Simulating the devolved: finite elements on WALL·E

For the human characters on Pixar’s WALL•E, an automatic system for secondary ballistic motion was needed to add an extra level of realism and to lighten the burden on animators. This task was complicated by the nonphysical nature of the underlying models; the secondary motion should look realistic even if the primary animation is exaggerated and stylized. To accomplish this, we used tetrahedral finite element simulation together with several control mechanisms to target the simulation pose towards the animation.