bugs live

In support of its Looney Tunes "Back in Action" movie, Warner Brothers wanted to allow interviewers to chat with one of the movie's main cartoon stars, Bugs Bunny.

"Bugs Live" is the first production-quality live digital character with real-time lip-sync using techniques invented by Phillip Reay and made with Onadime and using original drawings and voice by Director and Animator Eric Goldberg. Technically, the sound of Mr. Goldberg's improv voice character and the live data from two digital puppeteers, Bruce Lanoil and Dave Barclay of PerformFX, directed the live remix of over 2gb of hand drawn original images. The effect made "Bugs Live" which we placed in studio for live interviews.

Over 80 Live interviews with Bugs Bunny were granted to a fleet of local and international journalists. Interviewers were free to ask Bugs any questions whatsoever, and two simultaneous camera views were produced, providing ample material for post editing. During the three-day media junket in Los Angeles, the "Bugs Live" team produced over 800 minutes of live animated interviews in English and Spanish.

To learn more about how Onadime and Onamation provide real-time animation cababilities, see the Onadime project page.

→ Some "Back in Action" interviews [1] [2] (requires Windows Media Player)
→ Bugs Live full interview text from the Today Show on NBC.
→ See Cast Press Photos online.
→ More on other digital puppetry projects.