Triple Oscar Winning Pakistani-American Mir Zafar Ali

Academy Award winning Hollywood hits Frozen, Life of Pi and The Golden Compass have one thing in common:  Each used extensive computer-generated imagery (CGI) created by Pakistani-American Mir Zafar Ali who won Oscar Statuettes for "Best Visual Effects" in each of them.

Pakistani-American Mir Zafar Ali With His Oscar Award For Frozen
Karachi-born technologist Mir Zafar Ali specializes in mixing art and technology to create beautifully realistic visual effects for Hollywood movies. He studied computer science at FAST Institute in Karachi. He then attended sculpture classes at Karachi's Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture.

Mir Zafar Ali worked at Karachi production houses Sharp Image and Nucleus Media where he created visual effects used in popular television commercials.  In 1999 he came to the United States to study film arts at Savannah School of Art and Design (SCAD) in Savannah, Georgia.

Rating:
  • Currently 0/5 stars.

Views: 208

Comment by Riaz Haq on December 27, 2014 at 1:47pm
Novaira Masood
Novaira Masood

Do you remember Angelina Jolie as the fabulous Disney villain in this year’sMaleficent? Do you also remember the three fairies Princess Aurora was sent to live with until her 16th birthday?

Whether you enjoyed the film or not, there is no denying that some groundbreaking animation and visual effects were used in the making of the film – and it was no other than a Pakistani software engineer, Novaira Masood, and her team, who were behind the stunning, innovative production.

Not only this, but Novaira has also worked on visual effects for some popular Hollywood films, like A Christmas CarolMars needs MomsThorTransformers 3 and Jack the Giant Slayer.

Novaira studied software engineering from Fast-NU, Islamabad, before she went to the US to pursue her Masters degree from the University of Minnesota.

Following her friends and also her parents’ advice, Novaira entered the field of Computer Science and only developed interest in Computer Graphics in her final year at college.

“I really like writing code that has instant visual feedback and I liked making things look better and more realistic,” said Novaira, who is currently based in Seattle in the US.

Having been in the field for six years, Novaira has worked in multiple areas of visual effects, but her main focus has been on performance capture software, a technique used to capture live human body and facial data to apply onto animated characters in order to make the animations look more lifelike and realistic.

This technology was also used on the fairies in her most recent project, Maleficent.

“I was part of the R&D (Research and Development) software team for Maleficent. I was involved with the team that developed the facial motion capture tools to drive the facial animation of the fairies,” Novaira elucidates. “I also worked on some hair tools that helped generate curly hair for the fairies.”

 Motion/performance capture of the fairy. – Photo courtesy: Novaira Masood

http://www.dawn.com/news/1152662


Comment by Riaz Haq on December 27, 2014 at 1:48pm

Novaira also worked on the software that allowed the artists to lay out the feathers on Maleficent’s wings in such a way that they would not intersect with one another. The feather solution, however, was not used on the final character.

“As part of a research team, the goal is to come up with innovative solutions to a problem. Not all the solutions end up being used in the final production,” she admits.

Talking about the team, Novaira said the software team develops the back-end software, and there are usually four to five software developers per software.

“Once we develop the software, the artists use it to achieve the look that the director wants,” explains Novaira.

“This involves multiple disciplines like modelling, layout, rigging, animation, lighting and effects etc. There are many people involved in putting the final images on the screen.”

Novaira states that the process was a great experience and that she learnt a lot of new things that she did not have experience with before.

But of course, every project comes with a number of challenges.

For the facial animation, Novaira shares that the team had to iterate and improve their existing facial system that they had previously developed for other movies like Tron andJack the Giant Slayer.

“The goal was to make the fairies look like real miniature versions of the actors that were portraying them, so we had to go back and forth a lot with the art department to get the facial expressions right.”

 Fairies from the film 'Maleficent'. – Photo courtesy: Novaira Masood
Fairies from the film 'Maleficent'. – Photo courtesy: Novaira Masood

Elaborating on the process and its duration, Novaira said usually visual effects on a movie take about eight months to a year to complete, depending on the number of shots and the complexity of the project.

“The software development process is usually done at the beginning of the cycle,” said Novaira. “The production team works closely with software; they tell the effects that they are trying to achieve in the movie and we come up with solutions that work for them. There is a lot of back and forth iteration before a software is finalised and used in production.”

How does it feel to see a film you’ve worked on?

“I feel very proud. I still like seeing my name in the credits and I usually force all my friends to go see the movies I've worked on and ask them to stay till the end to see my name in the credits!”

In Novaira’s opinion, institutions in Pakistan are equipped to produce competitive software developers, but she adds that there is room for improvement in areas like career counselling and exposure to opportunities, which would help guide recent graduates and have more communication between the industry and academia.

 Motion/performance capture of the fairy. – Photo courtesy: Novaira Masood
Motion/performance capture of the fairy. – Photo courtesy: Novaira Masood

The scale of Maleficent was huge, and even if the education sector improves, there aren’t any companies in Pakistan that can currently support a project of such scope.

Comment

You need to be a member of PakAlumni Worldwide: The Global Social Network to add comments!

Join PakAlumni Worldwide: The Global Social Network

Pre-Paid Legal


Twitter Feed

    follow me on Twitter

    Sponsored Links

    South Asia Investor Review
    Investor Information Blog

    Haq's Musings
    Riaz Haq's Current Affairs Blog

    Please Bookmark This Page!




    Blog Posts

    Biden's Gaza Ceasefire Veto Defies American Public Opinion

    Aaron Bushnell, an active serviceman in the United States Air Force, burned himself to death in front of the Israeli Embassy in protest against the US policy in Gaza. Before setting himself on fire in what he called an "extreme act of protest", he said he would "no longer be complicit in genocide". Polls show that the vast majority (63%) of Americans want an immediate end to the carnage being perpetrated by Israel in Gaza.  …

    Continue

    Posted by Riaz Haq on February 27, 2024 at 5:30pm

    Pakistan Elections: Imran Khan's Supporters Skillfully Used Tech to Defy Powerful Military

    Independent candidates backed by the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) party emerged as the largest single block with 93 seats in the nation's parliament in the general elections held on February 8, 2024.  This feat was accomplished in spite of huge obstacles thrown in front of the PTI's top leader Imran Khan and his party leaders and supporters by Pakistan's powerful military…

    Continue

    Posted by Riaz Haq on February 16, 2024 at 9:22pm — 1 Comment

    © 2024   Created by Riaz Haq.   Powered by

    Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service