computer graphics world - november-december 2013
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CGW November/December 2013 1
FEATURES
SE
E
IT
IN
DE
PARTM
ENTS
2 EDITORS NOTEMAKING A LIST The
Oscar race is heating up which VFX and
animated films will make the nominee list?
4 SPOTLIGHTPRODUCTSNewTeks
LightWave 11.6, Nevron plug-in Dells M3800
mobile workstation Side Effects Houdini 13 Adobe/Maxons Cineware
6 NEWSRTT acquires Bunkspeed
32 EDUCATIONHow schools are helping their
graduates find employment
44 PORTFOLIODana Berry
46 REVIEWSNext Limits RealFlow, HPs Z620
48 BACK PRODUCTSRecent software andhardware releases
16 GRAVITATIONAL PULL Two films face thechallenge of animating in zero gravity.
Gravity:Keeping astronauts groundedin space
Enders Game: Going weightless in thebattle room
22 THE GOLD STANDARD The road headinginto the 86th annual Academy Awards isnearing its end. Here, we take a look at thelikely contenders in the visual effects andanimated feature races, with industry expertsweighing in.
40 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Reel FX AnimationStudios first animated feature has turkeys
as the centerpiece, requiring the studio todevise a robust feathering system.
COMPUTER GRAPHICS WORLD
on the COVER8WINTER WONDERLANDDisney
Animation set its latest princess movie
in a fairy-tale land of ice and snow,
requiring the studio to devise some digital
magic of its own in the form of simulation
systems and other technology.
NOV/DEC 2013 | VOL. 36 | NO. 7
| REEL FXS FREE BIRDS
| ALFONSO CUARN ONGRAVITY
| PICTURE & SOUND RESTORATION
POSTMAGAZINE.com
16 22 40
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2 CGW November/December 2013
Karen MoltenbreyEditor-in-Chief
karen@CGW.com
ITHE MAGAZINE FOR DIGITAL CONTENT PROFESSIONALS
I have a confession: I make lists. In fact, I have several lists on my desk right now. A listof phone calls to be returned. A list of potential stories to check out. A list of images
I need to download today. A list of videos I need to add to the CGW website. Theres
even a list of errands I need to run at lunchtime, none of which involve food. (My gro-
cery list is on the kitchen counter.) I will spare you the details about the list making that
goes on when I have to travel. And, needless to say, my teenager bolts for the door
when he sees me coming with a list of his homework assignments.
I may be a bit obsessed with lists, but its difficult to escape them. They are
informative, and they keep things on track and in perspective. Soon the Academy
will be whittling down the list of contenders in the 2014 Oscar race. For best visual
effects, there are a number of possibilities (see The Gold Standard, pg. 22). Certain
films from this past summer looked like obvious selections moving into the fall,
but a strong year-end lineup most likely will change things up. This includes Gravity,which is pulling support in a number of Oscar categories, including visual effects (see
Gravitational Pull, pg. 16).
Another late entry that should be a big vote getter is the second film in The Hobbit
trilogy:The Desolation of Smaug. It appears that Peter Jackson and the studios find
magic in the month of December, as all threeHobbit films will be, or have been,
released in that month. The same held true forThe Lord of the Rings series. And, Walt
Disney Animation is also hoping to get studios into the holiday spirit with the release
ofFrozen during Thanksgiving weekend. The timing can be considered an early Christ-
mas presence of sorts for audiences. But, is it a gift for the studios? It seems so.
The last few Oscar winners for VFX were late-year releases: Life of Pi, Hugo, Avatar,
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Golden Compass, King Kong. As for ani-
mation, the summer seems to be the lucky season for films in this genre, especiallyfor Brave, Rango, Toy Story 3, Up, Wall-e, Ratatouille. Perhaps, though, it is more of a
Pixar thing, since all of those, with the exception of Rango, were Pixar releases.
This year, the list of animated features vying for an Oscar contains the names of
many veterans (Disney, Pixar, Sony Pictures Animation, Studio Ghibli, and Dream-
Works Animation), although there are a few relative newcomers in the hunt, including
Reel FX. In fact, Reel FX Animation Studios released its first animated feature cre-
ation, Free Birds, in November (see Birds of a Feather, pg. 40). Another list to con-
sider: Pixar films have done extremely well at the Oscars. But this year, its greatest
competition may come from within its own family, asMonsters University goes head
to head against Walt Disney Animations Frozen (see Winter Wonderland, pg. 8).
Another race that is heating up involves the new game consoles. Earlier this
year, we listed a number of new machines planned for release starting this holidayseason (see Console Wars Redux, March/April 2013). While there are a number of
newcomers stepping into the market, the big competition is between Microsofts
Xbox One and Sonys PlayStation 4. As of this writing, launch day was right around
the corner, and stories abound with commentary about which system is better and
which should be at the top of everyones wish list.
You know, the funny thing about lists is they change constantly. So, I think it's time
for me to make some new ones. CGW
RECENT AWARDS
THE MAGAZINE FOR DIGITAL CONTENT PROFESSIONALS
EDITORIAL
EDITOR-IN-CHIEFKaren Moltenbreye:karen@cgw.comt: 603.432.7568
CONTRIBUTING EDITORSCourtney Howard,Jenny Donelan, Kathleen Maher, George Maestri,
Martin McEachern, Barbara Robertson
PUBLISHER / PRESIDENT / CEOWilliam R. Rittwage
COP Communications
ADVERTISING SALES
DIRECTOR OF SALESNATIONAL Mari Kohn
e: mkohn@copcomm.com t: 818.291.1153c: 818.472.1491
DIRECTOR OF SALESWEST COASTJeff Victore: jvictor@cgw.com t: 224.436.8044
CORPORATE SALES EXECUTIVEEVENTS, CUSTOM ANDINTEGRATED PRINT/PUBLISHING SERVICES Lisa Black
e:lblack@copcomm.com t: 818.660-5828
EDITORIAL OFFICE / LA SALES OFFICE620 West Elk Avenue, Glendale, CA 91204 t: 800.280.6446
ART/PRODUCTION
ART DIRECTOR Michael Viggianoe: mviggiano@copcomm.com
ONLINE AND NEW MEDIAStan Belchevsbelchev@copcomm.com
SUBSCRIPTIONS818.291.1158
CUSTOMER SERVICEe:
csr@cgw.comt:
800.280.6446, opt. 3COMPUTER GRAPHICS WORLD MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED BY
COMPUTER GRAPHICS WORLD,
A COP COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY.
Computer Graphics World does not verify any claims or otherinformation appearing in any of the advertisements contained in
the publication, and cannot take any responsibility for any lossesor other damages incurred by readers in reliance on such content.
Computer Graphics World cannot be held responsible for thesafekeeping or return of unsolicited articles, manuscripts, photo-
graphs, illustrations or other materials.Address all subscriptioncorrespondence to: Computer Graphics World, 620 West Elk Ave,
Glendale, CA 91204. Subscriptions are available free to qualifiedindividuals within the United States. Non-qualified subscription
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all other countries$150 for 1 year and $208 for 2 years.Digital subscriptions are available for $27 per year.
Subscribers can also contact customer service by calling818-291-1158, or sending an email to csr@cgw.com.
Postmaster: Send Address Changes toComputer Graphics World,
620 W. Elk Ave., Glendale, CA 91204Please send customer service inquiries to
620 W. Elk Ave., Glendale, CA 91204
Making a List
mailto:karen@CGW.commailto:karen@cgw.commailto:karen@cgw.commailto:karen@cgw.commailto:mkohn@copcomm.commailto:mkohn@copcomm.commailto:jvictor@cgw.commailto:jvictor@cgw.commailto:jvictor@cgw.commailto:lblack@copcomm.commailto:lblack@copcomm.commailto:lblack@copcomm.commailto:lblack@copcomm.commailto:mviggiano@copcomm.commailto:sbelchev@copcomm.commailto:csr@cgw.commailto:csr@cgw.commailto:csr@cgw.commailto:csr@cgw.commailto:csr@cgw.commailto:sbelchev@copcomm.commailto:mviggiano@copcomm.commailto:lblack@copcomm.commailto:jvictor@cgw.commailto:mkohn@copcomm.commailto:karen@cgw.commailto:karen@CGW.com -
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4 CGW November/December 2013
L I G H Tspot
NewTek Turns On LightWave
11.6, NevronMotion Plug-inThe LightWave 3D Group, a division of NewTek, has rolled out the final re-
lease of LightWave 11.6 software for 3D modeling, animation, and rendering.
