The transition to 3D hasn’t changed any of the character’s qualities. Goofy is still goofy.

“The same thing is true to some extent with Goofy. He’s been a real challenge just because he’s got this huge amount of flesh in CG that just sort of hangs out in front his face, and to keep his mouth united with his eyes and not be distracted by the great big glob that’s at the end of his nose requires a lot of rigging, whereas if you’re just drawing it you can correct it so intuitively. And if you don’t have the big distance between the muzzle and the eyes, it’s all on the same plane. Plus you have special lighting concerns that are additional steps not part of the 2D process.”

One of the great benefits of 3D is the fact that for the first time we can actually see the sides of Mickey’s ears, since in 2D they shift to the sides of his head. And we can see hair, texture, fabric little bits of fuzz and the tiny bump in the surfaces of Mickey and his beloved pals that we know so well.

“We did traditional [prep work] just as any other show that’s going to be sent out of this division,” she said. “So we did all kinds of backgrounds and we painted flat art. Fortunately, we’d done a lot of work with Photoshop so we had indicated textures, which was just fluky lucky with just a little bit more detail than a traditionally painted movie. But when we went CG, we had to work out their fabrics and skin. So it was like, you work on this while we buy fabrics and try and look at what eggshells, marshmallows and bologna look like. Everybody’s done a great job and had a super sense of humor while going on this adventure of translating. But I think that if we were going to do it again, we could be a little more efficient.”

Meanwhile, veteran Disney animator and Mickey expert Andreas Deja was on hand to give guidance. “There’s a lot of drawing that’s gone on and it’s funny how there are many traditional skills that go into making this type of CG movie,” Marsden explained. “And when scenes come back to us, Andreas helps draw notes…to make sure that Mickey’s eyes are following Donald or his posture needs to be more depressed or his body should be in a certain pose, and the best way to do that is always to draw. So Andreas has been trying to make sure that things are the way we know Mickey.”

For his part, O’Callaghan maintains that 3D is merely another tool and that you still have to draw the characters first. “I don’t think I’m the first person to say this but it’s the difference between watercolor and oil painting. I mean, you still need the artist; we’re still coming from the same place, still designing everything before we design it in the computer. So I don’t think we’re taking anything away. I think the roots are still there and certainly the sensibilities of being an artist and a storyteller come from the 2D background.”

However, the 3D challenges and expectations were still enormous for O’Callaghan and his colleagues. “You know, squash-and-stretch is always associated with these characters [along with] the genuine warmth and great expressions, and to be able to look at a short and try to solve all the questions about how [they are going] to look in 3D, you have to keep the tradition and still look as fresh and exciting as the old shorts.

As treasured character and corporate symbol, Mickey Mouse’s leap to CG could be a defining moment in the direction at the company that Walt built.

“So we came up with a little situation where Mickey would go in and out of camera and would turn around. There was a shot where he’s got an umbrella and flies up and goes to a window reflection where he can see the front and the back, which we staged just to showcase the ears and how it looked so natural. So it was really designed to show a range of what he would be put through in a much larger scope of the picture.”

Not only that but there are all the other characters and environments to animated in 3D. “You have hundreds of elves and thousands of crowd people and so we had a lot to deal with and the overwhelming volume of work that you do when sitting down to design a 3D movie. The difference was we had to suddenly switch gears. We really didn’t plan for a 3D movie, so you have to try and simplify things. You weren’t just designing backgrounds now you’re designing three-dimensional sets that have to work in real space. And it just becomes a different challenge.

“Mickey is always challenging because he went from a wonderful little character to a sort of corporate icon, and it’s always difficult dealing with him because true characters always have tremendous range or they go through a great growth pattern. But I dealt with him in his [segment] like a [parental] figure. He gets mad because Pluto’s trying to help decorate and ends up destroying the place. It has a nice range of emotion for him, which I think works quite well and still retains his character. So he’s still Mickey despite the eruption.”

Bill Desowitz is editor of VFXWorld.