How They Animated 'The Lego Batman Movie' | Design FX | WIRED

'The Lego Batman Movie' uses an impressive style of animation that replicates the look of real lego bricks. These digital bricks abide by all the rules of real Lego bricks, so they cannot bend or move in an impractical way. Mike Seymour breaks down a few of the most remarkable scenes, where numerous complex techniques were used to create a believable image.
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How They Animated 'The Lego Batman Movie' | Design FX | WIRED

[@MedEighty]

That movie was so fast-paced that it left me no time to really appreciate the amount of hard work that had gone into making it.

[@kgougoulakis]

From when i saw the Lego Movie, i thought it was filmed with stopmotion on real legos and then rendering some environments and adding facial expressions.

[@bigstunna2049]

same I feel lied tool, if laika can do stop motion like that then Lego can

[@evan-dq2vm]

BTMVideos37 joke consuming?

[@alexkoutoukas2266]

There are huge differences between Lego stop-motion and normal stop-motion. There's no way they could've done it effectively. What's your problem anyway. If you couldn't tell it was CGI, why do you want them to do it for real?

[@VanSanProductions]

Saloufardos i think that was the point and style they were going for... every set and lego block is an actual lego block and there is NEVER any bending or warping of shapes like Disney movies. it's entirely possible to build these sets IRL with enough $$$ (to buy the parts) and time.

[@coollm4760]

VanSanPro they are not actual Lego it is digital

[@bob2000and10]

I couldnt believe it when I found out the total raw footage for Frozen was over 200 TB, this has got to be even more than that.

[@japzone]

bob2000and10, Only 200TB? That actually feels low to me...

[@Tecosaurus]

200TB is 200,000GB. And that's low? What do you deal with that's much higher?

[@japzone]

Tecosaurus Not me, but I know of companies that deal with more. Guess my perception is a bit twisted there...

[@natanaelrodriguez3953]

Avatar was 1 or over 1PB thats 1024 TB.

[@japzone]

Natanael Rodriguez​ That sounds more like it :)

[@DanielRieger]

These clips on behind the scenes VFX are the reason I'm subscribed to Wired

[@japzone]

Daniel Rieger, You should check out ILM's KZbin channel. They post some cool production clips from all the VFX they do for movies like Star Wars.

[@DanielRieger]

Yes! I'm subscribed to them as well! Awesome stuff

[@bearythebear69]

Daniel Rieger me too!! I so want to be a VFX artist

[@DanielRieger]

Beary the Bear I'm working my way there right now! I work with games, but VFX is my main objective

[@2WKS2]

My right ear loved the music!

[@jlatoo]

2WeeksToDisco Something wrong with your headset?

[@themisterjordan]

Music at the beginning is supposed to be pan left and right.

[@robertstuvland8570]

yeah who ever edited this needs to be forced to rewatch this export- not only is the music unbalanced the host's dialogue could have used way more trims.

[@figuraine]

Same- my headset only works on mah right ear

[@jaredtimme5851]

I thought that the bricks would make everything harder and more taxing but I actually thought the characters would be easier due to having fewer animation points. I hadn't thought about how that would complicate things more

[@KaltatheNobleMind]

1:22 this is what i was hoping for! we finally see how they animate 2d graphics on a 3d mesh! wonder what app that is, nothing i have seen before. all the tuts i found on the subject utilized sequences of still images and they were never as smooth as the lego movie's animation. or even ninjago and nexo knights (and they are TV budget). hope they give out the name of the app.

[@MangoMotors]

Meir Teichman that app is probanly proprietary, devloped in studio for their exclusive use. If not, it is probably shared owned by Lego Company and costs a boat load of dollars to even be able to use the software, let alone publish anything with it.

[@KaltatheNobleMind]

maybe an exclusive plugin that allows flash-like animation to be projected onto the mesh. if my connection didn't make the quality so low I could have read the title. it is right there in the screenshot but pixelated beyond recognition.