Also available is the final version of the NevronMotion plug-in for LightWave
11.6, which uses the Microsoft Kinect camera to capture motion in real time
for retargeting to 3D or live-performance characters. NevronMotion alsosimplifies retargeting data from standard motion-capture files directly into the
LightWave interface.
LightWave 11.6 introduces many new ways for artists and designers to
model, animate, capture, retarget, and input and output to 3D. With the
Spline Control tool, nulls or other objects act as nodes in a spline to control
or deform objects, such as tentacles, tails, whips, or even elevators. Raycast
Motion utilizes raycasting technology to make an animated object aware of
its surroundings. And, the Compound Node feature can simplify complex
networks down to a single node.
LightWave 11.6 also helps streamline real-time virtual production, previs,
and game development through the use of Nvidias CgFX shader. The Mod-
eler in the release now includes new import and export options to supportthe popular STL and PLY file formats for 3D printing. With support for Nvidia
3D Vision, 3D Vision Pro, and HDMI stereo devices, artists can visualize high-
quality advanced stereoscopic 3D environments across multiple devices.
Meanwhile, the NevronMotion plug-in extends the softwares virtual studio
tools to: Capture live-rig motion with the Kinect camera; retarget motion
capture directly in LightWave Layout; save and adjust captured motion data
from the Kinect camera; easily adjust arm and leg mocap positions and layer
hand-keyed animation on top of motion-capture files; save and load
retargeting presets for FBX, BVH, or custom setups; preset
rigs for Kinect and motion-capture formats; and quickly bake
out motion to character rigs
LightWave 11.6 is priced at $1,495, and the NevronMotion plug-inis priced at $299.
Dell's M3800
Mobile WorkstationBlends Beauty,Performance
Dell has added a new form factor
to its family of powerful mobile
workstations: the thinnest and
lightest 15-inch true mobile work-
station, the Dell Precision M3800,
which merges beautiful design
in an ultra-thin form factor with
workstation-class performance.Less than three-quarters of
an inch thin (18 mm) and start-
ing at 4.15 pounds (1.88 kg), the
M3800 features dual-cooling and
more than 10 hours of battery life
with Nvidia Optimus technology.
The Precision M3800 is available
with Windows 8.1 Pro (64-bit) or
genuine Windows 7 Professional
(64-bit) and is loaded with up to
16GBof memory, and 4th genera-
tion Intel Core i7-4702HQ eight-threaded quad-core processor
with up to 3.2GHz clock speeds.
The M3800 is equipped with the
Nvidia Quadro K1100M GPU with
2GBof GDDR5 dedicated memory,
offering twice as much onboard
video memory as the HP Z series
Ultrabook, according to Dell. The
workstation also comes with a
15.6-inch UltraSharp display.
The Dell Precision M3800 has a
starting price of $1,799.
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Shoot the next Hollywood blockbuster with theworlds most amazing digital cinema camera!
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6 CGW November/December 2013
Side Effects Unveils Houdini13 with Finite-Element Solver
Side Effects Software has released Houdini 13, which introduces a finite-
element solver for bending and tearing FX, a new multithreaded particle
architecture integrated into Houdinis existing dynamics context, and a new
lighting workflow to efficiently handle massive data sets.
The finite-element solver analyzes the stresses on solid objects, then
either bends or breaks each
shape. This new solver is
ideal for creating realistic
destruction shots or soft-
body FX with volume
preservation.The new particle ar-
chitecture has been fully
integrated into the dynamics
context to provide seamless
interaction with other simulation tools. This vex-based framework is multi-
threaded and allows for speeds up to 10x faster as well as cached results
for scrubbing in the timeline. There are also new particle tools and forces,
including Axis Force, which uses 3D volumes to control particles.
Houdini 13s new lighting workflow has been built to efficiently manage
huge datasets. This new workflow offers a data tree view for assigning ma-
terials and lights to the objects and groups found in Alembic files as well as
Houdinis new Packed Primitive objects.Houdini 13 can be downloaded from sidefx.com, with base Houdini avail-
able starting at $1,995 and Houdini FX starting at $4,495.
L I G H Tspot
RTT Acquires
BunkspeedRTT, a leading provider of profes-
sional high-end 3D visualization so-
lutions, has acquired Bunkspeed,
Inc. With more than a decade of
experience operating in the visual-
ization marketplace and a versatile
design tool, Bunkspeed completes
the RTT portfolio of comprehensive
products.
Traditionally, RTT has provided
enterprise solutions and servicesfor OEMs that employ digital prod-
uct pipelines. Bunkspeed repre-
sents a company with a focus on
design visualization tools. The acqui-
sition extends RTTs services to
agencies and designers by offering
this lightweight, robust design tool.
Peter Stevenson, CEO of RTT
USA, says, The addition of Bunk-
speeds specialty services and
footprint will allow RTT to provide
a broader range of capabilities toour customers.
Bunkspeed will continue to
operate under the same name and
is now a wholly owned subsid-
iary of RTT. The incorporation of
Bunkspeed will take place over
the upcoming months, and both
companies note that the clients
will continue to receive the same
support during the transition that
they have always enjoyed.
David Randle, general managerof Bunkspeed, states, The acqui-
sition of Bunkspeed by RTT will
provide major benefits to our exist-
ing and future customers. They
bring a level of global presence,
knowledge, support, and expertise
that will complement and enhance
our core offerings.
Steven Madge, managing direc-
tor of the Pasadena, California,
office has been named CEO of
Bunkspeed, Inc.
Adobe/Maxon CinewareConnection Gets TighterThe latest release of Adobe After Effects CC includes updates to
Cineware, improving the integration and performance between Maxons
Cinema 4D application and Adobes After Effects.
Since the introduction of After Effects CC, creative professionals have
benefitted from the seamless integration provided by Cineware thatestablishes a bridge between the Maxon and Adobe applications and al-
lows users to open any 3D file that Cinema 4D supports directly in After
Effects that can be edited and enhanced using the Live 3D pipeline.
Compositing passes can also be selected directly in After Effects for
editing. This version of After Effects CC includes the debut of Cinema
4D Lite, a limited yet feature-rich version of Cinema 4D integrated within
After Effects that gives artists access to a selection of the softwares
functionality.
Many updates in the new release of Cinema 4D, Release 15, are also
available in the latest version of After Effects CC. They include an Options
Dialog Box, rendering enhancements, an upgrade path to Cinema 4D.
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SIMULATION
8 CGW November/December 2013
SIMULATION
The theme of Disneys 53rdfeature animation is the power of love over fear, and its
tempting to extend that metaphor to the studio itself. With this film, Disney Animation
has fully embraced its past and skillfully incorporated the beauty and magic of tradition-
ally animated fairy tales within a truly modern feature film.
Based very loosely on Hans Christian Andersens The Snow Queen, the new Disney
classic gives Andersens villainous queen a more nuanced role, replaces the little girl
on a rescue mission with an older, spunky princess, gives the princess a good-natured
guide, and introduces a magical snowman.I remember when we were all talking about making the snow queen more three-
dimensional, says Jennifer Lee, who wrote and directed the film with Chris Buck.
Someone said, What if they [the girl and the queen] are sisters? And, everyone felt
something. I thought, Oh, gosh. I love this now.
The sisters are Elsa, voiced by Idina Menzel, and Anna, voiced by Kristen Bell. Anna
is an 18-year-old girl who calls herself ordinary, Lee says. She has a big heart, and
shes fearless. Shes also messy, talks before she thinks, and is funny and quirky. Elsa
was born with the power to create snow and ice out of nothing. When the sisters were
small, they used to sneak out at night and play with Elsas magic with such joy. But
Anna is too fearless, and she pushes too far. She gets in the way of the magic and is
hurt. The trolls save her, but they remove her memory of Elsas magic, and Elsa lives her
life hiding her powers as best she can. Her fear is that her powers will come out.
