A collection of our best CG Animal Animation projects
Postoffice’s specialty is digging down to the most minute details of animals and figuring out exactly what makes them unique and photoreal. Before rushing to our CGI packages and start modeling we go on a reference deep dive, as we do for every character we make. We look into anatomy books, nature documentaries all the way to even figuring out their heart rate. It’s these details that set apart the good CG animals. It’s not just about making a realistic looking animal. It’s about creating a lifelike, living and breathing animal. This goes much further than looks alone, the anatomy study guides the animation for a full circle process.
Our process
- We start with visual references. Reference is the most important thing when creating any CG animal. We look at other work created and at loads of clips. We do this to see where life has effected. Maybe some chafing of the skin or little bits of dirt etc. These imperfections are the key to photoreal CG animals. None of these single details or imperfections will draw attention. But having many of these subtle details will give depth to the character to ground him in reality. Also we look at how the parts on his body move when he breathes or opens his mouth. Lot’s of muscles are triggered on every motion. Postoffice’s attention to all these details will make our hero feel alive.
- For animation references, we delve into the anatomy of our hero so we really get a clear understanding of the animal. Here Boyo’s experience at MPC in working with the tools behind Lion King and Jungle Book really help. His experience helped build Postoffice’s excellent muscle and simulation tools. But it’s more than tools alone. For the animation, reference is at the core of our approach. We scour the internet for as much reference as we need to really know how katydids should stand, move and react. As mentioned before we always love to take cues from the actor voicing the CG animal so we can incorporate their acting and expressions into our character.
- Next up is the actual asset build. To support all the research we do on our animals, we build every character from the ground up with skeleton, muscles and fat where needed. This makes sure we stick to reality since it’s so easy to drift away from that in CG. We’re experienced in any type of animal from birds, to furry animals or reptiles and insects with a harder skin. We’ll create all CG animals with the same level of detail as always and even try to up the quality level!
The Postoffice animal library
In case you’re looking for a generic CG animal to feature in your spot, here’s an overview of all available animals:
- Bear
- Monkey
- Cow
- Deer
- Cat
- Panda
- Squirrel
- Rooster
- Panther
- Lizard
- Sparrow
- Heron
- Beaver
- Lama
- Dolphin
- Horse