Computer Graphics World

e unlikely group of animals in the Ice Age pack is back, and this time they're in a family way, even more so than before, in Twentieth Century Fox's third fi lm in the fran- chise: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, created, as always, by Fox's Blue Sky Studios. "Ellie is pregnant," says director Carlos Saldanha, referring to one of the two mam- moths in the group. e other mammoth is pack leader Manny. "Manny is feeling crazed about the arrival of the baby, and his friends feel left out of the family unit, so there's a chance the herd might be split up." So, Sid, the loveable goofball sloth, decides to take family matters into his own hands. "Sid falls into a mysterious ice cave, where he encounters three ginormous eggs," Sal- danha continues. "He treats them as his own, and when three adorable dinosaurs hatch, they call him 'mommy.' " e real mommy, however, is not amused. "She takes the babies and Sid with her, so now our friends have to go forth to this un- known place to rescue Sid," Saldanha explains. "But Sid fi ghts to keep the babies all the way through. So, we have a lot of comedy and fun action, and we go to a new, tropical world forgotten by time. We also meet new characters. Buck is a weasel trapped in the lost world. And, Scrat meets a girl, Scratte." Scrat is the saber-toothed squirrel that has starred in his own short fi lms without ever saying a word. Sexy Squirrel Animators needed to respect the personalities and performances already established for the returning characters, but the new characters opened new animation opportuni- ties—especially Buck and Scratte. Lead animator Hans Dastrup was character lead for Buck, and senior animator Jeff Gabor was lead animator for Scratte. Dastrup explains the organization: "We had two animation senior supervisors on the fi lm who work closely with the directors and look at everyone's shots each morning. Under those supervisors are the lead animators. For this fi lm, it was me and Juan Carlos Navarro. And then we had three senior animators. ose are our offi cial titles. But, every character in the fi lm has an animator assigned to it, so half the permanent staff also had a second title as character lead." Both characters benefi ted from advances in rigging developed for Horton Hears a Who (see "Poetic Justice," March 2008). " e rig is extremely fl exible," Dastrup says. An unlikely custody battle for three baby dinosaurs hatches the plot in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, which will be shown in stereo 3D. July 2009 49 CG I ■ ■ ■ ■ ©2009 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.

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