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CGW November/December 2013 9
DISNEYS EFFECTS and R&Dteams developed new tech-nology to create magical yetbelievable CG snow and ice.At far left, Anna, Olaf, Kristoff,and Sven the reindeer travel
through the result.
2013WALTDISNEYPICTURES
VIDEOS:Go to Extras in the
November/December 2013
issue box.com
Wonderland
Artists at Disney Feature Animation set an epic, magical,musical comedy in a fairy-tale land of ice and snow
By Barbara Robertson
http://www.cgw.com/Video-Center/Trailers/Frozen.aspxhttp://www.cgw.com/Video-Center/Trailers/Frozen.aspxhttp://www.cgw.com/Video-Center/Trailers/Frozen.aspxhttp://www.cgw.com/Video-Center/Trailers/Frozen.aspxhttp://www.cgw.com/Video-Center/Trailers/Frozen.aspxhttp://www.cgw.com/Video-Center/Trailers/Frozen.aspx -
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SIMULATION
10 CGW November/December 2013
And then one day, Elsa becomes queen. At her coronation,
the teenaged Anna falls in love at first sight with handsome
prince Hans (Santino Fontana). After knowing Hans only oneday, she agrees to marry him. Elsas emotional reaction causes
her to lose control over her powers, and she flees. The fear
she feels has created an eternal winter, Lee says. After Elsa
accidentally turns the world cold, Anna sets out after her sister.
Anna seeks to melt Elsas frozen heart and bring summer
back to the kingdom. And with that, the movie begins in ear-
nest. On Annas journey through the snowy mountain land-
scape, she meets Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), an ice harvester
who lives with his reindeer. He offers to help her navigate
through the mountains. Along the way, they meet the magical
snowman named Olaf (Josh Gad).
What a lot of people dont know is that Elsa and Anna hadcreated Olaf when they were little by hand-rolling him out of
Elsas snow, Lee says. He represents their beautiful inno-
cence. When Elsa thinks shes a safe distance away, she builds
an ice palace, and in that freedom re-creates the Olaf from her
childhood in a song, the song Let It Go. In this film, we never
start and stop for a song. Every song is a continuation of the
plot; they drive the plot forward.
Olaf represents the love between the sisters, and in do-
ing so, has an emotional role. But, he also provides slapstick
comic relief in the film. Hes obviously made of snow, so we
had to respect truth in materials in how snow moves, says
Lino DiSalvo, head of animation. And, his arms are sticks, so
we couldnt bend them in the film. The
beauty of that is it put him in interesting
situations. Having him scratch his head or
reach for an object becomes a complex,
fun situation. How do you get a character
with straight arms on Sven [the rein-deer]? How does he poke up over an ice
bluff to see whats going on?
The answer to the latter question is:
He pops off his head and holds it up with
his arm.
Truth in ActingOlaf is a bipedal character with the struc-
ture of a human, but animators could
disconnect and reconnect all his body
parts. The things that made him special
were out of the ordinary for us, saysFrank Hanner, character CG supervisor.
Luckily, we knew those things early on.
He was always going to be magical, and
from day one or two we had reference
designs of Olaf pulling his head off, or
melting in a corner and rolling a new body. They were fun, cool
ideas. But, it was a bit of a challenge to construct a system
that allowed any part of this little guy to disconnect and arbi-
trarily reconnect.
The rigging team devised a tool they named Spaces that
gave animators a convenient way to reconfigure the rig. He
has one rig with mechanisms for connecting and disconnect-ing, Hanner says. Working in Autodesks Maya, an animator
could click a button to have Olafs head fall off and still animate
his body walking away.
His body parts could be in world space or local space,
DiSalvo says. So, we could pull his arm off and pop it into
world space and then continue working on his body.
DiSalvo led a crew of 70 animators by casting supervisors
for each of the hero characters and then finding pockets of
animators for specific moments. Our animation department is
so fine-tuned, I felt like a conductor of an amazing orchestra, he
says. Wed be in review sessions and nine out of 10 times wed
find ourselves involved in the movie rather than critiquing light-ing or whatever. Wed all be leaning forward watching the film,
and Id think, Oh my gosh, I think we have something special.
Although all the humans, the reindeer, and, of course, Olaf,
are caricatures, the animation team strived for what they call
truth in acting. The first order of business for us was bring-
ing in the voice actors, DiSalvo says. I moderated a session
like Inside the Actors Studio, with the animators sitting
around. And, an acting coach came here early in the process
and we went through pages of the script. We wanted truth in
acting, truth in the emotion. We wanted to make sure emo-
tions crescendo at the right time. Its easy in an animated film
to put the volume on 12 in every shot, with every animator
AT TOP, OLAF CAN bend his stick arms (and not melt)only in his dreams of summer. At bottom, lighting artists
used full raytracing to render Elsas ice palace.
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CGW November/December 2013 11
trying to outdo the other. But, we didnt want clichs.
Before committing to CG animation, the animators spent time
looking at hand-drawn animation. We went through explorations
of the hero characters for a year and a half, DiSalvo says. They
also shot live-action reference, drew thumbnails, and pulled
from their own life experiences to dig into that truth. DiSalvoprovides an example from his life experience that informed the
animators performance of Kristoff in an emotional scene.
In the sequence, Kristoff and his reindeer, Sven, are travel-
ling through frozen tundra. Sven slips on the ice and falls into
the water, and DiSalvo remembered a similar situation. My
dog was walking around my parents backyard and fell through
the ice in a koi pond, he says. I had to run across the yard
and jump into the frozen lake to save him. We discussed that
moment and knew that Kristoff wouldnt be just surprised or
sad. You see fear on his face. He potentially lost his best friend.
We didnt over-animate. We didnt caricature. He has a specific
expression of fear.
The crew even had a reindeer come to the studio so the
animators could research Svens movements. We got all the
70 animators outside together, DiSalvo says. We brought inthe reindeer. And he just stood there eating grass. We realized
reindeer dont do much. So John Lasseter and I started talk-
ing about what we could caricature. I talked about my French
bulldog, and John talked about his two dogs, and we started
exploring Sven as if he were a dog. Sven became everyones
favorite fun moments with their pets.
As for the lead characters: The most important thing
was bringing the nuances and subtleties of the hand-drawn
characters to the CG characters, DiSalvo says. To be able to
animate a film about love, about someone who is driven by
fear, and someone who is fearless, to have one sister want-
ing to get her sister back we couldnt wait to get a shot withthese characters. Acting-wise, there is nothing more satisfying
than animating characters with so much subtext. So many of
us here wanted to get into animation because of Beauty and
the Beast, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King. And all of a sud-
den, here we are about to animate Elsa.
Elsas MagicElsas conflicting emotions, which provided such depth for the
animators, created a flurry of challenges for an effects team
that needed to produce her magical snow and ice. Elsas
magic is emotional, Lee says. We wanted it to have a lan-
guage that was part of the storytelling and help express whenshes feeling joy, when shes gnarly, when shes grieving.
That intent was so strong the effects team became involved
with the story and animation departments early in the process.
We put the film up in storyboards every 12 weeks to get
notes from our colleagues, Lee says. We wanted to know
how they felt and what was possible. We had them hand-draw
what Elsas magic would look like, and the drawings were
stunning. Some of these hand-drawings are still in the film
because they fit so well in this magical, not real, world.
Visual Effects Supervisor Steve Goldberg, who came onto
the show soon after finishing Tangled, led the teams of artists
who would create the stunning effects. Michael Giaimo [artdirector] and Chris Buck [director], who was solo on Frozen at
the time, took me to lunch two and a half years ago, told me
about the show, and asked me to be a Sherpa guide for all
things CG. We had all worked together on Pocahontas Chris
was an animator and Mike was the art director. I thought it
sounded intriguing, but I was still recovering from Tangled.
