Across the Spider-Verse: How Autodesk Maya is Used for Animation | Behind the Scenes

How does Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse use Autodesk Maya to create stylized looking animation?
Learn how award winning movies such as Spider-Verse utilize Autodesk Maya and industry workflows with keyframe animation, rigging, and more!
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Timestamps
00:01 Spider-Verse & Autodesk Maya
00:50 Video Reference Acting for Animation
01:42 Storyboards: Planning Action Animation Timing
02:15 Autodesk Maya & 3D Animation Tools
02:49 Smears: Non-Traditional CG Motion Blur
03:03 Class Creatives Masterclass Access
03:56 Linework: Machine Learning tools to Customize 3D Asset Visuals
04:43 Animating on Ones & Twos
06:02 Cloth Simulation: Camera Frame Matching Process
06:27 VFX: Hand Drawn 2D & Stylized 3D Assets
06:43 Character Modeling: Translating Concept to 3D
07:05 Environments: Creating the Spider-Verse Look
08:17 Rendering & Lighting: Tricks to Enhance the Look
09:30 Conclusion
This video features the work from the following artists:
vimeo.com/3281... - Seng Khantrum
vimeo.com/3411... - Martin Campos Amoros
vimeo.com/3432... - Kristin Muller
vimeo.com/3361... - Emma (Pei-Hsuan) Shih
vimeo.com/4358... - Trey Roane
vimeo.com/3279... - Steven Johnson
vimeo.com/3944... - Eddie Chew
vimeo.com/3878... - Andrew Perez
vimeo.com/3664... - Michael Trikosko
vimeo.com/7205... - Nick Kondo
vimeo.com/3152... - Kevin Herron
vimeo.com/3251... - Mark Tan
Learn everything necessary to learn Character Animation utilizing Autodesk Maya taught by a AAA game professional with university level accredited instruction! We will cover the basics starting with the Ball Bounce, Pendulum, and how to apply the 12 principles of animation to the human form. We will apply all fundamental aspects taught to create full in game polished animations of: Idle, Walk, Run, Jump and more.
In this foundation course we will be learning the fundamentals of Character Animation and game development. (specifically for the Unreal engine, but this method will also work for other game engines such as Unity).
Autodesk Maya is the industry standard 3D animation software, understanding the concepts in this course will help you land a job in the game, film, tv, or music industry. In this course you will learn how to animate your custom created character from scratch.
Over 13 hours of Animation instruction!
We’ll be utilizing the latest software packages that top tier gaming studios of today use to create all of your favorite titles!
Autodesk Maya, Unreal Engine’s Maya Animation Rigging Toolset (A.R.T. for short), and the Unreal game engine.
Why Learn From Class Creatives?
This course features an accredited university level animation instructor who has over 15 years of experience animating both keyframe, and motion capture for studios such as Naughty Dog (Uncharted Franchise), Insomniac (Ratchet and Clank Franchise), Guerilla Games (Killzone Franchise), Sucker Punch (Infamous Franchise), Google, Disney and more. Whether it be a complex hyper realistic animation or a cartoony stylized “Disney” character animation it ALL starts with the fundamentals which we cover in these lectures.

[@Toad_the_creator]

The person acting out the scene of peter eating at the restaurant is so funny, she’s so good at not only animating, but acting too!

[@Denomote]

recording a vid of yourself as a reference is like animation 101

[@iknowyouseeme3233]

@@Denomote ok but why you gotta be a hater about it

[@hazzamoflash]

@@iknowyouseeme3233 yeah instantly rude for no reason

[@beeeean]

for a character animator you have to be good at acting to be an animator though :|

[@beeeean]

@@iknowyouseeme3233 you have to record yourself and use reference :| for any hand key animation

[@oat9616]

Makes me so fucking happy that studios are now aiming for this new "choppy" animation style it's so good to finally have some more personality in our films

[@LightsJusticeZ]

Kind of a downside to it though is that if more animation movies use this choppy look, then it'll become less and less unique as each studio tries to replicate the audience hype from it.

