Tiddler - Facial Rigging

Last year Flex Animation had the pleasure of working with the very talented team at Red Star 3D and Magic Light Pictures on ‘Tiddler’, an animated feature adapted from the picture book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. The film was aired on Christmas Day on BBC One in the UK.

For the project David at Flex Animation Senior Rigging Technical Director was tasked with providing a facial rigging toolset for a variety of stylised aquatic characters from the book. David then completed facial rigging for the key cast including Tiddler, Johnny Dory, Gruffalo Fish as well as many secondary characters for the film.

The tools were also used by members of the rigging team to deploy their own facial rigs both human and aquatic. In addition, David was also able to provide body rigging for the teacher Miss Skate, who featured pectoral fins and a dextrous tail that needed to hold a piece of chalk.

Special thanks to the team at Red Star 3D and Magic Light Pictures for working with David at Flex Animation on this very memorable and special project.

'Sweet Dreams' Exhibition - Marshmallow Laser Feast

This summer Flex Animation was honoured to assist art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast with their latest exhibition Sweet Dreams. The exhibition commenced on 17th July and runs till 1st September at Aviva Studios, a new £240 million warehouse space located in the heart of Manchester. The exhibition is a journey in to the evolving landscape of food.

David at Flex Animation rigged four main characters for the exhibition - which feature throughout as real-time actors. Illustrations and character designs by McBess.

For the project David at Flex Animation worked closely with Ollie Lindsey at All Seeing Eye to provide body and facial rigs for the four main characters - Chicky Ricky, Penny Peckish, the Boss and Ortolan. David also provided rigging and animation for the immersive factory environment, where visitors are encouraged to interact with and trigger the gruesome factory processes.

‘Earlier today I was welcomed in to the cavernous Manchester Aviva Studios by a giant chicken’. ‘The giant chicken, Chicky Ricky, is the guide’ - Nick Ahad, BBC Radio 4 on Front Row.

Special thanks to Ollie at All Seeing Eye and the team at Marshmallow Laser Feast for working with Flex Animation on this very memorable and unique project.

2024 Showreel

Breakdown:

1. 00:03 - The Amazing Maurice - Facial rigging tools & rigging for cast of characters

2. 00:34 - The Amazing Maurice - Rat swarm rigs & MASH node networks

3. 00:54 - Facial rigging toolset & facial rig derived from scan data (supervised shoot)

4. 01:16 - Guardians of the Galaxy - Creatures, digital doubles and spaceship rigs

5. 01:34 - The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists - Facial rigs toolset & rigging for cast of characters, mouths were then rapid prototyped for use on studio floor

6. 02:16 - Artwork, animal studies, contact info

Fast X, A Quiet Place : Day One, Damsel, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

For the past two years Flex Animation has had the pleasure of working with prestigious previsualization company Proof Inc. Working across a variety of film and television projects, David Cowles-Brooks worked as an Assets and Rigging Lead to help support the talented team of shot artists.

Fast X (Proof Inc.):

‘Fast X’ - Universal Studios

For this project David at Flex Animation was required to rig the entire cast for use at Proof London and LA, along with all the vehicles, props and interactive environments. This project also drew on David’s knowledge of moving assets in to Unreal Engine.

Damsel (Proof Inc.):

‘Damsel’ - Netflix

David at Flex Animation provided custom rigging work for the Dragon and rigged the lead Millie Bobby Brown, along with other key cast members (Ray Winstone) and secondary creatures for previsualization. A fun project to have contributed to.

A Quiet Place: Day One (Proof Inc.):

‘A Quiet Place : Day One’ - Paramount Pictures

David at Flex Animation provided custom rigging work for the creatures and rigs for the key cast Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn, ensuring likenesses and facial rigs were on point. David also rigged crowds, vehicles and interactives environments for visualizing the exciting opening.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (Proof Inc.):

‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ - Warner Bros. Pictures

David at Flex Animation provided rigs for key cast members and a range of exotic underwater creatures, vehicles, props and interactive environments. Some unique and fun rigging work for previsualisation.

