MPC · Muscle systems and corrective shapes
MPC: Dolittle and Cats
At MPC, I worked on rigging and technical direction for the feature films Dolittle and Cats. For Dolittle I built the giraffe's muscle system and corrective pose shapes, so it kept a believable shape through extreme poses. For Cats I built the muscle systems for the characters Cassandra and Gus.
- Studio
- MPC
- Role
- Muscle systems and corrective shapes
The challenge
At MPC I worked on rigging and technical direction for two feature films, Dolittle and Cats. Both needed animals and cat characters to move convincingly on screen, and a muscle system is a big part of that: it makes muscles bulge, slide and stretch under the skin as a character moves, so the body reads as real flesh rather than a shell.
The giraffe in Dolittle was a particular study in biomechanics. Some scenes pushed it to extremes, so its rig had to hold up across the full range of movement the film asked for.
What I did
- Dolittle: built the giraffe's muscle system and corrective pose shapes. Corrective shapes are sculpted fixes that switch on in specific poses, so the neck, legs and body keep a believable shape even when the giraffe is pushed far from its rest pose.
- Cats: built the muscle systems for Cassandra and Gus.
The outcome
Both films were released, with MPC's animal and character work on screen. On Dolittle, the rigs worked alongside the groom and rendering teams, who brought the animals to life; the gorilla and the dog in particular were stunning.
