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.

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: