Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Ten Years in the Making, E.D. Films' Return to Hairy Hill Created in PSD to 3D Workflow

15/05/2023

Ten Years in the Making, E.D. Films' Return to Hairy Hill Created in PSD to 3D Workflow

Brie Clayton May 15, 2023

0 Comments

Original Animated Short Uses Hand-Drawn Illustrations, Game Engines and Puppets to Create Heartbreaking Tale; PSD to 3D Tutorials Available Now, Art of Book Coming This Summer

After nearly a decade in development, E.D. Films' ambitious, experimental animated short film Return to Hairy Hill (aka Retour Hairy Hill) will make its eagerly anticipated debut this week at Montreal's prestigious Sommets du cin ma d'animation (Animation Film Summit). Featuring several first-of-their-kind techniques - including the studio's proprietary 2D to 3D pipeline - the short will be featured in the official competition alongside the best animated films originating from Canada. The festival will be held in Montreal at the famed Cin math que Qu b coise on May 9-14.

Some contents or functionalities here are not available due to your cookie preferences!

This happens because the functionality/content marked as Google Youtube uses cookies that you choosed to keep disabled. In order to view this content or use this functionality, please enable cookies: click here to open your cookie preferences.

Following the completion of the project, E.D. Films created a full behind-the-scenes tutorial offering artists a look at how they can take advantage of the studio's PSD to 3D plugins.

The Making of Return to Hairy Hill

Written and directed by E.D. Films co-founder, Daniel Gies,Return to Hairy Hill utilizes several experimental techniques developed in-house by the multidisciplinary studio, beginning with its industry-leading PSD to 3D plugin that converts 2D Photoshop drawings into stylized 3D content. The film also relied on a new VR puppet system, a new animation export tool for game engines and more. Those tools were combined with hand-drawn ink illustrations, digital paintings, paper puppet models, hand-drawn animation, traditional keyframe animation and more. The result is a unique animated short that leverages CG creation tools while creating the unique impression of stop-motion animation for the character performances.

When we originally started planning out Return to Hairy Hill more than ten years ago, we intended to make a film that was essentially 2.5D puppet animation, but we found that the format wasn't able to convey the level of emotion we wanted, said Gies. We decided to utilize a more traditional 3D approach. Being a small team with very little 3D production experience, we knew that if we were going to utilize our strengths as 2D storytellers we would need to develop new tools and techniques to pull off such an ambitious project. The effort was very much worth it, and our small team was able to create a new type of 3D world that has a unique beauty and feel.

Inspired by Gies' own family history, Return to Hairy Hill is loosely based on a tragic true story passed down by his grandmother. Growing up in an isolated region of Canada known as Hairy Hill, she and her siblings were abandoned by their parents at a young age. Determined to keep the family together, she attempted to care for the others but eventually local authorities discovered their plight. Before the children were split up, to be placed with other families in distant towns, his grandmother promised her siblings that she would find a way to reunite the family. Sadly, the circumstances of her life had other plans and they would never all be together again. Gies was determined to capture the emotional essence of that story, highlighting a profound sense of loss and isolation while holding onto a glimmer of hope and eventual acceptance.

To find the right balance between aesthetic and emotion, the team began experimenting with several looks in Unreal Engine. Using Unreal's pre-visualization and real-time rendering tools, E.D. Films - one of the first animation studios ever to win an Epic MegaGrant - was able to define the look of the project. The film's fabrication needs also led to the creation of Scene Track by E.D. Films, an open source tool that allows users to record and export animation data within game engines. From there, the team pivoted to Autodesk's Maya, where they could import hand-drawn illustrations to create the background environments and try out different camera angles.

May 17, 2023KitBash3D Launches Cargo: Powering the Future of 3D ContentNew Cargo Software Redefines 3D Asset Ecosystem for Creators KitBash3D, widely recognized as the

May 17, 2023The Adam Carolla Show Goes Live with End to End Blackmagic Design WorkflowBlackmagic Design today announced that the world's top daily downloaded podcast, The

Gies experimented with several looks for the characters, creating both physical paper puppets and CG counterparts for each iteration. For the siblings, he elected to remove the faces entirely, both in reference to indigenous doll-making practices in the area, and the fact that the protagonist can no longer recollect what they look like. Instead, she remembers their personalities, which are reflected by animalistic touches like the timidness of the youngest sister embodied by a rabbit, the independence of the brother translated as a fox and the cautious trepidation of another sister, presented as a deer. The design of the bird-like mother, however, was meant to show that she was a creature trapped between two worlds.

