Five years ago I was given possibly the coolest assignment ever: frickin’ nunchucks!
As a prop, these things were a technical nightmare, constantly switching grips and hands. (All hail the power of bespoke locator rigs!) I was determined to cheat as little as possible. First, I actually bought some foam nunchaku and, using motion capture, was able to very accurately capture my ineptitude. Then, I found amazing reference from talented “nunchakukas” Stéphane Oberle, Ken Hill, and Arirang instead and used that for all but the impossible moves. It was a blast to work on! I was responsible for all the combat anims shown in the official weapon release trailer above. The only nunchaku animation that wasn’t mine is the very cool flourish at the end of the trailer, done by DE’s resident Pixar alum, and expert at making cheating look good, Chiwook Han.