[@sleepybinch]

nah all it says is "face studio" in the top left all you can see is "user" so it seems they actually hid the name of the program

[@oBCHANo]

Face studio is the name, they didn't need to hide the name because it is proprietary and built for one purpose for the movie. Although it probably is also owned by lego or at least they will have a deal allowing them to use it as they may want to do advertisements for other lego with it in the future and they aren't going to hire a movie vfx studio for that.

[@jasonjason7537]

you could probably do a lot of it with after effects then render out the frames and apply those materials onto a 3d model in your 3d app of choice.

[@there2b]

ok, I get it... you guys deserve an Oscar.

[@RuilinLinRyan]

No matter how much technology gets involved in any sort of media, storytelling will still be the most crucial element

[@chrisandreas3142]

No

[@isiaharellano3789]

@@chrisandreas3142 lol you must love Transformers movies. All flash no substance.

[@chrisandreas3142]

@@isiaharellano3789 no

[@isiaharellano3789]

@@chrisandreas3142 no is all you can answer. Are you a robot?

[@chrisandreas3142]

@@isiaharellano3789 no and no

[@thefuzzman2379]

I kind of wish this video ran through what an actual take is like. I mean This isnt traditional acting and these pieces are all Digital are they not? I mean isnt this similar to stop animation? Thats what I thought.

[@leafleap]

I cant believe these lego movies are pretty much all CGI, at first I thought it was all stopmotion, I was shocked when I found out that it wasn't. CGI has come a long way, I cant wait to see what they can do with it in the next few years, simply amazing!

[@ultimativlenny9378]

That's so Amazing such a great film!

[@StarCrusher.]

This is one of my favorite channels

[@DogsBAwesome]

Bumping the lamp makes for great movies if done right.

[@trevorpacelli8056]

And the Oscars didn't nominate this for Best Animated Feature... why again?

[@jasonshoumar3755]

Good ol' Softimage !

[@mk9zs]

Did anyone else see the Lego Batman commercial in beginning of the video

[@roxonogueira]

Softimage is alive!

[@basile136]

3:58 love the captain america tat, lol

[@carydavidhoffson6014]

This is very different looking for a change with Batman that you never saw before of Batman kind of Batman movie

[@N-RE-Kete]

so least there was no IRL part

[@CanuckKidsTV]

The Lego movies (and tv shows in Ninjago) are some of the best kid oriented (parent watchable) entertainment out there!

[@afonsolucas2219]

Fun for the whole family...

[@CanuckKidsTV]

Totally

[@CanuckKidsTV]

Totally

[@DoraKage]

They were still using Softimage? man I miss that... haven't used it since Autodesk went EOL on it. :/

[@fritsfmn]

the best part of wired :D

[@alexis2012fulvlogs]

I thought it was stop motion at first

[@gypsycheck7973]

What program did they use to animate?

[@boxtrolls6144]

I really want these guys to make the minecraft movie

[@samuelcresswell8719]

i need to point out that the scratch maps aren't manual, they are all random

[@anton8064]

How is this film so great? What is this new era of fantastic big budget films?

[@creativeleo]

Inspiring....

[@slaction]

The host still looks like he's always smelling a fart while trying to talk.

[@Wade_Fucking_Wilson]

That's the decaying corpse that I'd killed

[@KayleLang]

Hold on, this Robin isn't Carrie Kelley? I thought it was due to the goggles.

[@tijana6194]

If you work hard, you'll make something amazing!

[@samuelcresswell8719]

he didnt mention that in animation a take isn't rendered so technically it doesn't take that long.

[@Galimeer5]

Wait, they made the entire movie with _animated_ lego pieces?

[@chucky1032]

Galimeer5 yep

[@raymantisful]

This is the most arcaic way to do a animated movie

[@Gravedigga63]

That's really impressive, as if I didn't have any reason to not love this movie. Although, how is it they took 45 “takes” for that scene? If it's animated how can there be takes?

[@MrWarlock124]

batman?! WOAH

[@rmannayr2129]

THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE WAS AWESOME!

[@gian_delrom13]

Which Apilcations they use ?

[@killerofprimes]

RESPECT

[@rmannayr2129]

IT'S BATMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@RebelliousRobot]

4:26 Robin is so traumatized.

[@figuraine]

LMAOO

[@nhht77]

Nice!!!

