Incredibles 2 was one of our favorite movies of the summer for its creative action sequences, endearing characters and quiet musings on family and unity. It’s a fun movie to watch, but man, so much work went into it behind the scenes. Pixar offered a tease of the intensive animation detail in a new video this week:
The Incredibles sequel saw a huge step up in technology over its predecessor. Before, animators had to create hair through the instructive programming of a few hundred “guide hairs.” They’d manipulate the guides and then wait for a render to come back so they could see how the changes would manifest in the movie. They’d look at the render for mistakes and then start the process over again.
Now, they have several shortcuts in place. Animators don’t have to wait for renders anymore—they can see the changes manifest in real time and tweak accordingly, but they also have access to “full fidelity hair,” meaning they can alter individual sections of hair on a micro-level basis, more specific than the guide hairs they relied upon before. It’s pretty neat.
