boujou helps Hydraulx create seamless effects for 'The curious case of Benjamin Button'

Oxford, UK (May 08, 2009)—2d3, a leading developer of professional 3D camera matchmoving software, announced today the use of its award-winning boujou application by Hydraulx Visual Effects on the Paramount Pictures release “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” premiered in the US on December 25, 2008, and won a total of 3 Academy Awards, including Best Visual Effects.

Santa Monica-based VFX facility Hydraulx provided 81 shots for the film, including matte paintings, set extensions and extensive CG shot enhancements. boujou, the industry’s first fully automated camera calibration and tracking system, is an integral part of the 3D animation pipeline at Hydraulx, which employs seven seats throughout the facility.

“Every 3D project that comes here, including ‘Benjamin Button,’ starts with boujou in our tracking department. Once shots are tracked, we can export cameras into Maya and use those 3D cameras as if we were on set with the director,” said Dan Kruse, Lead Camera Tracker, Hydraulx. “We also really like that boujou accepts lens information from any camera manufacturer—other solutions won’t allow us to use precise camera settings which is often essential for getting a shot right.”

Directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” was adapted by Eric Roth from a 1920s F. Scott Fitzgerald story and tells the tale of a man born in his eighties who has the unusual condition of aging backwards. For the film, Hydraulx primarily contributed to three sequences: CG head replacement on the animatronic baby seen at the beginning of the film, CG snow and breath on the blizzardy streets of Murmansk, Russia and CG enhancement of select dance performance shots. All of these shots employed boujou for 3D camera tracking.

“We use boujou because it’s really fast,” said Kruse. “It’s been a part of our pipeline since the beginning—so we know it’s been battle tested. If a show or commercial comes in that requires quick turnaround, we can slam shots through with the control we need to get them in and out of the door in as little time as possible.”

“There are times we will get plates and at first we are perplexed by the lack of information in the scene, but even in these cases we can still lay down manual target tracks to help guide boujou to a solution. Another feature that can be very helpful is the ability to solve cameras in sections. Boujou gives us the flexibility to export the sections to Maya where they can be joined and manipulated. There's rarely a shot boujou can’t handle,” explained Andrew Collins, Camera Tracker, Hydraulx.

Hydraulx also uses Autodesk Flame and Inferno for compositing, and benefits from the ability to export boujou’s 3D camera for finishing shots as well. “Boujou gives us the ability in Flame to readily augment and integrate elements without the need for tracking by the compositor,” commented Erik Liles, Visual Effects Supervisor, Hydraulx.

“I’ve been doing visual effects for the last 15 years, and one of the biggest changes comes from the impact of digital production tools like boujou. At the speed of production today, you can't always put in all the tracking reference as needed or desired. In a best case scenario you want some reference points to set distances, but even if you don’t get those, you can put boujou on it and still get very usable camera information,” concluded Liles.

In addition to VFX work for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Hydraulx has also used boujou on film projects such as “The Day After Tomorrow,” “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” “300,” “The Incredible Hulk” and “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.”

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