SyFlex in "Prince of Persia"
Clips courtesy of Ubisoft Entertainment. © 2005 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved.
What
Game cinematic and trailer
Who
Client/Publisher: Ubisoft
Production:
Ubisoft Cinematics Studio Montreal
Where
SyFlex was used for more than a dozen shots in the production of the Prince of Persia
cinematic for Warrior Within.
More
Andre DeAngelis, Animation TD at the Ubisoft Cinematic Studio, shared with us his experience of
working with SyFlex on the shots:
"Both the cinematic and trailer included a number of shots featuring old galleon style
ships. SyFlex was used extensively for sails and rigging. What was particularly
challenging was that the sails were restrained by a network of ropes and it became quite
a problem solving exercise as to how these would be driven. We resorted to applying
Syflex to a proxy of the sails to drive the more complexed geometry using cage
deformations in XSI. We were thrilled with the quality and speed of the results.
For cable dynamics, SyFlex proved invaluable.
Other shots featured the prince and his cape. Two shots called for the prince to grab
his cape and throw it. SyFlex enabled us to obtain the results we wanted.
A design challenge was presented in the way of the Sandwraith, a creature that the
prince transforms into in order to use it's powers and battle his adversaries. The
character designers envisaged organic, smoky streams flowing off the back of the
Sandwraith and SyFlex was used to simulate the movement of these wispy tentacles.
Again, we were very pleased with the results.
Other shots required the animation of the flowing dress of Kaleena, the goddess of time.
One particularly difficult shot involved her being picked up by the tentacles of
a creature called the Dahaka, and being levitated into the air. The fact positioning of
the tentacles looked like it would be problematic for collisions, but SyFlex managed
these remarkably well.
The trailer featured a shot of a large hall with flowing curtains, which is something
SyFlex achieved with ridiculous ease. Our only regret was that the shot ended up being
only a second long.
Time restrictions prevented us from using SyFlex as much as we would have liked.
We are utilising it to a far greater degree in upcoming projects. SyFlex is one of
the most versatile and reliable tools we have come across and we are finding
novel applications for it all the time."
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