Blurring animation and real life with physics1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteA visit to the hairstylist can take months when you’re a gigantic primate ““ just ask Weta Digital, whose animators have had to create more than a million strands of hair for the latest Planet of the Apes movie.
They have spent more than two years working with New York academic Eitan Grinspun, a world expert on computer-generated hair.
- (Reuters) IT’S ALL PHYSICS: In Disney’s Tangled, in cinemas now, Rapunzel’s hair showcases the work of Columbia University’s Eitan Grinspun, who says he and his team calculated the precise laws of physics behind every movement before programming them individually into a computer.
They are now making the final strokes with their virtual hairbrushes on Rise of the Apes, a prequel to the 1968 classic. They will also be using the technology on Tintin.
“You can’t really simulate every strand, or if you do it would take weeks,” Weta software development team head Alasdair Coull said. “Now when we create hairstyles, they more naturally mimic the real world and we can get to more natural-looking or complex hairstyles quicker.”
