Callan Woolcock: “Achieving the desired illustrative 3D look for this project was a key challenge, as we aimed for a visually striking style that, when paused, could resemble a 2D illustration.
“Maintaining this consistency across all frames required thoughtful shading, lighting, and texturing. For the bird, keeping a clean silhouette was crucial to staying true to the 2D design concepts.
“We used blend shapes and a delta mush deformer in Maya to refine its form, ensuring smooth transitions and a polished final look. Rather than rigging separate models for the male and female birds, blend shapes allowed switching between the two designs. Additionally, we implemented two wing models (one open, one closed) on the same rig due to the complex nature of bird wings.
“The four-week timeline also presented a considerable challenge when it came to balancing quality and speed, particularly given the visual standards we aspired to.”