The more Goldberg talked with Giaimo, though, the more
smitten with the project he became. The studio was interested
in what it calls creative R&D, and asked me to join with Mike on
Frozen,Goldberg says. They were having traditionally-trained
artists with little CG background do animation tests in paper
and pencil all 2D exploration. I got to work with this group and
Braid-y BunchAnna and Elsa, the two stars of Frozen, wear their long
hair in braids, and Elsa, in some sequences, braids
her hair into an elaborate updo. A lot of the hairstyles
are heavily designed, braided, or wound, says Frank
Hanner, character CG supervisor. The traditional CG
hair interaction techniques, which involve curves, digi-
tal brushes, and digital combs, didnt work well. So we
wrote a new software package we call Tonic. It gives
our hair artists a sculpture-based tool set.
Typically the modelers would first create roughproxies that showed shapes or rough directions. Once
approved, the hair artists began refining those shapes
with Tonic. In Tonic, they could see pipes or tubes that
represented hair and could toggle individual strands of
hair within to see the flow. Working with these vol-
umes gives hairstyles complete fullness, Hanner says.
Once groomed and structured with Tonic, the hair
moved into Disneys simulation package called Dy-
namic Wires. The transition is automatic, Hanner
says. But, the artists can rearrange and procedurally
regenerate subsets of data the simulation works with.
Barbara Robertson
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12 CGW November/December 2013
point them in directions that might influence the film.
Designer Dan Lund, for example, began drawing 2D snowflurries. We wanted our snow flurries and gusts to have a
lyrical quality, not like someone ran a particle simulation with
occasional gusts, Goldberg says. Dan came up with gor-
geous tests in 2D, experimenting with positive and negative
shapes. Elsa has a signature snowflake design that shows up
during the film. And Dans snowflakes not only had this design,
but his snow flurries formed negative shapes that had her sig-
nature design. I dont think we would ever have come across
that if someone had just said, We need snow flurries.
Working with Goldberg were Effects Supervisors Marlon
West and Dale Mayeda. Wests career as an effects artist and
supervisor stretches back to Lion King, and includes Mulan,Tarzan, Fantasia 2000,and, more recently, The Princess and
the Frog. And, like Goldberg, Giaimo, and Buck, he had worked
on Pocahontas. Mayeda has been a 3D animator and effects
supervisor on live-action films (Mission to Mars) and Disney
Animation CG features (Bolt, Tangled, Chicken Little). Together,
they helped bring the 2D design elements into the CG film.
This was a rare film in which effects came into the process
early on, West says. We did a lot of 2D tests to suggest
things Elsa could do with her magic. We did proof-of-concept
tests. We had an effects artist embedded in layout who did
previs. We put 2D drawings on cards, and character animators
acted to some of them. And, we did 2D animation that drove
CG geometry. Every time Elsa freezes a
surface, its 2D artwork that we took into
[Side Effects] Houdini and made ice with
it. We had to show who she is at differ-
ent times of her life, when she is happy,
sad, angry. She creates mini-weathersystems from her being. We didnt want
snow shooting out of her hands.
In one sequence, for example, a
panicky Elsa backs up against a water
fountain. When she touches it, a frost
pattern shoots across the edge, and the
water in the fountain freezes.
The effects artists previsd the whole
thing in 2D, Mayeda says. When the
effects animators began looking at it,
they realized they could grow it procedur-
ally with particles, but the growth patternwould be too realistic. So instead, they
used the designer-drawn 2D artwork
to drive the shape of the frost patterns
formed in Houdini and the timing. The
timing from the 2D artwork was snappy
rather than linear and procedural. We spent a lot of time on
this show incorporating hand-drawn artwork.
Emotional EffectsDuring the testing stage, Michael Kaschalk, a studio leader in
the effects group and former effects supervisor on Tangled,
played around with the idea of capturing designs that Elsamight generate. He went to our camera capture stage, which
we use for digital scouting and handheld camera work, Gold-
berg says, took a wand, and drew arcs like someone with a
sparkler on the Fourth of July. We tracked those arcs in space.
So, rather than having someone draw curves on the computer,
we got interesting shapes and double, triple, quadruple paths.
We used these lyrical shapes as forces in a particle system. We
ended up not using many of the results, but they informed the
simulation that we used later.
Capturing the wand in space also helped the artists create
snow flurries that wrap around Anna when she falls down a
cliff and lands in a snowbank. We had someone sit on themotion-capture stage while we wrapped the wand around and
around her, Goldberg explains. The main path gave us an
overall sense, and then Michael [Kaschalk] played around with
aesthetic ideas for smaller tendrils that branch off, working
back and forth with the directors and John Lasseter.
Throughout the film, snow supports the storytelling and
Elsas emotions. All the snow is tied to Elsas mood, so it has
an emotional beat to it the turbulence as it falls, the angle,
West says. We ended up with 20 kinds of snow falling in the
film. And, all the snowflakes that fall are unique. Our snow-
flakes follow a path like in nature, with a particle that branches
and forms plate-like crystals. Even in Elsas magic, which has a
AT TOP, ANIMATORS REFERENCED their pets to giveSven an appealing personality. At bottom, a fight with
a giant snowman is the only scene in which characters
move on hard-packed, rather than soft, snow.
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CGW November/December 2013 13
pixie-dust language, the snowflakes dont pop on and off. They
grow like snowflakes in nature. Our snowflake simulator cre-
ated 2,500 unique snowflakes.
Snow Tech
All those falling snowflakes created ankle-deep powderthrough which the characters in the film walk, and which the
effects team created. Only one sequence, an action sequence
with a giant snowman, put the characters on hard-packed
snow. The rest of the time, they move through softer snow in
various depths.
When characters walk through the snow, the only limit
should be on how fast they move, and that is dictated by the
story, Goldberg says. How fast they move tells us how deep
the snow should be. It freaked people out a little at first. There
are some shots with snow up to the characters mid-thighs
and in those shots Anna has to hold her dress up.
To research shots such at those, Disney sent the animatorsand effects artists on a field trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
We had everyone wear a dress just to get their minds around
the hard work it is walking through the stuff, Goldberg says.
Were in Burbank, California. For us, snow is magical.
To create the snow and manage the interaction between
snow and characters, the team developed two systems: Snow
Batcher for shallow snow, and Matterhorn for deep snow and
close-ups.
We knew a good portion of the film would be outdoors and
that the characters would walk through ankle-deep and deeper
snow, Mayeda says. The standard slight [foot] impressions
wouldnt work, so we created our Snow Batcher pipeline. Itcould define which characters disturbed the snow and how
deep, automatically create foot impressions, add additional
snow, and kick it up. We put a lot of information into the data-
base for each shot.
Snow Batcher worked for shallow snow, but not for the
knee-deep and deeper snow the characters trudge through in
some scenes, for close-up shots, and for scenes in which a
character moves a hand through the snow.
We looked at all the tools on the market, but nothing really
does snow that looks like snow, Mayeda says. So, Andrew
Selle and his team spent a good amount of time creating Mat-
terhorn, a snow solver. We thought wed use it on only a fewshots, but they worked with [Effects Animator] David Hutchins
to productize it, and we used it for 40 shots in the film. Its the
most amazing stuff Ive seen in CG.
West provides some examples: We used Matterhorn in a
sequence where Anna walks through almost waist-deep show,
a blizzard when a ship tips over and dumps tons of snow, and
other shots, he says. We sprinkled it on Kristoffs feet.
Snow can be both solid and pliable it can clump and break
apart, or cling to itself when wet. Its neither fluid nor rigid
body, so neither fluid or rigid-body simulations would do. Selle
and his team needed another type of simulator, one that could
handle elastic to plastic materials.
Snow Batcher allowed us to do shots farther away where
we couldnt tell it was an approximation, Selle says. But up
close, the snow looked like packing peanuts. So we stepped
back and looked for research on snow simulation. We couldnt
find any papers.
What they did find, however, was research into material
point methods (MPM) of simulation. The material point
method was the basis, Selle says. Then we determined rules
for the continuum mechanics.
Continuum mechanics considers the physics of materials
Clothes EncountersWith 114 characters in the film wearing winter clothes,
the CG character team had a great excuse for not
simulating every costume in the film. But, we didntgo down that road, says Frank Hanner, character CG
supervisor. Rather than do little CG cheats, we decided
to simulate every piece of clothing. We wanted fully
dynamic, fully simulated wardrobes.
