This Smaug dragon motion capture breakdown from Weta Digital explains the process behind one of the studio’s most acclaimed creatures. Benedict Cumberbatch performed Smaug on a motion-capture stage for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013), providing both the voice and the physical performance that Weta’s animators then built the dragon’s scale, muscle and fire-breathing animation around.
Weta Digital – Animating The Smaug Dragon With Motion Capture
1–2 minutes
