Using software specially designed for the task, the effects crew set up a virtual world inside the computer, consisting of digital cameras, lights, actor models and spider models. As Dadras explains, "We created in the computer 3-D models of the mall and the main streets of the town so that we could see where the spiders are running and which buildings they’re climbing on. That’s for reference, so we knew where they should be."
For proper scale, photos were taken of crewmembers standing alongside various objects of graduating size like bicycles, cars and trucks. Then, using these photos and the objects as a guide, the animators would place spiders of various dimensions into the frame until they found the size that looked most appropriate for each spider in each scene.
When it came time to insert the CG images onto the live film footage, "We took the original film negative," says Dadras, "scanned it onto the computer so that it existed as a background plate in a series of pixels, frame by frame, then combined our 3-D spider imagery to the scenes and created a new original negative with spiders on it."
Addressing their approach to this labor-intensive process, Devlin says, "Previously, we made animation to fit the existing scene. Now, we’re able to render the animation ahead of time, in 3-D, and then move our virtual camera to fit the images into the live footage. This way, we are free to do an enormous amount of work prior to filming."
Prior, during and even after filming, teams of character animators worked continuously on creating and perfecting the swarming hordes. Another team of artists added color and texture, lighting, shadows and other details, and finally compositors married the finished renderings to the final print. There was never a dull moment in the effects shop.
When Karen Goulekas joined the project in its final week of shooting, the only element that had truly wrapped was the live-action footage. "The animation was well underway," she recalls, crediting Dadras with having done "most of the legwork (no pun intended), but some of the spiders needed additional texture and other details, and there were shots still being developed."
Goulekas began each day by making full rounds with animation supervisor Kelvin Lee, CG supervisor Paolo Moscatelli, compositing supervisor Abra Grupp and Digital model/texture supervisor Bret St. Clair, among the various animation, lighting and compositing stations, visiting every artist and examining the work in progress. Then, she and the filmmakers would discuss exactly what they needed and how quickly it could be accomplished. Well known in the industry for her enthusiasm and work ethic, Goulekas was not surprised to learn that many of the crew, who had worked with her on Godzilla, had been placing bets as to how long it would take before she threw the project into overdrive. "We went into a 6-day workweek mode as soon as I arrived," she admits, laughing. "I got there on a Monday and by Thursday we were into overtime."
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