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A.C.M.E. Multilimb System
Sandy Kao, Mike Amos, Bill Otsuka, Amy Kwa, Charles Edward Billingsley, Michael Amorozo, Jason Dengler, Isabela Rovira, Alexander Paz, Marc Scott, Ariel Chisholm
End-to-end pipeline for 2D-style multiples and smear geometry on 3D characters, inspired by Looney Tunes, deployed on Boss Baby: Family Business.
Abstract
Animating with multiples and smears is a technique of 2D animation dating roughly back to the 1940s, most notably on the Looney Tunes cartoons. We have seen an increase in the use of multiples and smear geometry as some 3D animation becomes more stylized and the computed motion blur is not enough to convey a more exaggerated motion or speed. DreamWorks first began the exploration starting with Peabody and Sherman and has since used different methods throughout the years. For The Boss Baby: Family Business, the DreamWorks A.C.M.E. Multilimb System is an end-to-end pipeline solution for achieving the traditional 2D multiples and smears that puts the control back into the hands of Animation.
How to read this
- Category
- Production talk / pipeline tool: 2D-style multiples and smears on 3D characters
- Contributions
- An end-to-end pipeline (DreamWorks A.C.M.E. Multilimb System) for producing traditional 2D-style multiples and smear geometry on 3D characters
- Puts control of the multiples and smear effect back into animators' hands, targeting exaggerated motion that computed motion blur cannot convey
- Deployed in production on The Boss Baby: Family Business, building on prior DreamWorks explorations since Peabody and Sherman
- Context
- Continues DreamWorks' line of stylized-motion tooling (multiples and smears, a 2D animation technique dating to 1940s Looney Tunes) applied to modern stylized 3D animation.
- Correctness
- Studio practice, not peer-reviewed; the system is production-proven on a shipped feature, so claims are about artist workflow and on-screen results rather than measured generalization.
- Clarity
- Accessible to animation/pipeline readers; a single read conveys what the system does and why, with no formal method to revisit.
- How to read it
- Read once for the workflow design and where artist control sits; focus on how multiples vs smears are authored if you need to build stylized-motion tooling.
Related work
- Group Based Rigging of Realistically Feathered Wings 2011 / Thesis
- Sony Imageworks Animation Layout Workflow with Unreal Engine and OpenUSD 2024 / SIGGRAPH
- The Versatile Rigging of Splat in Strange World 2023 / SIGGRAPH
- Creating Infinite Characters From a Single Template: How Automation May Give Super Powers to 3D Artists 2024 / SIGGRAPH
Keywords
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