Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1541699
Dinosaur image isney. a unc of eoe e a fuy e container on to te ottom on cains an ten et it go, e says. It ou rocet u, and if the angle was right, would pierce the surface an come ac on correcty. nce they created the splash, they would matte te inosaur in. ou ae to o a series of mattes to keep Aladar behind the splash, but in front of the secondary splash that he creates… It really was a complicated ballet tat e ere oing out in te e. In addition, they had to come up with their on onset surey system. ne of te biggest challenges was bringing back real- world, real-scale data that could be input into softare so tat te caracters, settings, an effects a ie in te same or, e says. e sent monts getting tat system to or correcty. e team aso had small VistaVision cameras for off-the- eatenat ocations an ig rigs e it euiment as e as fusie inosaur eas and wooden character cutouts with feet that cou e articuate. at as aays one of our asses, e says. reference ass for te caracters so tat te animators ac at te stuio cou matc teir ositions an no ere tey eonge. oes as een it isney eer since Dinosaur, an e eiees tis moie gae it "the framework to consider and then actuaie a stuio. ie te ieaction aspect isn't applicable anymore, he says: "The whole pipeline and a lot of the software tat as conceie for Dinosaur—it really created the foundation for this studio and for o e or. —Kim Fay Dinosaur used innovative technology and techniques to blend CG creatures into real-life surroundings. TECTONIC SH I F T S ON THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF DINOSAUR, TERRY MOEWS REFLECTS ON BEING PRESENT AT THE DAWN OF A NEW ANIMATION EPOCH. Imagine studying a landscape and trying to calculate how the grass would bend or a log ou ro as a inosaur ran across it. member Terry Moews did just that (and more) for two years during the making of Dinosaur, te isney m tat ene caracters it reaife settings. Moews had been in the animation industry for about a decade when he was hired to sere as isua uerisor on te moie. fter neary a year of re, e e te rst unit out into the world, from California to oria to aaii. e ou go out to ocations an asicay stage, oc, an shoot all of the plate photography that ene u te m, e says. With the directors back in Burbank, Moews guie is team. e ere guring out ere te caracters ere going to moe, how big they were, how to compose for all of tat, e says. ooting te acros, tey a to ee in min eery one of te ractica effects. or exame, at happens if the CG character interacts with a real-life tree or kicks up real-life dust? To do this, Moews' unit worked off storyboards, animatics, and blocking and staging notes an otos from ocation scouts. toug tey a no na animation to refer to, e says e ne at te exectation as. Moews was surprised at how much "kitchen sin success tey a in guring out sots. In one, a meteor strikes the ocean, and the main caracter aar a to urst out of te ater. e sot as one in a ae tan in am rings, an oes says e uit a massie hydraulic rig that was sunk to the bottom of the pool and would thrust an Aladar-shaped ust u troug te ater. e roem as tat it count moe u an ac on fast enoug. fter some exerimentation, 42 KEYFRAME F I N A L N O T E