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(1/14) A lot went into animating these shots of the #SpiderVerse crew hiding from Miles& #39;s roommate, Ganke. It was a collaborative process, went through a lot of iteration, & it was also quite a technical challenge.
Here& #39;s a thread about how the animation came together!
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🕷️" title="Spinne" aria-label="Emoji: Spinne">
Here& #39;s a thread about how the animation came together!
(2/14) First I need to thank my Lead, Julie Bernier-Gosselin, & Supervisor, Josh Beveridge, for trusting me with these shots. It was through them that I was able to work on such a visible part of the movie. They guided & collaborated w/ me throughout the whole process. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🙇♂️" title="Mann verbeugt sich tief" aria-label="Emoji: Mann verbeugt sich tief">
(3/14) To start, I reviewed the "Launch", a recorded discussion between the directors and the animators where the dir& #39;s go over the storyboards, explain their intentions, and tell us what they& #39;re looking for in each shot.
Below: Boards by John Puglisi
Below: Boards by John Puglisi
(4/14) The first thing you might notice is that Peni& #39;s robot, SP//dr, is in the boards but not in the final 3D version. Likely due to its final size and design, when the shot was handed to me from layout, SP//dr was being asked to wait for Peni outside the dorm room window.
(5/14) That left Peni to hide from Ganke without any spider-powers. As explained (briefly) in her intro, Peni has a psychic link with the spider that bit her. This allows her to control the robot, SP//dr, which has spider-powers, but it did not give the powers directly to her.
(6/14) We pitched some different ways Peni could hide w/o the ability to stick to walls...Peter could carry her? She could ride on Peter& #39;s back like a Koala? Sit on top of the cupboards? Or my personal fave idea that came from my lead, Julie: She could hide inside the cupboards!
(7/14) My Supervisor, Josh Beveridge, wanted to keep them all together & working as a team, and so Peni ended up wedged in between Miles and Gwen. And Spider-Ham, who was at one point walking upside down on the ceiling, was tucked neatly beside Noir.
(8/14) The shape went through many iterations, hinging on a few needs:
-Josh didn& #39;t want to see negative space opening and closing between them.
-They needed their limbs free in order to move.
-They needed to end in an appealing pose.
As I iterated, a spider-like form emerged...!
-Josh didn& #39;t want to see negative space opening and closing between them.
-They needed their limbs free in order to move.
-They needed to end in an appealing pose.
As I iterated, a spider-like form emerged...!
(9/14) Ham didn& #39;t really fit in anywhere during the team movement, so I decided to lean into his cartoon-y nature, and have him zip, scramble, & disappear. It solved practical issues and gave me a chance to work in a classic style of animation which I& #39;ve loved since I was a kid.
(10/14) The cartoon-y movement of Spider-Ham also gave me a chance to play with some of the unique tools we had. This scramble run was made up of 3 layers:
1. The base model.
2. A set of animated 3D feet duplicates.
3. Hand drawn lines on a plane between the camera and Ham.
1. The base model.
2. A set of animated 3D feet duplicates.
3. Hand drawn lines on a plane between the camera and Ham.
(11/14) I animated the core movement of the characters by building a group rig for the individual rigs that allowed me to move them all at the same time, individually, & in a gradient. First I tried to nail down the rhythm, then baked the animation to 4& #39;s and animated the limbs.
(12/14) For Ganke& #39;s part I filmed video reference of myself in the Sony reference room. I especially looked to the reference to inform me of things like, what does the neck, head, and lips do when taking a drink? And what do the hands and fingers do when flipping through pages?
(13/14) In the second shot, Spider-Ham& #39;s acting was animated by the talented Kitty Fung. Ham& #39;s line was added much later, right before the trailer released & I was wrapped up in other work and unable to do it without her help. And it& #39;s perfect! I love the little shrug he does!
(14/14) Lastly, I just want to note that this was just my experience from the anim dept. Many dept& #39;s worked on these shots including story, layout, hair, cloth, lighting, comp, stereo, edit, audio...Each shot was a massive team effort, & I am lucky to have been a part of them!
