Home > News > Tintin > Interview with Chac - 3d Animator at Ubisoft

How it started

Chac started without any formal education and prefers to immerse himself into self-teaching and learning which, thanks to his history now, allows him to learn new programs, platforms and skills in a way that helps his career move further and more skilfully as a 3D animator. Dreamworks Studio and Ghibli enriched his view for 3D animation. But he started with 2D drawing and watched closely the first 3D-flims coming (Toys Story / Antz en co) and later he changed to 3D animation and found his ideal career path.

 

The task of a 3d animatior

He works with key frame animation and with the game play programmers (GPPs) he develops not only the look of the characters but how they act, syncing their voices to the movements and makes every last bit of detail perfect. Using his favorite tool, 3DsMax, which is said to be the only one he couldn't live without, he taught himself rigger, texture and modeling to create the poses and steps. Which eventually come out as a smooth and fluid action that we see on screen. It's a long and draw-out process that takes months but with strict deadlines from the production teams, there are many long nights and tough decisions that must be made.

Tintin the Game was developped here by Ubisoft France ( Montpellier )

After working with Ubisoft for Rabbids Go Home and Beowulf the game, he found that Tintin would be his next project which he would see through all the way. He used his skills and expertise to develop the 2D character of Tintin, along with traits of the movie actor Jamie Bell, to make Tintin 3D and lifelike.

The process of 3d animation

 

Working for Steven Spielberg on Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, Chac, had to be sympathetic of three books that the film and game are centered around from the Tintin series to make sure that the everything about Tintin and all of the characters fitted perfectly. Ubisoft are the company that produced and developed the Tintin game, and Chac found that as with all licensed games there was no room for error or time delays due to the huge company behind it. This put pressure on him and the rest of the team, but all are confident of the successes that Tintin will receive.

The illusion of life

 

Sketches of the Jungle book from the book "the illusion of life" very helpfull for beginning animators.

 

Although Chac is pleased with the new “MoCap” (motion capture) technology that is seen in the likes of Avatar, he thinks that there is an artist's touch which is lacking.

As it is “too” realistic, some of the animation and skill from the designer is lost, although he agrees that mocap looks great and will be used in the future, “The Illusion of Life”, a book written by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, explains animation as a near portrayal of life but with a personal vision. Something which is distinctly lacking with mocap feature films.