Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/691968
m ay . j u n e 2 0 1 6 c g w 1 1 According to Dimian, as the animators were working on the destruction sequence on Pig Island, they didn't know for sure which part of the city they would blow up or how that would happen. So, they decided to use a simple construction set comprising small blocks with volume that could be mixed and matched to create a range of structures. "We didn't have to worry about which pieces were going to be built specifically to be destroyed," he explains. "When we handed this over to effects to shatter, every piece was able to break." The main destruction was achieved using the Houdini Bullet solver. E F F E C T- I V E A N I M A T I O N Many effects from both islands came from a library of pre-simu- lated, pre-rendered elements – plumes of smoke, layers of smoke, explosions – that lighters could pull into a scene. The water effects, meanwhile, were simulated in Houdini using varying combinations of FLIP, regular particles (POPs), Ocean Spectrum tools, and the Ripple Solver, all within Houdini. Interactive fluid splashes were mostly achieved with Houdini FLIP fluid solver. "We didn't want the water to look completely photoreal because it is a stylized movie. This is a make-believe place but has a touch of photorealism. The design is not real, but the ma- terials are. But you do not want to overdo the complexity with things like water and smoke if they are to fit with more stylized characters," says Dimian. The foam and bubbles were generated with Houdini particles, while a FLIP splash element produced a set of fields that gave fluid-like motion to the particles. The beach- break, meanwhile, was too large for a single FLIP simulation, so it was broken up into a series of parallel sims that were surfaced together post-simu- lation. Only the water that was relatively close to shore was FLIP-simulated. Farther away from shore, the water tran- sitioned to a non-interactive Ocean Spectrum surface, while foam at the water's edge was created with POPs. The wakes and splashes from the boats were made with a FLIP sim and merged into the surround- ing non-interactive Ocean Spectrum surface. Some of the more complex water work was done for the Lake of Wisdom, where Mighty Eagle nests. The waterfalls were made with a combination of FLIP, for the waterfall proper; Ripple Solver, for the radial ripples in the various pools; and Ocean Spectrum, for ambient ripples on the main lake. Each waterfall had its own unique mist simulation, generated in Gas Solver. A P E R F E C T B L E N D Nash and Dimian are no strang- ers to animated features, with both having worked on the more cartoony Cloud with a Chance of Meatballs and the more realistically animated Surf's Up, to name a few. "The Angry Birds Movie is a nice blend between the two extremes," Nash says. Without a doubt, Sony Pictures Imageworks and Rovio Animation are putting a lot of eggs into this property's basket, transforming these popular, beloved characters for their big- screen debut. Will feathers fly, or will the movie make avid (angry) bird-watchers of us all? ■ Karen Moltenbrey is the chief editor of Computer Graphics World.