Computer Graphics World

November / December 2017

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10 cgw n o v e m b e r . d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 7 C O C O including a hoodie. Sometimes the hood is down, sometimes up. And, women grab onto those big skirts while dancing. Simgrab made that and more possible. "It gave us so many more opportunities for specific performance choices," says Nick Rosario, directing animator. "If Miguel wanted to push up his sleeves, we could turn simgrab on, animate the sleeve, then turn simgrab off and his sleeve would stay there." Similarly, animators used simgrab for Miguel's hoodie and to help him shove his hands into his pockets. "We could put simgrabs on his hands and turn them on when he grabs the cloth to pull his hood on," Santos explains. "And, we had controls on his pockets so he could put his hands in and take them out." The new continuous collision system and tools such as these helped the Coco team manage the enormous scale of this film. "People ask me what the technical chal- lenge is for the film," Unkrich says. "In this film, the challenge was the scale; about how to scale up all the work we had done already. We're at the point where we have figured out how to do anything, it's just a matter of the cost. We needed to populate the worlds with a lot of people wearing clothes. In the Land of the Dead, we have millions of light sources, so we had to find procedural ways to have those without someone hand plac- ing every light. We grew the towers organ- ically. All those details added up to a lot of work for a lot of people." But, as with Pixar's previous films, that work will undoubtedly pay off. Prior to the film's worldwide release, the aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes had critics giving Coco an average 96 percent positive rating. Given that overwhelmingly positive critical acclaim, the film's family-centric theme and its joyful, heartfelt message, look for Pixar's 19th film to further expand the studio's list of much-loved box-office hits by one more. "Dìa de Muertos is such a beautiful celebration," Unkrich says. "I hope this film will spark conversations and stories about their own family's ancestors." Adds Molina: "My hope for this movie is that it will create a space for emotions in the same way Inside Out did for me. If audiences come away from the film with a desire to connect with tradition and with their generations of family, we will have done a good job." Muy bueno. Barbara Robertson (BarbaraRR@comcast. net) is an award-winning writer and a contributing editor for CGW. FINGER AND GUITAR STRING ADJUSTMENTS AND VIBRATION SIMS HELPED MAKE MIGUEL'S PERFORMANCE BELIEVABLE. ANIMATORS COULD SEPARATE AND REJOIN SECTIONS OF THE SKELETONS.

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