Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1538315
FALL 2025 37 The Bad Guys 2 also used strategic camera placement to up the stakes, mounting cameras at low angles just off the sides of the car to make motion feel even faster. They found that the car needed to move at consistent speeds through each shot. If the car moves too fast, it looks ridiculous zooming past the sets. If it goes too slow, the scene isn't exciting enough. The Character Animators and Pre-Vis Artists used a speedometer to set the speed of the car as it entered and exited each frame. "We'd always find that the MPH should be around 80-120," says Baer. RULES OF THE ROAD In the first The Bad Guys, the effects department used a novel mix of 3D pro- cedural and 2D illustration workflows to create natural phenomena that looked as if they were created by hand. Procedural techniques use a computer to simulate visual effects—for example, the computer can generate a dust cloud that kicks up after a car accelerates by using the prin- ciples of physics to determine where each particle of dust would float. The team then tweaked these effects to give them a painterly quality. For example, they rendered the dust to make it look like an artist would lightly dust by hand, using small, dashed lines to emphasize motion and create a blurring effect. In The Bad Guys 2, Baer and the effects team wanted to take this a step further, developing more techniques that allowed them to integrate hand-drawn effects across the entire film. To do this, the 2D and 3D effects were sculpted frame by frame, creating an artistic, bespoke look. This artistry elevates the tension, especially in the opening scene where Baer and Art Director Floriane Marchix each used their own specialties to bring a hectic Cairo market to life. Baer focused on crowds, making sure the extras were reacting properly to the chaotic chase. "[And] we knew the market sequence would be insane so we added tons of props," says Marchix, explaining that they wanted the streets to feel busy and precarious. "In terms of assets per shot, it was one of the heaviest we ever did at the studio," she says. While at a glance, car chases may seem as simple as getting from plot point A to plot point B (with maybe a few explosions along the way), the teams behind anima- tion's best sequences continue to find ways to make them the highlight of any film. FALL 2025 37 An abundance of varying obstacles were used to heighten the suspense in chase scenes in The Bad Guys 2.