“Our films are constantly increasing in the scope of story-telling,” Emerson said. Perhaps the most important Autodesk tool for LAIKA, though, is Shotgun, their project management software. Inventor enables the designers to evaluate what’s needed for a given puppet, and whether modular components (balls, sockets, joints, and the like) from LAIKA’s standard catalog will suffice, or whether custom elements will need to be designed and fabricated. “You have to have super-tight tolerances, because any slop in the movement will show up onscreen,” said Fischler. The construction of the armatures is critical. We have Haas and a Mazak CNC machines, as well as a laser cutter and a water-jet cutter.” “All the armatures are made in-house in our machine shop. “LAIKA uses Inventor to design the armatures that allow the animators to pose the puppets,” Stringer explained. Moving the puppets relies on another Autodesk tool, Inventor, which is used for 3D mechanical design.
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“Maya has been around since 1998, so we can count on it, and there’s tons of talent out there who know how to use it.” “When you’re making an animated film, there are thousands of problems that will happen,” Emerson said. Maya is also used for digital visual effects, so it’s critical for all elements of production.
In the end we printed 106,000 bespoke faces.” We had eight printers running 24 hours a day making 2,000 faces a week. “For Missing Link, we used Stratasys J750 color printers. Rapid technology advances have made a big difference since then. “For Coraline, with the Stratasys polyjet printers we had back then, we could only print in one color, so the faces were all painted by hand,” said Jeff Stringer, Head of Production Technology at LAIKA.
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Using Autodesk’s 3D computer animation, modeling, simulation and rendering software Maya, they design thousands of different facial expressions and print them. That takes creating empathy, and since the characters’ faces are their main focus, our use of 3D printing becomes so important.”īecause of that need to create “living” and likeable characters, they’ve used 3D printing for puppet faces in all their movies. “People want to go to the movies and be moved.
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In addition to lunch and refreshments, the event also included Kubo-themed desserts and coffee drinks, and - our favorite part - a live demonstration of a LAIKA animator hard at work re-creating an entire second of animation from the film.“A lot of what we’re doing is realizing the full potential of stop-motion animation, and telling stories nobody else can,” said Steve Emerson, VFX Supervisor at LAIKA. Also on hand were four-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee Mayim Bialik, Empire’s Tasha Smith, The Night Shift’s Robert Bailey Jr., Sofia The First’s Merit Leighton, Fresh Off the Boat’s Marlowe Peyton, Murder in the First’s Kathleen Robertson, The Amazing World of Gumball’s Jacob Hopkins, and About A Boy’s Benjamin Stockham, all of whom voice roles in Kubo and the Two Strings. The extensive display of original sets, puppets and props immerses visitors in the studio’s singular, fantastical worlds.Īttendees at the event included LAIKA voice actor Steve Blum ( The Boxtrolls), LAIKA President & CEO and director/producer of Kubo and the Two Strings Travis Knight, LAIKA Head of Production and Kubo and the Two Strings producer Arianne Sutner, LAIKA Costume Designer Deborah Cook, LAIKA Puppet Fabrication Supervisor Georgina Hayns, LAIKA Supervisor of Rapid Prototype Brian McLean, LAIKA Production Designer Nelson Lowry, LAIKA Animation Rigging Supervisor Ollie Jones, LAIKA Head of Animation Brad Schiff, LAIKA Visual Effects Supervisor Steve Emerson, and Focus Features Chairman Peter Kujawski. The exhibit showcases the evolution of LAIKA’s unique blend of handcrafted stop-motion animation and visual effects magic in four imaginatively themed rooms.
Running August 5-14 at Universal Studios Hollywood’s Globe Theatre, the interactive exhibit features an up-close look at the artistic detail and imagination behind LAIKA’s groundbreaking ten-year filmmaking history, which includes the Academy Award-nominated films Coraline (2009), ParaNorman (2012) and The Boxtrolls (2014). LAIKA, the acclaimed animation studio and creators of the upcoming epic adventure film, Kubo and the Two Strings, gave members of the press and a few lucky fans a sneak peek of their latest exhibit, “From Coraline to Kubo: A Magical LAIKA Experience,” prior to its launch on Friday. ‘From Coraline to Kubo: A Magical LAIKA Experience’ exhibit runs August 5-14 at Universal Studios Hollywood’s Globe Theatre.
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