The facial design was redone at the last minute to get more emotion from the eyes, so Image Engine utilized interlocking plates. All images courtesy of TriStar Pictures.

When it came time for Neill Blomkamp to assemble the visual effects team for his first feature, District 9, his distinctive mash up of '80s militaristic sci-fi (adapted from his short, Alive in Joburg), he was counting on Weta Digital. But with Avatar consuming Peter Jackson's CG arm, the Vancouver resident turned to newcomer Image Engine to tackle the aliens and The Embassy (his former company) to create the exo-suit worn by the beleaguered protagonist (Sharlto Copley), who transforms into a "prawn" and must learn to embrace his new identity. Even so, Weta Digital found time to help out in the end, and Zoic contributed some minor yet explosive shots as well.

"We had never done realistic digital characters on screen, let alone with a scope of 300 tough shots," explains Image Engine's Peter Muyzers, on-set visual effects plate supervisor & digital production manager. "So at the outset, Neill didn't know very much about Image Engine. But Neill is such a supporter of Vancouver. When Weta Digital couldn't do the whole movie, he saw it as an opportunity for a Vancouver company to step in. We started talking about the project with Neill and his assistants and by taking advantage of the BC tax incentives, they had a larger budget -- that was key. We worked at keeping the look of the aliens as simple as possible. There's not a lot of fur on them, there's little physical interaction. There's no water or major steam effects. Neill knows what he wants. He used Weta Workshop to design the aliens. We made use of hundreds of illustrations."

As for the design of the aliens that inhabit Johannesburg as wandering drones in search of direction, they look like a cross between an insect exo-skeleton and a crustacean. For Image Engine, Dan Kaufman served as visual effects supervisor, Steven Nichols was animation supervisor and James Stewart was creature supervisor.

"We wanted to make sure the shoulder range was there so the plates wouldn't collide," Muyzers continues."We went and modeled them [in Maya] and wanted Neill to further enhance in CG. At the same time, we could test our rigs for full range of motion and get the desired performance out of the aliens. He was very particular early on about the look: he wanted it to look like a lobster shell with iridescence, sometimes a beetle. So he gave us great reference that he loved in a nature book about bugs and insects. We translated that reference and research into CG."