didn't resonate with you personally and that is perfectly ok.

[@Hyraladen]

The movie is still on cinema in your country? Lucky 😭 they took it off in all theatres in my country, even tho it was the only movie that was gathering crowds for months...

[@Jaka.Ellinsworth]

Avatar is one of those films when you got to go in detail with VFX breakdown, all you got is more confusion than ever before.

[@MrDanMeman]

The Avatar movies are basically Hollywood's research and development department at this point 😄

[@niks660097]

no james cameron, from terminator to avator..

[@SamsungM-oo8zp]

@@niks660097 and weta digital 🥰

[@Praveenkumar-fn4zd]

it was hard for them to shot whole movie as the first movie yet that scene is amazing nothing to criticize it such a amazing water simulation it was

[@revelare_xvii6269]

Keep in mind we have 3 more Avatar films to go. Imagine how much the CGI is gonna improve with each film.

[@pritammukjerjee4736]

Not really 3. That can be 5 just by other name, if it completes it's target. Btw I am just saying on leaks so don't take it too seriously

[@Ciffer-1998]

not much i would guess since thos were meant to release back to back one after another unlike the pause btw 1 and 2

[@Denomote]

not much is gonna change it's already at its peak (coming from a vfx artist)

[@flipadoodles8677]

this all lead up to the most photorealistic shot I have ever seen in CGI ever... The shot of that one girl laying face down in the water, seriously why did that shot look way too realistic

[@Al-xw7jz]

Just one word: AMAZING

[@edoalva48]

So glad that when I could not go to movie theater for a while, because of pandemic and stuffs, and then the first movie I tried watching again was Avatar 2. My amazement was amplified. Greatest cinematic experience I've ever had.

[@Wha73v3r]

It’s amazing what technical work is going in to this movie. Can’t wait for Part 3 and how it will look

[@lilpain8883]

There are a lot of people saying "it still looks fake"..."It's not realistic looking". And to those people I say that you're looking at an alien humanoid species on a vastly different planet to ours, your brain has no reference to be able to think "Oh everything looks so realistic"...because you've never seen such an alien world; you only know Earth and it's human inhabitants and surroundings. Therefore it is near-impossible to really look at a computer generated world and it's alien residents and confidently state "I couldn't tell if they were real or not, it looks so good" because your brain quite easily knows there aren't 10 foot tall blue aliens recording with humans on their native home planet for audiences back on Earth, so no matter how good the VFX is, you won't think of it as truly 'realistic'. Take Mars images for example, these are taken by human-made rovers in extremely high resolution, yet many people still look at them and think "it looks kind of fake", why? It's another planet. There is nothing of direct reference in the images for their brain to comprehend what they're seeing, humanity is also still grasping that this is an entirely different world we're looking at on our computer screens. You can see sand dunes and rocks, but those dunes and those rocks will always appear off to your subconscious - because they're not the same as back here on Earth of which you've seen your entire life. And this'll be an issue until humanity takes its major leap out into the cosmos. So yes, Avatar nor any similar movie - no matter how good the VFX is, will ever look "real" to you.

[@JostVanWair]

Precisely

[@batmanvsjoker7725]

I managed to watch this in theaters. I consider myself a lucky man.

[@thelonelycatproject]

thank you Mr. Cameron and all the artists and crew behind this movie. you inspire small time artists like me. you guys are amazing.

[@BlenderStudy]

Amazing VFX work. Thank you for the update, Insider..!!

[@ttanizawa901]

Personally I didn't think the overall story or movie was that incredible or groundbreaking in terms of storytelling, but in terms of VFX the movie was unbelievable and undeniably groundbreaking.

[@devinkipp4344]

Very predictable, the family death could be seen a mile away. That being said the story was a big improvement over the first imo. Still lackluster

[@greenstonegecko]

i love how this set of movies continues to make amazing strides in film-technology

[@SeFu2006]

The film looked very realistic, best looking film in history currently

[@nathanchong7731]

0:22 Love this fight scene

[@MODEST500]

One correction. The CG water is not an animation and is neither animated nor handled by an animator . It's an FX simulation and is dealt by FX and VFX artist who composite scenes together.

[@IzaelNeto]

I think he said it here 9:02

[@gtssage]

Just watched Avatar 2 on Disney+ yesterday (should have seen it in 3D IMAX when I had the chance). The CG effects in this film is light years beyond any other studio. Absolutely stunning. Overall a better movie than the first. Breathtaking visuals and good story.

[@TiffanyRedGreen]

There was a story?

[@groxiverde]

@@TiffanyRedGreen low quality bait

[@jaybanks3463]

Just look at the thumbnail wow it’s like they filmed real blue beings. The lighting and minute details is on point. James Cameron and his production team is just light years ahead of the rest of everybody else.

[@eliyawaters9075]

I am quite amazed by the amount of research and innovation that goes behind the execution. Like that research into other animated movies, deciding to use something they've seen used in football games,..

[@simonmaduxx6777]

MY FREAKING HEAD IS EXPLODING WITH THE JOY OF SEEING CREATIVES WIN. Cameron's life is an artists dream! WOWOW

[@akunamii4823]

Both first and second Avatar movie manage to capture the swimming really well ngl😂

[@jordanfish]

10:02 Jim Cameron just wailing on that tennis ball rig lol

[@pupu4234123]

Stunning!!!

[@aasimyousaf2455]

Cannot wait for the 3rd one

[@editname3502]

The crazy think is that shot of jakes hands strapping down to the saddle are real hands

[@kelownatechkid]

Absolutely incredible film!

