ILM's People

During our visit to ILM, we spent most of our time talking with Habib Zargarpour. Habib has worked for ILM since 1993. He joined the company as technical director for "The Mask." He quickly earned a reputation as the “Particle Man,” because of a noxious green cloud of gas that he created for a key shot in "The Mask." The cloud was completely CG, created out of millions of tiny 3D particles.

Habib’s love of particles continued to evolve as he worked on "Star Trek: Generations" and "Jumanji." His particle work became the star of the film in "Twister," and shows up in key scenes in "Star Trek: First Contact," "Spawn" and "Star Wars: Episode I." The creation of a tidal wave for the final scene in "Snake Eyes" (a scene that was completely changed in the final version) convinced Habib and his fellow artists at ILM that realistic turbulent water could be created entirely in CG. His work reached entirely new heights with the amazing particle systems developed for "The Perfect Storm." Habib will use the knowledge gleaned from "The Perfect Storm," as well as the other movies he has worked on, to create incredible new effects for ILM.

You might think that it is easy for a company like ILM to create computer-generated (CG) effects for any film. Actually, it is an intense process that requires tremendous amounts of research and lots of painstaking labor. ILM has a staff of more than 1,000 skilled employees, including:

 

  • Visual effects supervisors
  • Technical directors
  • Software developers
  • Scientists
  • Art directors
  • Producers
  • Modelmakers
  • Animators
  • Editors
  • Camera operators
  • Stage technicians

 

Each of these people has an impressive array of abilities. For example, Habib “Particle Man” Zargarpour, the associate visual effects supervisor for "The Perfect Storm," has a bachelor's degree in applied science and mechanical engineering and another bachelor's degree in industrial design (see sidebar for more information on Habib). The huge computer models that simulate the water in "The Perfect Storm" were all researched and written during the movie's production by a team that included Habib, staff scientist John Anderson and many other people. Talent like this is the key to ILM's continuing excellence in CG (computer-generated) effects.


Habib Zargarpour at his workstation