Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls Partner with The Sims – The Power of Creativity
2015-12-09
EA Staff
In addition to creating amazing games for our players, we are dedicated to creating experiences that foster a culture of inclusion and unlock opportunities for the next generation of gamers. That’s why we’re so excited that Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls teamed up with The Sims!
Founded by artist Amy Poehler and producer Meredith Walker, Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls is dedicated to helping young people become their true selves with an emphasis on intelligence and imagination. Three girls were selected to visit The Sims Studio and get an inside look at how video games are made.
Celeste is a dancer, and she’s always loved how dancing can help turn a bad day into a good one.
Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls gave Celeste the chance to meet up with Nawwaf Barakat, Animation Director and Azure Bowie, Associate Producer for The Sims 4.
Barakat has been working on the Sims as an animator for 10 years, and he was able to show Celeste how Sims move through space in the game, just like dancers do when performing.
"In Celeste’s case we took a video of her and imported it into our animation program, Maya,” says Barakat. “This way we can study the motion accurately and even go through on a frame by frame basis to capture nuances in the acting while maintaining a natural feel to the animation.”
Bowie has been with Maxis for eight years working on The Sims, and she was excited to show Celeste how Sims are animated in the game. “I could spend hours tweaking a Sims face and wardrobe trying to get everything just right,” says Bowie.
The two mentors showed Celeste how her Sim could dance just like she does in real life.
“We started by moving the center of the body of her Sim and working our way out to the limbs to capture main poses,” says Barakat. “These are the broad brush strokes. When I moved her character for the first time and her eyes lit up,” he says.
See what it was like when Celeste visited The Sims with Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls!
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