Assault on the senses [PC-run computer program for movies]

The extraordinary battle scenes in Peter Jackson's The Two Towers that have thrilled cinema audiences around the world have been made possible with a PC-run computer program. A C-based software program was developed by Massive Ltd. to complete the battle scene, adding thousands of "warriors". The program was used by the New Zealand special effects company WETA Digital to place over eighty different types of digital "extras" into the landscape of Middle Earth. The computer generated imagery enabled the various figures within a scene to interact spontaneously and individually.