AMA: R&D lead reflects on Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, first photorealistic CG film, 25 years on
kaveh808 · hn · 2026-10-22
On Hacker News, kaveh808, R&D lead on Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, is doing an AMA. The 2001 film was the first attempt to produce an entire feature with photorealistic CG human characters, and marks its 25th anniversary.
The author recounts the project's technical challenges and how the technology has evolved since — an interesting historical counterpoint to today's AI video generation.
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