Ziva VFX 1.7 features the highlight anticipated Art Directable Rest Shapes toolset. This new Ziva functionality is a direct response to the demands of creature creators working in both feature animation and live action CG productions who are seeking greater artistic control. The feature enables characters to conform to any shape without losing their dynamic properties. This technique removes the pains of complex shot-sculpting and enables precise character silhouettes that are extremely fast and easy to set up.  

Art Directable Rest Shapes, and therefore Ziva VFX 1.7, have been in development for over a year and were created in collaboration with several major VFX and feature animation studios. While outputs and art styles differed, each group essentially requested the same thing: extreme accuracy and more control. They needed to hit very specific shapes really easily, without compromising the compelling dynamics or the demanding project deadlines. 

For cartoon characters, shapes are often exaggerated or unnatural yet fundamental to the look and feel of the fictitious world. For photoreal rigs, accurate and organic shapes are required yet are often difficult to achieve with standard controls. ADRS is making its way into the hands of the world’s top studios, many of which are eager to reduce their reliance on shot sculpting and corrective workflows.

"Our creature team is really looking forward to the potential of Art Directable Rest Shapes to augment our facial and shot-work pipelines by adding quality while reducing effort. Ziva VFX 1.7 holds the potential to shave weeks of work off of both processes while simultaneously increasing the quality of the end results.”

– Josh diCarlo, Head of Rigging, Sony Pictures Imageworks

“Art Directable Rest Shapes allow us to nail difficult anatomical details in an intuitive way while still taking advantage of Ziva’s physical simulations. This helps us depict the complex physical motion in a very realistic way. We’re thankful to the Ziva Team.”

– Seong Joon Lee, CG Supervisor, MPC

To see Ziva VFX 1.7 in action, please visit the Tutorial Video here or Ziva’s Vimeo page