Case Study: Weta Digital achieves realistic digital humans with Foundry Nuke and Katana

Weta Digital brings digital Will Smith to life over 2 years with Foundry

The customer, Weta Digital, faced the unique challenge of creating a fully emotive digital human for a leading role, a character named Junior, for the film Gemini Man. This required them to cross the "uncanny valley" and build a realistic digital version of actor Will Smith that could perform at a high frame rate. Foundry's products, Nuke and Katana, were used to tackle the project's immense compositing and lighting complexities.

Foundry's solution provided the tools necessary for Weta Digital's success. Nuke handled high-precision compositing at 4k and 120fps efficiently, while Katana enabled non-destructive, complex lighting setups. The result was the creation of a groundbreaking digital human. The team stated they would struggle to do the show without these packages, which were integral to managing the increased workload and achieving an excellent final result.

Weta Digital