Eric Froemling, Tolga Goktekin, Darwyn Peachey
May 2007
In Pixar's Ratatouille, a key story point involves a rat being swept through the sewers of Paris, plummeting down waterfalls and along steeply sloping tunnels, through a series of high-speed S- bends which cause the torrent of water to bank up sharply on each turn. Bringing the director's vision of this wild and perilous rapids sequence to the screen required us to use a wide variety of water effects techniques to give the appearance of rushing water, spray, foam and bubbles. One of the greatest challenges was to pull these diverse techniques together into a seamless sequence.
Available as Pixar Technical Memo #07-03
Tolga Goktekin, Jon Reisch, Darwyn Peachey, Apurva Shah
May 2007
Creating the digital effects for cooking in Ratatouille posed a number of unique challanges. First we had to adopt efficient methods for simulating a wide variety of material behaviours. Second we needed to direct our simulations in order to match the expressiveness of the character's animation, e.g. forming specific shapes while the character pounds a dough. Finally we had to apply shading to our simulated surfaces which underwent complex deformations and topological changes. In this sketch we will focus on materials ranging from elastoplastic solids to viscous liquids and illustrate with several shot examples from the film.
Available as Pixar Technical Memo #07-06