The design comes from bunad, a style of clothing
based on traditional Scandinavian folk costumes. It
features a lot of heavy wools, multi-layered, pleated cos-
tumes with intricate embroidering, and the Norwegian
decorative trim pattern called rosemaling, Hanner says.
There are so many elements in these bunad designs
that the artists couldnt approach them in a traditional
CG sense, so they learned how to tailor a real-worldcostume. We started with a sculpted shape and then cut
it into flat patterns that we put into the simulator.
Disney uses a custom cloth simulator called Fabric
that they updated to handle the bunad costumes. We
needed to implement a distinction between warp and
weft stretch forces and sheering forces, and to sup-
port pattern-based designs where we cut fabric along
the bias, which is important with tight-fitting, stretchy
fabric, Hanner says.
By the end of the film, the team had created 245 simu-
lation rigs for the clothing, more than double the num-
ber used for all their previous films combined. Barbara Robertson
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SIMULATION
14 CGW November/December 2013
modeled as a continuous mass rather than discrete particles
elastic materials that return to their rest shape, and plastic
materials that permanently deform.
Selle and a team of mathematicians from UCLA became the
first to apply this type of simulation to computer graphics. The
teams effort produced the technique used in Frozenfor deep
and close-up snow, and resulted in a 2013 SIGGRAPH paper
A Material-Point Method for Snow Simulation by Alexey
Stomakhin, Craig Schroeder, Lawrence Chai, Joseph Teran, and
Selle. The papers subtitle is: Combining a Lagrangian/Eulerian
semi-implicitly solved material-point method with an elasto-
plastic constitutive model to simulate the varied phenomenaof snow.
When you pull on a clump of snow, it breaks apart, Selle
says. If its wet, it sticks together. We considered all these
properties and found a model that allowed us to represent
them. The program knows how to compute solutions in which-
ever is more appropriate particles or grids and integrate
the equations. We can represent all the pieces of snow as par-
ticles, and unlike normal particle-based systems, each particle
can have properties that represent its state; that is, a measure
of is deformation, how much it stretches and rotates. In addi-
tion, we have parameters to control intrinsic properties such
as stiffness and resistance to compressibility, and these thingscan change over time and space. Different parts of snow can
have different properties a top layer that freezes overnight
and forms a crust over a soft interior.
In practice, the artists started with an initial preview based
on Snow Batcher. The first thing we needed to do, Selle
says, was to make sure the animators could see where the
snow would be even if it wasnt final snow. Snow Batcher gave
us that quick preview.
If, for example, a character was stepping into knee-deep
snow, Snow Batcher would carve out part of the snow. It
deforms the base-level surface and creates a cavity, Selle
explains. In this hole, we seed the active snow. We make an
implicit surface of that space. That gives us our initial mate-
rial points. We set the material properties based on what the
snow needs to be powdery or stiff. Then, we bring in the
character as a collision object into the simulator, hit Run, and
get snow interacting with the character.
At the end of the simulation, the team would sometimes
create an implicit surface and mesh from the particles for ren-
dering; other times theyd produce a density field and render
the result as a volume. One of the interesting things about
this simulation is that the properties stayed the same whether
we ran it at coarse resolution or higher resolution, Selle says.
Higher resolution produced more interesting chunks, moreinteresting pieces that resolved more, but we could get a good
preview at low resolution.
That meant the team could run quick sims in 20 or 30
seconds a frame to have a good idea what higher-resolution
results that might take overnight or longer would produce.
We were impressed that it scaled really well, Mayeda
says. We could run the simulation and it would give us the
results we wanted to see.
Snow BlindMohit Kallianpur, director of cinematography for lighting, led
the team of 68 artists who created the look of the snow thatthe audiences see in the film. As with many on the crew of
Frozen, Kallianpur moved onto this film after finishing work on
Tangled.We knew that one of our big challenges would be
large-scale environments with snow, he says.
Disney uses Pixars PR RenderMan and had moved to Ver-
sion 17 for this film. We knew we had to raytrace a chunk
of the show, but we didnt want to raytrace the entire show,
Kallianpur says. We used raytracing for the large ice-palace
environments, which were very, very expensive. For the snow,
we generated large point clouds for subsurface scattering and
used deep shadow maps.
To create new snow shaders, the team in Burbank worked
ELSAS MOOD determined thetype of snow created for a scene.
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CGW November/December 2013 15
with Disney researchers in Zurich, Switzerland where its
easier to get snow, Kallianpur laughs. There, the team mea-
sured the diffusion profile of snow with lasers.
We had weekly meetings with them and our shading
department to talk about the technical aspects of rendering
snow, Kallianpur says. We ended up shaping shallow anddeep subsurface scattering lobes according to real data and
then combining the two different effects. It isnt raytracing
through a volume; its an approximation. But, we got a nice
lighting effect.
All the hero characters benefited from the R&D into subsur-
face scattering, as well. We used a similar technique for their
skin with shallow and deep subsurface scattering, but with
different lobes than the snow, Kallianpur says. For the deep
snow and snow that the characters interact with, the lighting
team used a completely different shading system that lit the
snow as if it were a volume.
Olaf, however, provided a unique challenge: Hes a snowmanin snow. We used a cheat to make him stand out, Kallianpur
says. We always made him pop by using value hes a little
brighter than the background behind him, or we placed a shad-
ow behind him. Or, if hes in a saturated environment, he might
be slightly more neutral. And, we always had rim light on him.
Throughout the film, the lighting artists took care to use
hues and saturations that kept the film from looking too white,
and at the same time, made sure the snow never turned gray.
Even in our bleak scenes when the directors wanted the
mood dark and gray, we play our grays slightly blue-violet,
Kallianpur says.Kallianpur stayed involved with the look of the film all the
way through color timing, and is thrilled with the result. I have
seen this film I dont know how many times, and its just amaz-
ing, he says. Im biased, but its really the most beautiful CG
film I have ever seen.
By successfully integrating 2D traditions into a CG world,
one filled with technical challenges, the Disney artists have
created a unique film and a certain classic.
I felt like a gift had landed in my lap, Goldberg says. One
of the reasons I came to Disney was the promise of apply-
ing and blending the fantastic 2D aesthetic and design, those
design principles, in a CG 3D medium. I felt we achieved thaton this show. CGW
Barbara Robertsonis an award-winning writer and
a contributing editor for CGW. She can be reached
at BarbaraRR@comcast.net.
ANIMATION& VISUAL EFFECTS
Vancouver Fi lm School
mailto:BarbaraRR@comcast.nethttp://vfs.edu/cgwhttp://vfs.edu/cgwhttp://vfs.edu/cgwhttp://vfs.edu/cgwmailto:BarbaraRR@comcast.net -
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ANIMATION
16 CGW November/December 2013
VIDEO:Go to Extras
in the November/December
2013 issue box.com
IN TWO FILMS THIS YEAR, WE SAW ACTORS
PERFORMING IN ZERO GRAVITY, WHICH IS, OF
COURSE, SOMETHING IMPOSSIBLE TO FILM.
Director Alfonso Cuarns Gravitysends two astronauts (San-
dra Bullock and George Clooney) orbiting in outer space with-
out a vehicle. Their space suits are low on oxygen, and debris
from an explosion flies toward them. We watch Clooney driftaway, and then for the rest of the 90-minute film, the camera
follows Bullock as she tries to find a way home. There are only
a few scenes in which Bullock is not in zero gravity.
In a second zero-gravity film, Writer/Director Gavin Hoods
Enders Game, a brilliant young teenager spends time weight-
less in a battle room learning how to lead a team that will
fight a forthcoming alien invasion.
Artists at Framestore handled 95 percent of the visual
effects in Gravity. Similarly, Digital Domain artists provided the
visual effects for Enders Game.To sell the illusion of weight-
lessness in the actors performances, the two studios used
two very different approaches.
Tim Webber was visual effects supervisor for the film; Max
Solomon was animation supervisor and previsd the opening
sequence. We caught up with Solomon at the VIEW Confer-
ence. Alfonso [Cuarn] conceived the film as traditionally
filmed, with actors on sets and on wires, he says. But, he
has a very particular style: His films are immersive, with longtakes, and early tests showed that a traditional shoot with post
wouldnt work. Tim [Webber] suggested using CG. Alfonso
was skeptical, but there was no alternative.
