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CG Animation n n n n lations are progressive, one frame after anoth- er. If the shot were short, we could have faked it. But, when it's over 600 frames, everything has to be stable." Internal Forces The relationship between mother and daughter is at the core of Brave's story, and during the film, Merida and Elinor learn to appreciate each other and discover how to work together to achieve a goal. Metaphorically, at Pixar, departments that typically work separately came together on this film and collaborated in new ways. "We've gotten into a rhythm over the years, but sometimes we need to change the process slightly," Wise says. "For example, simulation and character articulation [rigging] used to be separate. First of all, because there wasn't much character simulation, and second, be- cause simulation happened after a character was rigged and handed to animation. On Brave, the departments needed to be more tightly coupled, particularly in the case of the bear and the horse. The volumetric flesh and skin simulations, and how they affected hair simulation, were part of the rigging process. We had to have a lot of close collaboration and coordination." The same was true of simulation and ani- mation. Chung's background is as a simula- tion artist. She was the cloth lead for Up, and before that, a simulation artist and tailor on Ratatouille, and a simulation artist on the short film "Lifted." "Some of my most fulfill- ing moments were when I was working on something artistic and technically challenging with an artistic partner," she says. "I wanted to bring that experience to other people. I made sure the simulation and animation depart- ments worked together." To facilitate that collaboration, the simu- lation group, knowing that the animation department could not set up and run simu- lations, introduced an animation preview. "It gave them a fairly low-stress, low-effort way to run a fast representation of the hair and cloth simulation to judge animation," Chung says. "Animation really insisted that it be fast and reliable; that it wouldn't impact their creative cycle. If it blew up, they wouldn't use it, and simulation can be unstable. So it was a hefty technical project." In addition, the animation supervisors and Chung agreed that they would lockstep the two departments. "When animation kicked off, I kicked off a technical artist, as well," Chung says, "so they could work together." Thus, each animator had a geeky buddy; and each simulation artist had a thespian pal. "I think both sides were apprehensive," Chung says. "Animators want to be creative and not stifled by something technical. The technical artists don't want to be directed. But in the end, I think both sides realized each had some- thing different to offer." There are shots, for example, in which Merida picks up her skirt and sprints away while running her hand through her hair. Ani- mators would know how to create the perfor- mance. Technical artists would understand the dynamics. "An animator might say, 'I want to hit this silhouette,' " Chung says. "And the technical artist would say, 'If you want to hit that silhou- ette, you need to get her arm out of the way.' It was pretty cool. It's what the animation supervi- sors and I wanted to happen. Both sides realized that we are people who can work together." There's another theme running through Brave, too, one embodied in the title. "This movie is about being brave enough to look in- side and see who you really are," says director Andrews. "About internal forces. All the char- acters in the movie go through being brave." So, too, the studio, which was brave enough to tell a story about a young girl who didn't want to be a princess, yet would grow strong enough within herself to command a queenly presence. The tomboyish Merida learns to protect her family through collaboration and with soft power—dominance without relying on physical force. And, she does this without marrying a handsome prince. Behind the scenes, making this story pos- sible, was another form of bravery: A crew courageous enough to create this film using new simulation technology, an entirely new animation pipeline, and new forms of inter- departmental cooperation. Merida's hair, the animals' musculature. Fergus's clothes, moss growing everywhere. A show in which 96 per- cent of the shots had simulation. "Brave was the most challenging film I've ever worked on," says Wise, who joined Pixar in 1994. "It was a hard, hard, hard film. The sheer amount of new technology we had to implement made it hard. But, I like to think the result is there on the screen to see. It's prob- ably the most beautiful film I've ever worked on. I'm really proud." n Barbara Robertson is an award-winning writer and a contributing editor for Computer Graphics World. She can be reached at BarbaraRR@comcast.net. June/July 2012 19