Skeleton Crew

Kim
The charming little owl Kim, who the kids encounter in episode 3, was realized as a physical puppet, along with a fully digital counterpart. Care was taken to retain the integrity, appeal and aesthetics of the puppeteered performance also in the digitally enhanced shots. The goal was to keep the CG animation consistent with the puppetry, whilst amplifying the emotions of the character.

In certain shots Kim's performance was puppeteered and captured in-camera. In others, she was animated and rendered using the digital replica. Many shots also utilized a full CG head added on top of the puppeteered performance.

The 3D asset was built, groomed, and look developed to closely match the practical puppet, with extra attention given to the head and facial features. All the feathers were set up for simulation passes, adding secondary motion, resolving intersections, and interaction with other objects in the scene.

Cthallops
Another one of our key sequences involved the creation of Cthallops, a giant frog-like creature who resides in a large underground mud spa. This character was a fun task and had a variety of unique challenges. Featuring complex tentacle animation, a fleshy moustache, semi-rigid head spines and luminous eyes, our animators and cfx artists had plenty to juggle. In keeping with the show's in-camera aesthetic Cthallops movements were heavily restricted to better replicate the puppetry and animatronics used elsewhere in the show.

The creation of the mud spa itself also contained a number of atmospheric elements to add to the ominous feeling in this damp and murky environment. A variety of techniques were used to create the bubbling mud surface and simulated mud and steam interactions.

Many muzzles
Our final task was to augment/add dialogue to some of the puppeteered characters. This involved creating digi-doubles and hand animated to match the updated dialogue. Special attention was paid to matching the motion of the puppets from the surrounding shots.