‘The Angry Birds Movie 3’ Unpacked by VFX Supervisor, Including Red’s Redesign and Character-Effects Automation: ’He’s Similar by Choice’ — SkimNews
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- DNEG Animation took over animation duties from Sony Pictures Animation for Paramount's "The Angry Birds Movie 3," directed by John Rice, with VFX supervisor Patrick Harboun presenting technical details at View Conference in Turin on Friday.
- The studio rebuilt Red from scratch — Harboun joked they started from "a plucked chicken version" — because proprietary grooming, rigging and surfacing tools from the earlier Sony-produced films couldn't transfer to DNEG's pipeline.
- Red's redesign stayed deliberately close to the original, with softer plumage and firmer, toy-like eyes and beak, because, as Harboun put it, "once an IP becomes popular, it kind of belongs to the fans."
- Over 20 new characters were introduced, including Red and Silver's three children — Glider (voiced by Walker Scobell), June (Emma Myers), and baby Olly (Psalm West) — plus a pet spider named Fuzzy (James Austin Johnson).
- Baby Olly's glasses function as animated eyes through a DNEG technique nicknamed "Pancake Eyes" that duplicates and flattens portions of the facial rig behind the lenses to preserve expressions during exaggerated squash-and-stretch movement.
- DNEG's character-effects automation, building on the studio's earlier work for "The Garfield Movie," grew from processing 25% of shots early in production to roughly 75% by later stages; Harboun stressed it is "not machine learning, it's human learning."
- The Paramount release opens Dec. 23, and Harboun recommended audiences seek out the 3D version; he also revealed the opening sequence was changed from night to day late in production.
Why it matters: By automating roughly 75% of character-effects shots, DNEG freed artists for hero work while still rebuilding Red's entire rig from scratch — a dual achievement that sets a benchmark for franchise animation handoffs between studios. The deliberately restrained Red redesign shows IP stewardship now constraining creative reinvention even when vendors change hands.
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