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Rare Interview With Inventor of R2-D2, Millennium Falcon
popularmechanics.com — George Lucas ’s team of F/X wizards took home an Oscar for Star Wars in 1977, and one of the quiet but crucial innovators among them was Grant McCune. Since then, he’s built models for over 100 films, spanning decades of sci-fi and action classics.
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- mattnyc99, on 03/27/2008, -1/+4Dugg for badass pic!
- photohunter, on 03/27/2008, -0/+12That's pretty crazy how they just took junky model parts to build the Millennium Falcon
And they're right--the old models looked much better than the bad CG. Especially from Episode 1.- doctechnical, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1It used to be called "kit bashing".
- Tomchei, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1Episode 1 was the last movie to use models.
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Adam_Savage
Lucas has sold his model division to the employees.
- MikeonTV, on 03/27/2008, -3/+1Here is the audio of the conversation http://tinyurl.com/2t4s4s
- Slydevil01, on 03/27/2008, -0/+15Episodes IV, V and VI's special effects were way better than the prequels. Real things don't look like varnished plastic. All they did was compensate by pouring visual acid into your retinas. It's all in how it's applied of course, the original Jurassic Park still has the best special effects yet, for example.
*ahem*..- doctechnical, on 03/27/2008, -0/+2Truth, you speak.
- VortexSpin, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1I agree with Slydevil. Filmmakers use CG for so much these days, when really it should probably be used just to tie other elements (miniatures, for instance) together seamlessly. If you just look at screenshots, the model starfighters from the original trilogy look way better than the CG starships from the prequels. Unfortunately technology prevented those models from moving convincingly. Still, I think that if modern movies implemented those sorts of pre-CG era effects in *combination* with CG, we'd have much more involving films.
And you also get into the issues of how much harder it is for actors to do their job without any visual cues. The Lord of the RIngs films were a tad better in this regard - they built Edoras, for example, even though it could have been CG. Why? Because it's more convincing, obviously!
So yeah, in short - CG is overused and my guess is that in thirty years people will look at these films and laugh, just like we laugh at, say, stop-motion effects. (King Kong, Terminator, Robocop.) - sponeil, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1I don't know, the special effects for the lightsabers in 4 were pretty painful to look at. They pushed the envelope the whole way in the original trilogy though, and the lightsabers looked great in 5 and 6.
As a 3D graphics/games programmer, I'd have to say that the main problem with CG is that when you're the one working on the project, you keep making it look better and better. Everyone involved in the project sees it continually improve, which gives them an inflated view of how it really looks (because they've seen it look 100 times worse than that, and that's what they're comparing it to in their head). It really does take an outsider to come in and make them realize that it STILL looks like crap. ;-)
- Nerve55, on 03/27/2008, -0/+2great pic!
- lamiaconfitor, on 03/27/2008, -2/+5no one invented them, they aren't real. :P
- elpohl, on 03/27/2008, -0/+8CG Yoda = Fantastic Fail.
- valentingalea, on 03/27/2008, -8/+0puppet Yoda = EPIC fail!
- Rizmaster, on 03/27/2008, -1/+1I hate CGI with a passion, but puppet Yoda in Episode I = Abortion-worthy fail.
- annflower, on 03/27/2008, -1/+1R2D2 and C3PO. When i was child i thought that they are the greatest inventions of humanity!
- naj0rt, on 03/27/2008, -0/+6They are designs not inventions, as suggested by the title.
- mal1964, on 03/27/2008, -0/+4"For a mechanic, you seem to do an excessive amount of thinking."
-C3PO- - davidwasman, on 03/27/2008, -0/+3Really good to see Popular Mechanics on the front page again. It's even better to see this wasn't a story stolen and hijacked by Gizmodo.
I do wish the story was more in-depth, though. I'd like to know what else he's had a hand in. - robotto, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1Still when I look back and see how these original movies look, they look more real than the cartoonish CGI nowadays... These models sure did the trick.
- smek2, on 03/27/2008, -0/+5A rather short interview. They ask him 4 questions, 3 of them basically the same. What’s the secret to making a good model?, So what should amateurs do to perfect this? & What’s the simplest way to make your models better? I learned nothing about that person.
- punkcat, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1agree. i don't care much for learning about him though, i wanted to know the inspiration and ideas behind r2d2 and the falcon.
how much he worked with ralph. was it all just hacked together? or was there a general vision of shape?
as it stands it just glosses over his entire process and we learn little.
- punkcat, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1agree. i don't care much for learning about him though, i wanted to know the inspiration and ideas behind r2d2 and the falcon.
- modernangel76, on 03/27/2008, -0/+2There are some good pics in the portfolio section on his companies website here http://www.gmdfx.com/portfolio.php
too bad the design of the website isn't on par with his effects work. - zoethebitch, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1Star Wars: That opening shot of the Star Destroyer moving into the frame sums up the whole article.
It was well lit and moving slowly. Your eye could appreciate, but was still overwhelmed, by all the details and texture on the surface of the ship.
Infinitely better than some piece of CGI crap whizzing by, at dusk, in other movies. - tblaney6591, on 03/27/2008, -2/+1Everyone listed above who's posted a comment on this... yeah... not getting laid.
http://wtcctr.blogspot.com - spaceyraygun, on 03/27/2008, -0/+1one time i was at a rainbow vacuum cleaner repair store and the guy, who was head to toe in rainbow garb (shoes too), said that R2-D2 was modeled after some of the earliest rainbow vacuum cleaners. i still have yet to see anyone actually admit that.
- MRCAB, on 03/28/2008, -0/+1ha... Grant McCune is my boss.
- MRCAB, on 03/28/2008, -0/+1Grant's IMDB page:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0567263/ - apextek, on 03/28/2008, -0/+1invetor, should read creator, its not like the millenium falcon really flew in space or that r2d2 was a fully functioning robot when there wasnt a midget inside
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