Success story: how Russian creates incredible special effects for Disney

Alexey Stomakhin Photo: Facebook Alexey Stomakhin

Alexey Stomakhin creates magic on the famous studio Walt Disney, working there in a team of programmers. AT an interview with the Russian edition of the "Afisha" Alexey spoke about his work in the world-famous corporation and revealed some secrets of creating famous Disney cartoons.

Alexey Stomakhin. Photos: Facebook Alexey Stomakhin

Personal History

In 2009, I received a bachelor's degree in MFTU and decided to look for educational programs abroad in order to study both mathematics and physics at the same time. In parallel with these subjects, I mastered computer graphics - image rendering, 3-D modeling. In the end, I entered UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) at the Faculty of Mathematics. Here I am deeply engaged in the study of statistics. We even managed to work in the Los Angeles Police Department. We helped solve crimes. We had to analyze crime statistics and predict where the following would happen. This work was informative, but I wanted to do something more meaningful.

At about the same time I saw the cartoon "Rapunzel", and he impressed me greatly. I saw how much mathematics there is. Then I came to a university professor who partially advised Disney — was engaged in computational physics — and started working with him. I began to model physical systems and solve differential equations using numerical methods. Then I got an internship at Disney.

By the way, recently exactly what I was doing 4-5 years ago got into the animated cartoon Zeropolis. The skins and muscles of the characters were made with the help of the program that I created during my internship.

Once I accidentally found out from my supervisor that the studio needed to make snow for “Cold Heart” and people are needed. I was invited to do it. As a result, the snow turned out to be quite successful, and, in fact, this project became the basis for my dissertation. PhD. After that they called me to the state, where I still work.

Why cartoons Disney need math

Now the requirements for the visual component of the animation have greatly increased. The viewer wants to see the 3D image, feel belonging and believe in what is happening on the screen.

Yes, now, like 20 years ago, characters are animated separately, they create facial expressions, they move almost manually from frame to frame - and this is very hard work. But the environment in which they live, their clothes, hair, etc., create computers. For a character to look realistic, he must have, like a living person, 1000 hairs, and it is not so easy to draw by hand. This is where the computer is used.

There are laws of physics that describe the movement of various things: water, snow, hair, clothes — anything. There are artists who set the initial conditions: let's say there is water and rocks, and they collide. These data are sent to the program, which, on their basis, solves the corresponding differential equation and calculates everything. It mainly uses methods of numerical mathematics.

How the project is developed

Before the launch of the cartoon in production, the director already has his own vision. He comes to us and sets the task. We start working on it, collecting information, looking at what the subject consists of, which we need to create, how others have painted it, what we can do. We begin to write down the characteristics of what we want to draw, and then we try to choose a mathematical equation and come up with numerical methods.

The tool that we ultimately use can create other visual images; it is enough to change the variable. For example, the tool that created the snow in the “Cold Heart” in the “City of Heroes” created a sticky piece that was made by the Hani Lemon bombs.

We actively publish our results and articles on the topic. That is, anyone can read them and program something like that. But the program itself is the property of the company, so it does not apply.

What is it like working with Disney artists?

I like working with artists. These people are completely different mindset and approach to art. They describe their needs in rather abstract terms, and my task is to rethink and systematize it, and then make it work.

For example, in the “City of Heroes” there is an army of a whole million small robots. When we came to the meeting with the directors for the first time, they had a lot of sketches and comments on how these robots should interact. On the one hand, they should behave like a colony of ants, like a large organism, and on the other, they did not want an organic movement. As a result, we were in the hands of a set of ten different abstract characteristics. And here you take and try to realize it and imagine what kind of physics may underlie them.

There were simpler tasks, for example, with water in Moana. The water itself is easy to make, all equations have been written a bunch of years ago. But in Moana, the ocean is alive. And I wanted this water to not just splash “in physics”, but also to get some kind of thing out of the water and talk. On the one hand, the piece should look like a physical one, on the other hand, it should be of the desired shape and move as it should. This is a very delicate balance.

What's in animation Disney more important - realism or fabulousness

From an industry perspective, realism in animation is always good. but Disney works a little differently. We have our own traditions and ways of animating characters. It does Disney recognizable. Probably, Disney works in the so-called belivabiliti field - so that the viewer believes what is happening. We have realistic things look a little fabulous.

For example, Rapunzel does not run like a man, her movements are slightly sharper. Therefore, when a dress, modeled according to all physical laws, was put on her, the skirt flew over her head while running. Accordingly, it was necessary to create around it the force fields that held this skirt.

Or, for example, take the episode in "Moana", where dolphins jump in front of a boat. The boat looked quite realistic and sailed according to all the laws of physics, but the dolphins, according to their idea, moved at a speed of 100 miles per hour, and when they crashed into the water, it was a splash like a cannonball. Therefore, the task was to add water viscosity. As a result, the dolphins practically dived into the likeness of glycerol.

Or there is a moment when the ocean disperses before Moana. Ordinary water can not do this, so I had to force the gravitational field to work quite differently than in the real world.

But still, a lot is done by hand. The computer can not automatically animate the character completely, or, for example, make it old. Now animators are learning new technologies, are interested in machine learning, but this is not in my specialty anymore.

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