Here’s How Disney Animates Snow
In the Disney animation studio, different types of snow are made by tweaking a computer model. In the real world, they’re made by changing the temperature
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/headshot/Rose-Eveleth-240.jpg)
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/94/6d/946d73cf-4d55-49ac-a5a6-e6516b42c592/01_disney-animates-snow.png)
The new Disney animated movie Frozen hits theaters on November 27th, and it’s full of really beautifully animated snow. Disney actually modeled individual particles in order to building snowballs and movements. Animators can tweak different parameters in their model to make different kinds of snow—powdery or chunky, as this video explains:
In the world outside the Disney studio, different temperatures produce different types of snowflakes. The Science Channel explains that as it gets colder snow flakes get smaller and the snow gets more powdery.
So this winter, if you see super tiny snowflakes, it’s probably a good idea to stay inside with a movie because it’s really, really cold outside.
More from Smithsonian.com:
Eating Snow
This Pink Snow Is Not What You Think it Is
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/headshot/Rose-Eveleth-240.jpg)