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
Gary Bruins, Jon Reisch
May 2007
A particularly heavy effects sequence in the film Ratatouille depicts a colony of rats fleeing their home and crossing a long narrow river in several makeshift boats during a rainy afternoon. Nearly the entire sequence was photographed inches above the ground from a s perspective. Although this perspective provided a very interesting point of view of the world, it also brought an extra level of difficulty to an already challenging sequence. A raindrop creating a seemingly insignificant two-inch splash in the river could easily span one third the height of our final image. Described below is our approach to achieving believable water related effects from the point of view of a rat.
Available as Pixar Technical Memo #07-14