LogInAndy Cuccaro showcased a close recreation of Mickey's classic 2D ears on a 3D rig and explained how the final result was achieved.
Since the debut of Steamboat Willie and other iconic Disney animations in the late 1920s, Mickey Mouse has consistently been depicted in 2D with a distinct rule: his ears are always portrayed as two perfect circles, regardless of the direction his head is facing.
During the era of 3D animation, this technique was largely forgotten due to the complexity involved in recreating it and the necessity to create a specialized rig that could automatically move the ears in sync with the character's head movements.
However, as time progressed, advancements in 3D software and the increasing skill level of 3D artists demonstrated that nearly every technique could be replicated in 3D to some extent, including Mickey's ears. This statement was proven to be true a few days ago by 3D Modeler and Animator Andy Cuccaro, who unveiled an extremely close recreation of Mickey's classic 2D ears on a 3D rig achieved with Blender.
"The ear bones have a Damp Track constraint to the camera and a Shrinkwrap constraint to a second mesh with the shape of the scalp, while also being children to another bone, which also has a Damp Track constraint to the camera," commented the creator on how the result was achieved.
Attached below are some of the screenshots shared by the author, showing how the ears look from various angles:
Furthermore, the artist also used a technique shown in one of Luciano Muñoz's tutorials on optimizing Rigify to tweak the colors:
The rig can also be purchased via the creator's Gumroad page.
You can learn more and check out Andy's earlier works by clicking this link. Also, don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Threads, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.