[@oat9616]

@@LightsJusticeZ well this style is actually harder to make than normally animating with 3d programs so the studios with passion will make good movies with this style while the lazier studios will make safer more easier movies with normal animation style so hopefully every movie that uses this style will be unique in it’s own way

[@jeromyperez5532]

@@LightsJusticeZ I don't like it because it's "unique". I like it because it's a stylistic choice that allows for more deliberate handcrafted animation work instead of relying on in-betweening to do a lot of the heavy lifting. There's a reason that they have *more* animators than a typical Disney Project, not less. It's harder to make this look good. Unique isn't the word. Deliberate is a better one.

[@sockdwellersstudios3642]

yeah but if every studio does this, by the next generation everybody will be as annoyed with this kind of animation as we are now with the realistic style

[@jeromyperez5532]

@@sockdwellersstudios3642 The reason people are sick of the 'realistic' (also not the word I would use) style isn't because everyone's doing it. It's because the movies are lazy. The animators are often micromanaged and forced to make creative decisions that are safe and align with a corporate image. Illumination, Sony and Dreamworks realized that and have started going more experimental to adjust to the market. People want creativity, they want to see animator's work hard to make something special. It's not just about the 'look', it's the moment to moment excellence of what you're seeing on-screen. Miles' first swing through the city after meeting Peter at the Cemetary is some of the most excellent 3D animation I've seen, and it's not because of the style. It's the attention to details and making intentional choices that make it all feel meaningful.

[@Fan-Nimater101]

As a beginner 2d animator in art school of CG spectrum this is a great video to watch and and across the spider verse look amazing

[@ClassCreatives]

Thanks for sharing and happy to hear you enjoyed the video, we hope you’ll add us to your CG and 2D schooling journey 🤗

[@Fan-Nimater101]

@@ClassCreatives I’m in semester 3 I got a 2 week Summer break and continueing semester 3 on June 11th

[@spade8094]

Blender is better 🥱🥱

[@Fan-Nimater101]

@@spade8094 I use toonboom

[@liz3507]

What school?

[@TonyKnight1208]

I was always wondering what they do to make it look like a comic page. Cant wait 😊

[@Rocket_PC]

there's already tons of videos about that

[@Bonzulac]

Ahem. "Graphic novel" page.

[@IdentifiantE.S]

@@Rocket_PCYes but this one is really interesting !

[@serpentsuperior7473]

​@@Bonzulaccomic ain't a bad word

[@friijolesLIVE]

@@Rocket_PClink

[@TazBo-wd2ig]

as a 42 year old who can't animate and can't draw but loves the film, I just want to say thank you for this video and OMG these guys are so talented.

[@ShadwRavn]

So much info no one asked for

[@TazBo-wd2ig]

@@ShadwRavn you read it

[@adrenalineactivate]

​@@ShadwRavn you should consider not commenting forever. You add nothing to any comment

[@paulaoprea3453]

​@@ShadwRavnit's a comment section... you can comment anything

[@ShadwRavn]

@@paulaoprea3453 but still . No one asked

[@the06waves]

By far my favorite animated film. Very happy with the personality and human touches they give. So down to earth. Im not looking forward to other studio ripping these artists off

[@fahimbo]

They have already! Not exactly ripping off tho as it just changed what people value in animation nowadays. Puss in boots 2 and new Disney movie wish is an example of adding more stylization due to the success of spiderverse

[@arenkai]

​@@fahimbo One of the directors of Spiderverse 1 worked on Puss in Boots 2 :D

[@bencressman6110]

Why?! Nobody should gatekeeper art. Puss in boots, Mitchells vs the machines, lots of films are taking inspiration from this film and I think it’s amazing! Spiderverse will go down in history as changing the face of animation in the early 21st century

[@caseys2698]

Gonna echo what everyone’s already said. Stealing exact techincal tools or something would probably be ripping the artists off, but aside from actual theft, it’s all inspiration and has already inspired so many animated projects to use great stylized artstyles. Upcoming TMNT movie is another that comes to mind. And all the things we’ve mentioned have distinct artstyles while using techniques like animating on twos and such. If nobody emulated another’s art, there would be no art. “Great artists steal”-but not in the ripping off sense. Artists often use a synthesis of influences to create something original that is more than a sum of its parts.