With memory playing a major role in the film, Gies and the team at Montreal's Audio Coara decided to use tape machines and old tape recordings to convey the feeling of a memory degrading over time. Sound designer Tyler Fitzmaurice traveled to six different remote cabins and recorded the sounds of nature, including animals in the wild, water flowing, trees creaking in the wind and more. The audio team then expe
LINK: https://creativecow.net/ten-years-in-the-making-e-d-films-return-to-ha...
See more stories from creativecow

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

01/04/2026

DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION

January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...

11/03/2026

Calrec To Unlock Hybrid Workflows At 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/03/2026

Matrox Video Enables the Next Era of Software-Defined Med...

Matrox Video will showcase its vision for the future of live production at NAB 2026 in Las Vegas, April 19-22, highlighting how broadcasters and media organizat...

11/03/2026

GlobalM Showcases Distributed Video Gateway Architecture...

Geneva-based technology company, GlobalM SA, is presenting its GMX Distributed Video Gateway, a software-defined IP media transport platform designed to replace...

11/03/2026

Video is King - 2026 Iconik Media Stats Report Finds Vide...

Backlight (booth #N2829), the company behind Iconik and Wildmoka, which power video workflows for large media and entertainment organizations, has released the ...

11/03/2026

QuickLinks Latest StudioEdge Models to Make North America...

QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, presents its latest StudioEdge models at The NAB Show ...

11/03/2026

Telestream Expands Its Cloud Services with the Introducti...

Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, today announced the expansion of Telestream Cloud Services with the introduction of UP, a new cloud-...

11/03/2026

Operative Launches AOS Configuration for Digital-First Mo...

Operative, the preferred advertising management provider for the world's leading media brands, today announced the launch of AOS for digital media, an AI-po...

11/03/2026

Calrec Redefines Broadcast Workflows at NAB 2026

Calrec will be located in Central Hall, on Booth C6907 Choice without compromise The broadcast industry is going through a rapid evolution that s signalling a...

11/03/2026

Worldstream and Cubbit launch sovereign S3 cloud storage...

The new service is hosted and operated entirely in the Netherlands, combining data sovereignty, resilience, scalability, and predictable costs without relying...

11/03/2026

Ease Live powers interactive Premier Padel experiences on...

Ease Live, an Evertz company and leader in interactive graphical overlays, today announced the successful deployment of its platform on Red Bull TV for Premier ...

11/03/2026

Mediagenix Title Management Accelerates Content Monetizat...

Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, is advancing its Semantic Intelligence cap...

11/03/2026

Emergent Launches Fusion- The Interactive Anything Platfo...

Emergent, a leading provider of AI-enhanced media production solutions, today announced the official launch of Fusion, a powerful, no-code application builder d...

11/03/2026

Techex Names Matt McKee as Senior Director of Sales, Americas

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/03/2026

IAB Tech Lab Announces Content Monetization Protocol for AI LLMs

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/03/2026

Mondae Hott Joins Kokusai Denki as Northeast Sales Manager

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/03/2026

Gray Media to Air Cincinnati Reds' Games on WXIX FOX19

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/03/2026

Shure Audio Solutions Deliver Super Bowl Win

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/03/2026

UK's First Live Broadcast Using New n40 Private 5G Spectrum

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/03/2026

Utah Scientific Expands Technology Partner Program With I...

Utah Scientific today announced the expansion of its Technology Partner Program with the addition of Audinate, Bitfocus, and Skaarhoj, three industry leaders wh...

11/03/2026

DigitalGlue Ends the Post Production Tax creativespace In...

DigitalGlue, creator of the creative.space on-premise managed storage platform, today revealed plans to launch creative.space Intelligence (CSI) at NAB 2026 (Bo...

11/03/2026

Maxon and Tencent Cloud Partner to Integrate HY 3D into C...

Maxon, maker of powerful, approachable software solutions for creators working in 2D and 3D design, motion graphics, visual effects, gaming, and more, has annou...

11/03/2026

NUGEN Audio Halo Vision Plug In Serves as Spatial Compass...

Composer and Re-recording Mixer Michael Phillips Keeley has built his career around immersive storytelling. Working from his Dolby Atmos-equipped studio, Sound ...

