How Pixar's Movement Animation Became So Realistic | Movies Insider

Pixar gets its characters to move and emote by building them rigs and filling them with controls that allow animators to give them unique expressions and movements. "Toy Story 2" gave them the ability to adapt and reuse rigs for multiple characters, allowing a wide array of characters of all shapes and sizes. In "Finding Nemo," animators learned how to make fish show emotions despite their lack of eyebrows. Major breakthroughs occurred during "The Incredibles," in which animators now had the capability to give humans muscles and skin that moved like the real thing, eventually allowing "Ratatouille" to stretch the human mouth far and control a character's loose movements. Meanwhile in "Cars," a new technology called ground locking let cars drive on a straight path, while new stretchy rigs were created for realistic octopus tentacles in "Finding Dory" and an especially dynamic dog tongue in "Coco." Thanks to new features, like the ability to add tendons onto hands and a digital piano that played by itself, Pixar was able to show complex piano playing. None of it would have been possible without the animation and rigging breakthroughs that came before it.

Watch “Soul” on Disney+.

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How Pixar's Movement Animation Became So Realistic | Movies Insider

[newcombe]

wow animators don’t get nearly enough recognition that they should. their job is really hard.

[huanghank]

As a pianist, the piano scenes in this movie blew my mind. Their works are exceptional.

[danielarchila]

Pixar: We are not trying to make things look super realistic, we want the emotions that the characters portray to feel real.
Disney: These lions look super real. Shame about the lack of emotions though.

[DSLRguide]

I knew that animation requires an insane amount of effort, but this shows just how much I underestimated that

[hermesz_]

After watching Raya, I'm convinced that Disney/Pixar is now just showing off their hair/fur, water and muscle animation skills. It was soooo realistic

[mynameispaul]

I love how this shows the saying "progress, not perfection"

[grace]

It is absolutely crazy how animators can make a whole movie out of a nothing. A blank slate. And they can animate humans, fish, lions, and more animals to make a whole dang movie. Mad respect

[ErikCPianoman]

Dang. Animation has come a long way from the OG Toy Story days.

[stuck_in_a_bubble]

Honestly I was most blown away by the scene where we see dorothea playing the saxophone for the first time. From the texture of her hair to the way light traveled down the saxophone as she played, everything was so incredibly detailed it was almost scary.

[natalieschall]

Pixar’s tech wouldn’t be the same if one of the movies they made didn’t exist.

[blackspear]

Everyone here saying "poor animators" but I am here thinking what a nightmare it must've been for the Riggers. This is some of the most insane complicated rigs I've seen in my life

[_-ronin-_]

Rip the guy who animted the croch of Mr. Incredible he missed his sons arival to the world

[SnowyDaBear]

As much as I love the films, it’s the people behind them that make them special.

[jessetorres]

It's funny rewatching Toy Story 1 and seeing how the humans in that movie look like mannequins.

[KylieWagner]

Honestly the animation in soul is incredible. I can’t wait to see where we are in another 10-20 years 😳

[Salaarkhan]

Animators don’t get enough credit for this. Absolutely mind blowing how they do this.

[donatello]

**animators have a problem**

Pixar: So I started making software

[sumire]

Imagine Animating angles which are not even seen in the scene

[Wischmopp]

Okay super interesting video but that tentacle tongue at 7:59 is C U R S E D and I can't get over it

[whyisgamora]

when i watched soul, i was so mesmerized and impressed with the animations, with each new movie disney/ pixar come out with, i’m more and more impressed and amazed by how realistic it looks and all the little details and how much time and effort the animators and everyone who works on the movie, put into it, it’s truly incredible