CGI lion

This clip shows a development animation of a CGI prehistoric cave lion. The creature will star ias a dangerous predator in a a forthcoming documentary on Neanderthal man.

422 is often asked to bring to life warm-blooded furry creatures - amongst the most difficult animals to animate. Here we have tried to create a sense of the power and grace of a big cat, with a high level of accuracy in terms of fur and facial details. This work is ongoing, and the final scenes will involve specially-filmed live-action backplates.

CGI artist Andy Power built the creature from ground up using polygons and sub-division surfaces. Muscle deformations were created using blend-shape deformers. The creature was skinned used Maya fur to give the realistic appearance. Movement was created using hand animation.

author: adc
2006-06-29