Paperman – Pushing animation boundaries

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTLySbGoMX0

Paperman is the latest B-movie (in the traditional sense of the word) to play before a Disney film (Wreck-it-Ralph) and is director John Kahrs first short film and Oscar-nominated to boot. What is particularly stunning about the animation is the way in which the 2D textures are so artfully combined the 3D models to retain that hand-drawn feel.

This behind the scenes featurette breaks down some of the animation process and if you check out the foot notes you’ll get even more technical detail.

The technique uses traditional hand drawn 2D animation by carrying the information with the 3D CG using a program dubbed “Meander” created by Eric Daniels.

Director John Kahrs has described the process: “It’s not like a texture map. It’s just like painting on the surface of the CG. It actually moves on a 2D layer that’s driven by the CG.”