The tech of 'Terminator 2' – an oral history (2017)
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
An oral history of ILM inventing CGI tools for the T-1000 in 1991.
More than a dozen ILM artists recount building custom software like 'Make Sticky' and 'Body Sock' to realize James Cameron's liquid-metal T-1000 for Terminator 2. With only about 50 shots, the CG department had nascent tools, SGI workstations, and $9,000-per-gigabyte storage. They storyboarded shots they didn't yet know how to execute, hiring rapidly to solve challenges like chrome rendering and liquid surface merging.
What commenters are saying
Commenters emphasize T2's cultural impact and the era's blend of CGI and practical effects. Practical squibs for bullet impacts on the T-1000 are praised, alongside the use of identical twins for shapeshifting scenes. Many note that T2 and Jurassic Park used minimal onscreen CGI (6 minutes each), and that modern CGI has dulled the wow factor of practical effects.