This report covers the technical meeting for the theatrical anime 'Expelled from Paradise: Resonance of the Heart,' including topics such as 'Making 3D faces look cute from any angle' and 'The challenges of building effects in Maya.'
A talk event titled '
Technical meeting to be held at Machi★Asobi Vol.30 | 'Expelled from Paradise: Resonance of the Heart'
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'Expelled from Paradise: Resonance of the Heart' Technical Meeting | Machi Asobi 30
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The following four people took the stage at the technical meeting for 'Expelled from Paradise: Resonance of the Heart.' From left to right: Producer Koichi Noguchi, Director Seiji Mizushima, Effects Director Masaki Taka, and Animation Supervisor Naoki Ogita.
The venue was Theater 2 at 'ufotable CINEMA,' and it was completely sold out.
At the technical meeting, Mr. Ogita first explained 'the Expelled from Paradise style of animation production.' According to Mr. Ogita, the most important skill for an animator is 'observational skills.' Whether it's action or comedy, it's basically 'a stylized version of real-world movement,' so the ability to observe the movements of people and objects in the real world is of paramount importance.
Specifically, the ability to 'break things down into smaller parts' is required. For example, when it comes to the action of 'standing up from a seated position,' an amateur might think, 'It seems like it can be done in three frames: 'sitting,' 'standing up,' and 'standing.'' However, in reality, there are many small movements such as 'adjusting the position of the feet,' 'supporting with the hands,' and 'pushing with the hands.' Furthermore, even just the act of standing up requires attention to a great many details, such as 'both hands and feet moving at different angles,' 'there are differences in timing between the left and right sides,' and 'the movement changes depending on whether there is wind or if the person is drunk.'
Many animators are involved in the production of anime works, and the final animation can vary depending on the animator. It is the job of a supervisor like Mr. Ogita to minimize this difference as much as possible. Director Mizushima described Mr. Ogita as the 'director behind the scenes.'
An example of Ms. Ogita's 'facial check' was also presented. 'Expelled from Paradise: Resonance of the Heart' is a full 3D production, and the characters are rendered by animating 3D models. However, with simple 3D models, the face can sometimes look 'unnatural in an anime style' depending on the angle, so various techniques are needed to make the characters' faces look cute. Ms. Ogita is in charge of pointing out further corrections to the videos submitted by the animators and refining them.
Below are the original (left) and revised (right) versions of the scene featuring 'Raguel.' The revision instructions, such as 'soften the outline' and 'boldly change the deformation of the mouth, making it so that it extends beyond the outline,' resulted in a depiction that better reflects the intent of the scene.
In scenes where her face is shown up close, they meticulously adjust even the smallest details, such as 'the size of the shadow on the whites of her eyes,' 'the position of her mouth,' and 'how her teeth are visible.' Ogita's dedication to making her character look cute is extraordinary; even when Director Mizushima says, 'It's done cutely,' Ogita will insist, 'No, this isn't right,' and continue to refine the details until the production is complete.
Next, Mr. Taka, who is in charge of effects, spoke about the process of creating 3D effects, using the slime-like, unidentified object called 'REBUILDER' that appears in 'Expelled from Paradise: Resonance of the Heart' as an example. Mr. Taka is a true
The Rebuilder has a structure where 'a squishy, transparent structure with a different colored squishy material wriggling inside.' Apparently, the standard way to handle such structures is to use another production tool called ' Houdini ,' but Mr. Taka created the video using ' Bifrost ,' a visual programming environment included in Maya. The audience was buzzing when Mr. Taka presented a screen in which 'a large number of Bifrost nodes were intricately intertwined like spaghetti.'
The event concluded with a never-before-seen preview of footage from the production, ending on a high note.
'Expelled from Paradise: Resonance of the Heart' is scheduled for release on November 13, 2026. Director Mizushima says, 'We have a clear overall outlook (until the release). Everyone is fired up. We can make it work on a set like this,' so let's wait with anticipation.
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