***This article originally appeared in the August ’22 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 322) ***
Produced end-to-end by a geographically distributed creative team using Amazon Nimble Studio, the animated short Picchu follows the journey of an Andean girl named Mayu and the unconditional support of her mother.
Written and directed by Amaru Zeas, the short follows Mayu’s challenging journey as she must rely on her determination and her mother’s teachings to overcome her fears and doubts to fulfill her destiny. Set to pan flute music against the backdrop of the Andes Mountains, Picchu was brought to life by creative studio FuzzyPixel, which produced the project in nine months with a small geographically distributed team using Amazon Nimble Studio.
“In so many ways, Picchu is a reflection of my own story, and how my mom encouraged me to serve and inspire others with my work,” shared Ecuador native Zeas. “I’m proud of my culture, but also know Ecuador’s struggles in education. Picchu is about overcoming your fears with strength and determination to access education in an unequal society.”
Nimble Venture
Picchu is the second film created by FuzzyPixel and its first project to fully leverage Amazon Nimble Studio, which provides an end-to-end creative pipeline on Amazon Web Services (AWS). As a creative team within AWS, the artists are the first users of cutting-edge cloud-based solutions, and their feedback informs development initiatives. Their experiences also shape tutorial content to better guide users through various aspects of the technology.
“Picchu is both a creative and technical achievement,” says AWS Animation Producer Jennifer Dahlman. “From the embroidery details on Mayu’s poncho, to the native plants that change as she journeys through different elevations, special attention was paid to honor the location in which it is set. At the same time, we’re pushing the technology and experimenting with how we structure our production workflows — experiments that larger and more established teams can’t afford to take. It’s an exciting time to be at AWS.”
Artists began Picchu asset development in July 2021 using Linux- and Windows-based virtual workstations powered by Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) G4dn instances. Centralized storage on Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) enabled the globally dispersed team to collaborate using the same data and environments. Open source tool Blender served as the primary creative application, alongside Autodesk Maya, Foundry’s Nuke, Pixologic’s ZBrush and Adobe’s Substance Painter. To further support open source initiatives, FuzzyPixel opted to make Picchu Blender assets available for artists to use in their own workflows, at no cost.
“We used different tools to fit the style and story, but we also wanted to push Blender to its limits within a real-world production context on Amazon Nimble Studio,” explains Jason Schleifer, FuzzyPixel Principal Creative Director. “We are big fans of the Blender Foundation’s mission to empower creators around the world, and enjoyed the opportunity to dive deep with this production.”
For cultural authenticity, Zeas enlisted Ecuadorian musicians to develop the short’s soundscape. Local instruments are complemented by ambient environmental noise that adjusts based on the altitude of Mayu. Adding to the authenticity, Zeas’ mother voiced Mayu’s mother in the film and provided cultural guidance, while his father advised on architectural details.
Beyond the project’s actual creation, the team was also tasked with developing collaboration techniques for connecting talent based in time zones ranging across the continental U.S. to Spain and New Zealand. A chat-based system on Discord helped the remote team interact in real time, while dailies were nearly always reviewed with cameras on. Since Amazon Nimble Studio was used as the project’s foundational infrastructure, artists were able to remain engaged in the creative as pipeline updates automatically ran in the background.
The team rendered Picchu primarily using Amazon EC2 Spot Instances, which were spun up automatically as needed through Amazon Nimble Studio. Having the entire studio based in the cloud also made it easy for Schleifer and the pipeline team to update tools in the background, and push changes to artists’ virtual workstations without interruption. Updates could also be rolled back, providing flexibility for experimentation while maintaining overall pipeline stability.
“Artists didn’t have to think about whether or not they had the latest plugins, scripts, or pipeline tools as the updates were managed for them,” says Schleifer. “They could focus completely on their craft, delivering the best work possible.”
Zeas concludes, “As an artist, the biggest impact of using Amazon Nimble Studio is that I can start a virtual computer and have all the tools I need ready to go. I take pride in helping to develop technology that allows artists to work more efficiently. Our team always wants to raise the bar in terms of quality and complexity to make art in the best way possible. With Picchu, I think we did that, and we were able to tell a beautiful story dedicated to all the children around the world.”
For more info, visit aws.amazon.com/nimble-studio. At SIGGRAPH, visit AWS at Booth #602.
AWS Innovators Sessions
You can learn more about the making of Picchu at SIGGRAPH in Vancouver. AWS will host a series titled AWS Innovators Sessions in Room 118, featuring a variety of AWS and partner technology demos and customer presentations. The event will include a fireside chat with director Tim Miller as well as a panel discussions with Animal Logic, Framestore, and Pixomondo, among others. Stop by the AWS SIGGRAPH booth (#602) for details, or visit pages.awscloud.com/Siggraph-2022.
