The dominant creature here is Shockwave, a giant Decepticon making his first appearance in the film series and wreaking havoc on the cityscape. One of his primary tools is an arm-mounted energy cannon, which is fed by reactor cores on his back. Shockwave, designed and animated by Industrial Light and Magic, rises about 40 virtual feet and has more than 2,000 moving digital pieces. “He doesn’t stand around and talk,” Mr. Farrar said. “He just fights.” Shockwave took the animators about 30 weeks to build before he was ready to be added to a shot.

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