Rhythm & Hues Uses Massive Software for The Golden Compass

Parallel Universe Brought to Life with AI–Based Animation Software

Monday 10 December 2007

Massive Software announced today that visual effects company Rhythm & Hues used Massive, the autonomous agent 3D animation software, on over 50 shots for the highly anticipated feature film from New Line Cinema, "The Golden Compass." The film stars Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Dakota Blue Richards and Ben Walker, and went into wide release in the U.S. on December 7.

Rhythm & Hues used Massive to create a multitude of animal characters to help populate the parallel universe inside "The Golden Compass," including many of the daemons accompanying each of the human characters. Placing anywhere from four or five to between 20 and 40 separate animal characters into 52 different shots, Rhythm & Hues used Massive in conjunction with Voodoo, their proprietary in–house 3D animation and rigging software.

An adaptation of the award–winning novel by Philip Pullman, "The Golden Compass" follows 12–year–old Lyra Belacqua (Richards) on a dimension–crossing odyssey that builds from a mere children's adventure into a complex philosophical epic. Accompanied by a talking daemon, or animal alter ego, Lyra travels through a CG–dominated universe populated with mystical creatures both good and evil on her quest to rescue her kidnapped friend Roger (Walker). During her journey, Lyra meets up with a tribe of seafaring Gyptians, a mysterious witch, a talking polar bear, a sharp–shooting Texan aeronaut and more, culminating with a climactic battle in the snows of the icy north.

"In the past we've used Massive for large crowds made up of thousands of agents, but this project was unique in that we were functioning almost as supplemental animation for the film," commented Rhythm & Hues Massive Animation Supervisor Mark Welser. "Instead of just dropping a crowd into the background, we needed to specifically place characters to fill in action and cover spots the production team didn't have the time or manpower to handle. We were placing and steering CG daemons in and around and behind the live action and hero animation and the trick was to have all various elements work together seamlessly."

With Massive already firmly entrenched inside the facility's pipeline, Rhythm & Hues was able to concentrate on using the placement capabilities within Massive to drop individual characters and small groups just where they were needed. Rhythm & Hues was also able to utilize flow fields and other tools inside Massive to steer characters around additional scene elements using actions keyframed by animators at its Los Angeles and India facilities.

"In terms of sheer numbers, ‘The Golden Compass’ had much fewer Massive agents than, say, ‘Evan Almighty,’ but that doesn’t mean it was simpler," Welser continued. "When you place a large crowd, you have the luxury of letting agents do what they are programmed to do, but with smaller numbers, placements become far more obvious and need to interact with hero elements much more effectively. So even though there is less Massive, what is there is more critically exposed, making it essential that the paths they travel be more specific and intricate."

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