section_path: Production/Visual effects and design
section_name: Visual effects and design
paragraph_text: Visual effects and design
  
  The visual effects were provided by Disney-owned Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). With additional visual effects by Luma Pictures, Moving Picture Company, Untold Studios, Crafty Apes, Atomic Arts and Cantina Creative. Craig Hammack served as visual effects supervisor. Early on, to ensure strong on-screen chemistry between the child actress playing Lilo (who had not yet been cast) and the computer-generated Stitch character, ILM decided to employ animatronic puppets as stand-ins for Stitch on set. ILM hired Legacy Effects to build several puppet versions of Stitch, including a version suitable for underwater scenes. The puppets never appear on screen in the finished film; they were created only to provide the cast members with a "physical scene partner" capable of eliciting appropriate emotional reactions. This method was deemed superior to the risk of getting "stale" performances (if the cast had been asked to react to an imaginary Stitch). Legacy Effects sent puppeteer Seth Hayes to Hawaii to operate the puppets on set. For some scenes in which Lilo initially mistakes Stitch for a dog, a French Bulldog named Dale played Stitch. In post-production, the puppet and dog stand-ins for Stitch were replaced by ILM with a CG Stitch.
  
  The visual effects were provided by Disney-owned Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). With additional visual effects by Luma Pictures, Moving Picture Company, Untold Studios, Crafty Apes, Atomic Arts and Cantina Creative. Craig Hammack served as visual effects supervisor. Early on, to ensure strong on-screen chemistry between the child actress playing Lilo (who had not yet been cast) and the computer-generated Stitch character, ILM decided to employ animatronic puppets as stand-ins for Stitch on set. ILM hired Legacy Effects to build several puppet versions of Stitch, including a version suitable for underwater scenes. The puppets never appear on screen in the finished film; they were created only to provide the cast members with a "physical scene partner" capable of eliciting appropriate emotional reactions. This method was deemed superior to the risk of getting "stale" performances (if the cast had been asked to react to an imaginary Stitch). Legacy Effects sent puppeteer Seth Hayes to Hawaii to operate the puppets on set. For some scenes in which Lilo initially mistakes Stitch for a dog, a French Bulldog named Dale played Stitch. In post-production, the puppet and dog stand-ins for Stitch were replaced by ILM with a CG Stitch.