[@Taireyn]

@@bencressman6110 What I think is crazy is that the first film will go down in history as revolutionizing animation and showing what's possible and now the second one in my opinion set that bar even higher which I didn't expect to be possible

[@bingevilla]

i swear into the spider verse is a revolutionary animated film and it shows through puss in boots' latest film and the upcoming tmnt movie that takes in a gritty,sketchy art style. its most likely that this new style of film animation might end up being washed out and bland in the future but nonetheless im excited to see what limits can be pushed in animation

[@Taken4Granted2]

I think that this style of animation is going to be absolutely timeless and never stale. Puss in Boots is already visually distinct from Spiderverse with the use of painterly textures over hatching and halftones Spiderverse has. This style of animation gives each movie its own unique flavour and visual language unlike what Disney and others has been doing for the past 15 or so years.

[@applepie9806]

I think studios are going to be encouraged to be more adventurous with the art style at least, given the success of Spiderverse

[@saaros]

​@@Taken4Granted2worth mentioning on top of what you say is that TMNT also doesn't look like neither spiderverse nor puss in boots, looking and imitating the style of stop motion instead! it's a bright future ahead

[@internetproduction5446]

My favorite thing is that the Lego sequence wasn’t made by a bunch of artists neither a single animations professional but a literal 14 year old-

[@DavidConant]

Made in Blender too. Hopefully the kid was fairly compensated for their work.

[@DavidConant]

Blender 3D was used in the sequel! It counts even if it was contracted out ;) Also most studios have a custom Maya interface. Good video.

[@KitsuneFyora]

Do you mean specifically that kid who made that one spiderman scene because his trailer was found by the producers/directors of Spider-Man AtU? Gotta admit, it would be cool if that was a small step to companies realizing maybe blender can be used in some instances instead of using just Maya

[@jorami4838]

@@KitsuneFyora I'd prefer if blender was used by more corporations. Maya is so expensive.

[@AdventVFX]

@@jorami4838 pretty sure the studios are contracted to use maya, same thing with schools so they're really trying to be industry standard by being so overwhelmingly present that something like blender cant rise up

[@yesyes-om1po]

@@KitsuneFyora maya just has more tools, and handles larger scenes better than blender, but obviously anyone with a brain would pick blender for free, over thousands of dollars worth of perpetual license bs

[@KitsuneFyora]

@@yesyes-om1po i was talking about major companies, not people with a brain. But hey, maybe there are companies out there changing their minds, eh

[@imakevideossometimes3908]

I’m an aspiring animator, currently in college, and seeing this absolutely fantastic film broken down step by step into something I can understand, seeing that these amazing artists did this all with a program I use in class, it gives me so much hope. Into and across the spiderverse are such amazing films, and I hope to someday work on a film like that. Amazing video!

[@krono5el]

Right, the best actors are the animators in these incredible works.

[@nahpimpin398]

This channel is amazing, glad i stumbled across it as a 3D artist. One feels so little when seeing the greatness these artists achieve

[@itsmidnight2637]

As an artist in college in hopes to make something of my decade long dedication, this process and movie gives me so much hope.

[@user-mf6ge5de1z]

We need a feature length documentary/behind the scenes of these movies. Right, the best actors are the animators in these incredible works..

[@devinbrice991]

I thought for sure they used some kind of in-house software, but it's cool to see that the animation itself can be done in a (relatively) accessible program

[@zacharyjackson1829]

Maya is basically the application that everyone uses across many industries whether it's game design or animation. as for it being in-house, they kinda are because it's usually custom interfaces built by the studios using Maya as a foundation. What matters is the artist, not necessarily the tool. Sure some tools are better than others in some aspects but realistically someone could make this whole movie with just Blender, Adobe After Effects, and Photoshop. it would save a lot of money just make the process different and potentially longer

[@breezeepeezee]

@@zacharyjackson1829 so does this mean premo and presto are essentially maya forks? i'm aware disney uses maya, but with a mix of their own proprietary tools for hair, snowflakes, and water iirc. i'm actually curious to see if anything that was introducted in disney's chickenwire eventually made its way onto the mainline/commercial build of maya. (chickenwire being the proprietary tool used for... well, chicken little)

[@solitary2]

We need a feature length documentary/behind the scenes of these movies

[@VictorLarronde-eu1vq]

No matter how advanced animation becomes the old tried and true methods of animation development still remains. What was shown in this video is basically the same techniques used in the early years of Disney, Filmation, and other old school animation names.