Thus, the team developed a plan in which they would move
the actors only moderately and have a camera and lights orbit
around them.
Alfonso wanted total freedom of motion, Solomon says.
There would be no sense of horizon. The characters would be
free to move and shift in any direction, and the camera needed
to move all around them.
But, while it was possible to imagine moving a camera
around the actors, moving lights large enough to represent
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INGRAVITY, previs often drove thecameras, lights, and sometimes even
the actors motion on set.
2013 WARNER BROS.
light emanating from Earth presented a problem. The Earth
provided much of the light, and it would be colossal in frame,
Solomon says.
In early 2010, long before production started, Paul Debevecs
group at ICT/USC had demonstrated a light stage system in
which light from LEDs surrounding an actor provided changing
lighting conditions, while high-speed cameras captured theactors face. Later, Director of Photography Emmanuel Lubezki
saw images created with LEDs on screens behind performers
at a rock concert. The ideas coalesced and evolved into a light-
box that Webber designed, a cube within a cube covered with
LEDs that Framestore eventually programmed with images.
The outside cube was 20 feet high to provide room for a tilt
rig beneath and a camera to move below. The actor performed
within a smaller cube inside that was typically 10x10x10 feet;
however, it could change shape and size, and walls on sliders
could move in and out. Actors inside the box could see images
created with the LEDs. Light, which could change in color and
brightness, appeared to move around the actor inside.
Importance of PrevisIn 2010, when Solomon began working on the previs, two
artists worked with him, but that team soon grew to 30
animators, and The Third Floor contributed previs. Initially, we
thought the previs would be a guide, but as we developed it,
we realized previs would drive the lightbox and cameras onrobots. It would need to be technical and precisely planned.
Alfonso realized that this is where he would make his film.
To understand how people move without gravity, the anima-
tors spent time studying reference material from NASA, run-
ning simulations, and talking to astronauts. They mapped out
the shot structure, working from storyboards.
Alfonso is one of the rare directors who imagines some-
thing and takes it all the way through, Solomon says. The
ideas were all there in the original storyboards.
For one shot during the opening sequence, however, the
previs artists had to deviate from the camera motion planned
in the storyboard. In the shot, the space station has been hit,
CGW November/December 2013 17
Visual effects
artists put actors in
zero gravity for two
films: Gravity andEnders Game
By Barbara Robertson
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ANIMATION
18 CGW November/December 2013
and Bullock, who is outside in a space suit, grabs onto an arm
projecting out from the station. The camera was discon-
nected from Sandra [Bullock], and it was confusing, Solomon
says. We found that in all the shots, there is no context. So,its hard to assess whats happening, and that can make you
nauseous in stereo. Its better to have one thing move. In this
case, the previs artists designed the shot with the camera
locked onto Bullock while debris spins around her.
Two months before production was due to start, the artists
switched from previs to technical breakdowns. In this tech-
vis process, the team assessed shot methodology and shoot
feasibility, and then did a breakdown of camera and actor
motion and lighting. For many of the shots, the team pre-
programmed the camera and lights based on decisions made
during previs, and for some, even the movement of the actors.
On SetWe had three shoot methodologies, Solomon says. One
was traditional with the camera on a crane and actors on wires
or dollies. The second used the lightbox and motion control. In
the lightbox, the crew could adjust the master controls for the
specially designed camera and offset Earth and sun spheres
created with LEDs driven by previs. The hue, brightness, and
saturation of the 1.8 million LEDs were individually controllable.
We shot at half-speed because of limitations on how fast the
camera could move, Solomon says. Then we retimed after.
Motion control drove the third method of shooting. We had
the actors, lights, camera all on motion control, Solomon says.
It was the least efficient and
the least flexible, so we used it
for only one or two shots.
Meanwhile, at Framestore,
artists did modeling and lighting
tests for the CG space suits.
We saw them as a third charac-
ter, Solomon says. We based
them on real suits, but they
needed greater range of motion.
We simulated the cloth to fold,bend, and crease realistically.
In all the exterior shots, the
actors are digital characters
except for their faces. After the
shoot, the work on tracking the
cameras, the helmets, and the
bodies began. It was a massive
headache, Solomon says. We
rebuilt the previs with all the new plates, managed and adjusted
the timing, then began the process of re-animating with San-
dras and Georges performances. The performance was all in
the face. By chance, the lightbox was the perfect environment.It was isolating and confusing for the actors all the emotions
they needed to express.
In Enders Game,Asa Butterfield, the actor playing the lead
character Ender Wiggin, trains in a zero-gravity room during
battle school. Digital Domain provided the effects for this
sci-fi action/adventure under the leadership of Visual Effects
Supervisor Matthew Butler. The studio had three big advan-
tages: First, Digital Domain was a co-producer, which gave it
early involvement in the planning (see Moving On Up, pg.20); second, Butler has a masters degree in aeronautics and
astronautics from MIT; and third, his roommate in college is
Astronaut Gregory Chamitoff, who had flown on the space
shuttle Endeavorand spent months at a space station.
Butler worked with Garrett Warren, the stunt coordinator and
second unit director, on solving the zero-gravity problem. Its
tricky, Butler says. Its important to show your real actors and
actresses, your heroes, so wherever possible, we wanted to
shoot them for real. But, there is no zero-gravity place on Earth
we could use. We wanted to shoot live-action faces, but we
faced the physical limitations of reality.
The solution was what Butler calls a smorgasbord of solu-
At top, an actor in thelightbox could see images
created with LEDs. At bottom,
Framestore artists worked
from previs to animate the
wide, all-CG shots.
ARTICLE: Go to Extras in the
November/December 2013 issue
box for a story on Gravitys 3D.com
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tions. Some shots were fully CG, which removed the problem
of physical reality. For some, they could use live-action shots
of the actor. But more often than not, they photographed But-
terfield, and we manipulated the content back into a physically
realistic situation, Butler says. When the actors are in the
middle of the battle room, their center of mass is where it is. In
zero gravity, you still have a center of mass mass and gravity
are completely independent. But, you have no weight. And,your center of mass cannot move without force. What it means
is that the actors pivot point should be at a fixed point in space,
not a fixed point on the body. Theres no point on the body that
is a pivot point. But, we still have the same inertia; Newtonian
physics still applies, and we had to abide by all those rules.
On set, Warren had rigged wires and armatures to move But-
terfield. In tight shots when you couldnt see anything other
than his head and shoulders, he was on a bicycle seat on an ar-
mature, Butler says. If he needed to leap, Garret would move
him on wires. The problem is that penduluming is a function of
gravity, so it was hard to move him at a constant speed.
The stunt coordinator also put Butterfield in a tuning-fork-like
apparatus that held him at the waist, and used a dual-axis har-ness to rotate him. But again, it didnt allow for a correct pivot
point, Butler says. We did our best, and then wed get back
to the ranch here, to Digital Domain, copy what we photo-
graphed, and look at what was wrong with it.
Pivot PointThe first step was to move the actors in the footage as much
as they could to try to approximate zero gravity. Next, they roto-
DIGITAL DOMAIN corrected footage of actors on set to
give the correct pivot point for movement in zero gravity.
VIDEO:Go to Extras
in the November/December 2013
issue box.com
2013SummitEntertainment.
These are some of the exciting topics that will
be covered in the January/February issue of
Computer Graphics World magazine
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ANIMATION
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mated the resulting images and copiedthe movement onto 3D characters.
Then, using custom tools, they com-
puted where the center of mass would
be at any time to see how much it
deviated from what it should be. If the
difference was marginal, they used the
footage. If not, they fixed the motion.
We calculated the correct pivot point, Butler says. Its a
complex problem to solve with a skeletal structure, but thats
what computers are for. The tools let the performers and ani-
mators do what they wanted, then we computed the motion
of the center of mass. The tool came up with new animationthat satisfied the laws of physics in zero gravity and kept
the head pointing back to camera in the same orientation as
when the actor was photographed, Butler says. That was
important.