The Amazing Maurice - Facial Rigging

For the past year Flex Animation has had the pleasure of working with the very talented team at Red Star 3D on their next animated feature film. Based on the best selling Terry Pratchett novel, ‘The Amazing Maurice’ is due to be released in 2022 on Sky Cinema and stars Hugh Laurie (House), Emelia Clarke (Game of Thrones) and David Thewlis (Wonder Woman).

For the project David at Flex Animation Senior Rigging Technical Director was tasked with providing a suite of facial rigging tools for a wide range of stylised characters, working closely with the Head of Rigging and Lead Animator. He then completed facial rigging for Maurice and the entire cast of characters in the film.

Sophie Vickers - Lead Character TD at Red Star 3D:

“I have had the pleasure of working with David for nearly a year. In that time he took what was a very rudimentary and bare-bones facial rigging system and built it up into a production standard tool, all the while deploying facial set-ups for a large array of very varied characters. He is a skilled rigger, very diligent, an excellent communicator and always comes to the table with a positive attitude. I sincerely hope we get to work together again and fully recommend him to anyone seeking a rigging TD.”

Should you have any questions about our facial rigging services, please do contact us.

Peter: The Human Cyborg - Channel 4

In late 2019 Flex Animation was engaged to work on a very unique and inspiring project. Professor Peter Scott-Morgan, a distinguished robotics scientist who was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 2016, wanted to realise a fully expressive digital avatar of himself. His pioneering work was documented in the Channel 4 documentary Peter: the Human Cyborg and forms a complete transformation from organ interfaces to mechanical assistance in standing.

Flex Animation's work involved translating the FACS scan output provided by Optimize 3D and Adam Spring to a highend rig for manipulation and extraction by game developers and programmers. The end result was a derivative real time display of Peter's likeness delivering dialogue.

Flex Animation is very proud to have been a part of this incredible project and would like to extend a huge thank you to Channel 4 and the Scott-Morgan Foundation for working with us.

The full documentary can be viewed on Channel 4 here.

Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths Official Trailer – Magic: The Gathering

Earlier this year Flex Animation was excited to assist Axis Studios with a colossal new trailer for Magic: The Gathering’s latest Arena Expansion, Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths.

Flex was tasked with the facial rigging for the two heroes - the lead female Vivien and the enormous flying Wingcat. For Wingcat careful attention was paid to matching the facial expression of large cats to capture the subtleties of sneers, growls and blinks.

Special thanks to Axis for working with us on this very exciting and gigantic scope of a project.

More information about the expansion can be found here https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/Ikoria and the trailer for Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths can be viewed below:

Nectar App Commercial

In September 2019 Flex Animation was excited to assist NineteenTwenty with a unique rigging task. The latest Nectar App commercial required an amorphous blob rig, which could be manipulated to make a range of pleasant shapes whilst maintaining volume preservation. Along with blendable appendages, custom correctives were sculpted and integrated seamlessly with the rig controls during the production to meet the animators’ needs.

Special thanks to NineteenTwenty Bristol for working with us on this short and sweet project.

The full commercial can be viewed below:

Theros Beyond Death Official Trailer - Magic: The Gathering

At the end of 2019 Flex Animation was excited to assist Axis Studios with an atmospheric new trailer for Magic: The Gathering’s latest Arena Expansion, Theros Beyond Death.

Flex was responsible for body rigging for the cast of characters including Ashiok, facial rigging for the hero female character Elspeth, as well as providing previzualisation and motion capture rig assets for the project.

Special thanks to Axis for working with us on this very exciting and equisitely rendered project. Thanks also to David Matthews for working with us on the body rigging required for this project.

