Improving the Hulk: Behind the Scenes of Age of Ultron
Summary
In this article, we explore the making of the digital Hulk and Ultron in the movie Age of Ultron. The team at ILM in San Francisco took on the challenge of improving the already well-realized Hulk from the first Avengers movie. They developed a new approach to facial animation and muscle systems, and Mark Ruffalo was given a monster mirror preview set up to experiment with the character and prepare for his on-set performance. The team also had a bodybuilder, Rob DeGroot, who was painted green for lighting and muscle reference.
Table of Contents
- Rebuilding the Hulk
- Real-time markerless facial tracking system
- Motion capture on set
- Building a digital Hulk and Mark Ruffalo
- Making the Hulk more comic-real
- Conclusion
Rebuilding the Hulk
The challenge for ILM was to improve upon the already well-realized Hulk from the first Avengers movie. They developed a new approach to facial animation and muscle systems that involved a sub-mesh on top of the muscle shape, more like a fascia skin layer. They revamped the entire model, including the facial shapes, and matched the intent they saw from Mark Ruffalo when he was on set or pushing it to where Joss needed it for the comic action beat.
Real-time markerless facial tracking system
Mark Ruffalo was given a monster mirror preview set up which used a laptop and a camera and allowed him to do a real-time markerless facial tracking system to a real-time model of the Hulk. This allowed him to experiment with the character and prepare for his on-set performance. The system literally showed a Hulk version of Mark back to Mark in real-time.
Motion capture on set
Some of the motion capture was done with Ruffalo prior to the shoot, and some was done on set with a helmet cam and grey suit so that Mark could interact with the other Avenger actors. In one scene with Black Widow, Mark Ruffalo actually wore cricket gloves so that Scarlett Johansson had something roughly the right size to touch.
Building a digital Hulk and Mark Ruffalo
ILM needed to build a digital Hulk and a digital Mark Ruffalo. They used an approach started with the Davy Jones character in the Pirates movies for facial animation. The animators would visually match to Ruffalo’s performance, but then ILM would run an automatic simulation over the top. This would provide the right kind of flesh sim and movement, the inertia for the Hulk. The team also had a bodybuilder, Rob DeGroot, who was painted green for lighting and muscle reference.
Making the Hulk more comic-real
ILM explored making the Hulk more in that comic real. They pushed how far he can open his jaw. It’s almost dislocated in some cases. Initially, Hulk was actually planned to turn gray when he’s angry Hulk in the Hulkbuster sequence, but everybody wanted the green guy. So in the end, ILM just changed his eyes to make them look more sullen when he’s under the control of Scarlet Witch.
Conclusion
The team at ILM in San Francisco took on the challenge of improving the already well-realized Hulk from the first Avengers movie. They developed a new approach to facial animation and muscle systems and Mark Ruffalo was given a monster mirror preview set up to experiment with the character and prepare for his on-set performance. The team also had a bodybuilder, Rob DeGroot, who was painted green for lighting and muscle reference. With their efforts, the digital Hulk and Ultron in Age of Ultron were brought to life in a way that amazed audiences around the world.
