How 'Life of Pi' Became a Visual Masterpiece

There was nothing easy about the making of the Oscar-award winning film Life of Pi — a movie that took a book about philosophy and being lost at sea and turned it into a visually-stunning 3D experience.

Not only did the crew build the world's largest wave pool in film history and create an entire storyline around a boy on a boat with a tiger — which was actually an animation and wasn't even there during filming — actor Suraj Sharma (who plays Pi Patel) didn't even know how to swim. The entire film was also shot in 3D, not partially in 2D.

To kick off its Blu-ray release — which launched on Tuesday — the film exclusively gave Mashable a never-before-seen clip of how technology was used to bring the animated animals to life and recreate an ocean environmentLife of Pi also introduced a super-engaging website with behind-the-scenes content, clips and details about what went into creating such a high-tech production.