Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1192296
10 cgw w i n t e r 2 0 1 9 "Even though this character is big and powerful, we wanted to balance that with a delicate quality, which is what brings grace to this character and makes it mythical and magical," says Suroveic. Animating the Nokk was a two-stage process. Animators used their horse rig to create a realistic performance for the character. Meanwhile, tech animation per- formed the sims for the mane and tail using its traditional hair solver, with the knowl- edge that at some point each individual strand would get lost and read as a sheet. Then effects took a pass of remeshing the hair curves from tech anim into the water volume, using volume-based fluid simula- tions within SideFX Houdini's Ocean tools and its FLIP solver. "Here at Disney, one thing that makes our process so special are the draw-overs we hand animate on top of our simulations," notes Suroveic. Volumes and fluids then were attached to the character's surface. Effects further explored how much spray and other elements could be added to make the horse feel like it was part of the ocean. "It le behind foam patches as it is galloping in the sea, having spindri and mist blow off its mane," says Erin Ramos, effects su- pervisor. Interior bubbles and volumetrics within the character's interior gave it life. A slight animated noise pattern on its body made the body feel less solid and more dynamic, as water is flowing constantly on the surface. "The biggest challenge was to always make sure we preserved the performance from animation, to make sure its face was clear and you could see its expressions, nose, and ear movement, yet it still felt like this character was fluid, dynamic," says Ramos. "It's difficult to read expressions on a character that is transparent." The animation, however, was complicated by the Nokk moving above the water and below the surface, as well as its intricate interaction with Elsa. "We had to make the galloping on top of the moving, raging waves believable, since this is not something you see in life. And we needed a very efficient workflow between the departments," says Svetla Radivoeva, animation supervisor. "So, right aer ani- mation, our first pass was done on top with draw-overs. This was the easiest way to de- termine the length and performance of the tail. Then it went to tech anim, where, with much more information, they could apply the curves in an actual Maya environment. This is a moment where, since everything is almost completely simulated, you see what's working." In all, it took approximately seven months for the groups to see the results for the first time. "We couldn't see the final result until it went through all the departments and through lighting. That's when it really came alive for us," says Ramos. Envmen The environments in Frozen 2 are much more than backdrops; they are integral to the overall storytelling. The Frozen 2 artists expanded the world they had established for the original film, building on top of it – removing all the snow to reveal the design concepts underneath. "The verticality was something we held onto, whether it was a tree, a piece of furniture, even the stave part of the castle," says Lisa Keene, co-produc- tion designer. Color was also important, moving from a jeweled palette to one that is on the warmer side of the spectrum, skewed toward magentas and reds. Like the characters, some of the environments in Frozen 2 were inspired by the research trip to the Nordic coun- tries, particularly the fairy-tale setting of Finland and the mythic land of Iceland. The scattering of rocks that look as if they could have been tossed there by giants. The black sand of the black pebble-stoned beach in Iceland that makes the perfect shore for the Dark Sea. What's more, the environments had to feel alive, accomplished with some new tools inside Houdini, including its Vellum Solver. Arendee This movie travels throughout the entire village, as opposed to the first film, which introduced only isolated areas. This time, the camera moves from one location to another, so the artists approached the layout from a city planning perspective in terms of logic, finding the ideal locations for objects introduced in the first film, such as the clock tower. In fact, Arendelle is mainly hand- craed, with the buildings hand-placed. Environment artists then gave the village a sense of history. "It feels much more like a real town that you can actually walk around in and FROZEN 2 REPLACES THE FROZEN LANDSCAPE WITH FALL COLORS.