[@bhashi2112]

Seeing the rough Spider-ham animation cracked me up, but was really inspiring to see just how far things go from start to finish to achieve success.

[@sunny99179]

And i started today learning Maya! thank you for inspire me

[@astrodlux3523]

very informative, I am practicing animation as a profession and there were a lot of things that I didnt about Spiderverse, thanks for making a video on this, really appreciate it, keep making videos. Loved it.

[@safespace7850]

I will join an art school for animation really soon (i hope, talent exams are in a few months, im studying for them) and this, this is exactly what i wanna do and gets me hyped so much

[@David_LG092]

This has got to be one the best movie trilogies ever. It is great both when it comes to story and the production. Looking at how many "layers" there were to make these movies come to reality, how many in-house tools were developed just for this project, the soundtrack, all of this really makes it worth the Best Animated Feature award the first movie won and makes the next ones great candidates as well.

[@Dragonking-fd1qv]

As someone in a digital arts college level class apart of MSA in Highschool, im glad someone is touching light on this program!!

[@vd_a6169]

If I had my time again I think I’d want to learn and do something like this. This movie was inspiring for me in so many ways, an absolute masterpiece

[@jasmine-fw4yq]

very well said

[@masterreece1098]

I really love the step by step process of making, the masterpiece that is spider verse

[@ytubeanon]

nice, especially giving charactes their own framerates, then synching them up as they cooperate... but, I wish Alberto Mielgo was mentioned more often, he had the original vision for the unique art, design and animation styles (before Sony fired him)

[@amandavergara8043]

Why did they fire him?

[@gamingforce1711]

@@amandavergara8043 creative differences

[@sewgeekdesigns9113]

My favorite part of class was acting out a scene I was storyboarding 😂

[@KillerTacos54]

Thank you for making this video!

[@ClassCreatives]

Glad you are enjoying, and nice to see you again 🌮

[@arthoe123]

This was super helpful!! I'm working on a 3D film taking a lot of inspiration from Spiderverse for the look dev/art direction, and this was awesome to help point us in the right direction. Thank you so much!

[@JuanRestrepo-db5yz]

installed, everything works, thanks!

[@pacman6595]

Man I wish I just wish I had as much skill as these 3D artists

[@HeroVax]

Yes, this is exactly how Animators do. They actually act first with a video of themselves before do the sketching and animating. I watched the Into the Unknown: Making Frozen II documentary. They did the same thing as well. They even do test screening with their partial animate shots for normal audience too.

[@patooCcc]

5:08 creating new villain in process...

[@TheRockacer22]

free form 3d lines was prob why maya was chosen. Such an easy tool that had massive impact.

[@ursidae97]

Knowing how much overwhelming detail is in these movies, seeing choices in action to minimize the work doesn't feel like cheating even from a distance. Just focusing on the details that matter

[@roryu338]

so much love went into this movie

[@UnicornRobotAttacker]

This video is awesome, it really condensced a lot of info down and I learned so much. I feel like the biggest takeaway that makes this production so brilliant is the clear "work smarter, not harder" mentality they had with all the amazing creative adaptations they made for this movie. Like, if they had just done everything the most time consuming way possible for the sake of it, I doubt it would have even been made. Its all the clever ways they cut back on the amount of work required while still giving the artists and animators a high level of control... like its absoutely AMAZING. What a crazy needle to thread. Not only is the music incredible, the art, the story- like the actual production pipeline ITSELF was also incredible. The producers here deserve so much credit. The set up everything up for such success.

[@faharichesimet4344]

The Spider-Verse franchise is truly groundbreaking, the producers and animators made history.

[@fdslk1]

Holy shit, Houdini was indeed used EXTENSIVELY in the film and I love it!

