Tiny dog thanks a recent letter writer for pointing out an explanation of the digiwolf phenomenon, upon which I commented last summer (to refresh your memory, these were the simulated curs that menaced the wooden cast of the summer '04 Hollywood howler, The Day After Tomorrow). I had speculated that rabbit fur was perhaps glue-gunned to prosthetic foam rubber dogs, onto which a sheen of CGI effects was then sprayed, but as it turns out this is not quite how Hollywood worked its magic. Apparently real dogs were involved, at least as the models onto which the CGI effects were lovingly, if unconvincingly paint-gunned. From the article by Barbara Robertson in Computer Graphics World magazine:

The dogs wore form-fitting Lycra suits into which motion-capture targets were sewn. "The blue suit extended to their ankle area, and a strap went between their toes," says Benza. "We also had targets on their heads. They looked pretty unhappy."

Hope they were well paid.

On that note, be prepared for me to vivisect Tom Cruise's CGI-sprayed performance in this summer's disaster shout out, War of the Worlds. Katie Holmes, what are you thinking?

Send mail to mail@tiny-dog.com.