[@codingvio7383]

Avatar the way of water has to be the greatest movie of all time. I understand why James Camerron waited so long to release this movie. So much new tech had to be invented.

[@syedemdad5744]

Leonardo de Vinci did kinda same thing when he was painting his Monalisa. Went to morgue to find out how human facial muscles lay under skin, how they connect and work etc. Thats why her smile is so unique.

[@youngmasterzhi]

That was worth over 13 years of waiting!

[@CisumAPRAT]

Imagine that there is a server room filled with rtx a100 80gb gpus and epyc 96 core cpus that is needed for rendering i would just drool if i was in there !

[@Alexanderpaal67]

Facinating

[@NikHem343]

Everytime they showed scenes from the first movie, I thought they were from the second, until they showed actual shots from the second and they looked even more impressive.

[@KijasFX]

8:39 I’m pretty sure it’s the other way around. The red is the Mist particles and the green is the Spray. :D

[@vfxsquad511]

amazing hard work....cheers

[@donny8619]

2:59 true work of art :o

[@achmadfauzan507]

Maybe not the best story I've ever seen, but this is the best 3d movie i've ever see.

[@StreetComp]

No surprise that 68yo James Cameron would want to top his amazing career with five Avatar movies that are perfect for pushing the boundaries of filmmaking

[@syedsaif24]

Just Amazing

[@WanderyenErin]

Such masterpiece

[@tomarnold7284]

Cameron has an obsession with water. In Avatar 2 I couldn't help but notice similar scenes from Aliens, The Abyss and Titanic.

[@boogie7240]

Wow!

[@mikosoft]

8:59 this is actually a hybrid shot, the hand is real, the rest is animated. It is confirmed in an episode of Corridor crew by a weta employee.

[@SaadNabil]

13 years of Avatar 13 days of Insider! What a coincidence!

[@epicclips5512]

Same here 😅😁

[@TypicalEveningPictures]

Looking at this I don’t think anyone would say they weren’t snubbed for the production design Oscar

[@purefoldnz3070]

I suggest people also check out the game Frontiers of Pandora, one of the most beautiful game worlds ever made.

[@Gear-Channel]

Потрясный фильм и отличное видео 👍👍

[@Raghib_Reza]

VFX maker hats off

[@Cyynapse]

its amazing how this movie is like 95% animated yet its considered live-action

[@HeathBlythe]

Nobody better than Cameron to do underwater films.

[@Mistereee]

0:50 PERFORMANCE CAPTURE!!!

[@benjaminsuchman6093]

As much as I enjoyed the Little Mermaid remake's underwater-esque effects, this is so hard to top. I like both Avatar 2 and the Little Mermaid remake but for different reasons.

[@LynxGGTV]

masterpiece!

[@soupful]

AWESOME !

[@JamalDolleyGames]

Cameron Magic = Excruciating attention to detail!

[@ConstantChangeinfinite]

the most realistic movie cast in water, ive ever seen so far.

[@torukmaktopoland]

😳😲😯...astonished!

[@WillFalcon]

Avatar 2 = "I beleive nothing" Avatar 1 = "I beleive everything"

[@WillFalcon]

Even if it was so "realistic"

[@obiwankenobi7154]

3:10 LMAOO I CAN'T!

[@MichalKaczorowski]

Avatar 1: Earth Avatar 2: Water Avatar 3: Fire Avatar 4: Wind Avatar 5: Heart Avatar 6: Captain Planet

[@pritammukjerjee4736]

There's no avatar 6

[@KillerTacos54]

Fantastic video

[@Ramsesamonra]

*Mind blowing 👍😲*

[@jedics1]

Yes it was a master class visually, pity the dialogue and story didn't receive the same level of dedication....

[@lenowoo]

when i see blue alien resembling human that still in the uncanny vally, all those realism just go out of the window for me. Avatar character design never clicked for me.

[@i20010]

There must be something in New Zealand which makes all of this possible 🙂

[@MK7PlaysYT]

Technology is getting better day by day.

[@puwazatza]

visually such a great achievement but it was darn long for the story it delivered.

[@pimisi]

A true blockbuster.

[@Csongor_Radai]

IT'S PERFORMANCE CAPTURE! Iykyk 0:50

[@juskabilonda5537]

9:52 when this scene takes place in the movie, I'm not sure I've seen this one

[@tomsm06]

Kiri is so pretty

[@RipeToast]

That part where thanos is smiling is so uncanny

[@nathanchong7731]

0:37. Avatar 2 Cast and Director Deserves a Oscar Award !!

[@ilynpayne7491]

Oh my god I've just realised how insane shootings movie is

[@meetramani8611]

i work with motion capture animation in game it's very complex

[@onemorechris]

I haven’t met/know anyone how went to see this film. I’m sure it looks amazing, but i haven’t heard anyone talk about the story

[@RandomGuy-pc4gp]

I just literally got an ad from Avatar discussions who discusses the nickelodeon Avatar the Last Airbender show. That got me laughing.

[@lucaknezevic4760]

Watch corridor crew. The hand is just real! No simulation.😊

[@gcnealchristian.clarin]

I don't know, from a more than a decade of research and development, this is incredible and scary at the same time, I don't know if next generation of young people can comprehend the complexity of math, science and technology. It needs to innovate not just research for technological development but also innovation for educational development and how students can easily understand fast especially mathematics. Or just substitute it with an Ai which is scary tbh. Opinion based: Technology, even smarter, Humans, struggle to keep up.

[@luigi_border]

the mouth cgi was perfect

[@not-THIS-universe]

9:00 is real hands btw