SIGGRAPH LA 2026

Eclipsed Bokeh: A Conceptual Model for Defocusing Through Defocused Edges

Christopher Berry | 19 July 9:40am PDT | Room 403B

A defocused object viewed through the edge of another defocused object exhibits strange warping and reshaping effects, known as “eclipsed bokeh”. By studying what happens to the bokeh, we can see how to recreate the effect from 2D images.

Evolution of Anatomy at Framestore

Christoph Genzwueke, Alex Rothwell, Philippe Mongeau, Quentin Sanchez | 20 July 12:05pm PDT | Room 515A

Framestore introduces the Anatomy Toolkit (FAT), replacing legacy deformer workflows with an end-to-end simulation platform. FAT automates constraint construction through geometric labeling and enables the convergence of Rigging and Creature FX workflows. This delivers anatomically accurate, high-fidelity muscle and tissue deformations with superior efficiency and simplified artist experience.

How do you give soul to a faceless alien, question? 

Bob Winter and Aulo Licinio | 21 July 10:45am PDT 

At the core of Project Hail Mary is an unlikely friendship between an astronaut, Grace, and a faceless alien, Rocky. In this presentation, VFX Supervisor Bob Winter and Animation Supervisor Aulo Licinio break down Framestore’s collaboration with directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller to deliver the emotional heartbeat of the story.

Bringing Rocky to life meant inventing a completely unique physical language for a creature with no eyes, no face, and no human expressions. The team will detail how they navigated the unique challenges of controlling a five-legged anatomy, turning strict biological constraints into endearing character quirks.
Discover how Framestore blended cutting-edge keyframe animation with physical on-set puppetry to build a tactile, believable connection between the two leads—and see if you can spot where the puppet ends and the digital animation begins.

Christopher Berry | Lead Compositor

Chris Berry is a Lead Compositor at Framestore London. He brings 22 years of experience to his work, having spent 11 years in game development at Lionhead Studios before transitioning to high-end VFX. Berry moved into the visual effects industry to blend his interest in both the technical and creative aspects of making images and telling stories. He has an ongoing exploration in the role lensing artifacts play in giving an image its character, and how they can be better recreated in visual effects.

Christoph Genzwuerker | Head of Creatures Technology

Christoph Genzwürker started his career as MotionCapture Software Engineer and has been passionate about CG characters ever since. Over the last 20 years he contributed to software products in the grooming, rigging and CFx domain for WetaFX, MPC and Framestore. He is currently the Head of Creature Technology at Framestore.

Philippe Mongeau | Senior Software Developer

Philippe Mongeau is a senior software developer specialized in tools for rigging and creature simulations. He started his career at Framestore in 2014, doing rigging for eight years. During this time he gained a deep understanding of the technologies required to efficiently bring creatures to life. In 2022, he transitioned to writing software full-time in the Creature Technology team.

Quentin Sanchez | Head of Rigging

Quentin Sanchez began his career at MPC in London before joining Framestore’s rigging team in Montreal. Over more than a decade at Framestore, he has progressed from Rigging TD to Lead and is now Head of Rigging. Throughout his career, he has focused on realistic character deformation, leveraging deep anatomical knowledge to achieve believable, high-end character performances.

Alex Rothwell | Lead Software Developer

Alex Rothwell is a seasoned artist, FX Supervisor and software developer with extensive experience in the visual effects industry. Currently, Alex serves as a Software Architect at Framestore where he has worked since October 2006. Prior to this role, Alex worked at Sony Pictures Imageworks , Jim Henson Creature Shop and MillFilm

Bob Winter | VFX Supervisor

Having helped bring to life a new cinematic universe for Zack Snyder, Bob finds himself in outer space once again - this time collaborating with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller on Ryan Gosling-starrer Project Hail Mary.

For Snyder’s Rebel Moon films, Bob led work that was both creatively and technically challenging, delivering a suite of memorable creatures, characters and worlds as well as the new technology necessary to realise them. "It’s a rare privilege to create with such thoughtful and talented people," said Snyder of the experience. "Framestore continues to produce work that goes beyond, in quality and creativity, what we could only have dreamed to be possible."

Elsewhere, Bob’s career includes blockbuster features such as Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Army of the Dead, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and The Amazing Spider-Man.

Aulo Licinio | Animation Supervisor

A charismatic leader and world-class animator, Aulo is as renowned for his creative flair and outside-the-box thinking as the devotion he inspires in his fellow animators. Bringing to life creatures and characters that are, by turns, loveable, grotesque, photoreal and otherworldly, Aulo's body of work is diverse but cohesive in its ability to convince, astound and garner a deep emotional response.

Central to the world building of Fantastic Beasts, His Dark Materials and David Lowery's Peter Pan and Wendy, Aulo is as happy taking beloved characters from the page to the screen as starting from scratch to craft hitherto unimagined creations.