In a recent video from CNET, Finding Dory character supervisor Jeremie Talbot shares some technical insight into the process of creating the camouflaging septopus, Hank.
To date, Hank has been Pixar’s most complex character as the team had to overcome quite a few obstacles with animating, lighting, and shading – just to name a few. In fact, the technical directors (who were responsible for building and articulating Hank) spent 118 weeks working on the character. If that number seems high there were over 11,000 rigging prims that were specially created just for Hank’s simulation (with the average character acquiring around 20).
As Jeremie Talbot explains, the Finding Dory team spent nearly two years to finalize a specific shot in the film due to the complexity of Hank’s character. The shot which is featured in numerous TV spots and trailers showcases Hank meeting Dory for the first time in a lab/office.
While we certainly wish the video interview was longer (as it left us wanting to hear more from Jeremie and the team), we were thrilled to get an early behind-the-scenes peek at the technical side of the film.
To learn more about Finding Dory we recommend picking up a copy of The Art of Finding Dory as it provides countless storyboards, color scripts, and text which gives even more insight into the film.
