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.

'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.

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.

Star Wars Rebels, Guardians of the Galaxy, Wonder Woman - Funko 'Pop!'

Last year we provided a veritable horde of characters, vehicles and creature rigs for Funko Animation's 'Pop!' stylised animated shorts and product teasers.  In 2017 we have continued this run, providing such notable characters as; R2-D2, Luke Skywalker, Captain Jack Sparrow, Wonder Woman, Rocket, Baby Groot & many more.

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.  We also provided any additional prop and accessory rigs needed, as well as scripts to help support seamless switching.

Thanks to Funko Animation for working with Flex Animation on these fun characters.  Animated shorts and teasers featuring our rigs can be found below:-

Legion of Collectors: Wonder Woman Trailer:

Smuggler's Bounty: Star Wars Rebels Trailer:

Marvel Collector Corps: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Box Trailer:

Star Wars Smuggler's Bounty: 40th Anniversary Box Trailer:

Marvel, DC & Star Wars - Funko 'Pop!'

In 2016 we supplied a vast array of characters, vehicles and creature rigs for Funko Animation's 'Pop!' stylised animated shorts and product teasers.  Based on the popular Funko collectible figure line, these simple large-headed characters are built using our in-house automated rigging pipeline, ensuring quick and reliable turnarounds with flexible animation controls.  The rigs included notable characters; Marvel's Deadpool, DC's Batman and Robin, and Star Wars' Han Solo with Tauntaun and many more.

Thanks to Funko Animation for working with Flex Animation on these fun characters.  Animated shorts and teasers featuring our rigs can be found below:-

Smuggler's Bounty: The Empire Strikes Back Trailer:

Spellbound:

Chimichangas, featuring Deadpool:

Legion of Collectors: DC Legacy Teaser:

Marvel Collector Corps: Super Hero Showdowns Teaser:

Marvel Collector Corps: X-Men Teaser: