Lucasfilm Hires YouTuber Who Improved Artificial-Looking ‘Mandalorian’ VFX
Image via Lucasfilm Ltd / Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution
YouTuber Shamook, who first posted a deepfake of The Mandalorian’s season two finale last December, has amassed nearly two million views for the work to date. In the finale, a young Luke Skywalker makes a surprise appearance, though fans’ initial excitement waned due to his heavily edited look.
In Shamook’s version, he improved the VFX on Luke Skywalker so that Mark Hamill would look more realistic and less edited. The YouTuber’s skills are so impressive that Lucasfilm has offered him a position at its visual effects division Industrial Light and Magic.
“As some of you may already know, I joined ILM/Lucasfilm a few months ago and haven’t had the time to work on any new YouTube content. Now I’ve settled into my job, uploads should start increasing again. They’ll still be slow, but hopefully not months apart,” Shamook commented on a recent video.
He also noted that their job title is officially known as “Senior Facial Capture Artist.” According to CNET and IndieWire, Lucasfilm itself has also confirmed the hire.
“[Industrial Light and Magic is] always on the lookout for talented artists and have in fact hired the artist that goes by the online person ‘Shamook’. Over the past several years ILM has been investing in both machine learning and AI as a means to produce compelling visual effects work and it’s been terrific to see momentum building in this space as the technology advances,” a Lucasfilm representative said.
Take a look at Shamook’s incredible deepfake below.
[via CNET, cover image via Lucasfilm Ltd / Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution]
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