[@cpee656]

I’m calling it right now. Disney will start working its way back to the look and feel of “One Hundred and One Dalmations” (1961). Not necessarily full 2D animation, of course. But the thick, black, Xerox outlines mashed up with 3D animation. You’ll see…. Nice video! Thanks.

[@jamescandyland]

Awesome video! Loved the breaking down of the techniques and how Maya was utilized in this epic film!🤘

[@ivapad4176]

Fantastic achievement!

[@mochiemy]

This is really helpful!! I want to get more into animation😃😃

[@oreoslush]

I can not believe they used Maya to animate across the spider verse. Last year I took 3d modeling and animation and we used Maya and I enjoyed it but I could not see a film with so much personality like ATSV to be animated in it

[@HiHi-oc3gh]

Maya is the industry standard for 3d animation. Why wouldn’t Maya be able to do this?

[@dakintsugi]

I'm afraid you're skipping over a whole department, the one that serves as a bridge between 2D storyboards and 3D animation: layout. I'm not talking about final layout (also called scene composing or set dressing) which is indeed mentioned in the video and is in charge of fine tuning the position of some assets, scenery, etc. The layout department, usually called previs in live action films, creates the first version of the 3D shots, placing the characters and camera following the storyboards (and sometimes even just the script). They are basically in charge of the camera side of cinematography: setting lenses, camera angles and movements, composition, etc. But also creating a first rough pass of the character animation, choreography, etc. Although in the past was common for the animators to set their own cameras, layout in itself is a complex undertaking that takes years to master, hence the need for a specialized department (that you can check on the credits ;))

[@mrbusinesss1]

I’m planning on studying 2D animation in 2 years, but this movie and its sequel are making me think if I should switch it to 3D animation… 😭

[@chronoplex89]

Now imagine the next Marvel Vs Capcom game with these visuals

[@mozax8118]

As someone who wants to be a director, I will keep this in mind.

[@ameershazubair9803]

Oh" you're videos are so informative and useful for viewers, it's explain so much then expected... Thank you❤

[@isaacmontoya9955]

Wow this is really really interesting. Ive never been so impressed by this animation system.

[@iangregory9569]

hey some of this is done in houdini! - timestamp 4:25

[@dieshawn807]

ok, this is cool.. but i wnat to know something specifically, how did they animate spot when he became distorted and an all-encompassing darkness.

[@jediknight_4798]

Ive been meaning to find a video about this

[@theeddytor3490]

maya is great autodesk but i switched to blender in 2016 before that i guess i had worked on maya for like 5 years from the time i was like 17 and learning modelling... maya is fun but in today's day an age blender is handy...

[@dermotlynch3932]

thank you for adodesk maya

[@creativeearthian1702]

This movie is an absolute treat for the eyes..

[@vasmask2121]

I literally use Maya for school and I hate it , it makes me want to punch my computer. But this gives me a little hope.

[@INTROVERTASIM]

Its very good! Working! Thanks.

[@mr10pink]

Very interesting video but monoton reading :) Like, yeah i have to do that. But otherwise great insights into the spiderman project. This amount of detail and work is insane.

[@sangvuthanh9204]

thank you for sharing that!

[@phalhappy8612]

can you talk about how open world game like Forza and GTA texture terrain and big assets that so realistic and detail?

[@ClassCreatives]

It’s a great idea, and definitely in our future plans!

[@phalhappy8612]

@Cptdudebro nope, those are classic game asset work flow. Terrain and Big Assets has there special treatment. Let our brothers @ClassCreative explain it. I'm hoping high for this. And I'm thrill if they are going to make a quality course on this topic.

[@mscarolynnigro]

A feast for the eyes

[@bowie7990]

bro lighten up a little

[@realmwatters2977]

Yep, and I loved it!

[@dermotlynch3932]

thats cool i can make animated movies like this

[@greg_reacts]

That was a great video. Thanks!

[@ansun1987]

Awesome

[@BLAZE_RIDER]

I mean Maya like have more option in it own while Blender you install it.

[@キラキラくりくり頭]

5:15 lol this scene is so much more meaningful now. And sad.