The artists projected texture detail from the photographs
onto the geometry the 3D characters and re-rendered thecharacters. It was important to get footage as close as possible
ANIMATORS could move digitaldoubles freely and use a tool later to
correct the pivot point and stabilize
the character in 3D space.
The visual effects studio Digital Domain was a co-producer
of the film Enders Game. We asked Writer/Director Gavin
Hood about the impact of having a VFX studio involved inthe production from the beginning. Prior to Enders Game,
Hood most recently directed the films X-Men Origins:
Wolverine, Rendition, and Tsotsi, for which he received a
BAFTA nomination.
Visual effects play an important role in Enders Game, as
they have for some of your previous films. Did having Digi-
tal Domain onboard as a co-producer make a difference?
It made a huge difference. I know that without them in the
early phases, this film would not have been made.
How did having Digital Domain involved in the earlyphases help?
This wasnt a film everyone wanted to make; it would
always be what it became an independent movie. So,
we needed to convince investors. For the battle room
sequences, the only thing we built was the gate. When
the kids jump out, theyre on wires on greenscreen, and
there was a lot of concern about these sequences with
four kids flying around in zero gravity. So, early on, I wrote
a 45-second teaser and then designed a full version in the
computer in 3D with Ben Proctor [production designer
along with Sean Haworth]. And, of course, we brought
in [Visual Effects Supervisor] Matthew Butler, who really
understood zero gravity from an engineering and physics
point of view. Then, a team of six or eight artists, includingPrevis Artist Scott Meadows, worked together at Digital
Domain to previsualize every battle sequence. We put it
together using animated characters in the proper space,
and this is what I took to investors; we showed it to 250
buyers at Cannes.
Did you previs the entire film?
We fully previsd every scene in the battle school, every
shot. On set we could show it to our stunt coordinator
so he could rehearse. The previs was about blocking and
camera angles, and about saying to the stunt depart-
ment, This is where I see actors faces. The stunt depart-ment had amazing rigs, but at some point, we had to let
the CG guys replace the bodies to have real movement
in zero gravity. The key was having previs done well. With
the previs, I was able to more accurately show what I
wanted to achieve and could divide the work between
the departments.
Did you have lighting in previs?
No. But, we had the visual effects department involved
on set. The battle room has a glass dome with reflections,
and we wanted each of the four scenes to be lit differently,
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CGW November/December 2013 21
to what we wanted to achieve, Butler says. So, thats what
we did, and I believe it worked. We repaired all the shots that
were wrong, which was probably about half of them. In tight
shots, you couldnt really tell they werent in zero gravity. In the
medium-wide shots, we replaced nearly all of them. In the big,
wide shots, they were fully synthetic.However, even those entirely CG shots needed refining, as
well. We didnt constrain the artists, Butler says. They were
free to move the characters where they wanted, and then we
wrote a tool that corrected the pivot point and stabilized the
character in 3D space.
Facing RealityTo reproduce the actors faces, the team relied on scans from
ICT/USC to capture data that represented the features geo-
metrically and to replicate the light. The CG characters didnt
need complicated expressions; when the actors needed to
deliver lines, the crew filmed them and used that footage.On one extreme, you have fully CG characters and can
make sure the physics are correct, Butler says. On the other,
you have human actors, and we were at the peril of making
what we shot dynamic. We rocked and rolled between the
two and picked our sweet spots. Im a firm believer that if you
can shoot something, you should shoot it, so thats what we
did even if wed have to manipulate it. Were not doing visualeffects for the fun of it any more. I believe the work is success-
ful because we had a successful marriage between live-action
stunt work and synthetic manipulation.
In visual effects, we model reality, Butler says. We
look at whether something behaves the way were used to,
and what were used to is physics and optics. So, we write
renderers and simulators. They look beautiful because they
follow physical rules that define behavior. We followed the
same guidelines. CGW
Barbara Robertsonis an award-winning writer
and a contributing editor for CGW. She can bereached at BarbaraRR@comcast.net.
appropriate to the mood. We had a morning scene with
the blue Earth below. Next, a romantic scene with the sun
eclipsed by the Earth. Next, we see shafts of warm amber
sunlight. And next, a film noir look. We couldnt ask the
visual effects department to just copy and paste the light-
ing. The more complicated your work is, the earlier you
want them involved.
For the battle room, we built the gate and some silverdiamond-shaped things the kids hold onto. The lighting
had to be carefully worked out. We had an amazing col-
laboration between the physical lighting team and the
visual effects lighting team. They were in sync, so the final
design would include all the lights and reflections.
Would you want the visual effects team involved early,
even if the VFX studio werent a co-producer?
Many studios think you should shoot a movie and then do
the visual effects. I think thats crazy. You only have green-
screen. You still have 50 percent of the movie to shoot. You
cant edit the movie without seriously done visual effects.So, instead of shooting actors first and then visual effects,
how about doing the visual effects first? Get the action
first and then shoot the actors, and we worked substan-
tially that way. The battle room went like a knife through
butter because of how well we prepared. The only mistake
we made, and Ive definitely learned, is that the start date
was shifted forward and we didnt properly finish the
previs of the final act. It meant the stress was greater in
shooting and we had to shoot a lot more coverage. Of
course, you dont need to do research for a film with only
enhancement work. But, for a film like this with more than
half the shots involving considerable visual effects, its
critical and wonderful.
How early should the studio bring in a visual effects team?
This is an era in which 50 percent or more of some films
are VFX-based. What I will take with me going forward
from this film is that its really important to work with
your VFX team in pre-pre-production. Thats what I wasable to do because one of the producers was a VFX com-
pany, and thats what I really enjoyed about working on
this show.
In a perfect world, just as you bring a cinematographer
on in pre-production, I think the visual effects supervisor,
who is the head of a department, is as important to bring
on early and, in some cases, more important. You can do
that whether you have a freelance supervisor and mul-
tiple houses, or one studio. I liked the fact that we had a
powerful one-stop shop, and I had the benefit of Matthew
[Butler] knowing the artists really well. Half the problem
in making films is relationship-building. I hooked up withMatthew, he hooked up with the people on his team,
and by the time we got to the set, we knew each others
quirks. I made changes to the script based on thoughts
Matthew had about the way ships move in space.
For me, visual effects is no longer something that you
tack onto the end of the film. Filmmaking is a massively
collaborative experience. We should build visual effects in
at the beginning. Its critical for them to be with the cin-
ematographer, the set designers, the costume designers,
so we can all understand the various problems. Build them
in, not bolt them on. Barbara Robertson
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clips associated
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CGW November/December 2013 23
When looking back at the movie releases from this past
year, theres one thing thats certain: The box office sure is
unpredictable. Some highly anticipated films failed to live up to
their hype; some features seemingly emerged out of nowhere
and took theaters by storm.Just what makes audiences fall in love with a film? Or give
it a cold shoulder? If there were a true formula for predicting
a films success stars versus unknowns, sequels versus
original plots, so-called chick flicks versus action movies, visual
effects versus dramatic story, real-life tales versus fantasy
Hollywood would have bottled it up for sale long ago. Indeed,
certain attributes can help a films chances with voters and
audiences. But then again, there are always exceptions to the
rule, and during Oscar time, those exceptions can win gold.
The year 2013 started off slow. But by spring, a number
of films brought some excitement to theaters, including Oz
the Great and Powerfuland The Croods. By summer, the boxoffice was heating up with VFX-heavy titles, such as Star Trek
Into Darkness, Fast & Furious 6,and the long-awaited World
War Z. In fact, May, June, and the first week of July brought
the biggest weekends at the box office. Those numbers spiked
again in October with the release of Gravity, and will likely do
so again during the holiday season.
The Visual Effect
Throughout the year, superheroes were, well, super with view-
ers: Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, andThe Wolverine. No doubt
Thor: The Dark World(which had not been released as of this
writing) will do so, as well. All those characters have enjoyedbig-screen stardom before, and obviously audiences never grow
tired of their exploits as they save the universe from evildoers.
