The geometry shader used to render Puss’s fur incorporated new controls and more intricate texture maps, which were needed to produce his orange tabby coat. Lighting and effects completed the transformation of Puss In Boots from a computer model to a cat you can almost pet.
The bigger challenge was how to make Puss In Boots’ belt, hat and boots interact with his fur. The descriptive—if not so technical—name given the process was the smooshing system. Simply put, the smooshing system looks at the geometry of whatever is colliding with Puss’s fur and determines what part of the fur should be smooshed, and how much and in what direction it should be smooshed.
It turns out that computer-animated cats don’t like getting wet any more than real cats do, and it was no picnic for the animation team either. After Shrek, Donkey and Puss In Boots are caught in a rainstorm, the surfacing department used different geometry shaders to give Puss the wet cat look. They adjusted the way the hairs “grew,” changing the direction of his fur to point downward, as if it was weighted down by water, and making it clump together as wet fur is apt to do.
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