
Star Wars: Rogue One and Hollywood’s trip through the uncanny valley - futureguy
http://newatlas.com/star-wars-rogue-one-uncanny-valley-hollywood/47008/
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pasbesoin
Tarkin was a bit off, but I could live with it.

To avoid an outright spoiler, the other application, right at the end -- ugg!
Queasy uncanny valley visage. I'm amazed they didn't revisit that; I saw some
obvious tweaks that would have improved things.

Also, not even CGI (I think), but Vader's frame and stature / postural aspects
differed enough to look like a different person, despite the costume.

Again, just a person looking at the result should have been able to see the
discrepancy and the room for -- in my opinion, readily achievable --
improvement.

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PhantomGremlin
I don't understand this.

Back in 1991 Robert Patrick was an outstanding T-1000. Did anyone experience
an uncanny valley for that character? I didn't, and that was 25 year old CGI.

For me the transitions were seamless and very convincing between "real" and
"shapeshifted". So is there no uncanny valley if transitions occur quickly
enough? Or is it that we _know_ he's a shapeshifter that keeps us from being
disturbed at any point during a transition?

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grzm
I think there are two things at play here. You point out the effectiveness of
the CGI for the transitions in T2. I think you're right in that the
transitions where quick and that we know he's a shape-shifter.

The other is that Tarkin interacts substantially with the other characters,
and close up. There are a lot of additional opportunities for us to see
behavior that doesn't look quite right, especially facial expressions during
conversation.

When thinking about this, I compare the differences between how I reacted to
K-2SO and Tarkin. I never thought once about the K-2SO effects until after the
show: he blended right in. Perhaps it was just that I knew Peter Cushing was
dead, I know I was always aware that something was just a bit off. I also
thought that there was a little _too_ much detail in Tarkin's face, but I
think that be me focussing on it too much.

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kristianp
I think it's because in Terminator 2, the human face is not CGI, it's just
Patrick's face filmed. (or when it is, it's not skin-toned, it's silver or
checker-boarded). The Tarkin CGI is much more ambitious, because it simulates
facial movements and expressions (and lighting).

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grzm
Good point. Transforming or manipulating a filmed image is a different process
from creating one from whole cloth.

