The complicated steps taken for creating the movie.

So far, all is taken from FFFreak.com (With permission [Thanks!]).

Storyboard

As the first HyperReal computer-generated feature film, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was based entirely on original designs by a team of gifted conceptual artists. No real locations, people, vehicles or props were used. Everything was crafted from the imaginations of the artists who drew inspiration from paintings, magazines, books, and photographs to turn the director`s vision into reality.

Because the movie is entirely CG, every single scene had to be storyboarded. A storyboard is a series of panels with sketches depicting consecutively the changes of scene and action in a series of shots. Working very closely with the director, storyboard artists drew visual sequences to precisely set the pace of the film. The goal was to feel live action, as if a camera was chasing the action. Once blocked out, the storyboard was taken to layout and scanned to create a rough 2D version of the film.

Characters

Free from the physical constraints of a live action performance, the actors had a unique opportunity to assume an animated form and rely strictly on their voice to pinpoint subtleties and emotions within each scene. Although the character designs were not based on the voice actors' likenesses, video footage of their voice recording sessions were made available to the animators to use as reference for mouth movement.

The film's producers went through great lengths to assemble the perfect cast of voice talent--sometimes relying on satellite technology to broadcast performances from across the Atlantic. Alec Baldwin led an ensemble cast including Steve Buscemi, Ving Rames, James Woods, Donald Sutherland, Peri Gilpin, and actress Ming Na as Aki.

One of the biggest challenges for the artists was to recreate HyperRealistic characters that walked and moved in a natural manner. Because human movement is so difficult to replicate in a computer, a process known as motion capture was used. Motion capture, or "mo cap", involves measuring an object's position and orientation in physical space, then recording that information in a computer-usable form. Once data is recorded in computer-usable form, animators can use it to control elements in a computer-generated scene.

Motion Capture

Square carefully staged many of the film's scenes inside their state-of-the-art motion capture studio near Diamond Head, not far from downtown Honolulu. Specially trained staff members spent hours working in customized body suits, bringing a unique physical personality to the complicated and realistic action sequences throughout the film.

The motion capture staff wore skin-tight black costumes laced with 37 reflective markers placed strategically on the suits where their joints moved. As huge speakers played a pre-recorded voice track, the staff moved around the dark stage while sixteen specialized cameras (each silently and rapidly blinking a red light) recorded their motions. Computers recorded and electronically sent the data to programmers at the Square USA studio where the results were 3-D stick figures that matched the staff's movements. These moving wire-frame figures became the foundation for the film's characters, adding an unparalleled dimension of reality to the animation.

Animation

The final step in the animation process is called Key Animation. In this phase of production, all the elements are brought together and the final models are built. Artists often went through hundreds of transformations and refinements as they labored on renderings for the film's many characters.

Key animation for Final Fantasy was done in three basic stages: layout, principal, and final animation.

Beginning with layout animation, basic renderings of scenes were constructed as three-dimensional storyboards. These were used to help the director define the length, pace, and timing within shots and scenes.

Once the layout animation was complete, principal animation began. Utilizing the virtual skeletons created during the motion capture phase of production, entire scenes were built to match the tone and pace set by the storyboards and layout animation. For further accuracy, footage of the actors recording their voices was used as reference to recreate their facial expressions and lip movements.

After principal animation, the texture artists prepared and applied detailed exterior surfaces to the characters--concentrating on hair, eyes, skin, and clothing. Special attention was placed on texture in order to avoid a cartoon-like, CG "shell" appearance. To eliminate this, many surfaces were given the illusion of partial translucence: light appears to be passing over and through them in order to achieve the most realistic appearance possible.

Set and Props

The sets and props department used the concept art and storyboards to build both a crude and high-definition 3D model of each vehicle, object, and building appearing in the film. The less detailed models were used by the layout department for blocking the shots, while the high-definition ones were used during the final stages of the animation process.

After the lighting department received final animation of all the characters, scenes, sets, and props, the technicians used special software to simulate the lighting of each shot as if it were produced in a live-action film studio.

The Last Step

The accurate rendering of skin colours and textures and facial expressions, as well as hair details and clothing wrinkles, presented enormous challenges, which needed to be answered by special solutions.

Compositing was the final step in the animation process for Final Fantasy. All the 3D animation elements from various departments (sets, character, props, visual effects, lighting) were sent to the compositing department.

Compositors were responsible for putting in the finishing touches: balancing colours, ensuring that the efforts of the project's many artists and technicians achieve their visual goals when all of their work is combined. Composited scenes were tinkered with and output to film repeatedly until the director was satisfied with the final product.