At a View Conference presentation in Turin, DNEG Animation VFX supervisor Patrick Harboun shared details about the production and technical processes behind “The Angry Birds Movie 3.” Taking over animation duties from the studio behind the first two films, DNEG had to rebuild the franchise’s characters from scratch while developing workflows to automate effects on a significant portion of the film’s shots.
Rebuilding Red and franchise characters
Because proprietary tools from the previous films could not be transferred to DNEG’s pipeline, the team started with a bare digital model before reconstructing feathers and geometry. Rather than giving the characters a radical makeover, the studio aimed for familiarity. Harboun noted that Red’s plumage was made slightly softer while his eyes and beak gained firmer, more toy-like surfaces.
To preserve character consistency, animators analyzed previous movies frame by frame to establish unwritten rules of animation, cataloging beak angles and eye geometry to build a style guide and reusable expression library.
The film introduces more than 20 new characters, including Red and Silver’s children: Glider, June, and baby Olly, alongside a pet spider named Fuzzy. Olly presented a unique challenge because his glasses function as animated eyes, requiring a solution nicknamed “Pancake Eyes” to duplicate and flatten portions of the facial rig behind the lenses.
Character-effects automation
Building on earlier work for “The Garfield Movie,” DNEG developed a performance-effects process to automate character effects on fur, feathers, and deformation after an animation was approved. The system rendered previews and identified shots needing artist attention.
According to Harboun, the process relied on human learning through reusable templates rather than machine learning. Early in production, about 25% of shots passed through the automated process, rising to 75% by later stages. This system freed up artists for more complex hero work. Additional tools included a secondary invisible layer of fur to prevent bald patches during character stretching and one-click tools for building props like ropes and hay.
Production designer Jeanie Chang’s saturated tropical palette required individual lighting adjustments within scenes to ensure that Red consistently appeared red under varying conditions. The film, directed by John Rice and scheduled for a Dec. 23 release, also expands the setting to include Pigtropolis, a city for the pig residents of Bird Island.