11/03/2026

YES selects Synamedia Iris to power advanced advertising

Leading video software provider Synamedia today announced that YES, the pay-TV subsidiary of the telco Bezeq (TASE: BEZQ), has selected Synamedia Iris to delive...

11/03/2026

Cost Savings Scalability and Smarter Monetization Viacces...

As media companies face increasing cost pressures and operational complexity, at the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, Viaccess-Orca (VO), a global leader in OTT / TV...

11/03/2026

Digital Alert Systems Unveils Version 6 Software for DASD...

Digital Alert Systems, a global leader in emergency communications solutions for media providers, today announced the release of Version 6 software for its DASD...

11/03/2026

SES Brings Satellite Connectivity to Refugees in Chad

First Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) deployment of the emergency.lu platform for refugees and their host communities' use provides dependable broadband for humani...

11/03/2026

Foundry releases Nuke 17.0

Foundry releases Nuke 17.0 Brie Clayton March 1, 2026 0 Comments Native Gaussian Splat support, new 3D system based on USD, expanded machine learning ca...

11/03/2026

Preserving UNESCO World Heritage with URSA Cine Immersive

Preserving UNESCO World Heritage with URSA Cine Immersive Brie Clayton March 1, 2026 0 Comments The Explorers turned to France's cultural landmark...

11/03/2026

I Clicked This By Accident And It Made After Effects SO Much Faster

I Clicked This By Accident And It Made After Effects SO Much Faster Graham Quince March 1, 2026 0 Comments Discover how Region of Interest in Adobe A...

11/03/2026

Cine Gear Connect Brings a Focused All-Day Experience to Industry City, NY

Cine Gear Connect Brings a Focused All-Day Experience to Industry City, NY Brie Clayton March 4, 2026 0 Comments Registration is now open for Cine Gea...

11/03/2026

La Vorgine Edited and Finished with DaVinci Resolve Studio

La Vor gine Edited and Finished with DaVinci Resolve Studio Brie Clayton March 4, 2026 0 Comments One of Colombia's most ambitious projects goes g...

11/03/2026

SoundMarket Launches 18,000+ Tracks of Real Music by Award-Winning Composers for Editors and Post Professionals

SoundMarket Launches 18,000 Tracks of Real Music by Award-Winning Composers for...

11/03/2026

Capta Center Supports NOVO19 Remote Production with Blackmagic Design

Capta Center Supports NOVO19 Remote Production with Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton March 5, 2026 0 Comments The facility provides production and playo...

11/03/2026

DigitalGlue Ends the Post-Production Tax: creative.space Intelligence (CSI) Unifies On-Premise Storage with Forensic AI at NAB 2026

DigitalGlue Ends the Post-Production Tax: creative.space Intelligence (CSI) Unif...

11/03/2026

Kochi Sun Sun Uses Blackmagic Replay for High School Volleyball Finals

Kochi Sun Sun Uses Blackmagic Replay for High School Volleyball Finals Brie Clayton March 9, 2026 0 Comments Versatile Blackmagic Replay system proves...

11/03/2026

Richard Bona Joins Berklee for Signature Series Concert

Richard Bona Joins Berklee for Signature Series Concert The Grammy-winning Cameroonian bassist and vocalist collaborates with students and faculty in a progra...

11/03/2026

New NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super Delivers 5x Higher Throughput for Agentic AI

Launched today, NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super is a 120 billion parameter open model with 12 billion active parameters designed to run complex agentic AI systems at sc...

11/03/2026

March 10, 2026

Scripps Research scientists awarded nearly $5 million by NIH to investigate cancer growth Researchers will investigate how a common dietary nutrient may control...

11/03/2026

The 2026 RT Short Story Competition is now open for entries

TELL US YOUR (SHORT) STORIES The 2026 RT Short Story Competition is now open for entries Recognising and rewarding the best new Irish fiction writing for...

11/03/2026

Celtic Media Festival 2026 Nominees Announced

RT 's The Traitors Ireland is among the nominees for the 2026 Celtic Media Festival Torc Awards for Excellence, announced today....

10/03/2026

Harvey Arnold, Bert Goldman to Be Honored at the 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/03/2026

Senators Urge FCC to Preserve Citizens Broadband Radio Service

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/03/2026

SCTE TechExpo26 Issues Call for Content, Technical Papers

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/03/2026

Zefr Receives MRC Accreditation

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

10/03/2026

Study: Overloaded Sports Fans Fed Up with Fragmented Viewing Options

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...