Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1505114
8 cgw j u ly • a u g u s t • s e p t e m b e r 2 0 2 3 These custom rigs allowed the team to animate Ember's explo- sive anger outbursts with colorful flair, for example. "They sent timing signals to shading and to effects so we could dial in her anger, and it would shi her hue to purple and would speed up the intensity of the effects," Enderoglu shares. This timing adjustment capability allowed the animation team to infuse a higher level of emotion into the char- acters' actions. Another useful new tool allowed the team to partially remove rigs on command. "We had something called Presence, which would make part of the rig disappear," Rutland notes. "We had it for both characters, but we used it more on Ember, to emphasize the idea that a flame is not a constant, solid shape in space. It kind of disap- pears as it pulls away." The team developed a system to have more precise control over the behavior of Ember's flame animation, especially as she moves through environments. "She looked fine in animation, but then when we rendered it, the flames were not doing what we wanted them to do. So it took a little bit of trial and error to figure out how we could have more control over her silhouette and readability," Rutland re- members. This technology allowed the animators to dial in specif- ic trail effects and controls that were applied throughout the entire production. Wade's watery form required a great deal of research and special- ized animation controls. "We really had to think about maintaining Wade's volume," Enderoglu recalls. "We would reference videos of a water balloon, for instance. The same amount of water is just being moved around and the shape is changing. We had slide controls, so you could grow the water mass, say, in his arm. Then you would be able to slide that up and down between his shoulder and his wrist to get the sense of that bouncy, watery overlap or that sloshing around internally." A dynamic rig also controlled Wade's character outline, allowing him to maintain fluidity and transform into different shapes through- out the film. "He had quite a robust outer shaping rig, so you could really manipulate his form," Rutland adds. The film's air characters posed a major challenge for the anima- tion team, as they had vastly different physical properties from the The team studied diagrams of fire and water to determine which scientific properties would work in the film. Directing animator Gwendolyn Enderoglu developed custom controls.