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C G W M a r ch / A p r i l 2 014 ■ 15 acters. "The skin doesn't have much detail, and the fur stays organized," Denis says. Although they pushed the colors beyond those in the origi- nal, they simplified the color palette somewhat. "We limited the palette per sequence," Denis says. "And, we wanted to make sure the colors weren't super saturated, although Sherman's hair is very saturated because it was like that in the original [broadcast]. However, the simplicity ended when it came to lighting and material response. "The rule was simple textures, complex lighting," Denis says. "We quite rapidly decided not to have photoreal lighting; we have soft lighting. But we kept the prop- erties and materials true to nature." Designing in Previs To help design lighting for various sequences and sets, the artists began testing possibilities in the previs stage. "That gave us the opportunity to make some general decisions about lighting," Denis says. "We could quickly mock up something with simple shading using early versions of the set and see where lights would work better for story beats." The previs lighting also helped refine the set design. For example, the lighting artists realized that columns in Egypt were placed so close together than the light couldn't get through. In France during the revolution, they tested the timing for a reflection on Sherman's glasses to be sure the lighting would work with the animation. The artists also changed the direction they had planned for sets inside the Trojan horse. "Because we were in previs working with simple sets, [lighting tests were] very quick to do," Denis says. "We could answer some of the big questions. And we were able to make some modifications to sets if they weren't proper for the light- ing. The animators would then work with the modified sets." The lighting team did the previs work in Autodesk's Maya. The sets then moved into PDI/DreamWorks' proprietary animation system and the lighting into the studio's proprietary lighting and rendering software. Previs also helped the effects team design and execute a chase sequence inside the sewers of Paris. In the sequence, Mr. Peabody and Sherman are in the water. A gate explodes, and when water from the sewer runs down, the two charac- ters surf the waves. The team that worked together on the sequence included the head of character animation, the animators working on the shots, the head of effects, the director of previs, and Denis. "We'd meet three or four times a week," Denis says. "Be- cause the simulation of the water would determine the speed of the characters surfing the waves and, therefore, the camera position, we started with a set. The set drives the simulation of the water, and the simulation creates the shape." Effects artists working with Autodesk's Naiad (formerly from Exotic Matter) would run the simulation and then meet with animators, who would ask for changes. "One of my favorite moments was when one of the effects artists told an anima- tor not to worry about a big wave because he would tame it down," Denis says "The animator said, 'No, I love it. I'm using it.' So, previs said they'd change the camera, and we kept it. It was a fun, collaborative process that allowed these happy accidents. It was very, very exciting." Because Denis, Schleifer, and many others on the crew had worked together on Megamind, that collaboration came easier. "All the heads of the departments have been working together for a while," Denis says. "We knew each other, trusted each other. It was really helpful. The collaborative aspect is so important." In the early days, feature films created with 3D computer graphics seemed locked into a particular style. That's no longer true. As animators and artists have become more attuned to increasingly sophisticated software and faster hardware, CG has become what it always really was: a device. Not a style. Not a genre. A tool that, finally, filmmakers have shaped into wildly diverse actions and images. Among the possibilities, animated features that resemble 2D cartoons in look and character performances have proven the most challenging. No studio has scrambled to meet that chal- lenge with more success than PDI/DreamWorks, as Mr. Peabody & Sherman, the latest film from this studio, attests. ■ CGW Barbara Robertson is an award-winning writer and a contributing editor for CGW. She can be reached at BarbaraRR@comcast.net. ■ ARTISTS AT PDI/DREAMWORKS began designing the soft, rather than photoreal, lighting in the previs stage.