Computer Graphics World

April-May-June 2021

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a p r i l • m ay • j u n e 2 0 2 1 c g w 1 3 especially on our tech team, had worked on that film. They can play with the beauty, with the color of the water." Controls enabled the team to shape and move the water to achieve the desired mo- tion and look, even allowing them to pull out the right color and saturation. In Raya, the Dragon River itself has different reflections depending on how close the camera is to the headwaters – it gets a little greener as it gets farther away. "So playing visually with the water was a dream because we knew we could." COVID Hurdles Raya is the 59th animated film from Disney Animation Studios, and the very first to be made at home due to COVID. As a result, nearly all the shot production took place from the homes of more than 450 artists and crew, who were making assets, animating, creating shots, lighting, having story meetings.... To Nguyen, COVID presented more of a mental hurdle than a technological one, as tech support had nearly everyone up and running off-site aer about two weeks. The biggest adjustment came in the way the group had to work. "But everyone brought their best game across the board to make this beautiful film," he says. "I oen wondered, will we ever make it? But we did," says Fawn Veerasunthorn, head of story. Creating this movie in the middle of COVID – I mean, who would have thought?" Workflows were altered, and communi- cation became more important than ever. There's no "running" into each other in the building; every encounter with coworkers had to be deliberate. Indeed, many valuable lessons were learned from the experience, and some of the workflow changes that proved especially advantageous will be adopted permanently. Throughout the experience, the filmmak- ers banded together as a community and overcame unprecedented hurdles associat- ed with lockdown, and central to overcom- ing them was the trust the crew had for one another, enabling them to tackle and resolve the problems they faced. And that parallels the story of Raya, who must do likewise, and believe in and trust others to accomplish an overwhelming goal. Karen Moltenbrey is the chief editor of CGW. Volumetrics helped seat the imagery in the world. Above shows the shot without volumetrics; below, with them.

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