For Scooby-Doo 2, Rhythm & Hues completed 100 more shots within a tighter schedule than the original film. All images ©2004 Warner Bros Ent. All rights reserved.
Vfx supervisor Betsy Paterson (left) and animation director Leon Joosen contend their 3D computer model work on Scooby improved the canine’s acting performance in this sequel.
Digital supervisor Todd Shifflet (left) created the pipeline for the project while Art Jeppe supervised both the lighting and compositing teams for the complex CG slope sequence.

Vfx supervisor Betsy Paterson and animation director Leon Joosen were among the key crew members who worked on the first Scooby-Doo movie and returned with their expertise to bring the character to life again in Warner Bros.’ Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (opening March 26). At the peek of post-production, Rhythm & Hues Studios had 325 people working and created around 450 shots in under seven months — 100 more shots than the first film and on a schedule two months shorter than the original.

Work on this film was more varied and included a full 30-shot CG sequence of two Skeleton Men chasing Scooby and Shaggy down a slope. For Paterson, this was the biggest challenge. The whole slope is computer-generated — all the trees, dirt and rocks. The only live action in the sequence was one character shot on bluescreen. The rest was CG and matte paintings. Because it’s important that the lighters and compositors work together, CG slope lighting/compositing supervisor Art Jeppe oversaw both teams. Jeppe also had a lot to do with the art direction of the sequence along with art director Mike Meaker, who worked on the matte paintings.

The biggest hurdle was rendering something that complex. Paterson adds, “We clocked it. Most of the time Scooby and the Skeletons are moving at about 100 miles an hour down that slope. There’s an awful lot of CG ground to cover.” The team had to develop methods to handle the problem. Paterson credits Raymond Chen, lighting supervisor, with the solution to get the CG chase sequence rendered. Wherever possible the slope was split up so only the necessary parts were visible and the entire model wasn’t carried through the whole sequence. Still, there were many shots looking literally miles back up the hill that had a lot of detail. Work had to be done so that they could be rendered with less resolution in the distance and higher resolution closer to camera. “Which is a neat trick. The computer had to calculate things based on distance from the camera, “ says Paterson.

R & H uses proprietary software for most work. The software is always evolving. Paterson explains, “We develop everything for each show as we need it.” Challenges occurred due to the use of multiple vendors. It was necessary to not only blend character performances, but also technology. Everybody has a different way of working, according to animation director Leon Joosen, “The way animators animate is like a fingerprint. The way they choose to move a character around to create the performances that they want is unique and individual to the animator.” Sometimes compositing problems occurred. Often the difficulties were due to compatibility of the different software used at the different houses. Digital supervisor Todd Shifflet, who built the pipeline for the show, came up with a lot of the technology. He was responsible for making sure these complex systems actually worked and came in on time.