More information about the expansion can be found here https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/TherosBeyondDeath and the trailer for Theros Beyond Death can be viewed below:

Throne of Eldraine Official Trailer – Magic: The Gathering

This summer Flex Animation was excited to assist Axis Studios with a monumental new trailer for Magic: The Gathering’s latest Arena Expansion, Throne of Eldraine. Focusing on two adorable Gingerbread characters, this trailer weaves spectacle and tragedy in to what seems like a romantic fairytale - at first.

Flex was responsible for body and facial rigging for the hero male and female Gingerbreads, the muscle-bound Garruk, body and armour rigging for all the Knights, as well as providing previzualisation and motion capture rig assets for the project.

Particular focus was given to the deformation of the Gingerbread couple through carefully honed correctives and the inclusion of controls to allow arcs in the limbs. The facial rigs were imbued with an illlustrative quality, while maintaining the gooey roundness of the icing through controls that allowed additional volume & shaping on top of expression shapes.

Special thanks to Axis for working with us on this very unique and beautifully rendered project. The new expansion can be played now on the Eldraine Courtside Brawl event on Magic: The Gathering Arena and the trailer for Throne of Eldraine can be viewed below:

Captain Marvel & a year's worth of Funko rigging!

Continuing our body of rigging work for Funko Animation throughout 2018 and in to 2019, we are pleased to share the latest short ‘Captain Marvel Goes Higher, Further, Faster!’. These simple large-headed characters are built using our in-house automated rigging pipeline, ensuring quick and reliable turnarounds with flexible animation controls.

Highlights below include ‘Welcome to Wetmore Forest’ which required Flex to add subtler rigging controls to help bring extra appeal to their characters, as well as an Ewok romp through Endor for the exclusive Box Trailer. Many thanks to Funko Animation for working with Flex Animation on these shorts.

Messy goes to Okido - BBC (Series 2)

In the second half of 2017 Flex Animation was delighted to assist Doodle Productions (sister company of Squint Opera) with characters for the second series of ‘Messi goes to Okido’. Flex made swift work of rigging key robots Bryn, Nancy and Stan Tall with our in-house rigging toolset for use in multiple episodes. We then moved on to assisting with rigging on the Mayor, Gloria and Geoffery and the populus of Okdio, the Okidinian.

Special thanks to Doodle Productions for working with Flex Animation on this fun project.

Messi goes to Okido Season 2 is currently being aired on CBeebies is also available on BBC IPlayer.

Stan Tall assists the Mayor in ‘Messi goes to Okido’ Season 2 episode ‘Vote OKIDO’

'Sabuesos' - TVE Spain

In 2017 Flex Animation was proud to assist Stargate Studios with the hero character in a new Spanish TV show ‘Sabuesos’ (Hound Dogs). Working closely with Stargate, Flex provided a full FACS rig for ‘Max’ for use in 900 live action shots over 10 episodes, enabling a dog to talk!

The facial setup had to respect the anatomy of the Jack Russell Terrier whilst allowing the actor’s performance to be mapped on to the rig. Layers of phonetic controls allowed the animators to work broadly, while finer muscle controls allowed fine tuning to match the nuances of the voice actor.

Image courtesy of this article breaking down Stargate Studios’ work on ‘Sabuesos’

Should you have any questions about our facial rigging pipeline and/or the performance transfer process, please do get in touch with us.

Special thanks to Stargate Studios for working with us on this exciting project.

'Happy!' Season 1 - SyFy

In the second half of 2017, Flex Animation was pleased to be a part of the debut season of 'Happy!', the bleak comic book adaption from SyFy.  Working closely with Axis VFX, Flex provided body and facial rigging for three fantasy characters: Pancake Head, Toad and Bo Peep.

Special thanks to Axis VFX for working with us on this very unique and darkly comedic project.  'Happy!' Season 1 is currently available on Netflix and airs on SyFy in the US.

Flex provided a range of fantasy character rigs.  Toad's setup had fleshy 'pucker' shapes built in to the face rig and sculpt controls provided further soft deformation for the animators.

