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e d i t i o n 3 , 2 0 1 8 | c g w 5 5 all these tentacles slamming to the ground and basically destroying this arena. The animation is moving at incredible speeds, but that is the speed Genndy wanted. And all the departments that were downstream from that animation, especially effects, had to contend with things that weren't neces- sarily real in terms of the physics." When the tentacles hit the water, one of the effects animators pointed out that it was traveling at Mach 4, so the effects team had to slow down and manipulate time on the tentacle in order to get a water sim and any associated debris to work. "The sequence shows how animation drives the way things are going to look, even what's coming out of the departments downstream," says Ford. "All the teams rose to the occasion of making sure it looked and felt real, in a Hotel Transylvania way." EXOTIC DESTINATIONS In Hotel Transylvania 3, Tartakovsky, co-writer on the film, continues with the hotel jokes since, aer all, a cruise ship is basically a hotel on water. And, there are a lot of new environments – "more than any other movie I've worked on, especially in the Hotel Tran- sylvania series," says Ford. One of the more complex is an under- water volcano, complete with a simulation, as it was always erupting. "When Genndy first told us, you could hear a pin drop in the room," says Ford. The volcano had to fit into the Hotel Transylvania world, which is bright and colorful. But, underwater volcanoes are actually the opposite: dark and scary. Production designer Scott Willis added a red underlight that was pretty and bright, and Ford and his team dressed the location with coral and kelp, adding details that made the locale seem real. Also challenging was the Bermuda Triangle, from its waterfalls to the tower of wrecked ships. "It is a literal triangle in the middle of the ocean, with thousand-foot waterfalls into an abyss," Ford explains. "How do you create a thousand-foot-tall waterfall that's cascading into a big hole in the middle of the ocean? How's that going to look? There is no real reference for that." The artists also had to build, and then destroy, all the ships that are piled up in the location (including some actual famous boats that allegedly disappeared in this area). "We needed a perfect structure that we could shoot from all angles but make it feel big and like it had been there for a long time," says Ford. "It took all the tricks in the book from our modeling, texturing, and look development teams, as well as our lighting teams, to make this pile of boats feel big and unique, but also comical." In addition, the animators had to construct the lost city of Atlantis with a massive casino built under the sea. "Genn- dy, I think, was trying to break us," says Ford with a laugh. The casino floor is an aquar- ium. The ceilings, walls, and floors – every surface – was reflective glass and metal. Outside, animated fish, whales, and other sea creatures swim by. Inside are all the elements found in a casino: a bar, gaming tables, slot machines. And, the location is not short on details: even the slot machines contain motion graphics. "When you pull a slot machine, it actually animates. And there are lots of different machines. There was a lot of artwork gener- ated for that by our amazing matte-painting team," Ford adds. Then, monsters were inserted into this extremely complex set, which also features ancient ruins. "It was layers of complexity on top of other layers of complexity in terms of the environment builds. It's definitely the biggest environment that I've built on a movie, es- pecially for a sequel," says Ford. The location includes a giant colosseum that rises out of the sea, which had to be built and then de- stroyed purposefully, with careful choreogra- phy, by the kraken's tentacles – and with the use of Houdini soware. As Ford points out, the soware works well under real-world scenarios, but the movie does not feature real-world situations and visuals. So, the artists had to find ways to bend the soware to their needs of Tarta- kovsky's exaggerated animation style. In addition to these locations, the group created a detailed airplane, populated and flown by Gremlins, and filled with a real at- tention to detail. The cruise ship itself was a massive environment with various sections, such as a swimming pool and decks. It sports more than 5,700 portholes and other fine details. WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE When Tartakovsky told the crew they were doing a Hotel Transylvania 3 on a cruise ship, the initial realization, says Ford, was they were going to have to deal with a lot of water. And they were correct in that assessment, as the environments were located on, or below, water. "Genndy's cartoony style doesn't necessarily lend it- self to the physics of water," he adds, "and every location has some sort of effects or simulation component to it. For example, not only is the boat on the water, but the boat has a pool where a monster volleyball game takes place." The effects team studied a lot of different types of water movement, as it was important for the water to look real, at least real in the Hotel Transylvania sense. This involved adding an artistic, manip- ulated layer on top of a physics-based baseline. Using Houdini, the effects artists generated numerous layers of water, including a surface layer, particle layer, and a vapor layer, which, when combined, provides what Ford describes as a "good look, especially in the cartoon world" and a result that allows the effects animators ultimate control of each of the layers that make up the water. However, when the giant kraken interacts with the water, it pushes things to the limit, as the simulation soware is not made to work at extremes. "If things are too big in the computer world, it starts to break and fall apart," says Hawkins. MAKING A STATEMENT Unlike many animated features which contain a good deal of dialog, Hotel Transylvania 3 features a number of scenes where the performances and music drive the story. Because of this, the animation has to speak volumes and deliver on the gags. Beyond the laughs, though, is an en- dearing story of family and friends who look out for one another. And when the characters find themselves in unfamiliar territory, it is their ability to rely on one an- other that enables them to conquer these new situations and challenges. The same can be said of the teams at Sony Pictures Animation and Imageworks that worked on this film. Karen Moltenbrey is the chief editor of CGW.