Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/147928
RENDERING Scientists in Pixar's New Looks Project work out a longstanding CG problem SmOOtH mO By Barbara Robertson On July 24, at SIGGRAPH 2013, characters designed to look more or less like humans. a team of CG scientists led by Pixar's Michael Kass will introduce But, none of the characters in animated features, whether beautitechnology that could change the look of animated feature films. ful, fanciful, cute, gritty, or gross, are painterly. Nor are the stars of It has been 18 years since Pixar's Toy Story, the first 3D animated hand-drawn animated features, where simply painted characters feature, made computer graphics history. In the years since, CG films perform against lush backgrounds. None look like oil paintings or have grown more visually complex with greater numbers of characwatercolors. When it comes to portraying CG film stars with a non-phototers, locations, and simulations, and with more realistic lighting. But, no matter how photorealistic 3D animated features have become, realistic or illustrative style, all animated features have the same even the most recent films aren't that far from Toy Story in style. limitation. Most CG characters in animated features have a brightly colored It's a technical problem. cartoon look or, more rarely, a softer style ■ THESE FOUR FRAMES from a simple hopping-teapot test that imitates storybook characters. Excepdemonstrate an expressive style rendered using only texture tions such as Pixar's Wall-e,, Animal Logic's synthesis and a single example style. Owls of Ga'hoole, and ILM's Rango showed us characters with a grittier look that, in the case of Animal Logic and ILM, drew on those visual effects studios' experiences in fitting CG characters into live-action films. Other 3D features have teetered on the edge of the uncanny valley with performances captured from actors applied to CG 52 ■ CGW Ju l y / Au g u s t 2 0 1 3