Reference

First, the FooMojo art team thoroughly researches the pet breed, studying reference websites, books, artwork, photographs, and even real live pets. The goal is to become familiar with the intricate details of how the animal behaves and the breed’s physical characteristics: body and appendage proportions, coloring and fur texture, special markings, eye shapes and colors, the paws, the nose, even the inside of the mouth, etc. They will use reference material throughout the various creation stages.

Modeling

Next, a FooMojo modeler will start with a 3D box constructed of a wireframe mesh of connected points, and shape it into a pet. Think of it as digital clay. Using reference material, an image of the animal is projected in the background to help form the proper bodily proportions.

When shaping the 3D box, a process called box modeling, 22,000 faces (or sides) are manipulated to create contour of the pet. Each tiled area is called a polygon. The artist will pay close attention to the structure of the body and proportions of the limbs.

UV Creation (2D layout of the model)

The shaped model is then changed into a 2D image by slicing it from the nose to the tail, opening up the ‘skin’ and flattening it out – essentially resembling a bearskin rug. Once the image is flattened, the artist makes sure that the proportions are maintained to preserve the resolution of the texture. This is then used later in the paint process, using reference material to accurately add color and fur patterns as well as eye shadow, nail color, etc. Even though the 2D image is flat, it corresponds directly with the 3D model.  Once the artist is done, the paint will serve as a base for the pet’s color. The next step is to add hair.  With a click of a button, 22,000 guide hairs will literally pop out of the 3D model, corresponding polygon points.

Styling

To style the Guide Fur, which at this stage looks very much like a porcupine, the artist will comb and style the guide hairs to length and direction of the breed’s natural fur. Once the guide hairs are properly combed, each guide hair is interpolated across the polygonal model to fill in the appropriate number of real hairs to cover the pet.  Hair is added in layers. Each added layer creates more opacity for all the layers, giving a softer, more natural appearance of really fine hair resembling the fuzzy fur of puppies and kittens.

Typically, a FooPet will end up with around 200,000 – 700,000 individual hairs, depending on the breed. Our most recent Abyssinian has four layers of hair and nearly one million hairs total.

Now the pet looks proportionally correct and covered in fur, but appears in gradients of gray.  It’s time to paint the fur.

Painting

Painting is the most critical step. Using the UV creation, three layers of paint are applied to the skin, root fur, and tip fur. To do this, the artist will project images onto the model. Using 2D and 3D paint tools, texture is added. A high-resolution UV map carries more detail in places like the face and ears where the skin paint is more visible than the hairier areas. Then, tools are used to hand paint fixes and apply touch ups.

The root fur is painted darker to simulate the idea of shadowing. The Tip Fur is usually lighter and more true to what you see on a real pet. Our artists will blend the root and the tip coloring on a single strand of fur to simulate real pet hair. If you take a piece of fur from a pet, you will notice the color change from the root to the tip. Each hair on a FooPet is multicolored just like real animals.

Lighting

The paint and the lighting are interdependent of each other, just worked on in stages. The paint and fur are created with saturation of color for the intended lighting. The lighting is then tweaked to optimize the paint and fur to achieve the desired look. At this time, a lot of energy is put in the eyes (shininess, shape, color, expression of the eyes), and overall lifelikeness of the face.

Now we have a finished statue, but next we bring it to life.

Rigging

Rigging is typically done at the same time as the UV creation. Our rigging artist will add 300 bones minimum to the model, paying close attention to ensure that the joints are placed anatomically correct in order to re-create the motion of the animal accurately.

The model sculpt is bound or weighted to the skeleton joints. The skeleton is then layered with control curves, which the animator can pick in 3D space to translate, rotate, scale, and manipulate custom controllers to achieve different poses. The rigs are layered with extra helper controls like constraints and inverse kinematics so the animators can lock paws to the ground, align the eyes to a focal point, or keep a shoulder or hip aligned to another part of the body without having to hand key every single frame. As much of this process is encapsulated in scripting so the animation and rig data can be shared from pet to pet.

Animation

The animation data brings the personality and realism to life. FooMojo’s animation artists will use reference material to recreate the motion of the animal, stylizing as needed to simulate natural realistic movement. The animators generate libraries of poses and animation to ensure that the transitions between different actions of the pet are as seamless as possible, and to reuse poses as staring points for new animation.

Render

Rendering a FooPet can be quite time consuming, especially since rendering and lighting go hand in hand. Both need to work together simultaneously to ensure the proper coloring and effect of the pet.  After the lighting has been submitted to the 3D scene, the data is submitted to the render farm.

The model sculpt geometry is smoothed out at render time using mathematical algorithms that are in the render software called subdivision surface routines. These routines effectively quadruple the number of faces in the polygonal mesh that are seen by the camera during rendering. Consider the polygon count for the render is between 3.5 million triangles. What does that mean? The artist will smooth out the edges of the FooPet for a natural look, which takes a lot of time!

e.g. The fur is between 3 – 10 polygons per hair with 200,000 – 500,000 hairs + 1 million for the underlying skin of the pet  = 6 million polygons. A render with this many polygons on a single machine takes about 5 – 220 minutes to render with 6,000 frames (100 – 200 animation clips). Time =62,000 hours / 24 hours = 250 days divided by 2 as we run two processes per machine = 125 days.

