The Amazing Physics of Avatar.. in Boobs

In a bit of a comical twist, Playboy interviewed James Cameron about his upcoming Avatar and cleverly steered the discussion into their familiar territory: sex.  James Cameron was undeterred, however, as he began to discuss the detailed work and physics simulations of the breasts of the lead CG Female character.

PLAYBOY: Are her breasts on view?

CAMERON: I came up with this free-floating, lion’s-mane-like array of feathers, and we strategically lit and angled shots to not draw attention to her breasts, but they’re right there. The animation uses a physics-based sim that takes into consideration gravity, air movement and the momentum of her hair, her top. We had a shot in which Neytiri falls into a specific position, and because she is lit by orange firelight, it lights up the nipples. That was good, except we’re going for a PG-13 rating, so we wound up having to fix it. We’ll have to put it on the special edition DVD; it will be a collector’s item. A Neytiri Playboy Centerfold would have been a good idea.

via James Cameron Reveals His Quest to Build More Perfect CGI Boobs – Avatar – Gawker.

This story written by Randall Hand

Randall Hand is a visualization scientist working for a federal research lab, aiding researchers to discover the insights buried within their terabyte datasets generated on some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. He also runs VizWorld.com .