Bo Peep was designed to behave rigidly like she was made of porcelain, but had to deform and preserve volume gracefully.

Axis VFX provided the face rig for Pancake Head, Flex Animation rigged the body - creating the feeling of a floppy egg batter in the character.

Jurassic World : Fallen Kingdom

In 2016 Flex Animation was proud to be involved in the early stages of this summer's highly anticipated dinosaur adventure; Jurassic World : Fallen Kingdom.  Working with previsualisation geniuses Proof Inc London, Flex provided animatable rigs for seven of the key Dinosaurs used for choreographing the action and framing for the film.  This included the Velociraptor 'Blue' and the prominent Carnotaurus.  Although a smaller part of the final VFX process, Flex is proud to be involved with the tectonic stages of such an eruption of a film.

Special thanks to Proof Inc for working with us on this exciting project.  Thanks also to David Matthews for joining us to work on all of the Dinosaur rigs.

Flex Animation - Skull & Bones E3 Cinematic Trailer

Early in 2018 Flex Animation provided four key facial rigs for Ubisoft's E3 'Skull & Bones' trailer.  Working closely with Pinewood Studios 3D group, Flex made use of our high fidelity facial rigging toolset.  Hi-resolution facial expression scans of the actors were provided by Pinewood, which were then honed and integrated in to the final facial rigs at Flex.

Special thanks to Pinewood Studios 3D group for working with us on this exciting project.  The full trailer can be viewed here.

Flex provided four main character facial rigs

Flex Animation helps bring The Last Jedi's 'Porgs' to life

Continuing our highlights of rigging work for Funko Animation throughout 2017, Flex Animation was pleased to be involved with one of the most interesting new creature additions to the Star Wars universe - the Porgs!  As well as The Last Jedi characters, Flex Animation has provided rigs for multiple Star Wars product trailers this year - including the Smuggler's Bounty Droids box and the Smuggler's Bounty 40th Anniversary box.

Based on the popular Funko collectible figure line, these simple large-headed characters are all built using our in-house automated stylised rigging pipeline, ensuring quick and reliable turnarounds with flexible animation controls.  Many thanks to Funko Animation for working with Flex Animation on these fun projects.

All trailers can be found below:

Flex Animation's adventures in the Marvel Universe

Excelsior! Continuing our highlights of rigging work for Funko Animation throughout 2017, Flex Animation was elated to be a part of several Marvel film tie-ins animated shorts and trailers.  These included Spiderman: Homecoming,  a Guardians of the Galaxy animated short 'Cosmic Sleigh Ride' (also shared by Marvel Entertainment online) and Thor: Ragnarok.

Based on the popular Funko collectible figure line, these simple large-headed characters are all built using our in-house automated stylised rigging pipeline, ensuring quick and reliable turnarounds with flexible animation controls.  Many thanks to Funko Animation for working with Flex Animation on these fun projects.

Trailers in full shown below:

Flex helps bring heartwarming 'Dumbo' trailer to life

Continuing our highlights of rigging work for Funko Animation throughout 2017, Flex Animation was excited to see the results of this heartwarming trailer for the Funko Disney Treasures line.  Hats off to the team at A Large Evil Corporation for recreating the feeling of a beloved Disney classic.

Based on the popular Funko collectible figure line, these simple large-headed characters are all built using our in-house automated stylised rigging pipeline, ensuring quick and reliable turnarounds with flexible animation controls.  Many thanks to Funko Animation for working with Flex Animation on this fun project.

Freddy Funko's Birthday Surprise

Flex Animation was especially proud to be part of Freddy Funko's birthday celebration earlier in 2017.  Flex has provided rigs consistently for Funko's original shorts by working with Funko Animation throughout the year.

Based on the popular Funko collectible figure line, these simple large-headed characters are all built using our in-house automated stylised rigging pipeline, ensuring quick and reliable turnarounds with flexible animation controls.  Many thanks to Funko Animation for working with Flex Animation on this fun project.