5/29/2023 0 Comments Laika moviesAnd we were right.” One of the things LAIKA was most excited about with “Kubo and the Two Strings,” “is that we embarked on something truly unique. We had a hunch this Connex3 was just the beginning of their road map. “That was a really powerful alliance that suddenly allowed us to break into this color plastic printing world. “So I called Stratasys,” McLean said, “and while it took a bit of convincing because it was still early stages,” the team partnered on Beta testing of the 3D printing company’s first color 3D printer, the Objet Connex3. ![]() “I still remember being in meetings with the director of “Coraline” and negotiating the number of freckles that “Coraline” had on each side of her face because we knew a painter had to hand paint each one of those freckles.” During early planning for their fourth film, “Kubo and the Two Strings,” creators were faced with the realization that the three character designs under consideration were not possible with the 3D printing technology the Studio was currently using. After the success of “Coraline,” LAIKA acknowledged both the power of 3D printing and also its present limitations – namely, having to hand paint each individual face. “The decision to push the technology is very much driven by creative,” said McLean. There’s this level of trust that allows us to continue to push each other in really positive ways and I’m excited to continue to forge this relationship on our next movie and in movies to come,” said McLean. “It all goes into that idea of us being able to tell stories that have never been able to be told in stop-motion animation.”Īccording to McLean, “Being able to have a 3D printer like the Stratasys J750 that’s repeatable and accurate with this full range of color and materials has afforded us the idea of being able to achieve this shot-by-shot customized animation.” LAIKA’s relationship with Stratasys over the past ten years or so “has been reinforced in film after film. “The only reason we do what we do is for the performance,” said McLean. “Coraline” had roughly 20,000 faces, “ParaNorman” had 40,000, “The Boxtrolls” had 56,000, “Kubo” had 64,000, and “we’re well on the way to producing between 85-90,000 faces for our next movie,” said McLean. The result of LAIKA’s desire to create unprecedented stop-motion animated performances has led them to continue to push the limits of the 3D printing technology they use. “Basically we have a work flow now that allows us to have an animator sit down, animate a unique line of dialogue, specifically for that oneshot in the movie and we’re able to print that out, process it and deliver it to set.” “This is what we’re using on ‘Film Five,’” said McLean. The groundbreaking 3D printer has 360,000 different color combinations with Voxel Print, that capability grows exponentially and is combined with the ability to compose new textures and gradients, enabling 3D printing with extraordinary precision. ![]() Due to LAIKA’s long history with Stratasys they created a unique partnership with Fraunhofer, the creators of Cuttlefish software, allowing LAIKA early access to Voxel Print on the Stratasys J750. LAIKA’s 3D printing partnership with Stratasys.The next step in LAIKA’s 3D printing partnership with Stratasys came when LAIKA was invited to be a Beta customer on the Stratasys J750, the first full-color, multi-material 3D printer.
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