Just recently, Gravity hit theaters, and it is taking the box
office by storm. And, there are still a number of highly antici-
pated films that have not yet been released but are expected
to be well received, including The Hunger Games: Catching
Fireand The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
Filmmaking is a sophisticated medium for storytellers. This
Oscar season, I believe Academy members will reward those
films and filmmakers who leveraged every tool at their dis-
posal to service their stories. This includes the clever use of
digital visual effects to further the plot and enrich our under-
standing of each characters emotional journey, says Chris
Edwards at The Third Floor. One film accomplished this with
such precision that I believe it will not be overlooked on Oscar
night: Alfonso Cuarns Gravity.
Some of this years movies in the Oscar hunt contain in-your-face effects, while others take a subtle approach. In past
years, VFX spectacle might have been enough to win the
Academys favor, but this year the real winners should be the
actors and filmmakers who made audiences forget that there
was any Hollywood trickery at all, Edwards says.
No doubt, the haunting situation immediately before and
after the 2013 Oscar ceremonies (and throughout the year) still
weighs heavily on those working in the industry. This year
saw the closing of more US VFX facilities, and protests inside
and outside the Kodak Theatre during the Academy Award
ceremonies where VFX awardees for Life of Piwere orches-
trally swept from the stage and neither mentioned nor thankedby the films director or cinematographer in their own Oscar
acceptance speeches. There is an industry-wide dissing of VFX
teams, upon which so many movies depend for their exis-
tence, VFX Director Rick Sander of HOAX Films reminds us.
That said, there are numerous films in this race, once again,
that rely on VFX not just for the flash, but also for the es-
sence of the movie. And, hopefully, the artists responsible will
receive their proper recognition.
So, who will be recognized thisyear? You can bet Neill
Blomkamps Elysiumand Alfonso Cuarns Gravitywill be on the
list, says Sander. The latter director was asked during his first
presser, How did it feel to shoot a movie in space? (That saysit all.) That leaves one more slot. Will it be The Hobbit? Peter
Jacksons Weta Workshop team has been nominated six times
and won five. The inside joke about the first Hobbit movie was
that it should win for Most Visual Effects never a good sign.
With zero percent certainty, the smart money for the third nomi-
nee is on either Joseph Kosinskis Oblivionor the great Zack
Snyders Man of Steel. Both featured incredibly visual design
choices, fantastically executed in a way that made the storytell-
ing possible and supported the underlying sense of realism.
Sander notes there is a chance of some balancing wild cards
in the mix, however. Traditionally, a film with on-set explosions
and well-made physical model-making would make the nomi-
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24 CGW November/December 2013
nee list. Such films are being replaced by all-greenscreen ex-
travaganzas, such as previous VFX Oscar winners Life of Piand
Alice in Wonderland, which have their origins in the cult-favorite
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow a movie so visionary
and so unsuccessful that Director Kerry Conran has not been
heard from since. So, productions like Great Gatsby or Oz theGreat and Powerfulmight have a chance. Dont expect Enders
Gameor World War Zto make it past the bake-offs, which
seem to be more about algorithmically programmed flocks of
spaceships and crowd-simulated undead lemmings.
Animated Entries
On the animation front, three movies made their return to the
screen with phenomenal box-office success: Despicable Me 2,
Monsters University, andCloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
2. Earlier in the year, Epic was warmly welcomed, as was The
Smurfs 2during the summer. Finishing out the year will be
Free Birdsand Frozen. Some say the latter is the one to beatin the animation race. Could this really be the year that Disney
beats out its seemingly invincible little brother, Pixar?
This has been an interesting year, and a year that has been
coming. Interesting in that for a few years we have had lead-
ers such as DreamWorks, Disney, Pixar, and then the other
studios. But, we finally hit a point with CG animation where I
believe everyone is on an equal playing field now for the tech-
niques that are used, the character animation, and the overall
professionalism, says Jerry Beck, an animation historian and
cartoon producer. The bar has been set high by the people
at Pixar in the past, but we now have Universal, Illumination,
Sony, and other studios, including Reel FX with Free Birds,thathave reached the same bar. They are all clever, creative, and
innovative in terms of their techniques. Now, it is about story-
telling, the character animation, the personalities, and other
aspects other than the technical achievements.
As Beck points out, looking back at 2008, some films, like
Wall-e(Pixar) and Kung Fu Panda(DreamWorks Animation)
were front-runners, far ahead of the pack. But now, just a few
short years later, the field is open with films like Epic (Blue
Sky/Fox), Monsters University (Pixar), Despicable Me 2 (Illumi-
nation Entertainment/Universal),Turbo (DreamWorks), Cloudy
with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (Sony Pictures Animation), and
Frozen (Disney) all of which have a very high artistic andtechnical level. So you have to look at things that might give a
film an edge, he says. The trick is a lot of
these films have incredible things in them
that give them their own aesthetic edge.
While 2012 brought competition in
animation from a number of stop-motion
movies, this year the field looks wide openfor CGI. Yet, the manga style of famed Jap-
anese Director/Animator Hayao Miyazakis
The Wind Rises, which Miyazaki says
will be his last movie, could pose outside
competition to the typical CGI features
maybe. The Wind Rises is an adult film.
Its about a real-life person, about an important part of Japans
aviation history, but its not for family audiences, says Beck.
In looking back over the year, Beck points out that many of
the animated films this year were aimed solely at children,
which has the same issues as an animated film that plays
strictly to adults. We didnt have that problem in previousyears, he says. For example,Kung Fu Pandaplays for any audi-
ence: Kids can get it, but adults get it, too. A few years ago,
the same held true for Puss In Boots, which was sophisticat-
ed and done well. Also, Rango. Kids got it, and the film had an
adult sensibility. And, it won the Oscar that year. It did not play
down to kids; it played for the general audience. That is what
the best Pixar films do Ratatouille, Up.But this year we had
Planes, Smurfs, even Monsters University, all aimed more at
children than grown-ups. That was the trend, and I personally
do not like it. I like the animation aimed a little higher.
The Race Is OnWhile many were caught unaware with Gravity, there were
some films that received a lot of hype but failed to thrill audi-
ences: After Earth, The Lone Ranger,and the CG Planes.
Meanwhile, Pacific Rimstarted off a little slow but soon had
people caught in its wake, and by the start of November, was
number 10 on the years highest-grossing list. It joins these
releases in order from the top spot: Iron Man 3, Despicable
Me 2, Fast & Furious 6, Monsters University, Man of Steel,
The Croods, World War Z, Oz the Great and Powerful, and Star
Trek Into Darkness. Yet, with a number of studios gearing up
for holiday releases, theres sure to be movement on this list
before year end. Until then, Iron Man 3sits comfortably at$1.2 billion worldwide, making it the fifth highest-grossing film
of all time and the 16thfilm to surpass the billion-dollar mark,
according to published figures. Despicable Me 2has grossed
over $900 million, making it the fifth highest-grossing animated
film of all time.
Which visual effects and animated features will make this
years Oscar shortlist? Its difficult to tell. However, some
experts in the industry have offered their thoughts on the
subject, particularly why certain scenes or the film in general
should at least be looked at during the awards season.
.com
ARTICLE:Go to Extras in the November/
December 2013 issue box for an extended
story with more movies and commentary
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26 CGW November/December 2013
ELYSIUM
Release date: August 9Production companies: TriStar Pictures, Alpha Core, Media
Rights Capital, Sony Pictures Entertainment
In the year 2159, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live
on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live
on an overpopulated, ruined Earth both required extensive VFX.
Elysium showcased Neill Blomkamps eye for a grittier type of VFX,
along with Syd Mead-type space designs in a fresh way, says Sony Pictures
Imageworks Senior VFX Supervisor Scott Stokdyk, an Academy Award winner
(Spider-Man 2)and three-time Oscar nominee.
John Fragomeni, president of Mirada and a visual effects supervisor, finds
it exciting to see how Blomkamp has developed and expanded his gift for
combining practical and visual effects. He creates a credible dystopia. Youfeel a sense of realism down to the most granular level; you see that same
VFX attention to detail and engineering precision that was so strong in Dis-
trict 9 but here its opened up onto a larger canvas and the overall impres-
sion of authenticity becomes all the more impressive for it, says Fragomeni.
Everywhere you look, its just a smart, subtle blending of live-action p
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