At FooPets, we have dozens of machines to help expedite this process into 2 ½ days! This environment of servers is called a render farm. Talk about processing power!

Sound

Sound is then added to give the final touch of realism that brings these pets to life. Recorded clips of food pouring and collected reference audio are cut to create short clips that are carefully synchronized with the rendered animation.

That’s how we do it! We hope you enjoyed this overview of how we make FooPets. You can download free Desktop Wallpaper of the Abyssinian showcased in this article.

Both the ASPCA and the HSUS are FooPartners. If you aren’t in a position to adopt a real shelter dog at this time, but would like to support the cause, you can still participate on FooPets.com. We make donating easy. You can adopt a FooPet from our shelter and make a donation to the organization of your choice right from the FooBank. Symbolic and fun! But a great way nonetheless, to help real-life animals who need your support.

There are lots of ways to help shelter pets in need. Contact your local organizations and get involved. Let’s make this October the best Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog month ever!

Happy Friday,

FooCrew Lynne

FooCrew Lynne

FooPets owners can now pick breeding partners and share the fun of building their own virtual pets family tree

REDWOOD CITY, CALIF. – September 8, 2009 –FooMojo, Inc., creator of the world’s most realistic and emotionally engaging virtual pets, today announced FooPets Breeding, a new  feature of the FooPets.com virtual pets social game that lets owners take part in planning and building their own FooPets family trees. Individually or together with a friend, FooPets owners can now breed two FooPets and raise a litter of puppies and kittens until they are old enough to be adopted. During the breeding process, FooPets owners are responsible for proper care of their FooBabies including feeding and watering, providing required healthcare and when ready, arranging for adoptions to good homes.

“Pet breeding in the real-world can be very rewarding but it’s a process that requires hard work, a substantial time-commitment, financial resources and dedication,” said Dr. Ron Hornbaker, veterinarian, founder and CEO, FooMojo. “FooPets Breeding gives virtual pet owners the opportunity to experience the excitement of building and caring for their own pet family tree but also raises awareness that there are serious responsibilities involved.”

FooPets Breeding is an entertaining and fun way to learn the aspects of pet breeding. For owners, creating their own personal FooPets genealogy can be an exciting experience. Every parent and baby FooPet has a unique personality profile that tracks the pet’s character traits determined by their breed. Personality profiles help owners find optimal breeding partners based on desired pet personality and behavior. Over time, FooPets family trees can evolve based on breeding history and bloodlines.

With FooPets Breeding, owners experience a condensed, comprehensive, simulation of the real-world breeding process. Once owners purchase a litter license and select a breeding partner, they can pair FooPets for conception, followed by a gestation period and then delivery. At delivery in approximately four weeks time, between four and seven adorable baby FooPets will arrive. After a two week weaning period when parent FooPets watch after the litter, baby FooPets then will require two weeks of careful attention from their owners before they are ready to be adopted. At this point, baby FooPets are old enough for adoption to good homes. By giving or selling baby FooPets to family and friends, owners can join their family trees and share in the fun of crafting personal FooPets genealogy to include specific desired traits and characteristics.

FooPets Breeding

Availability:

FooPets Breeding is now available in the FooPets social gaming application. Because FooPets Breeding involves bringing new, live virtual creatures into the world, serious responsibility is required. For detailed information regarding rules and guidelines, please visit http://www.foopets.com/breeding.

Many different breeds of FooPets puppies and kittens are now available for adoption on different locations across the Internet. For Facebook and MySpace users, FooPets can be adopted free-of-charge through the FooPets application. FooPets also can be adopted free-of-charge on the newly launched FooPets.com Web site.

About FooMojo, Inc.

FooMojo is the creator of FooPets, the world’s most realistic and emotionally engaging virtual pets. The 3D puppy and kitten FooPets are “real” in nearly every sense, growing, playing, learning tricks, developing personalities, and requiring regular feeding and care. As part of an entertaining social gaming application, users of all ages can adopt a FooPet on Facebook, MySpace, and the FooPets.com Web site, with more locations coming soon.

Aimed at enriching the lives of real people and animals with engaging, social game play, FooMojo was founded in 2007 by Dr. Ron Hornbaker, a veterinarian who believes the special bond between people and their pets could be recreated online. FooMojo’s creative and development efforts are led by a talented group of web developers, along with artists and animators from the feature film and gaming industries. Most importantly, FooMojo is committed to supporting real pets in need, and through its non-profit FooPets Foundation, works with leading animal-related charities such as the ASPCA and The HSUS.

Located in Redwood City, Calif., FooMojo is backed by notable investors including Softbank Capital, Softbank Corp. Japan, Mike Maples, Jr., Ron Conway and Baseline Ventures. For more information visit http://www.foomojo.com.

The FooCrew is hard at work coming up with new stuff to make sharing more fun and we’re excited to introduce FooPets Greetings, personalized e-cards that feature the pet of your choice. Whether you already own a FooPet or not, FooPets Greetings are free, easy to create and can be received by anyone with a valid email address. Just visit: http://www.foopets.com/greetings and start sending your FooPets e-cards today.

Have fun,

FooCrew Lynne

If you’re logged-in to FooPets, the widget will recognize you and record any activities you do with the pet. Sweet, huh?