There are commercial Linux software tools available to Linux animators beyond big packages like Maya. “cMuscle is a system for simulating muscle movement”, says Darling. “We used it for muscle jiggle, skin jiggle, skin smoothing and sliding effects. We use SyFlex for the clothing worn by Red Cap and Hogsqueal. This system was augmented by some custom cloth/deformation software developed at Tippett Studio.”

“In Spiderwick all unexplained phenomena in the world are due to fantastical creatures that are all around us”, says director Mark Waters. The movie is based on the best-selling series of children's books written by Holly Black and illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi. The Spiderwick Chronicles is a family adventure fantasy set at the dilapidated Spiderwick Estate, constructed in Canada at Quebec's Cap-Ste-Jacques Nature park.

The movie opens to wide release on February 15th, 2008. There's also a Spiderwick video game in development.

A second new facial animation tool, Face Select, gave the animators control over specific muscles. “We have an interface that has a human face with the correct anatomy,” Harrington says. “If you want your character to smile,
you select the muscle in the interface that creates the smile. The same with the eyes.”

The team also asked for transformation controls for Thimbletack. When Thimbletack is upset, he transforms from a little elf into a boggart, which looks something like a frog, the meshes for models of both characters matched to help with the transition. But, because the director didn’t want the transformation to happen all at once, the riggers devised controls that let the animators transform different body parts at different times.