Archive notice: This article was originally published on October 26, 2015. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Hyperion was used for the first time on “Baymax (Big Hero 6)” and can next show its strengths on “Zootopia.” According to Disney, Hyperion can generate a high degree of realism thanks to physically based path tracing, since this allows indirect light sources such as refraction and glossy reflections to be rendered. Multi-bounce light also influences a CG scene with Hyperion.
Here Disney explains path tracing:
For an extremely complex environment of a city as detailed as San Fransokyo, which was seen in “Baymax,” Hyperion can handle several million rays of light at the same time by bundling and sorting them according to their direction.
In this example image, Disney shows how convincing the rendering results with Hyperion are. On the left is a photo and on the right the CG version rendered with Hyperion:
In this image comparison, you can see the influence of Hyperion’s multi-bounce light on the Baymax character. The soft indirect light makes Baymax appear translucent in the image on the right.
Here is Disney’s complete Hyperion guide.
In time for the cinema release of “Zootopia” in March 2016, we will have a making-of about the new Disney film in DP. Until then, we will sweeten the wait with a free PDF article in the attachment about “Baymax” from DP 02 : 2015. Incidentally, the focus in the current DP 07 : 2015 is also entirely on rendering.
