Texture artist Anna Ivanova taught herself how to use MAXON’s BodyPaint 3D to create the intricate blend of dirt, dust, paint and stickers that cover the aliens’ bodies in “District 9.”

Though the bulk of Image Engine’s staff worked on the film from the start, the crew eventually grew to 90 as they hired local and international freelancers to help out on what turned out to be a 13-month project. Digital effects artist Anna Ivanova painted many of the alien creatures’ textures working alongside texture artist Julianna Kolakis. Accustomed to working with Photoshop, Ivanova taught herself how to use BodyPaint 3D for this project so she could more easily paint the complex textures that make up the aliens’ bodies. “Most of the aliens had seams all over their bodies and BodyPaint allowed us to go from one seam to another with a projection brush, which solved a lot of problems,” she explains, adding that she also liked the ease with which she could move back and forth between BodyPaint 3D and Photoshop as she worked.

Stewart agrees that BodyPaint 3D was a necessity when it came to creating the aliens because there were so many different elements involved in the look of the characters. In addition to using shaders to layer the creatures’ bodies with dust and dirt, for example, each alien (there were hundreds in all) was adorned with different variations of paint splotches and stickers. Both the paint and the stickers, which the aliens had peeled off of garbage in the ghetto where they lived, were worn in an attempt to fit in with the humans around them. “They were trying to do what the humans did,” Stewart explains. “The paint seemed [to them] like graffiti and the stickers were tattoos.”

In all, Image Engine created 311 of the 600 visual effects shots included in the well-received film, using a combination of MAXON’s BodyPaint 3D, Autodesk’s Maya, Adobe Photoshop,DNA Research’s 3Delight and The Foundry’s NUKE along with Image Engine’s proprietary code base. In addition to developing the alien mother ship, digital helicopters and digital troop carriers, the bulk of Image Engine’s work involved creating a community of entirely CG aliens who populated part of Soweto, South Africa, called “District 9.”

Two other Vancouver VFX houses, The Embassy and Zoic Studios also contributed visual effects, along with New Zealand’s Weta Digital. “We are simply ecstatic about helping Neill achieve his wildly creative vision on this project,” says Shawn Walsh, Visual Effects Executive Producer. “Neill’s truly original take on the alien myth is guaranteed to leave audiences astounded.”

Walsh and Image Engine C.O.O. & Digital Production Manager, Peter Muyzers, worked closely with Blomkamp during pre-production and work on the film, which is a feature-length adaptation of Blomkamp’s 2005 short film “Alive in Joburg,” officially began in May of 2008 with the building of aliens based on designs by Weta Digital. Image Engine’s Creature Supervisor James Stewart led the development team while Steve Nichols, animation supervisor, directed animation. “Neill used the word insect all the time when he talked about the aliens and that’s what the designs were based on,” Stewart recalls. Over time, though, the faces of the aliens were repeatedly reworked to become even more insect-like. “We used a lot of beetle and grasshopper references to get the color and shells right,” he adds.

Created by Image Engine’s Asset Lead Nigel Denton-Howes, the alien mother ship was modeled in Maya and textured with Photoshop