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Abstract:
"Monsters Inc." marks Pixar's first extensive use of physical
simulation in a feature film. Pixar animators directly controlled the
movements of the characters' bodies and faces, but much of their hair
and clothing movement was computed using simulations of Newtonian
physics. In this talk, some of the details of the simulations will be
described, as well as their impact on the production process.
Physical simulation allowed a degree of realism of motion that would
not have been possible with traditional methods. Nonetheless, adding
this type of simulation into the Pixar production pipeline sometimes
caused surprising and amusing results -- both successes and bloopers
will be shown. One of the key developments that allowed clothing
simulation to go smoothly during the production was a set of
algorithms for untangling simulated clothing when it was excessively
tortured by the animators. The algorithms allowed the simulator to
handle a range of non-physical situations like character
interpenetrations without producing unpleasant visual artifacts. An
overview of these algorithms will be presented to preview the paper
"Untangling Cloth" by Baraff, Witkin and Kass which will appear in
Siggraph '03.
About the Speaker:
Michael Kass is a Senior Scientist at Pixar Animation Studios where he
worked with David Baraff and Andrew Witkin to develop the
physically-based clothing and hair animation software that was used in
"Monsters Inc." He received his B.A. from Princeton in 1982, his
M.S. from M.I.T. in 1984, and his Ph. D. from Stanford in 1988.
Dr. Kass has received numerous awards for his research on
physically-based methods in computer graphics and computer vision
including several conference best paper awards, the Prix Ars
Electronica for the image "Reaction Diffusion Texture Buttons," and
the Imagina Grand Prix for the animation "Splash Dance." Before
joining Pixar in 1995, Dr. Kass held research positions at
Schlumberger Palo Alto Research and Apple Computer.