AJ: Audiences expect a lot these days. What blew them away five years ago is considered pretty rough animation by today’s standards. And when you take into account that animated films take roughly four years to complete, you better start out way ahead of the curve. We started out with some very talented modelers and texture artists. They modeled and textured the faces with an uncompromising eye for detail. A good set of skin shaders was a very valuable asset, as well. We wrote a shader that would emulate sub-surface scattering based on the facing ratio of the light source. In simple terms, it added a subtle reddish glow as light rolls over the face and into the shadow areas.

Next in line was the animation. We used quite a bit of motion capture to nail down the more complex movements of the characters, leaving the animator with more time to work on the subtle nuances of the performance. Most of the close-ups were 100% keyframed. I asked the animators to suspend what they knew about traditional animation — you know, squash-and-stretch, exaggeration and things like that — and replace it with all of the subtlety of a real human performance. I asked them to study people’s faces while they were talking to them, to see all of the subtle detail that makes up every one of us.

MF: Where did you succeed? Where do you think you could have improved?

AJ: I think we succeeded in creating characters that were more realistic than anybody had ever seen. We got one step closer to a photoreal computer-generated human — but there is a lot to improve on to really achieve that goal. Even with all the subtle animation we added, there was equally as much subtlety missing from the animation. Animating humans is truly a daunting task.

[Figure 2] Aki is a stunning example of the efforts Square made to create an appealing photorealistic character. © 2001 FFFP All rights reserved.

MF: Can you describe in detail the process for creating the look of Aki?

AJ: Aki started as a conceptual sketch. She was then modeled and textured. Getting her look approved took about five months. Sakaguchi-san was heavily involved in the constant back and forth of modeling and texturing to get her look just the way he wanted her. The Aki that appeared in the film looks much different than the original sketch, as she changed a lot during those five months. We were constantly struggling with the need to put more details in her skin and wrinkles on her face to make her look less plastic, and at the same time trying to keep her face looking flawlessly beautiful like a modern-day movie star. (See Figure 2.)

MF: What were some of the key elements that made her look so appealing?

AJ: Aki has larger-than-normal eyes. I think the large eyes combined with strong cheeks and a narrow chin gave her a slightly exotic look. Her hair is something that everyone likes, as well. We originally had her hair much longer but trimmed it shorter to make it more manageable and to reduce render time. There is a lot of detail in her hair, like “wispies” and smaller hairs around the hairline. The animation of her hair was simulated using a proprietary technique similar to our cloth simulator.