Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1151096
www.postmagazine.com 23 POST JULY/AUG 2019 summer movies it ages, the way it crackles underneath the surface. Then we incorporated that into Bo; she is shiny and reflective but has the depth of real porcelain. When light enters the glaze on her skin, it bounces in the tiny cracks and creates little extra shadows and brighter patches." Back in Toy Story 1, Bo was a secondary char- acter, and artists used a plastic shader that was tweaked to resemble porcelain. Now, with a new shader and subsurface work to achieve a crazing aesthetic, she is practically a new character — and in more ways than one. And, Bo has ditched her bonnet and pretty dress for more practical clothing, but retains her shepherd's hook, using it Indiana Jones-style. She also has a cape, which animation and simulation worked to get the flow of the cloak to feel realistic but stylized. Bo's new friend, Giggles McDimples, is a tiny toy, about half an inch tall, with a face that is painted as opposed to comprising features (such as eyes that open and close), like the other characters. For this, artists devised a system that would create geom- etry in the animation software that the animators could see, and that would get projected onto the surface for the actual renders. For extreme close- ups, they could make the paint appear as if it had worn off in some spots. Newcomers Ducky and Bunny have neon plush fur. "Neon in a photorealistic renderer can blow things up. Light hits the character, which is super bright, and it starts throwing what we call fireflies, which are bad pixels, everywhere," explains Moyer. This required the team to fine-tune the shaders to curb this problem. Toys Will Be Toys When Cooley's was asked which character his favorite was, he replies, "Woody," because he was the most difficult. "This movie is all about him, so for me, the hardest part of the movie was finding the right way to push Woody's story forward and not retread on anything that we've done before, to keep things completely new and different," he adds. "But, I love them all!" In picking up this beloved franchise for another go, Cooley was left with many a sleepless night: "I just wanted to get it right because I know how much these characters mean, not only to the audi- ence, but to Pixar as well, and our crew." Throughout the film, Woody shows what a true friend he is and always will be, even as life presents new changes and adventures. So, is this really the end of this toy story? Cooley says he is happy with the way the film ended, and he feels they have completed Woody's arc. "So, if this is the last one, I'd be totally fine with that," he says. "I feel like people would agree. But, at the same time, at Pixar we never say 'never.'" Karen Moltenbrey is the chief editor of CGW. Ducky and Bunny are new characters. Their neon coloring created rendering challenges. The film was rendered using Pixar's RenderMan 21. The latest release follows Toy Story films from 1995, 1999 and 2010. Toy Story films from 1995, 1999 and 2010. Toy Story