Cinesite, Framestore-CFC (above) and Realscan lent their collective vfx artistry to keep moviegoers from distinguishing between the real pooch, and his digital double in Underdog. All images © Disney Enterprises.

Reality and make believe meld on Aug. 3 with the release of Underdog, Spyglass Ent. and Walt Disney Pictures' live-action adaptation of the 2D cartoon of the same name whose crime-fighting canine graced the small screen from 1964 to 1973.

But this dog's toughest trick won't be protecting the beleaguered citizens of Capitol City after routinely proclaiming: "There's no need to fear. Underdog is here!" It will be keeping moviegoers from being able to distinguish between the real pooch, a cooperative Lemon Beagle named Leo in the starring role, and his digital double. The same applies to a cast of fellow canines whose CG stand-ins provide a photorealistic portrayal designed to fool the eyes, boggle the mind and warm the heart.

It took a crack team of experts on both sides of the Pond to lend their collective vfx artistry to pulling off this impressive cinematic feat at a time when the creative and approval processes usually associated with producing digital animal doubles are both painstaking and no guarantee that high quality will prevail. One inherent challenge is getting animals to sit still long enough for a full-body scan, while another is that technical limitations have often produced inexact results.

Underdog showcases the work of Realscan 3D Inc., a mobile 3D scanning house whose proprietary technology is used to build exact digital doubles of talent and objects that can be matched quickly to live-action plates. Courtesy of Realscan 3D.

Leading the charge was Hoyt Yeatman, an industry veteran who served as the film's visual effects supervisor. He recruited several heavy hitters to realize director Frederik Du Chau's vision of a photoreal canine who could fly (unlike the animal caricatures found in Garfield, Stuart Little or The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle), and dazzle a younger audience for whom realism is so critical.

They included Cinesite and Framestore-CFC facilities in London to post the project, which showcased the work of Realscan 3D Inc. in Redondo Beach, California, a mobile 3D scanning house whose proprietary technology is used to build exact digital doubles of talent and objects that can be matched quickly to live-action plates.

Realscan's RealCapture NexGen 3D scanning technology laid the groundwork for what each of the main players involved in vfx on Underdog considered unprecedented levels of detail and color in the pack of dogs on which the digital doggie doubles were based and completely convincing photorealism once all the finishing touches were made. Realscan's technology captures geometry and high-resolution texture in a single pass, moving around the subject with the use of a portable scanner that acquires subtle features and undercuts missed by fully automated systems.

The technical proficiency of this tool helped to pave the way for operational efficiencies that slashed time-consuming tasks from months to weeks and even days. The approach enabled Yeatman, who has worked on more than 100 movie, TV and commercial projects and won an Oscar for The Abyss, to focus on more strategic issues rather than worry about perfecting the animal likeness.