The resulting look was stunning: Manny, for example, has two million individually rendered hairs on his back. It’s the same Manny we know and love – but looking better than ever.
“The fur becomes a character within a character,” says Carl Ludwig, a Blue Sky founder and the film’s research and development director. “It looks like real fur. Not only does it have a richness and sheen, it’s completely self-shadowing, which let us detail that little dark area between the hairs.”
Scrat also gets a fur makeover. Says Mauer: “The big improvement is in his tail. In ‘Ice Age’ it looked like a big balloon; now, it looks real, like a squirrel’s tail.” Adds Chris Meledandri: “Seeing the fine hairs on Scrat’s tail, and his nose quivering, adds a realistic feel to the character. You know, intellectually, that his character doesn’t exist. But you see this kind of detail and realism, your disbelief is suspended.” The Fur and Feathers team worked similar magic on the feathered characters, including vultures, condors and diatrimo (prehistoric emu). But instead of drawing millions of hairs, the team drew millions of little barbs that grew off a quill to define each feather.
The new technology enabled the filmmakers to apply dynamic simulations, like wind and water, to the fur and feathers. Water, of course, was particularly important, because the characters exist in a melting world. The team had to create myriad looks for the fur, for various degrees of wetness – from a light splash to total immersion.
As they did with the fur, the filmmaker took water-character interaction to a new level – no easy feat because CG water simulation is extremely difficult and time-consuming. Says Effects Supervisor Robert V. Cavaleri: “Most animated features, like ‘Finding Nemo’ and ‘A Shark’s Tale,’ are set mostly underwater, so there’s not much character interaction with the water. In ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN, we have the characters spending much of the film interacting with water: splashing on the surface, swimming, and diving.”
In the film, water, like fur, becomes a character, itself. To accomplish that, the filmmakers created a system in which splashes of water could be “directable,” which enabled the filmmakers to move water around like they would a flesh-and-blood character. “Giving the water this added character-like dimension makes it seem more threatening, adding to the film’s overall sense of peril,” says Cavaleri. Art Director Thomas Cardone was another key contributor to creating the look of the film’s perilous, melting environment.
Cardone began his work by studying “Ice Age’s” designs and what made them work so effectively. “‘Ice Age’ had a wonderful simplicity,” says Cardone. “If that film was fall into winter, then ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN is winter into spring.”
Cardone established a visual language based on color, lighting and shapes. The foundation of this language was a “color script” or palette he used through production. “Color creates certain emotions, and supports and enhances the story,” he says. “Ultimately, all this detail, which is often subtle, is intended to enable audiences to become lost and immersed in this world.”
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