[@cariocaxp8188]

liked all of your videos

[@prafulljadhav7]

Could you please do a video on colour blocks tutorial on😢plz

[@TheGreatResist]

Is Computer vision a software or a concept? Which application was used to create brush strokes in 2D?

[@TreyWojo]

They created a machine learning tool in Houdini to create the brush strokes. If you look up "Spiderverse Houdini" there is a great interview with Ian Farnsworth & Pav Grochola about it.

[@Nathidraws]

This movie shoudlve been played in cinemas at half the speed so that we can appreciate the animation

[@IdGoreSoftware]

Thank good working

[@skycreeper0173]

Super awesome video.

[@CrapZackGames]

Does anyone else want to see an entire animated movie but made up of only the reference recordings made by the animators?

[@LordLuigi_Rigs]

Amazing!! ✅✅✅

[@CatsCatsCatsCatsCats]

thanks for the video critical

[@superNova5837]

Where did you get the break down videos showing the zoom out of the environment

[@LeandreSteevenNGANGAPESSI]

I love you for it. ❤❤

[@adibahmed10]

Huge respect to the people who created this animation style and made it work so well. But I have to say, sometimes it gets flashy and "too much" to the point where I can't concentrate and follow what's being shown. Too much stuff happening either at the same time or way too fast for me.

[@simonericcardi6090]

Where did you find all these bts ? great video!

[@fascher_]

Amazing video

[@Bikkufootballtalks]

How did they texture like comic

[@ClassCreatives]

We’ll show you in the video! Awesome stuff they did with a mix or machine learning and traditional cg workflows 🤗

[@JavierFlores-bw5io]

are you also able to make in blender too or just maya

[@bigboss9150]

Absolutely. The Blender community is immense. Talented people creating free add-ons every day and the possibilities are pretty endless.

[@dogu1nh08]

​@@bigboss9150 where is the best place to learn with community, how to make animations like spider man?

[@gcharb2d]

Sorry dude, but Blender could not handle large scenes like the ones in the film!

[@rikki502]

Most likely, but making something like Spider-verse in blender would be much more complicated and took a lot more time, simply because blender still misses some animation tools that Maya have

[@gcharb2d]

@@rikki502 Again, I doubt it, Spiderverse has huge scenes, and Blender just can't handle such large datasets, this said, it can replicate the look of the movie, it has been done if I recall correctly!

[@angeltifatifa]

I'm interested in LineWork Workflow, Is this topic include in any course at Class Creative?

[@Airbinds]

why did bro expect the car to stay on that tiny web😂😂

[@jhonacosta8450]

They are just changing the game.

[@Tea_games2340]

now if only these "tools" were public

[@kiriavatar123]

Blender is free. Pretty much works the same as Maya

[@luansmn]

@@kiriavatar123 he's most certainly talking about the many in-house tools used to mimic comics effects, not which softwares were utilized

[@randomnickify]

Nothing of value is free, faster you realize that further you will reach.

[@Tea_games2340]

@@randomnickify i mean, i made a doughnut in blender the other day and I learned a bunch of valuable info while doing it

[@MK_2023.]

@@kiriavatar123 Blender isn’t nearly anywhere as good as Maya is when it comes to actual animating.

[@Z33Garage]

Are the Unreal Engine’s Maya Animation Rigging Toolset still in use with UE 5? they seem to either have been replaced and or not in use.

[@user-dv6oo3fv3z]

good

[@3ddin416]

what are you refering to when you say they use "computer vision" is that a nuke addon 9:00

[@lilywhitetouhou]

The more I know about this animated film it surprises me more and more! I love itttt!!!!

[@mrdarryljones1]

Yup!

[@Gensis]

damn this is very interesting

[@user-qg6ue3vg9j]

9:00

[@DarkMonoX]

that spider man at the start are thick af lmao

[@Shka_maru]

Who made the 2D animation overlay for the fight at 1:42? Are they on Vimeo?

[@ClassCreatives]

Yes link is in the description 👍

[@ErichToven]

I didn't realize that a movie from that year utilized so machine learning. As its mainstream adoption is very very new.

[@lizardltd]

Thank you for saying machine learning instead of AI