Digital Domain (https://digitaldomain.com) made significant contributions to the Marvel Studios film The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Under the leadership of VFX supervisor Jan Philip Cramer, Digital Domain collaborated closely with production VFX supervisor Scott Stokdyk, contributing to nearly 400 shots featured in the final film.
Set in a vibrant, 1960s-inspired retro-futuristic world, the film introduces Marvel's first family - The Fantastic Four - as they welcome a new baby, juggle personal lives with their superhero identities, and simultaneously defend Earth from Galactus and Silver Surfer. Digital Domain handled worked on all five of the main characters, with their VFX spanning multiple sequences set in the Baxter Building. The studio's main focus was on The Thing - an asset that was ultimately shared among multiple vendors - and the charming and adorable Baby Franklin.
The studio is known for its digital characters and photorealistic digital humans. In the case of The Fantastic Four, Digital Domain collaborated closely with Marvel and other VFX vendors to develop The Thing. Cramer’s expertise was key in defining the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) shapes for scanning and training, and facial systems that would be used for the character. Cramer worked closely with Clear Angle to ensure all vendor needs were covered to build the iconic character.
To capture the full-body motion of the actor’s body, Digital Domain employed Xsens suits and conducted comprehensive testing. For the face, the studio's team developed a new pipeline that used the proprietary, markerless facial-capture technology Masquerade3, which was instrumental in delivering 300 intricate shots featuring The Thing. The Masquerade3 pipeline was shared across four other vendors on the film. Digital Domain provided all post vis assembly scenes that relied on Xsens and Masquerade3 data based on initial timecode call-outs, and the previs vendor, The Third Floor, received raw dumps of the Masquerade3 data on the character rigs. This unified approach gave other vendors a starting point for the design, ensuring consistency in character performance and quality across every shot, regardless of the studio executing it. For this, Digital Domain set up over 1,160 assembly scene files that contained the character’s body and face to be used by all vendors as their starting point.
One of the unusual challenges in creating The Thing's involved actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach's beard, which had to be addressed during facial setup. While actors are typically required to remove facial hair for proper marker-based facial capture, Digital Domain's Masquerade3 allowed him to keep his beard without any issue. Coincidentally, The Thing also grew a beard. Artists faced the intricate task of simulating The Thing's developing stubble and beard. Beyond this, Digital Domain was responsible for creating nine distinct costumes for the character, including pajamas, cardigans, ties, spacesuits and trench coats.
The film marked Masquerade3's most extensive use to date and was also valuable to the post visualization team, which can process 10 to 15 times more data than the VFX team does in finals. With Masquerade3 and facial rigging supervisor Rickey Cloudsdale at the helm, the studio was able to process hours of data overnight from each vendor and the post-vis team very efficiently - a feat that previously required vast teams and weeks to accomplish for a single shot. Subsequently, a dedicated team was formed to process scene files, integrating body and facial data for seamless sharing with animators.
Cloudsdale, leveraging Masquerade3, processed approximately 60 hours of facial footage for three key characters: The Thing, Silver Surfer and Galactus. Digital Domain served as the central hub for all motion-capture processes, including capturing the data, overseeing the facial and mocap prep for each character, and determining the precise FACS shapes.
The Fantastic Four's newest member - Baby Franklin - required Digital Domain to conduct extensive tests using the studio’s proprietary face-swapping tool, Charlatan. Cramer used his own child to film a proof-of-concept to help evaluate and inform these tests under the guidance of director Matt Shackman. With the studio's work focusing on Franklin once he arrives on Earth, Digital Domain artists were responsible for creating both newborn Franklin and an older version of Baby Franklin, contributing to a total of 150 shots, and designing several different outfits for the character. Cramer was instrumental in identifying the selected baby who portrayed Franklin in the film, spending over a month with the baby and her mother to ensure the desired actions could be accomplished. Together with Clear Angle, a “baby friendly” scanning booth was designed for the specific needs of the film. Baby Franklin was scanned over the course of two weeks at the beginning of the shoot to ensure the most life-like CG replication of Franklin.
Beyond their work on The Thing and Baby Franklin, Digital Domain also delivered significant contributions to other pivotal characters. For Invisible Woman, they were involved in the early development of her signature invisibility effect, and crafted the visually-unique ultrasound of her pregnant stomach. The team also contributed to the early development of Human Torch's fire effects, which are showcased in the Baxter Building scenes as he flies in from outside and during the sequence where he glows within the dark lab.
Collaborating closely with the Marvel art department, Digital Domain designed and built Herbie from the ground up, detailing his internal mechanics and dressing him in an apron. They also created the sequence in which Herbie baby-proofs the home. Additional contributions from the studio include the scene where Reed experiments with the egg in an attempt to beam away Earth to evade Galactus.