CompositeBasedRefractionforFurandOtherComplexObjectsonBolt

LewisSiegel* SeanJenkins WaltDisneyAnimationStudios 1 Introduction

hamster ballthroughspace,itwasimportantthattherefraction stayconsistentinrelationtothesurface,andnotswimasthe distorted surface normals changed orientation. As a result, a coordinate systemlocatedinthecenteroftheballwasusedto export asetofcolorcodedorientation imageswhichexpress thecoordinatesystemasaset ofbasisvectorsincameraspace. Thehamsterballsurfacenormalscouldthenbetransformed,in compositing, back into the hamster ball's object coordinate system,resultinginconsistentnoisecalculationsregardlessofthe ball'spositionandorientationrelativetothecamera.

Creating the Rhino character for the film "Bolt" presented a unique challenge: generate realistic fur which is then viewed throughaplastic,refractivehamsterball.

Compositing

Figure 1: The furry "Rhino" character inside a refractive hamsterball,withreflectionsand"surrounding"object Rendering hair and simulating refraction, when performed separately,arebothtimeandmemoryintensive.Whencombined, the demand for time and memory resources increases tremendously,andlikelywillresultinanunusableimage. Toovercometheseproblems,aprocesswasdevelopedforBolt whichinvolvedexporting3Ddatafromtherenderstagesothat the calculation of the refraction could be delayed until the composite stage. The technique allowed for quick and easy modificationoftherefractioneffectusingstandard compositing techniques. The refraction technique was also successfully integratedintothestereoprocessdevelopedforBolt.

Therenderstageresultsinseveraltypesofraw,3Doutputdata, whichcanthenbeusedinthecompositestagetoperformthefinal refractioncalculation.Thecompositingsoftwareused,however, must provide the ability to perform arbitrary arithmetic calculationsonperpixelRGBdata. Thecompositingsoftware used on Bolt included advanced warping tools with these capabilities,alongwithamacromechanismthatallowedcomplex operationstobepackagedintoauserfriendlyformat. The first step was to create a refraction macro, capable of refracting an arbitrary image through a surface for which 3D render data had been exported. After that was achieved, it became clear that the same data could be used to perform a Fresnellikereflectioneffectneartheedgesofthehamsterball. The result was a corresponding reflection macro. Finally, to achieve a realistic result, several layers of refraction and reflectionwerecombined:alayerofrefractionandreflectionon thebackoftheball,underneath arefracted layer oftheRhino characterinsidetheball,followedbyanotherlayerofrefraction andreflectionthroughthefrontoftheball.Themultiplelayersof refractionprovideddepthcuesandaparallaxeffectwhiletheball wasinmotion,enhancingtheimpressionthattheRhinocharacter wastrulyinsidearefractivesphere.Additionally,theamountsof refractioncouldbemodulatedincompositingonaperlayerand evenaperpixelbasis,allowingforrapidturnaroundofchanges duetonotesfromartdirectionandreview.

Rendering

In order to make the result of a compositing based refraction solutionappeararealistic,itwasdesirabletomaintainasmany levels of refraction as possible. Therefore, it was necessary duringtherendering stagetosplittheballintotwoparts,front andback,alongtheball'ssilhouetteedgeasseenfromthecamera, with the Rhino character floating in between the two hemispheres.Unfortunately,theballisnotaperfectsphere;the surfacecontainsseveralopeningsandindentations.Asaresult,a simplefront/backfacingevaluationwasnotsufficient.Instead,a geometricapproachedwasused,evaluatingtheanglebetweenthe camera,thesurfaceposition,andthecenteroftheball,resulting inanaccuratesplit,evenforthenonsphericaldetailsontheball's surface.Thethreesplitcomponentsfront,backandcharacter arerenderedasseparateimagelayers,freeingthecompositeartist tocolorcorrecteachindependently,instead ofmanipulatingall threeelementsbakedintoasingleimage. Alsoduringrendering,avarietyof3Dinformationforboththe frontandbackoftheballwasexported. Thisincludedsurface position andnormal data(incamera space), andalsoapainted distortionmapwhichemulatesirregularitiesonthesurfaceof thehamster ball. Inaddition,astheRhinocharacter rolledthe *Email:Lewis.Siegel@disney.com

Stereo

Finally,withsome minor modifications, theentire process was able to be made compatible with the multicamera stereo renderingapproachemployedfortheproductionof Bolt. The resultwasaseamlessworkflowforthehamsterballrefraction effectsfromstarttofinish.

Conclusion

A rendertime solution to the combined challenges of hair rendering and refraction, while technically accurate, was not possiblefortheproductionofBoltduetothelargeamountsof timeandmemoryrequiredoveralargenumberofshots,anddue alsototheinabilitytoquicklyandeasilymodifytheresult. A novel composite based approach wasused instead, providing a fast, highquality andartistfriendly solution tothe problem of makingtheRhinocharacterappeartobeinsideanencompassing, refractivesphere.