[@ess8057]

Makes you appreciate something good even more.

[@paulhmckenna]

My 5 year old brother loves the LEGO Batman movie!

[@AZITHEMLGPRO]

damn son

[@MrNobodyX3]

So digital stop motion?

[@marcusevjen6547]

*I wonder so badly how they animated the faces of the characters.*

[@jpromedia7112]

I still haven't seen this film >.

[@tydyman2003]

JProMedia watch it

[@figuraine]

Watch it dude

[@chetachioruche6446]

I like it

[@SUBINspock]

night nurse

[@diyab6257]

where can i watch this movie?

[@tdd2427]

at the movie theatres

[@chucky1032]

T DD lol

[@mvarensyah9100]

dolph lundgreen involved in this movie?

[@triplemanimation]

Apparently this film took 25 Years to make

[@yagoquintana5424]

If anyone can point me in a good direction on how to do a good texture facial rig like in the LEGO movie where it looks good and moves organically and believable without it being either blocky or cheesy I would really appreciate. Have yet to find one

[@pill6642]

"blocks"

[@TenzinDawa08]

Jamie Carragher!

[@Squoq]

I thought Zod is dead.

[@Evatsap]

Make lego batman movie 2 please please please please

[@googleprofiel6814]

It's so stupid they only have the dubbed version in theaters here... The only reason I didn't go see this movie. Because I really hate the fact I couldn't go see it already... Guess I'll have to run out and get the blu-ray when it releases.

[@mou.2]

Same in Spain, I rarely go to the theater because for almost every foreign language film we only get the crap dubbed version, especially animation films.

[@tydyman2003]

Ben Vangenechten like your language dub

[@ArisTriantafilloudis]

Softimage

[@jier9904]

I THOUGHT THEY USE STOP-MOTION

[@Babalooza]

THEY KINDA DO, JUST USING COMPUTERS INSTEAD OF HANDS

[@jacquesca]

My name jeff

[@trainerjacobtanedo6782]

the film was built edited and produced by BATMAN!

[@Wade_Fucking_Wilson]

Better than suicide squad

[@JIYkp]

45 takes for 7 second scene? No wonder the animation industry is in so much trouble. Pretty sure they didn't get paid for those 45 takes.

[@xyoxus]

How can something that is made digital even take more than one take, it's not "live".

[@aradicus417]

Juil wha? They were of coursed payed millions

[@Jonathan_Wick]

xyoxus each scene is rendered out and animated. If the animation is bad or the render is poor, redo it, hence another take. If the animator doesn’t like Robin’s movement in the scene, re animate him, another take.

[@brandonwei2430]

You are all idiots. Except you, Baba Yaga. Don't kill me.

[@karlopavicic5747]

of course they got paid lol!

[@leogrievous]

Last time i was this early [insert Joke here] :P

[@AllenJohn]

your mom's water broke?

[@futurespells]

leogrievous this joke was still over used...

[@HolyCatJago]

0 view? That's a first for me. Love this movie so much.

[@JediKnight207]

I thought i was stop motion

[@applehead2134]

Don't blame you.

[@martynmcmurray5410]

Speaking of well done animation, would you lot like to read/review my movie idea?

[@catdog7954]

Martyn McMurray what is your movie idea?

[@spardesparde1800]

No Mark Hamill? 0/10

[@tydyman2003]

henrrkwhn actually Zach Galafanakis was pretty good as Joker

[@YarugumaSou]

Practical effect purists and hipster wannabes are probably triggered because the film didn't use real lego or real stop motion

[@dandevrell]

"45 takes and months to do" it didn't take 45 months to do that scene

[@Thats_Cool_Jack]

the lego batman movie was kind of a disappointment tbh

[@gjkfhjkgjhkfgjydhjdltfu3096]

I think they should have put a little more time in the writing before they gave this excuse that the animation is so difficult to make, because half the theatre was asleep when it got to an hour in. I mean, after the first 30 minutes, the jokes are no longer funny and its impossible to care for the characters.

[@jlatoo]

Fred Barnes lol

[@DayOldMeat]

Something must be deeply wrong on an emotional level with you and your town...